Go Tell Somebody (Biblestudy)
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And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
There are two halves of the text that we want to deal with. We want to deal with the background of the text which is the first half of the text. Then we want to address the back part of the text which is the second paragraph.
The first half of the text is from a historical/reasoning understanding of the text.
The second half deals with the spiritual application of the text.
I. The Situation Surrounding the Birth of Jesus.
A. Why does Luke write about who was ruling and why a censes was being taken?
The first thing Luke makes known was that Augustus decreed a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.
Why does Luke put that in the scripture? ANS: There are several reasons why this is in scripture.
Who is Augustus? Augustus Caesar was the 2nd emperor of the Roman Empire. He ruled from 62 BC - 14AD. According to historians, Augustus was considered to be a pretty good king according to the world’s standard. Augustus was the step-son of Julius Caesar who ended up inheriting the throne of his step-father. He reluctantly became king, prior to that he was a renown military general.
To understand the reason why the Bible states Augustus in the first place, you have to consider Old Testament History. Real quick, the Jews went into captivity by? The Babylonians. The Babylonians were conquered by? The Persians, who ultimately were conquered by Mark Antony and the Greeks. The Greek empire was a vast empire, its language and culture spread throughout its empire. Rome was a part of the Greek Empire until Rome itself rose to power.
II. Biblical Prophecy concerning the times and arrival of the Messiah.
A. The scriptures foretold of all of this in Daniel.
Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Consider scriptures 31-33, what is unique about this statue. ANS: It is strong from its head, but as you go down the body it deteriorates. Head is gold….strong……chest and arms silver…….belly and thighs are bronze……legs iron….degrading…..and then a combination of clay and iron feet. What is the weakest part? Feet, if you take your legs out from your enemy they will fall.
So Daniel says a “rock was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands.” No the rock is not Jesus…not in this sense. But it is God who is cutting a rock from a mountain to smash the feet of this statue. Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom is going to fall.
But the mountain that knocked down statue became a great mountain that covered the whole earth (verse35). What does this mean? ANS It means that the rock that God hewed out of the mountain became a great mountain…so in a sense Jesus is that mountain. Because Jesus ushered in the kingdom of God. And the kingdom of God has done what no other kingdom in history has done. It has spread over all the Earth!
So the first statue was Babylon.
Look at verse 39:
And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
The second kingdom is Persia.
The third kingdom is Greece.
Listen to verse 40
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise. And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
The fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire. Remember if you read your history, there was indeed some intermarriage, some leagues, because remember marriage of dignitaries usually resulted in alliances. Julius Caesar married? Cleopatra. Then when Julius Caesar was assassinated the kingdom was divided between one of Caesar’s generals, his step-son Augustus who in the will was suppose to inherit all of the financial inheritance of his step-father, and Mark Antony. Now, Mark Antony sided with Julius Caesar. Roman Senate had Julius Caesar assassinated.
So if we read history, it happens exactly as Daniel had prophesied.
NOW…eventually Augustus would come to rule all of the Roman Empire.
AND……WATCH FOR IT!!!!
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Daniel is talking about the CHURCH!!!!
Jesus said himself:
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
See we think that Jesus was only talking about Peter being the foundation of the church! NO…study harder my friend…..pray for understanding. Jesus was referencing the old biblical prophecy because he asked the disciples “who do men say that I am” Peter says “thou art the Messiah the son of God” in which Jesus replies flesh has not revealed this to you but my father which is in heaven.”
Jesus then tells Simon (you are Peter) and upon this rock…he never told Peter directly that upon you I’m going to build the church. Upon this Rock…remember the rock was hewed out a long time ago. The rock knocked down Babylon, it knocked down Persia, it knocked down Greece, it was going to knock down the Roman Empire. Jesus was referring to himself…JESUS IS THE ROCK. The church can never be established upon a man, it will fail every time.
But when the church has been established by Jesus Christ…The church can NEVER FAIL AND THE POWERS OF HELL CANNOT CONQUER IT!!!!
