A Birth Announcement for a Shepherd and King

For all the mysteries surrounding the Messiah’s arrival, those paying attention in Israel (and beyond) had many prophetic words to carry them through the quiet centuries following Malachi’s final message from God.

Two passages in Isaiah and Micah act as 700-years-early birth announcements for the awaited Savior. Both are very familiar to us. You might even be able to quote large chunks of the prophecies. Yet it you’re like me, the rhythmic cadence of God’s promises spoken to the prophets has become so recognizable that I tend to gloss over their meaning. That is why reading from different Bible translations can help to refocus our understanding.

Consider Isaiah 9:6-7, quoted from the Message:

For a child has been born—for us!
    the gift of a son—for us!
He’ll take over
    the running of the world.
His names will be: Amazing Counselor,
    Strong God,
Eternal Father,
    Prince of Wholeness.
His ruling authority will grow,
    and there’ll be no limits to the wholeness he brings.
He’ll rule from the historic David throne
    over that promised kingdom.
He’ll put that kingdom on a firm footing
    and keep it going
With fair dealing and right living,
    beginning now and lasting always.
The zeal of God-of-the-Angel-Armies
    will do all this.

Usually, birth announcements don’t include the name of the child. Baby boys especially aren’t named until the eighth day when they are circumcised. Often they are named for a wished-for quality or set of circumstances surrounding their arrival. But for this Messiah, He is already named, and seems to be doing the very work His names suggests. What’s more, they are names equated with God’s character. How can this be?

In her annual online Advent devotional, author Hannah Brencher writes of this passage:
“This announcement is more than God sending a son into the world. This is God is putting on skin and coming down to earth for us. This is an ancient, holy announcement that God is stepping into the ring. He is coming to fully participate in what it means to be human. And this announcement… well, it changes everything."

Things will be made new. A new understanding of what it means to serve and be served will be put into practice. Not only is this Messiah new, but so is everything about Him. From His origin and circumstances to His habits and lessons, the God-Man we know as Jesus turned every expected thing on its head.

Turning to the prophet Micah, we see this broken down into three “stunning glories” or revelations in chapter 5:2-5. David Mathis, executive editor at Desiring God leads us through these details in his article, Light and Warmth in Winter: Three Glories of His Advent.

First, “He comes from modest stock.” Not a phrase we often hear these days, but we know what it means. Bethlehem and Nazareth are romanticized in our Nativity stories, but they were small potatoes within all the cities of Israel. Bethlehem had a richer history being Rachel’s burial city and the birth place of David (another unlikely king who would rise to the throne by God’s hand alone).

You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
     who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
     one who is to be ruler in Israel… (v.2)

“The first glory,” Mathis argues, “of the one coming forth is that he comes from Bethlehem. In Micah’s day, God had already done this once with David — the shepherd rising to the throne. Now, some three centuries later, the prophet tells of another ruler who will arise, and ascend, like David, and from David’s own line and town.”

Next, “He comes from ancient times.” We so poetically gloss over Micah’s prophecy that we often miss the words chosen by God.

. . . from [Bethlehem] shall come forth for me
     one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
     from ancient days . . . (Micah 5:2)

Mathis again: “What the prophet says next might lead us to wonder if the little town is not the Messiah’s origin but his portal. He comes from Bethlehem, yes, yet also through Bethlehem. . . He is a human ruler, descended from David, and rising up like David from a modest upbringing, but he is more than a human king. And this is not David reincarnate, or some ancient champion, back from the grave . . . This is somehow the Ancient of Days himself, the only one who truly is ‘of old.’”

Lastly, “He comes to shepherd with strength.” The prophet Micah is not done. The last two verses of this passage show us how the Messiah will rule, his character, his essence.

And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord,
     in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great
     to the ends of the earth.
And he shall be their peace. (v.4-5)

In the New Testament Jesus uses the image of the shepherd to talk about Himself and to outline lessons in His parables. But here we have a prophetic word associating the Messiah with being a shepherd. We will get to this more later in Advent, but shepherds were not the ultimate career goal. While they stood as a embodiment of care and protection, Judean shepherds themselves were smelly outcasts.

Mathis gives us a little more insight: “’He will ‘shepherd his flock,’ [is] a picture of compassion and concern, loving provision and protection. And he will do so ‘in the strength of the Lord.’ In other words, he will be a strong shepherd, strong enough that his flock might dwell secure under his rule and enjoy real peace in him — and this will mean the opposite for the foes of his flock. That their shepherd is strong is ominous for their enemies. And that their shepherd is strong is a sweet balm for his people: “they shall dwell secure . . . he shall be their peace.”

When the angels appeared to a band of Bethlehem shepherds 700 years later, they sang out “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!" (Luke 2:14) Indeed peace, eternal peace, for His flock is one of the biggest Advent promises.

The Message translates “peace” as wholeness. And indeed, the Hebrew word Shalom encapsulates so much more than we can put into words. When Jesus comes again, the second Advent, He will bring about wholeness, newness. Completeness with Him. Peace.