He shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of men;
– Micah 5:4–5
Wish I actually had time to read more of this context here, but in Micah 5:4–5, this is a prophecy, a promise, of one to come from Bethlehem who would be ruler in Israel. It’s a clear picture of Jesus, of the promise of Jesus to come. And listen, in light of that reality, to these words again from verse four. “He shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.”
Jesus Our Good Shepherd
Let’s just pray these two verses in light of the reality that these verses are pointing us to Jesus. Jesus, we praise you as our good shepherd, our great shepherd who loves us as your sheep. You lead us as your sheep. You guide us as your sheep. We praise you for your care for us, we praise you for your protection of us, we praise you for your leadership of us. Oh, God, we praise you for sending Jesus to be our shepherd, and not just our shepherd but our security. “They shall dwell secure.”
Micah 5:4–5 Praises Jesus for His Security
Jesus, you are our security. Our eternity is secure in you. We praise you. We don’t know what’s going to happen to us today or tomorrow, but we don’t worry because you are our security. You hold our lives in your hands. You have guaranteed us eternal life. We don’t even have to fear death today or tomorrow, or any day, because we have eternal life with you. There is nothing this world can do to us, nothing man or woman can do to us to take that away. We dwell secure in you, and we say with Micah chapter five, verse four, “You shall be great to the ends of the earth.”
May the name of Jesus be great to the ends of the earth. May the name of Jesus be exalted at the ends of the earth. Use our lives to exalt your name to the ends of the earth, to all the peoples. We pray for the Maguindanao in the Philippines. I’m not even sure if I’m pronouncing that right, but God you know who this people group is, and you know there’s 1.2 million of them, very few of them, who know the name of Jesus. They’re a Muslim people group in the Philippines, God we pray for the spread of Jesus security. We pray for the spread of the good news of Jesus as the great shepherd, to the Maguindanao in the Philippines, and all kinds of other peoples, to the ends of the earth.
Micah 5:4–5 Thanks God for the Peace Found in Jesus
God, may it be so, and Jesus you are our peace. You are our peace today. Lord, I just think about all the different circumstances that people who are listening to this are walking through. Even I, in my own life, I’m walking through different things, I praise you. We praise you. Jesus, you are our peace. In the middle of a turbulent world, we look to you and we say, “He shall be our peace.” Jesus, we praise you for standing and shepherding us in the strength of the Lord. We praise you for the security we find in you. Lord, we praise you for the peace we have in you. We pray that you would use our lives to make your name great to the ends of the earth. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
