Micah 5

Verses 1-15, “Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops; He has laid siege against us; They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” Therefore He shall give them up, Until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren Shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock In the strength of the Lord, In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great To the ends of the earth; And this One shall be peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men. They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads within our borders. Then the remnant of Jacob Shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew from the Lord, Like showers on the grass, That tarry for no man Nor wait for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob Shall be among the Gentiles, In the midst of many peoples, Like a lion among the beasts of the forest, Like a young lion among flocks of sheep, Who, if he passes through, Both treads down and tears in pieces, And none can deliver. Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries, And all your enemies shall be cut off. “And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord, “That I will cut off your horses from your midst And destroy your chariots. I will cut off the cities of your land And throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off, And your sacred pillars from your midst; You shall no more worship the work of your hands; I will pluck your wooden images from your midst; Thus I will destroy your cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury On the nations that have not heard.”

From the land of Israel, in its time of judgment, God will raise up a ruler from the humble town of Bethlehem. Because this Ruler's goings forth are from old and from everlasting, we can conclude that He is none other than Jesus Christ. God chose an unlikely birthplace for the Messiah, as Bethlehem was not powerful or influential in any sort of way. He also chose a humble person in Mary to carry the Savior in her womb. God does these things, choosing the unlikely, so that His power may be demonstrated. Those things that are highly esteemed by the world often attempt to take credit for the work of the Lord.  Luke 1:30‭-‬35‭, “Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
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Though Israel will be cut off from God for a time because of their disobedience, they will be restored in strength. This is because God keeps His promises and honors the covenant that He made with Abraham, which was unconditional. Genesis 15:18‭-‬21, “On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”  It probably looked impossible for this promise to be fulfilled, being on the receiving end of God's hand of judgement and subdued by their enemies, but with God all things are possible. This is where faith comes in...to believe in God's promises, even when your situation looks hopeless. Abraham believed God, even though he and Sarah had no children of their own in their old age. He was counted as righteous because of his faith. Hebrews 11:12, “Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude—innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore.” 

It was nothing short of miraculous that the nation of Israel even existed. God would not go that far only to abandon His people and fail to deliver on His promise. Romans 11:1, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!...”  The time in which they are temporarily cut off will be used to bring the gentiles into the fold, but it is no occasion to become haughty, but fear. You see, you cannot focus on the goodness of God, without considering the severity of God. We too can be cut off if we choose not to fear and respect Him.  Romans 11:22-‬27, “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”