Artwork:
View of Bethlehem at Night by Josef Langl, is an oil on canvas with a view of the city Bethlehem by moonlight. Langl depicts a shooting star, a sign of Christ’s birth, in the background illuminated by the moonlit sky guiding the three silhouettes on camels in the foreground to the Christ child.

Advent Devotional

God seems to delight in using the humble, unexpected, and seemingly insignificant to accomplish His grand purposes. Little Town of Bethlehem helps us enter into this mystery. In the silent and dark streets of a small village, while the world sleeps, God’s holy child is born. This is the promised Savior whose birthplace was announced eight centuries earlier.

Micah, a “minor prophet” from another small town, is often considered a champion of the poor and oppressed, and his oracles of judgment are mixed with messages of hope and the promise of a Messiah. Micah spoke of a promised ruler who would one day come to establish a kingdom of peace, security, and close relationship with Yahweh (4:1- 8). He would act as judge (4:3), ruler (5:2), and shepherd (5:4). Micah describes the Messiah’s birthplace, lineage, origin, and future reign.

Ancient Jewish interpreters universally regarded Micah 5:2 as referring to the Messiah, and in the opening pages of the New Testament, the chief priests and scribes find Christ’s birthplace clearly foretold in Micah’s message (Matthew 2:5).

The Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah, the city of David (the house of bread), and He would rule over Israel (5:2), coming as king to Jerusalem (4:8). Not only this, but the Messiah would be one who came from the distant past or “ancient times” (literally days of immeasurable time).

And so the everlasting Light was born into the darkness of our world. . . And He can also be born in us. This is the message of Bethlehem.

Prayer

Come to us and abide
with us Lord Christ.
Overthrow and
cast out my
sin. Enter in and
be my Shepherd,
Peace, and King.