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Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Prophecy:
Micah 5:1-2: (1)
And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah-you should have been the lowest of the clans of Judah-from you [he] shall emerge for Me, to be a ruler over Israel; and his origin is from of old, from days of yore.
(2) Therefore, He shall deliver them until the time a woman in confinement gives birth. And the rest of his brothers shall return upon the children of Israel.
Proof:
Matthew 2:1: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem...
Micah speaks of Bethlehem as the Messiah’s place of origin since this is David’s birthplace and the Messiah will be a descendant of David.
Isaiah 11:1-9: (1) And a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse, and a twig shall sprout from his roots. (2) And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and heroism, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord. (3) And he shall be animated by the fear of the Lord, and neither with the sight of his eyes shall he judge, nor with the hearing of his ears shall he chastise. (4) And he shall judge the poor justly, and he shall chastise with equity the humble of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall put the wicked to death. (5) And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his loins. (6) And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them. (7) And a cow and a bear shall graze together, their children shall lie; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw. (8) And an infant shall play over the hole of an old snake and over the eyeball of an adder, a weaned child shall stretch forth his hand. (9) They shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount, for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water covers the sea bed.
I Chronicles 22:9-10: (9) Behold a son will be born to you; he will be a man of peace, and I shall give him peace from all his enemies around about, for Solomon will be his name, and I shall give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. (10) He shall build a House in My Name, and he shall be to Me as a son, and I to him as a Father, and I shall prepare the throne of his kingdom forever.'
There will be a pre-tribulation rapture.
Prophecy:
Micah 7:1-2: Woe is to me, for I am as the last of the figs, like the gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat; the first ripe fig my soul desires. The pious have perished (אָבַד) from the land, and there is no upright among men; they all lurk for blood; each one hunts his brother with a net.
Proof:
First Thessalonians 4:17: Then we who are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
The Hebrew word avad (אָבַד) does not only mean “to cause to disappear.”
Avad can mean "to cause to disappear" but it can also mean to be destroyed, to vanish, to be lost, or to go astray. It does not necessarily mean to disappear but can mean to go astray or become lost.
Deuteronomy 22:3: So shall you do with his donkey, and so shall you do with his garment, and so shall you do with any lost article of your brother which he has lost (תֹּאבַד) and you have found. You shall not ignore [it].
Micah is bemoaning the fact that the people are unrighteous and non-receptive to his prophecies.
In Micah we see that the prophet is bemoaning the fact that the people are unrighteous and non-receptive to his prophecies. It does not mean that the people have disappeared from the earth.
We see in the previous chapter that Micah is calling to the people to repent and return to Hashem. For if the people continue in their wicked ways in the decrees of Omri and Ahab they will be punished.
Micah 6: 9, 16: The voice of the Lord calls out to the city, and the wisdom of the Torah, the one who sees Your name; hearken to the staff and Who appointed it. … And the statutes of Omri shall be observed, and every deed of the house of Ahab; and you shall walk in their counsels, in order that I make you an astonishment, and its inhabitants a hissing; and the disgrace of My people you shall bear.
Israel will not repent but Micah remains faithful.
Micah begins by bemoaning his role as a prophet to an unrighteous nation. All the leaders – the nobles, officials, and judges – are corrupt. The people listen to false prophets but when they expect good based upon false prophecies Micah says that they will only reap punishment.
Micah declares that despite the people’s shortcomings he will remain faithful to Hashem.
Micah prophesies the exchange that will occur between Israel and their oppressors. The oppressor will tell Israel that their day of salvation will never come. However, Micah – replying on behalf of Israel – states that Israel’s salvation will come and that day will bring punishment to the oppressor nations.
The chapter ends with Micah asking for Hashem’s blessings and protection for Israel. Hashem responds by offering a pledge of great miracles. Micah goes on to describe the final humbling of the nations and their future reverence for Hashem.
This chapter closes with Micah asking Hashem to fulfill His promises to the patriarchs to preserve their descendents and give them the Land of Israel.
Pre-tribulation is not a (Christian) Biblical idea.
Matthew explicitly states that Jesus taught that there will be only one rapture at the end times.
Matthew 24:29-31: Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Paul also taught that there would be only one rapture.
I Corinthians 15:23-24: But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those [who are] Christ's at His coming. Then [comes] the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.
*Jewish Scripture from The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary
**Christian Scripture from the New King James Version |