The Revolution of Christmas

When Heaven Meets Earth

Over the past couple of weeks we have been on this series called “When Heaven Meets Earth”

The first week we talked about How we can have hope in a God who kept his promises to Abraham

Even when it looked like all was Lost and Israel was the laughing stock of the nations…When it looked like there was no hope left, God came through with hope!

Then last week we looked at how heaven met earth in the lives of ordinary people and how God chooses these ordinary people from forgotten places to be receptacles of the divine

Literally that is what Mary was…An ordinary women from a place that has no influence….And she had an openness to God’s plan!

And today I want to talk about how the birth of Jesus is and was pure revolution!

I want you to get an idea of what the world was like when Jesus stepped out of heaven

In so many ways, The story of Jesus being born gets lost in the commercialism of Christmas

We are going to look at the Christmas story a little differently today;

because the Christmas story is not just a romantic scene about a baby in a manger it is a revolutionary, clash of two kingdom’s event…

I want you to see the revolution of what happened when heaven meets earth!

OKAY

Read Luke 2:1-14

Luke 2:1–14 NIV

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

There are two words here that mean so much…These two words define the revolution of Christmas and why the coming of Jesus was so amazing.…

Cesar Augustus

Luke is showing us the birth of Jesus in light of world history

Now I know History is boring for some of you but this matters so much so just hang on with me for a second because your going to want to hear all of this

The Roman Republic lasted for about 500 years until the day that Julius Cesar crossed the Rubicon river…

This is where we get the phrase, “Crossing the Rubicon”…Because there was no turning back after he did that ……

The republic would eventually dissolve (Skipping over history here) and Julius Cesar would become the first dictator of Rome or the first Emperor……

So Julius Cesar was the guy who changed the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire

In the day the Roman Empire ruled all, from the British Isles all the way to India, and at the head of all of that was this royal family it began with Julius Cesar,

Now the Roman Senate still existed and many of you know the story…

“Be ware of the Ides of March”

Julius Cesar was gaining too much power and in 44BC he was assonated by Marc Antony and the Roman Senate.

But is was right before this that he took his nephew Octavian under his wing and he adopted him into his family…

So Octavian rose to power and his first act, as Cesar was to avenge his father’s death

So the first thing that you have to do as a dictator is to please your people and get them on your side…

So he held Gladiator games …These were extremely popular in Rome

And on the very first day of these games a comet that was visible in daylight appeared, to this day there are Roman coins that commemorate this

Tons of ancient sources have written about it

Its commonly referred to as Cesar’s Comet

So if your living in 44BC then what does this mean?

Well obviously if your the dictator of Rome you have to use this to your advantage

This was taken as a sign that Julius Cesar has ascended to the right hand of Zeus and that Julius Cesar was now sitting at the right hand of god…

It wasn’t just Octavian who believed this, it was the whole of Rome

So if Octavian is the Son of Julius Cesar…then what does this make Octavian????

It makes him the son of God!

Now Rome for 13 years was in chaos after the death of Julius Cesar…It sparked a massive civil war that included everyone in the Roman Empire, including Cleopatra in Egypt …

Now 31BC. OCTAVIAN defeats Cleopatra and Marc Anthony, and for the first time there is peace, for the first time and 13 years.

(Now a quick side story is that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet based off the love story of Marc Antony and Cleopatra…Marc Antony mistakenly killed himself when he thought cleopatra already killed herself …Anyway…LOTS of drama in the ancient world…

So now that the Civil war is over

The Roman senate welcomes Octavian with open arms. There is like 40 years of peace and to you history buffs, this period is called what? “Pax Romana” which means a the Peace of Rome

The senate is so appreciative of this that they vote and give him a title; the title is “Cesar Augustus” which is a religious title that means divine one, son of the deified one, so what happens is this,

we can not understand how devastating these civil wars were to the Roman people, and how proclaimed the peace of Augustus was when it settled in the empire,

literally Augustus was called Savior of the world, and the empire that he inaugurated was called salvation, the biggest boast of Octavian was peace.

