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Marshal your troops now, city of troops, for a siege is laid against us. They will strike Israel\u2019s ruler on the cheek with a rod. \u201cBut you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.\u201d Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be our peace (Micah 5:1-5a)

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The remnant of Israel is in distress and under siege.\xa0 Babylon is quite literally on the doorstep.\xa0 The king is humiliated.\xa0 So much for the greatness of the people who bear God\u2019s name.

In our own world, we received news that one of our fellow CRC churches in the area\u2014New Street in Burlington, has voted to close in the new year.\xa0 They are not the only church in our region who have been asking those questions about the future as of late.\xa0 The pandemic has only accelerated the decline that brings churches to just this point.\xa0

It may feel then, and perhaps more and more so in the next few years as we hear word of more church closures, that the remnant of the Church of Jesus Christ is under siege and that the greatness of the people who bear God\u2019s name has diminished.\xa0

But then, it is important to hear once again and remember that it is to just those people that the prophecies of a Messiah come.\xa0 It is to the last and the least, the ones who are counted out or not counted at all\u2014like the \u201csmall\u201d little town of Bethlehem, or the youngest son of Jesse who was assumed not to be worthy of inviting to the meeting with the prophet.\xa0 These small and insignificant places and people are the ones that God continually seems to be doing some of his most significant work in and with.\xa0

And in Micah, he promises to do it again.\xa0 Out some small, insignificant place among the clans of Judah, a significant ruler will come for the whole land.\xa0 Out of the present weakness of Judah, this ruler will stand and shepherd in the strength of the Lord.\xa0 Out of their insecurity, security will come.\xa0 Out of their abandonment, diminishment, and humiliation, the Messiah will gather the people up once again and establish them securely under the greatness of his reign that will reach to the ends of the earth.\xa0 From a place of siege and the threat of exile ring out the words: \u201che will be our peace.\u201d

So why is it that these words come to a people abandoned and much diminished?\xa0 Why is it that the Lord uses such small and insignificant places and people to accomplish his work?\xa0 Perhaps because they are the ones who know they need to be saved\u2014that they can\u2019t do it themselves even though they\u2019ve tried.\xa0 Perhaps because they are the ones humble enough to see and believe that is the Lord and none other\u2014not even themselves\u2014that establishes the greatness, the security, and the peace of the people.

Whatever the reason, the fact that the church in our day is much diminished tells me in my heart that we can\u2019t be far from a revival.\xa0 If things look like Good Friday, it most certainly means that Easter isn\u2019t far behind.\xa0 These are precisely the conditions into which our God speaks his advent hope.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus, come.

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