Concerning Christ’s first coming, the prophet Micah prophesied, “You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, / So little to be among the thousands of Judah, / From you there will come forth to Me / He who is to be Ruler in Israel; / And His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity” (5:2). Based on Matthew 2:6, the birth of Jesus has fully fulfilled this prophecy. Micah’s prophecy concerning the goings forth of Christ is a great matter in God’s economy. This prophecy reveals to us that on the one hand, Christ as a man came out of Bethlehem, “David’s city” (Luke 2:4), but on the other hand, Christ as God came forth from the days of eternity.
In eternity past God chose us and predestinated us in Christ (Eph. 1:4-5). Through Christ’s coming forth, God’s choosing and predestinating were manifested in the believers. If God had only selected and predestinated us in eternity without coming forth out of eternity, that is, coming with His divinity into humanity, He could do nothing with us. Whatever He will do and can do for us depends on His coming forth. Christ’s incarnation, that is, His becoming the One who comes forth from Bethlehem, started from ancient times, from the days of eternity. Not only did He come forth from ancient times and from the days of eternity, but He was also incarnated and went through human living, death, resurrection, and ascension to become the consummated Spirit. In His goings forth, He is our Ruler, Shepherd, and peace (Micah 5:2-5). As our Ruler, He keeps us; as our Shepherd, He nourishes and cherishes us; and as our peace, He controls our environment so that we may enjoy Him. The prophecy in Micah concerning Christ as the One coming forth from Bethlehem, becoming the Ruler, Shepherd, and peace, will be further fulfilled at the time of the restoration. At that time Christ will save the Israelites from the invasion of the nations so that Israel, His elect, will receive comfort and enjoyment (vv. 4-6).
In Haggai 2:6-7 the prophet Haggai was charged by Jehovah to speak to the people: “Thus says Jehovah of hosts,... I will shake all the nations, and the Desire of all the nations will come.” This prophecy was initially fulfilled at Christ’s first coming, but it will not be until the second coming of Christ that this prophecy is completely fulfilled. This prophecy says that Christ is the Desire of all mankind. All people desire to have life, light, peace, goodness, and righteousness, but what they actually desire is Christ, because without Christ, there is no reality to these human virtues. Thus, to desire virtue is to desire Christ. All the nations, including the unbelievers, unconsciously desire Christ. This is what it means to say that Christ is the Desire of all the nations as prophesied by the prophet Haggai.
Malachi 3:1 says, “I am about to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me; and suddenly the Lord, whom you seek, will come to His temple. And the Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, He will come, says Jehovah of hosts.” This is a prophecy concerning Christ as the Messenger of God and the Angel of the covenant in His first coming. As the Messenger of God, Christ not only brings a word or a message from God to God’s people; He Himself is the living message. This is fully proved by the four Gospels, which are a complete and perfect record of Christ as the living message sent by God to His chosen people. While the Lord Jesus was living on earth, as He traveled through the cities, proclaiming God to the people and ministering Himself into them, He Himself was the message.
Christ was also the Angel of the covenant in His first coming. Before going to the cross, He established His table and enacted the new covenant with His blood (Matt. 26:26-30; Luke 22:20). For Him to be the Angel of the covenant means that He is a serving One, to serve God in forming the new testament. By the enacting of the new covenant, God is obligated to dispense Himself into our being to be our life, to be the law of life (Jer. 31:31-34), and to be everything to us. Christ not only enacted the new covenant through His death, but in resurrection He executes the new covenant as its surety (Heb. 7:22), making it real to us. By the new covenant that He enacted and by His being the surety, we have forgiveness of sins, and we also gain Him as our life and life supply. According to Acts 26 we receive forgiveness of sins and “an inheritance among those who have been sanctified” (v. 18b). This inheritance is the Triune God embodied in the all-inclusive Christ, to be “the allotted portion of the saints” as our inheritance (Col. 1:12).
Even though the Angel of the covenant has been sought and desired by the Israelites (Mal. 3:1; Hag. 2:7a), the Jewish people, generally speaking, have not benefited from the covenant. Instead, the covenant has gone to the Gentiles. However, when Christ comes back, He will come as the Angel of the covenant to execute His covenant over the repentant and believing Jews. At that time they will all become beneficiaries of the new covenant. The prophecy concerning Christ as the Angel of the covenant in Malachi 3 has been initially fulfilled at the first coming of Christ, and its fulfillment will be complete at the Lord’s second coming.