Every time I open the Old Testament books of prophesy; I am amazed to find different time frames woven together. In verse 1, Micah told Jerusalem to, ‘Mobilize! The enemy lays siege to Jerusalem!” Micah prophesied 100 or more years before the Babylonians even surrounded Jerusalem, and verses 2 & 3, are about the birth of Jesus that happened about 700 years after his prophecy.
This can be confusing! The problem we have is we live in a time-space world, but the Author, God, of these prophecies is not limited to time or space; He is eternal. Peter put it this way: “For no prophecy recorded in Scripture was ever thought up by the prophet himself. It was the Holy Spirit within these godly men Who gave them true messages from God.” (2 Peter 1:19). God sees the end from the beginning.
So, how do we interpret these prophecies? The truth is no living human being really knows though we all (Christians that is) have our ideas. Some of us are Pre-millennialists, some Post-millennialists, and some Amillennialists. Unfortunately this has caused divisions within God’s Church to the point we sin by not loving our brothers and sisters in Christ as He told us to do. “I demand that you love each other as much as I love you.” (John 15:12). “And so I am giving a new commandment to you now-love each other just as much as I love you. Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” (John 13: 34-35).
In verses 2-3, we read “’O Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are but a small Judean village, yet you will be the birthplace of My King Who is alive from everlasting ages past’!” (+700 years future) “God will abandon His people to their enemies until she who gives birth has her son;” (772 BCE to about 35 CE). “Then at last His fellow countrymen – the exile remnants of Israel – will rejoin their brethren in their own land.” (Still future).
For those who believe that Revelation 21-22 speaks of eternity on a new earth for believers, what does chap 22:2 mean by, “On each side of the river grew Trees of Life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month; the leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations”? One commentator I read basically said, “Don’t pay attention to this”.