Luke 2:1-7
Things do not always happen the way that we expect them to
happen. The birth of Messiah certainly
would fit into this category. The
expectation of Messiah was that He would be a powerful political figure that
would liberate His people from oppression.
Certainly it was imagined that He would be born into an influential
family with wealth and power. However,
that is only half of the picture that Scripture paints of Messiah in the Old
Testament. The Bible describes Messiah
in two distinct ways. He is described as
a suffering Savior as well as a reigning Ruler.
The image that was most attractive to the people of this day was that of
the Ruler. Reigning is always more
attractive to us than suffering. However
in the case of Jesus; one was not possible without the other. Since man’s rebellion against God in Eden;
all of mankind had been transferred from the kingdom of God to the kingdom of
Satan. Without the suffering of Jesus on
the cross there was no kingdom over which to reign. All of the requirements of Scripture had to
be fulfilled. There are many things
about the birth of Jesus that seem ironic to us; but they were necessary in
order to fulfill Scripture. As we study
God’s Word and strive to live our lives in accordance with His Word it is of
vital importance that we do not impose our expectations on the teaching of
Scripture.
A CENSUS: It is
ironic that God uses the decree of a pagan king to accomplish His will and
fulfill the prophecy of Scripture concerning Messiah. The census that was imposed on the nation
requiring every person to go and register in their towns of origin was a form
of oppression that must have been a terrible inconvenience on all the
people. It was just this kind of
oppression that the people had hoped that Messiah would eliminate. The sovereignty of God over the events of
human history allows Him to use anyone of His choosing to accomplish His will. This may have seemed like a great hardship
for the nation that demonstrated God’s lack of control or caring in the eyes of
the people. In reality, just the
opposite is true. God was orchestrating
His perfect plan in the circumstances of the nation and the individual people
involved. When we are tempted to doubt
the sovereignty of God because events do not occur in our lives according to
our expectations; we must remind ourselves that God often works in mysterious
ways. The paths of God’s choosing are
often unexpected and to us seem unexplainable.
It is not our job to be able to understand. Our responsibility is to simply trust and
obey Him.
A CITY: The Old Testament prophesied that the Messiah would
be a descendant of David and born in Bethlehem.
As we saw in the genealogies, both Mary and Joseph were descendants of
David making Jesus the rightful heir of the throne. However, they did not live in Bethlehem; they
lived in Nazareth. That is where the
importance of the census came in that required the two of them to travel to
Bethlehem in order to comply with the requirement of the government. Christmas pageants
not withstanding; it is very unlikely that Joseph and Mary made this journey
while she was in her final weeks of pregnancy.
There was likely a rather long period in which they would be able to
register and they would have probably planned to go early in order to avoid the
panic that is so often portrayed in church Christmas plays. The Bible only states that she was pregnant,
not that she was nine months pregnant.
Whatever the case, it was providential design for the couple to find
themselves in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
This was the City of David and the place that was foretold as the city
of Messiah’s birth. Every detail of God’s
plan was important and would be completely fulfilled in Christ. There could be no doubt or debate about the
legitimacy of the identity of Jesus as the Messiah who was promised by the
prophets. There may be specific places
and times where God plans to use us in His mission. However, we must not confuse our own roles
with the role of Jesus. Our primary
concern in life should not be about being in the right place at the right time. Rather, our focus must center on being an
example of godliness wherever we might be.
God is far more concerned with who we are, what we do and why we do it
than He is about where we happen to be.
A CIRCUMSTANCE: Perhaps the most ironic aspect of Christ’s
birth is that the King of King, Lord of Lords, Creator and Sustainer of the
universe was given a manger as a crib.
We would have expected a king to be born in a palace with all of the
finest accommodations available. That
was clearly not the case. However, once again,
our Christmas plays don’t paint a completely accurate picture. When the Bible says that there was no room
for them in the inn we should not picture a “no vacancy” sign in neon lights
flashing on all of the hotels of Bethlehem.
That was really not a part of the culture of that day. The greedy inn keeper who had the audacity to
rent out his barn to the desperate couple is not a real character in the
Christmas story. It is far more likely
that the word inn refers to the innermost part of the home in which Mary and
Joseph were being hosted. More than
likely, they were staying in the home of a relative that lived in town. The homes of that day commonly had places for
the animals of the family to stay. Sometimes
this would be in the lower level of the home so it provided shelter and
security for the animals as well as warmth for the home. The inn would have been the usual living
quarters of the family. When Mary and
Joseph arrived, their host family more than likely wanted to give them the
privacy that they needed so they made other arrangements for their animals,
cleaned out that part of the home and allowed the couple to lodge there during
their time in town which was likely several months. Though these were not ideal circumstances for
the birth of a child, we should not imagine Jesus being born out in a barn with
animals eating out of the manger that was his bed. It was the best that a modest family could
provide for them in these circumstances.
As we seek to fulfill God’s mission for the nations we will often find
ourselves in less than ideal circumstances.
Sometimes we sleep on benches, under trees, in grass huts, on rocking
boats or in the back of bouncing vehicles.
This should not surprise in light of the fact that the Son of the God
whose mission we seek to fulfill had His first sleep in a manger.
APPLICATION: Recognize that God is in sovereign control of
the governments under which we live; He is able to use the most godless ruler
to accomplish His perfect plan. Trust
that God has us right where He wants us to be right now; and His desire is that
we be godly examples as we trust and obey Him.
We should expect to be called to face circumstances that will be
uncomfortable to us as we seek to fulfill His mission on the earth.
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