Amazing Prophecy

by Terry Wane Benton

"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you one will go out for me,
to be ruler in Israel;
and his origins are from of old,
from ancient days" (Micah 5:2 LEB).

The ruler in Israel would come out of Bethlehem, and he is more ancient than the oldest of days. The NKJV says “from everlasting.” The footnote on that rendering says that it literally says, “from the days of eternity.” God is talking and says the ruler in Israel “will go out for me,” which means the ruler will act on behalf of God as ruler in Israel after coming from Bethlehem. His supernatural nature is seen in the fact that he preexisted earth days from eternity.

This prophecy was written over 400 years before Jesus arrived as a baby in Bethlehem, and it strongly implies that he would not be just a human. Isaiah 9:6 says this Child would be called “mighty God.” Thus, the Jew’s own sacred books speak to the fact that a human would also be divine, and that would mean their later claim that it was “blasphemy” for Jesus to claim deity or make himself equal with God would be a false argument on their part. Either they were wrong to make that charge, or their sacred books were wrong to attribute deity to this child (Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:2). They were wrong. Jesus and the scriptures were in perfect harmony. Someone would be a child born in Bethlehem, but who was “from eternity” and would be called “mighty God.” Jesus would be wrong to not claim deity if the Scriptures were divine and he was that person to be ruler in Israel.

So, here is an absolutely amazing prophecy that would not have been written by Jesus-rejecting Jews, and could not have been written by human wisdom alone. If Jesus is the fulfillment, and He is, it remains as further proof of the divine inspiration of the Old Testament and a further testimony and witness to Jesus as that ruler in Israel. The true Israel is a multitude of Jews who united with Jesus in baptism from Acts 2 onward. He is not a true Jew who is merely one outwardly (Romans 2:28). So, if Jesus is rejected by many , they are not true Israelites. He is ruler in true Israel, and even over the lost sheep of Israel whether they realize it or not. Every knee will eventually bow to Jesus. He is the prophesied ruler in Israel.

The Bible really is the amazing word of God!