III. Augustus Caesar sends a decree out that a census be made and that taxes be paid (Luke 2). Now notice in verse 3 “And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. Both Mary and Joseph were from Bethlehem. If you read in chapter 1 verse 27:
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Bethlehem was the ancestral home of the family of King David.
Read Micah 5:2
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Messianic Prophecy concerning the coming of the Messiah “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” The Messiah would be born where? Bethlehem Ephratah.
You want to hear the kicker of all of this. Beth means house, lehem means bread……house of bread.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
Then Luke 2:6 says:
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
Micah’s prophecy came to past.
IV. Go Tell Somebody.
A. Let’s move through this quickly, because I don’t need to exegete scripture much to give you something to take home.
Facts: Shepherds were staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.
An angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded THEM.
The shepherds were terrified, but told them don’t be afraid.
“I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to ALL PEOPLE.” SOMEBODY SAY ALL PEOPLE. NOT TO JUST A SELECT FEW….BUT TO ALL PEOPLE.
What is the good news. The SAVIOR, THE MESSIAH WHICH IS CHRIST (YAHUSHUA HAMASHIACH). I listened to a nigerian song that was talking about Jesus and they were using the actual title Yahushua Hamashiach. And then they switched and started using Jesus Christ. It is the same thing, nothing different. And some of yall sitting here with your minds blocked thinking his name isn’t that, but I got news for you. Africa been in Christianity way longer than us Americans. And Christianity did not originate over here…..if anything…it has been perverted and diluted. And now it is starting over there….because we are trying to proselyte a continent that had it before we even did.
And they told the Shepherds “this is how you will find him, he was born in a unique place, he wasn’t born in a hospital, he wasn’t born in a house, he wasn’t born in the Inn because they turned them away….there was no room.
You’ll find him wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. A manger is not the wood edifice around the animals. A manger is an animal trough where they drink their water out of.
And to confirm what the angel had just said, there appeared a host of heavenly angels praising God and saying “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” The angels gave Glory to God…..is there anyone here tonight that can give glory to God that Jesus came! He came to bring peace on earth. True peace can only be attained through Jesus Christ. By having a relationship with Him. The NLT says “peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels returned to heaven the shepherds said, we need to go check this out!
And when they got there, it was just as the angels told them that it was. And they began to tell everyone!
But there is something there that I want to lift from the text. They did not make excuses for not telling people the good news. They LEFT THE FLOCK!!! UNATTENDED!!! THEY FORSOOK THEIR DUTIES. I BELIEVE THEY HAD FAITH THAT IF WE LEAVE AND CHECK OUT WHAT THE ANGELS HAS TOLD US…..THAT GOD WOULD LOOK OUT FOR US.
YOU MUST HAVE FAITH THAT IF YOU DO LIKE THE SHEPHERDS DID THAT GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. THEY STARTED TELLING EVERYONE. WHY? BECAUSE MARY AND JOSEPH COULDN’T AND MARY KEPT THE THOUGHTS TO HERSELF, BECAUSE THIS WAS STRANGE TO HER.
3 WISE MEN SHOWING UP BRINGING GIFTS, SHEPHERDS COMING TO CHECK OUT WHAT’S GOING ON, ANGELS SHOWING UP TO TELL HER WHAT WAS GOING ON, ANGELS APPEARING TO JOSEPH.
AND THE LAST THING THE SHEPHERDS DID….THEY WENT BACK TO THE FLOCK PRAISING AND GLORIFYING GOD FOR ALL THEY HAD HEARD AND SEEN. IT WAS JUST AS THE ANGEL SAID. WHEN GOD GIVES YOU A WORD AND IT COMES TO PAST, WHEN GOD IS GOOD TO YOU, WHEN GOD ACCOMPLISHES WHAT HE SAYS HE’S GOING TO DO, WHEN GOD IS FAITHFUL TO HIS WORD, EVEN IN YOUR UNFAITHFULNESS, IT OUGHT TO CAUSE YOU TO PRAISE THE LORD, IT OUGHT TO CAUSE YOU TO GLORIFY GOD!!!
JUST TELL THREE PEOPLE…..WE GOTTA GO TELL IT!!!