The Preservation of the King
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Go ahead and grab your bible and find Luke Chapter 2. We are getting closer and closer to Christmas day. And you would normally expect to hear the birth of Jesus in the Christmas message. But we are going to go ahead and look at that today. I want to be able look at the reactions that happened after Jesus’ birth this Christmas.
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.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Pray
In this account of the birth of Jesus, we see the situations dictate some of what is going on. I would say that the situations actually were a hinderance to the birth of Jesus in some ways. I am sure that Mary never planned to give birth the way that she did. Think back on a time in your life when you had a plan and things did not go the way that you had expected. Maybe it was a job or a relationship. Maybe you lost your job and thought that you would retire there. Maybe you lost your spouse much sooner than you were expecting. We can all think of a time that this has happened.
For me, I thought that we would have had children sooner than we did. We decided after about a year of being married that we wanted to have kids. It was about 4 years later that we experienced a miscarriage. And this was the only pregnancy that we have experienced. This was not our plan. Just as your plan may not have worked out. But God preserved HIS plan. Not our plan. And God opened the door for us to adopt our daughter.
Just as it was probably not Mary’s plan to be pregnant while she was still a virgin, and give birth to the messiah of the world, your plan may not be God’s plan. Just as it was not Mary’s plan to give birth in a place that was used to house animals, your plan may not be God’s plan. Today, I want us to see that even when things are not going our way, that God is preserving his plan in our lives.
1. God’s Preservation in the Birthplace
1. God’s Preservation in the Birthplace
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.
So in the world around the birth of Jesus, around the time of Jesus, there was this registration that was taking place. And what was this registration for. You guessed it, taxes. Even in the time of Jesus, taxes were a problem. And the Roman government wanted to make sure that everyone was paying their taxes to them. When it says all the world, Luke is talking about all of the Roman empire. So if you were under the watch of the Roman Empire, you had to be registered.
3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
This was all part of God preserving the birthplace of Jesus. He had to put the pieces into place for this to happen. What we need to see is God working through his promises. Micah 5:2 “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.” This is God’s promise to his people that the savior would come from Bethlehem. So God put the pieces together for this to happen. God let Israel come underneath Roman control. God put into power Caesar Augustus and Quirinius. They didn’t know what they were doing. They did not know nor would they admit that the reason that they were in office was because God put them there. But we know that God puts those that he wants into positions of power. Romans 13:1 “1 Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.”
God orchestrated all of this to be put into place. Because if Joseph and Mary would have stayed where they were, the promise of God would not have been fulfilled. See, they were not in Bethlehem.
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,
They were in Nazareth of Galilee. 80 miles from where they needed to be for the registration. It wasn’t like it is today when the census worker will pull into your driveway and ask you at your house. You had to go to your own town to be registered. God used Roman control. God used wicked men. God used taxes to fulfill his promise that Jesus would come from Bethlehem. If God can do all of this, surely you can see God working in your life.
God has a purpose for you. You were born where you were born, to the parents your were born to, raised by the people that raised you, all according to God’s plan. Just as God preserved the birthplace of Jesus, God preserved your birthplace. You were created with a purpose. You live here for a purpose. What is that purpose? To glorify God in all that you do. If you are at work, glorify God. If you are at school, glorify God. If you are at the senior center having fun, glorify God. God has placed you where you are, around the people that you are around, to glorify God. Just as God preserved the birthplace of Jesus, he preserved your place as well.
You may have wondered your whole life why you grew up where you did, when you did, and with who you did. Maybe you grew up in an abusive family. Maybe you grew up in an alcoholic home. Maybe you were sexually abused as a child. These are all situations that we cannot control as children growing up in situations like this. And you probably wonder why God would do this? Why would God let someone grow up in a situation like this.
And you may not like this answer but he did it for his glory. Let’s get it straight that God did not, in some evil way, put someone through this himself. Yes God is sovereign but he is not evil. God’s sovereignty and man’s free will have this beautiful tension. We will have choices to make. God did not make someone an alcoholic or an abuser. But God can use those situation to draw someone into him. We talked last week about God using this lowly. God uses difficult situations to bring glory to himself.
Why did you grow up with who you grew up with in the situation that you grew up in? Think about the person that it has made you today. My prayer is that if you were in a bad situation that you do not let that situation define you. That you surrender yourself to Jesus and make Jesus what defines you. Even through wicked and evil things happening to God’s children, he preserves them to work for the good of his people and all the glory to God. Just as God preserved where Jesus was born to fulfil his own promises, God has preserved you through your situation.
2. God’s Preservation in the Birth
2. God’s Preservation in the Birth
I want to finish up verse 4.
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.
Joseph had to go to Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of Jesus. We have spent the last couple of weeks looking at how this is important. This is important because of the promise of God. God spoke to David in 2 Samuel 7:12 “12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.” So Jesus was both adopted into the family of David through Joseph. But he was also born from the seed of David through Mary.
