It's 8 Days Before Christmas
...and I've been thinking about what the smallness of Bethlehem teaches us.
“But 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.” — Micah 5:2
Why would the eternal God be born as man in the smallest of places? Was there not a more prominent town to announce His greatness and establish His strength? How could a ruler come from a place like that?
The Ruler’s life answers those questions. Jesus was not born in a large city with wide streets because His way is narrow. As the servant of all, He sought no prominence. His greatness was announced on a cross. His strength was established in weakness.
In this, God reveals something about Himself, but He also shows us how to live. In particular, how to rule.
That’s a role we have in Christ.
As Paul writes to Timothy, “If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him.” (2 Timothy 2:11)
Everything Jesus does, He wants for us. Even ruling. We often confuse ruling with earthly power, so it doesn’t seem right that God desires us to reign with Him. That seems like his job. He’s the authority and we are the subjects.
But that’s just it. He is not the King over kings, He is the King of kings. The smallness of Bethlehem is how His reign is born.
May our reign be born in smallness as well.
[Originally published in the 2023 Advent Devotional of Pathway Church.]