The Fearful, Wonderful Providence of God

Luke 2:1-5 ESV

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

This morning marks the first Sunday of a new month, which means that this morning we begin a new series of sermons.

Furthermore, this is the first Sunday in December, which lets us know that the series that we will be working through this month will center around what it is that we as Christians celebrate and recognize every December, and that is the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, throughout the five Sundays in December, we will be looking at the narrative surrounding the birth of Christ found in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

Now, what may make this series of messages different from sermons that you have heard around the Christmas season in the past is that we are not going to speak of the incarnation, the birth of Jesus not just at our official Christmas service, but all month we are going to be talking about this narrative, going step by step, verse by verse through all 21 verses of the narrative.

In fact, we are even going to throw in a sermon from this narrative after Christmas, when we gather for worship on New Year’s Eve.

But at any rate, what we see throughout this entire narrative is what we call, the providence of God. Providence is defined as:the governing power of God that oversees His creation and works out His plans for it.

Thus, providence can be defined as the outworking of God’s sovereignty in creation. Thus, while God gives us freedom to do whatsoever it is that we desire to do, He still oversees His creation and ensures that that which we do accomplishes His purposes and brings His plans to fruition, even through us doing whatever it is that we desire.

I have heard countless people declare that we have “free will”, but how “free” is our will?

To state that our will is absolutely free is to suggest that the choices that any person makes are in no way conditioned or determined by any prior prejudice, inclination, or disposition; that the choices that we make come as a spontaneous act on our part.

To sincerely state that our will is absolutely free is to suggest that there is nothing whatsoever that causes us to act a certain way or to choose a certain path, because if there was something outside of ourselves that causes us to act a certain way or to make a certain choice, then our will is not free, but it is instead captive to whatever is influencing me to choose something or to act a certain way.

For example, let’s say that a random man walks into our worship service this morning. And as this man walks into the church, I have no desire or inclination to give that man the money that I have in my wallet. So, my desire, my greater inclination at that moment in time is to maintain the money that I have, rather than to give it to this man who just walked in the church.

But let’s say that that same man walks to the pulpit, points a gun at me. and then says that if I don’t give him my money, that he is going to shoot me. Well, at that point, my desire to maintain my money changes. Now my desire, my greater inclination is to give him my money, because if I don’t, I will lose my life, which I hold dearer than I do my money.

So, how free is my will? It’s not free at all. Instead, it is held captive to whatever my strongest desire and inclination is at any given moment, which, as was just illustrated, can change by forces outside of myself.

Well, what providence is, is God using the strongest inclination that we have at any given moment to accomplish whatever it is that He wants to accomplish.

In other words, I may do something because my strongest inclination at a given moment is fueled by love. God works through my inclination to love to bring about His purposes. Or I may do something because my strongest inclination at a given moment is fueled by greed. Well, God works even through my greedy inclinations to accomplish His purposes.

And as we look to our reading for today, we immediately see God’s providence at work.

The first two verses of our reading tell us this when they say:

Luke 2:1-2 ESV

1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

Our reading says that “in those days” that is, in the days after John the Baptist had been born and while Mary was still carrying the Lord Jesus and was nearing the time in which she would deliver Him “a decree went out”.

Now, a decree in this context was a public proclamation that a ruler would give to his subjects which made them know that a change in the law had taken place, or that a new law had been put in place.

Our reading says that this decree had “went out from” or, originated with and then issued forth from Caesar Augustus, the reigning Roman emperor, and it went to “all the world”.

Now, this mention of “all the world” is an example of hyperbole in the Bible. And hyperbole is, is an extravagant exaggeration.

For example, if I get a good night’s rest, I might say, “I slept like a rock!” even though rocks don’t sleep. Or, if it’s raining really hard, I might say, “It’s raining cats and dogs outside” but if we look out the window, we will see that cats and dogs aren’t falling from the sky. Or one that I use quite a bit is when I’m stuck behind a slow driver, I’ll look at Jordan and I’ll say, “That guy is driving like a turtle!” but, turtles can’t drive, so, you know, I don’t actually mean that he’s driving like a turtle.