So they went to Bethlehem to be registered, him and Mary who was pregnant. This is also something that was very risky for them as well. To travel like this when you are near birth would have been risky. But either situation would have been risky for Mary. After the angel appeared to them both, Joseph decided to still go through with the marriage. People could have easily done the math and figured out that Mary was having this baby before she should have if they would have waited until they were married to conceive the child. This would have been culturally frowned upon. So we have 2 different situations for Mary here. Either stay in Nazareth while Joseph goes to Bethlehem and possibly endure criticism from the people in Nazareth for getting pregnant before getting married, or travel with Joseph while she was pregnant to Bethlehem.
So she went with Joseph. This trip was around 80 miles. This was quite a distance and would have taken somewhere around 4 days to journey. I am sure the mothers here would understand what kind of journey this would have been being pregnant. Probably an uncomfortable one. Especially both on foot and on animal. But they make it to Bethlehem and then something happens.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
Mary begins to have the baby. Was this part of their plan, to have the baby in Bethlehem? I believe that Mary knew that she needed to be in Bethlehem because of the promise that God gave his people that the messiah would come from there. But I also believe that the situation was quite heavy on Mary as well. Because there was an issue at hand. With the registration that was going on, Joseph was not the only one traveling. This would have been good for the inn keepers, they probably made a lot of money. But for a man and woman who were about to have a baby, this would have been problematic. As it says at the end of the next verse, there wasn’t a place for them at the inn. We can tell from the story that they would have tried the inn, but the inn keeper would not have had anywhere for them. One of the commentaries I have on this text said that if the inn keeper would have asked his tenants if they would have given their room for the birth of the child and they refused, then they missed for all eternity on a chance to be famous.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
A manger would have been a feeding trough for livestock. Let’s put this into perspective for a birth today. When you have a baby now, you go to the hospital. Once you are there, they have a room specifically designed for the birth of a child. This room would be cleaned. You can be assured that no livestock would be present during a birth. And after the child is born, they are placed in a cleaned bed when they are not being held by the mother. The tools used in the birth would be sterilized. The doctors and nurses would be suited up and have on proper equipment for their protection and the protection of the baby. It is night and day difference between the condition that Mary was in.
She would be giving birth in a stable. And I know in the cute little nativity scenes you have the barn and the cute little animals. But this isn’t the most accurate picture either. The stable would most likely been a cleft in a cave where you would spend the night while taking care of livestock and where the animals would take shelter. You won’t see this printed on a Christmas card. But while Mary was standing there waiting to have this baby, Joseph would have been working to make this stable as comfortable as possible. He would have been removing what animals were leaving behind, removing cobwebs, and possibly food for the animals. He would not have been putting up pretty lights, decorating the Christmas tree, and putting presents under the tree. He would have been doing his very best to clean out this stable enough to just make a bed of hay for Mary to lay on while she gave birth.
All of this for the messiah. All of this for the one who will reign as King of the world for all of eternity. And it was this way because God had preserved the way in which the savior would be born. None of this caught God off guard. God knew that he would use the census as a way to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. God knew that there would be nowhere for them to stay. God knew that they would have to go to a stable and that the baby would be laid in a manger. None of this took God by surprise because of God preservation in the whole situation.
(take a breath)
We gather together week in and week out to worship the sovereign God of the universe. I know that we say this quite often, but do we believe it. It is easy to say that God is sovereign over all of creation but do we truly believe that God is over creation. We may say that we believe that God is Lord over all but we have a hard time believing that God is Lord over us. Phil 1:6
6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
If God has saved you, he will preserve you for all of eternity. Does this mean that you will never struggle, or that you will never have to deal with sickness, or that you will never hurt? We should never equate salvation to comfort. God preserving you, preserving your salvation does not mean that you are signing up for a life of luxury or comfort. It means that on the day that you enter into heaven, that you do not get there because of your own merits or doing, but that you get there because of the work that Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. That you have the blood of Jesus applied to you. I mentioned the great exchange recently. That our sins were place of Jesus at the cross while at the same time, his righteousness was placed on us. So that when God looks at us, he does not see the sinful person that we once were. But that he sees the righteousness of Jesus.
God does not leave us high and dry after we come to a saving faith. God may have been orchestrating salvation in our lives for years, but this does not mean that he is done with us. He who began a good work in us will complete it.
D. Martin Lloyd Jones once said about this, “God does not merely initiate the work and then leave it, he continues with it; he leads us on, directing and manipulating our circumstances, restraining us at one time and urging us on at another.”
As we come to a close today, I want us to reflect back on our lives and try to see where God has orchestrated things to bring us closer to him and bring him glory.
*If you are here today and wondering what this is all about and have heard this word salvation and don’t know what it means, I want you to listen to me.* (Why we need salvation and gospel presentation)
As we close, if you need to come down front and pray, I want you to know that you are more than welcome to come down, grab someone and ask them to pray with you.