Literally he was so loved and feared that the Romans made something called the Arch of Peace with an alter in it…Because Augustus was the king of peace…

Now the Romans had a bit of a different idea of what peace was

there are stories of the Romans conquering other places and being absolutely ruthless. If the conquered the poor then they lust for land, if they conquered the wealthy then they lusted for wealth, so there was peace on the home front, but there was war everywhere else.

Now for the Romans the end of the civil war and the peace of Rome ushered in a new era of prosperity.

Augustus bragged that he transformed Rome from Brick to Marble

But: To give you an idea of what Pax Romana looked like to the Jews it was this:

Cephras was a scene of a revolt, that was about 4 miles from Nazareth, there was a Roman general named Veres who on the spot Crucified 2,000 people for a revolt.

There was Roman general named Cassias who enslaved 30,000 people as a punishment

We have records of the town of Emmaus, where Jesus is walking after he rose from the dead, the town of Emmaus we call it, the town was absolutely destroyed by the sword, This is the Rome that the Jews knew……

Now I want you to see that when Luke said, in those days, Cesar Augustus issued a decree, which was a big deal!

There was an inscription found on a building dated back to 9bc, listen to what it says

“The most Divine Cesar, who we should consider equal to the beginning of all things, for when everything was falling into disorder, Cesar picked it up…Cesar has put an end to fighting and is Savior, having become God manifest, Cesar has fulfilled all of the hopes of previous times… and at the celebration of the birthday of Cesar, has been the beginning of Good News ”

-The Priene Inscription, written 9 BCE

This is the same Greek word that we use for Gospel,

Before there was a gospel of Jesus Christ, there was a Gospel of Cesar Augustus.

Within this inscription is also a command to celebrate Cesar’s birthday, with a 12-day celebration called advent…So there is a lot of New Testament language found in the inscription, and I want you to understand that if you were a Jew at this time this was the kind of propaganda that you heard all the time.

He was called the cosmic savior

Heavens Shining Star

The God Augustus

You’d have to worship this guy or be severely punished

You could not escape this

Communities formed that worshiped Cesar called Ekklesia, which is the Greek word for church

As I give you all of this history, you may be wondering, why is there so much language that is applied to Jesus?

Because the whole point of the Christmas story is to force you to choose!

Luke tells us that during this reign by Cesar Augustus, there is this baby that is being born that will make all of the difference.

Luke is setting up a conflict by 2 kings, 2 kingdoms

Literally at the end of the book of Luke, Pilate says to the Jews, “Should I crucify your king?

And what do they answer back? We have no king but Cesar!

These kingdoms will eventually clash on the cross!

Paul wrote to the Galatians:

At Just the right time Christ Appeared. He wasn’t making this up! He saw all of this

So Now in light of all of this….Lets re-read Luke 2…

Luke 2:1–14 NIV

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

How do you know who to tax? There is a census taken, when you have the largest standing army in the world you have to pay them somehow.

So they had taxes, then just to humiliate their subjects they would force them to pay a tribute

The tribute would be to say that I live at the will of Augustus,

that’s why Jesus gets asked about this, Is it lawful to pay tribute to Cesar.

In fact the political party of the Zealots was probably started over this issue. The Zealots killed Jewish tax collectors because they were so against the tribute.

Many of the Jewish leaders at the time thought that paying the Tribute was tantamount to worshiping Cesar so they would not pay it.

So here is Mary and Joseph, The Gospel tells us that they are dirt poor, they travel 80 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, (which was Joseph’s home town oh and by the way the birth place of Israel’s most famous king, King David!

-The reason why there wasn’t enough work, because the Jews were oppressed by the Romans they had to travel wherever they could to find work.

Luke 2:8–10 NIV

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Ok: A little more history, Whenever Augustus would enter a town, his men would go before him and shout out the good news about Pax Romana and that it was Good news that causes great joy for all the people. We have historical record of this!

and now the Angel of the Lord used a the same words as was used to introduce Cesar! ?

And not only that, but who was the Good news for in Rome, Rich Romans, and the angel says here that this is good news for all the people.

Luke 2:11 NIV

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Do you understand why people would get killed for proclaiming this? Cesar was called Savior, now in Rome there was already a Lord and Savior and that was Cesar.