And when our reading says that this decree went out to all the world, it’s not saying that even the eskimos in Alaska received it, rather, its saying that this decree went out to all of the realms of the Roman Empire.

And what this decree stated was that everyone should be registered, and the reason why this decree went out, history tells us, was for tax purposes. In other words, Caesar wanted to be sure that he was getting every last dollar that he could get his hands on.

Thus, as we were just saying, our strongest inclination at any moment is what directs our will. And Caesar’s strongest inclination at this time was greed. He didn’t want to miss a single penny that was coming to him, so he decreed what he decreed when he decreed it. It just so happened that what he decreed was accomplishing what God had said would happen at this time.

What God had said would happen at this time is recorded in the prophecy of Micah, chapter 5, verse 12, which reads:

Micah 5:12 ESV

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.

What this says is that the Messiah, the One Who Mary is carrying was to be born in the city of Bethlehem.

And we see this coming to pass in the remainder of our reading, verses three through five, where it says:

Luke 2:3-5 ESV

3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

In order for this registration to go smoother and easier for Rome, they did not go out searching for people, instead, they told the people to come to them.

When our reading says that each went to be registered in his own town, it indicates the method which the Romans used to collect the information that was needed. If you were of a certain lineage, you were to report to the town that those who possessed the same lineage as you possessed were instructed to report to.

You might even say that it was like a family reunion of sorts; but you were reuniting in order to pay taxes, so, you know, it probably wasn’t as entertaining and enjoyable as a typical family reunion.

Well, both Joseph and Mary were from the tribe of Judah, and more specifically, they were both of the house and lineage of David. And because this was the case, it was the lawful duty and obligation of Joseph to go to the town in which the lineage of David was commanded to report to; that town went by the name, Bethlehem, the very town in which it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born.

Thus, Joseph heads out from his hometown of Nazareth in the northern province of Galilee and heads south to Bethlehem, the city of David, which was in the southern province of Judea.

But it wasn’t just Joseph who made the trip, for verse 5 of our reading says that Joseph went to be registered with Mary.

But you would think that when taking such a census of the people, that the husband, the father of the household would report on behalf of his entire family and register them. And indeed, this was the case.

Therefore, legally speaking, Mary did not have to go with Joseph to be registered, for by this point, they had already been married, but had yet to consummate the marriage.

That is why she is addressed here as Joseph’s betrothed, for they had already married. Matthew 1:24 tells us that right after the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to take Mary as his wife, he done just that. Thus, they were legally married at this point, but as Matthew 1:25 tells us, Joseph and Mary did not “know each other” or, they did not consummate the marriage until after Jesus had been born.

But as was said, because this was the case, because they were now married, Mary was under no obligation to go to Bethlehem with her husband. But even more than that, because Mary was so far along in her pregnancy, you might even say that it was dangerous for her to make this trip with Joseph.

But there was something, what exactly it was we don’t know, but it caused both Joseph and Mary’s strongest inclination to be that she accompanies her husband to Bethlehem to be registered.

But regardless of what it was that led Caesar Augustus to issue the decree for the census, and regardless of what it was that led Joseph and Mary to make the decision to travel to Bethlehem together as such, what we do know is that God providentially used the decisions that were made to bring about His plans and purposes, because as we will see next week, Mary brought forth the Messiah in the little town of Bethlehem, just as the scriptures declared.

Beloved, the providence of God should give the greatest comfort to the believer, because the providence of God tells us as believers that no matter what occurs in this world, no matter what choices the believer makes, no matter what choices the unbeliever makes, they will all be used to accomplish the purposes of God. And the purpose of God always includes bringing the believer to Him and keeping his salvation secure.

But for the unbeliever, this reality should make you tremble, for it lets you know that there is no hiding from the omniscient God, Who knows all things, Who is absolutely just, and will ensure that His wrath which abides upon you will indeed be expended.

The book of Revelation tells us that when the Lord returns, those who have not been saved by Him will plead for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them in order to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb Who was slain, but there will be no hiding.

Great fear should the doctrine of God’s providence produce within the hearts of all people. But may the fear within the heart of the believer be a reverential fear that draws us to God, that causes us to take comfort in God’s providence, and most of all, that leads us to the worship of God.

May it be so for us this very day.

Amen?