“And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.” (Matthew 2:6)

From earliest times, God’s image bearers have desired to follow a leader. We were created to follow God’s lead by innately reflecting His image back to Him. But the first humans (and every one after) responded to a different ruler than God—and that has been our downfall ever since. Ultimately Satan made his move against the pinnacle of humanity in the temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4), in order to obtain worship from the incarnate Son of God. This fulfilled Isaiah’s prophesy:

“But you said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of assembly in the recesses of the north. ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’” (Is 14:13–14, where the speaker is identified in the NKJV as Lucifer in Is 14:12).

Every country or people group has its kings, presidents, governors, mayors, chiefs, generals, bosses or authorities. But God is king over all of them. The biblical story has this issue woven throughout as a central theme. Think of God’s people in their formative years as a nation. When they saw that all the other nations had their kings and leaders, they wanted to imitate them. God anticipated this when He spoke through Moses during the Exodus:

“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. (Deut 17:14–15)

As the story unfolded, the people rejected God’s rule over them and chose their own idea for a ruler, King Saul, who turned out to be a complete failure. But if it was a man they wanted, then God raised up David, the man of His own choice. Yet David was simply a picture of a much greater ruler, namely the One born in Bethlehem, the hometown of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Ruler of God’s choice. He, as the God-man, now perfectly shepherds His people! And there are no scandals, no faults, no shortcomings in Him.

Lord, I re-commit myself every day to following Your leadership in my life.