Luke 2:5; Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city
Micah 5:2 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”
Isaiah 11:1-2; [1] … Then a shoot will spring from the stump of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. [2]The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, …
Why Bethlehem? Why did God choose such a small place for the Messiah to be born. Your answer might be because it was the home place of David, but I’d ask you why did he choose such a small place to be the homeplace of David, which ultimately would become the birthplace of the Christ? According to the passage in Micah, Bethlehem was so small it was not even on the map as existing, but Micah makes it very clear that there was a heavenly vision and purpose for Bethlehem that had been established in eternity past. Again, why Bethlehem? I believe that God was trying to say, by choosing Bethlehem, that God’s redemptive purposes for each human being, established in eternity past, is available to the weakest, and most inadequate among us. That passage in Isaiah 11 says that when the Holy Spirit is at work, God’s purposes can come forth from a stump. God has a heavenly vision, that was established a long time ago, for each one of us in Christ. It doesn’t matter if you feel you have absolutely nothing to offer, and the enemy has told you that you are a total nobody, or if you feel like a stump that has been cut down in life because of your own failures, or the failures of others against you; in your weakness you are just the kind of person that God is looking for to manifest His most extravagant purposes in and through. If you feel inadequate, because you feel like you have nothing to offer God, or if you feel disqualified because of sin in the past, it is important that you know that those are lies from the enemy. If you just make yourself available to him, who is the fulfiller of all heavenly destinies, then your smallness is just what He needs, because in our weakness His strength is made perfect.