When I was a kid I loved thinking about a future world with jet packs and flying cars. I heard predictions and assumed these would be readily available by the year 2000. Although long disappointed, I recently saw a prototype for a flying taxi, so I’m again hoping to soar to Walmart and pick up some milk.

With our history of predictions that fail to come true, it’s amazing to read prophetic words from the Bible. Micah wrote these lines roughly 500 years before the birth of Christ:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be a ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.

He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.

Of course, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and his origin was from ancient or eternal times. The wise men from the East, having read this prophecy, visited Herod looking for a new king born in Bethlehem. And today, the greatness of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, reaches the ends of the earth.

Fulfilled prophecies point to the validity of the Bible. They back up its truth claims. We can trust the words of the Scriptures, just as we can trust Jesus is the Messiah. Amazing to consider, and much more astounding than a flying car.

Micah 5 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Mehdi MeSSrro