{"id":82,"date":"2019-08-07T14:22:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T14:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/wednesday-reflection-august-07-2019-o-bethlehem-of-ephrathah\/"},"modified":"2019-08-07T14:22:05","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T14:22:05","slug":"wednesday-reflection-august-07-2019-o-bethlehem-of-ephrathah","status":"publish","type":"watchword","link":"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/wednesday-reflection-august-07-2019-o-bethlehem-of-ephrathah\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday Reflection (August 07, 2019) &#8211; O Bethlehem of Ephrathah!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Wednesday Reflection   August 7, 2019\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yCn9q7zNuB0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b><i>But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,\u00a0who are one of the little clans of Judah,<\/i><\/b><b><i>\u00a0from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Micah 5:2<\/i><\/b><br \/>\n<b><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><br \/>\nToday\u2019s Watchword is one of the many prophecies that pointed to the coming Messiah. This prophecy comes at a time when trouble loomed in Israel. Micah summons the people to gather themselves into troops because a siege will be laid against them.\u00a0Israel will be humbled by foreign powers, and even her judges will bear insults. In this distressing context, Micah offers a word of hope &#8211; God would raise up a great\u00a0Ruler\u00a0from the humble place of\u00a0Bethlehem.<\/p>\n<p>Bethlehem\u00a0was well known as the hometown of David, Israel\u2019s greatest king; yet it was never a great or influential city. It was truly\u00a0little among the thousands of Israel. Yet, God chose it as the birthplace of the Messiah, the\u00a0Ruler in Israel. The chief priests and teachers of the law quoted this verse when Herod asked about the birth of the Messiah (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/search\/preSearch.cfm?Criteria=Matthew+2.5-6&amp;t=NKJV\">Matthew 2:5-6<\/a>). It is no wonder that\u00a0Phillips Brooks wrote in 1868:<\/p>\n<p><b><i>O little town of Bethlehem,<\/i><\/b><b><i><br \/>\nHow still we see thee lie!<br \/>\nAbove thy deep and dreamless sleep<br \/>\nThe silent stars go by;<br \/>\nYet in the dark street shineth<br \/>\nThe everlasting Light;<br \/>\nThe hopes and fears of all the years<br \/>\nAre met in thee tonight.<\/i><\/b><b><i><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Bethlehem\u00a0means\u00a0\u2018<i>House of Bread\u2019<\/i>, and Jesus is the Bread of Life (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blueletterbible.org\/search\/preSearch.cfm?Criteria=John+6.35&amp;t=NKJV\">John 6:35<\/a>).\u00a0Ephrathah was the old name of the place which the Jews retained and loved. It means \u2018fruitfulness,\u2019 or \u2018abundance.\u2019 Well, well!! Jesus was born not just in the house of bread, but in the house of fruitfulness. This seems almost like a paradox \u2013 Bethlehem was an insignificant place, yet its meaning is rich and bountiful. What a word for a people about to face trouble! You will face trouble, but God will bring forth a ruler from the place of food and abundance to deliver you.<\/p>\n<div>Micah is careful to point out that this ruler did not just come about; in fact, his \u2018\u2026<b><i>origin is from of old,\u00a0from ancient days.\u2019\u00a0<\/i><\/b>The Ruler, the Messiah, did not begin in Bethlehem. His\u00a0going forth\u00a0is from eternity past. Revelation 22:13 points out that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. He was from\u00a0the very beginning. Indeed, the Messiah did come \u2013 promised fulfilled!! Yet another of God\u2019s fulfilled promises to us. We can rest assured that whatever God says he will do, he will most certainly deliver on his word.<\/div>\n<p>The Messiah came not just to rescue the Israelites, but to rescue and save all humanity from the forces of men and the armies of satan. He came, procured our salvation, and guarantee us life everlasting. May we receive God\u2019s gift to us and live with eternity in view. May we also recognize that no matter how insignificant we think we are, God has vested much in us and prepared to do great things in and with us.<\/p>\n<p><em>Jermaine Gibson<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embed]https:\/\/youtu.be\/yCn9q7zNuB0[\/embed] But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","watchword_topic":[12],"class_list":["post-82","watchword","type-watchword","status-publish","hentry","watchword_topic-hope"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wednesday Reflection (August 07, 2019) - O Bethlehem of Ephrathah! - Covenant Moravian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/covenantmoravian.com\/index.php\/watchword-reflections\/wednesday-reflection-august-07-2019-o-bethlehem-of-ephrathah\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wednesday Reflection (August 07, 2019) - O Bethlehem of Ephrathah! 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