And the town of David or Bethlehem is just littered with Messianic promise!

Micah 5:2 NIV

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

All of the Jews are looking to this place…This is where the savior will come from!

Luke 2:12–14 NIV

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Suddenly a great company of Heavenly Hosts

So this language the Host of heaven is used to describe God’s Divine Counsel. See there is this whole unseen spiritual realm that we dont see all the time

But on the day of Jesus Birth these shepherds got to see Heaven open up in front of them and the angelic host of heaven proclaimed to them the good news.

Not only would this would have blown a comet out of the water…But Matthew’s gospel tells us that when Jesus was born a star rose and people from all over the world came to see Jesus!

So anyways…God tears open the veil of heaven before these shepherds!

And they are saying Glory to God in the highest!

Heaven is meeting earth right now in the child of Mary!

Peace to Men whom his favor rests! But wasn’t there already peace? Because Cesar brought peace?

When Cesar would parade into a town legions of people would go ahead of him and praise him saying these exact words

“Glory to Cesar, and peace to those whom his favor rests”

Guys the Christmas story is not just a story, it is not this tame idealistic look at Christmas that we all tend to have.

Jesus was born in the midst’s of repression, and death and he was born into a world where there was already someone proclaiming to be the Son of God.

There was already a prince of peace

Heaven’s shining star was already here

The story of Christmas is a divine revolt against the Cesar’s of this world.

When heaven meets earth it is a is a divine act of revolution

Do you see what’s going on, Luke is saying that these two kings are destined to clash

and they ultimately clash when Jesus is standing before palate and Pilate says “as an ambassador of Rome I have the power to set you free or to kill you,

and Jesus, simply says, no power has been given you except what God has given you. I do not loose my life I give it…

Do you see that the Christmas story isn’t the soft tender silent night holy night that we make it?

This is revolution

Then right under Cesar’s nose people were forming different kinds of Ekklesias, or churches, people were forming these ekklesias that worshiped Jesus.

It makes you ask, how am I going to raise my children? Do I want my children to grow up well dressed, not cursers, people who respect others because that’s what Christians are and do?

Well of course I’d want that for my kids but what I want more is for them to be so utterly captivated by Jesus that they understand what he offers isn’t a nice way of living,

but a Subversive radical and revolutionary acts of defiance.

Where the world says crush people we say love them, where the world says money is the path to power and success, we say no it’s service and humility because that’s what Jesus did.

See if you just go on living by default then you are going to be a nice member of the kingdoms of this world …But God is calling people to a different kingdom! One that

Peace is more than the absence of war it is living in community with God

One in which Joy has nothing to do with your circumstances but is pervasive because you are in fellowship with the king of Heaven

What can be more powerful then a group of first century Galileans saying that Cesar is not Lord

His Peace is a fraud

He is not the savior

What do we want our kids believing?

I think that most of us have bought into this idea that we pray a prayer, that we read our bibles, and come together and sing songs with people about a place that we will be at one day.

I want my kids to see and know that the revolution is here and now, that Jesus came not only to show us the way to the father but an entirely new way to live.

Jesus said that he would never leave us or forsakes us, what would happen if we really started believing that?

This idea of revolution is all through out the Christmas story, so we kind of need to do something about this

Which kingdom is it going to be for you?

Jesus comes proclaiming his kingdom But there are already so many kingdoms in this world

I always just thought that I benefited from Jesus revolution but Jesus says you are a part of the revolution

The Christmas story is an act of rebellion to the Cesar’s of the world that would say, take revenge…To the Cesar’s of this world that would say life is all about you and your happiness

What’s the meaning of the Christmas story?

I will not bow down to another Cesar?

The world does not need another Cesar, the world needs more revolutionaries, lets figure it out, how will we be revolutionaries?

When John the Baptist said the Kingdom of heaven is coming people said what should we do?,

John said if you have 2 tunics give one away

If you collect taxes, don’t collect more that you are required…

How will you be revolutionary?

Let’s pray

Jesus wants to invite you to faith and allegiance to him!

Heaven and earth can meet in your life in the person of Jesus

He wants a relationship with you!