Fullness of Time

Galatians 4:4, Luke 2:1-21

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What We’ll See:

We’re going to see the story of Jesus’ Birth.

We’ll See some of the reasons that Jesus was sent by God.

We’ll talk about how we can unwrap God’s gift for us today.

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Galatians 4:4–5 (ESV)

4. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5. to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

When we looked at Galatians 4:4 last week, we talked about how God sent Jesus at exactly the right time.

Notes: God sent Jesus when the Fullness of Time had come.

In the Spirit of us celebrating Christmas, we are going to look back at verses 4-5. Notice how verse 4 says that Jesus was born of Woman and born under a law. The story of Jesus’ birth is spoken about in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, in Matthew 1 and Luke 1-2. We are going to look at Luke 2 today. But before we Look at Luke 2, lets look at the Context.

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Context

In Luke 1:26 - 38, Luke writes about an engaged young woman named Mary. He tells her that she is going to be pregnant even as a virgin; she should name the young boy she gives birth to “Jesus”. After that, she visits her aunt and uncle Elizabeth and Zechariah. God promised them a son named “John the Baptist,” who was born while Mary was there. God uses a miracle to confirm what the angel told Mary, and Elizabeth and Zechariah confirm what God told Mary also, that the boy she was pregnant was from God and had a special purpose, the boy she and Joseph would name Jesus.

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Luke 2:1–21 (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.

We see here that part of God’s plan for Jesus to be born was during the reign of Caesar Augustus. Caesar Augustus was very much a real Caesar, perhaps the most famous of all time. To summarize, Augustus took over Rome after his uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated. As Emperor, Augustus would have put in place  had a costly but widespread plan: a Census: to register everyone. He wanted there to be paperwork on everyone in the Roman empire. It’s possible he wanted to do this for tax purposes; it’s also possible that he was just curious. The bible doesn’t say here in Luke. And so, because of Augustus’s plan each person went to their “own town”.

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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.

Now, we see in the Old Testament that God promised coming person who would be a ruler who was going to set things right.

Notes: You see, Jesus’ birth was told beforehand.

God promises this person in Deuteronomy 18:15 as a prophet and calls him an anointed one in Daniel 9:25-26. You see, in the old kingdom of Israel, God would have the prophets anoint people with oil to show that they were chosen by God, which is why people were called anointed, or in Hebrew Meshiakh, which is where we get the word “Messiah.”

The Old Testament said that the Messiah would be born from the lineage of King David, the same David who fought Goliath and then ruled over Israel. God promised that David’s kingdom would last forever in 2 Samuel 2:16:

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2 Samuel 7:16 (ESV)

16. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

We are going to see that while Mary and Joseph are in Bethlehem, Jesus will be born. The bible says that this Messiah would be born in Bethlehem in Micah 5:2.

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Micah 5:2 (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.

The Bible says that this Messiah would be a descendant of David in Isaiah 9:6-7:

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6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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7. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

Notice it also says in verse 7 that this Messiah will rule with Justice and Righteousness forevermore. It also says that this Messiah will be from the lineage of David in Isaiah 11:1.

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Isaiah 11:1

1. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

This verse shows that the Messiah will be born from the bloodline of Jesse.

Notes: He is the branch of the root of Jesse.

Who is Jesse the father of? David. What God promised David in 2 Samuel 7:16 (ESV) is also talked about here in Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 9 says that he will be a righteous and just ruler and Isaiah 11 says that he will be a righteous and a fair judge. I encourage you to look over Isaiah 9 and 11 this week, as it gives some interesting details about what Jesus as the Messiah is supposed to do.

Well, now that we have a little taste of what the Messiah is promised to be like, let’s go back to following after Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem because of the census.

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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.

It was finally time for Mary to give birth! She wraps him in cloth, because you want to keep the baby warm, and then what does she do? She puts him in a manger. Now the word Manger is just another word for a feeding trough. It might have been down in the ground. Maybe there was hay, or maybe they gave it a good sweep beforehand. Why did she do this?

Because there was no room in the “inn”. This would have been a place for guests to stay. Maybe they had a guest room picked out and there was enough room for Joseph and Mary, not for Joseph, Mary and a baby. Where ever guests stayed, there wasn’t enough room for all three of them, so they improvised. Maybe it was a silent night, or maybe Jesus was a loud child, we’re not told.

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8. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

Leaving the new parents and their child, we move over to a probably empty field with no street lights, but just some shepherds. Shepherds were seen as dirty and smelly because they hung around sheep all day; they were the blue collar workers of their day. And it was to this group of people that God sends an Angel and the “glory of the Lord shone around them.”

Notice how they reacted: were they filled with the butterflies? Did they have a warm, fuzzy feeling? No. They were filled with great fear. The Angel sees this because notice what he says,

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10. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

10. And the angel said to them, “Fear not

Have you ever had someone say, calm down? Do you feel very calm after people say that. The Glory of the God of the universe just appeared around them, and the Angel says, “fear not.” But notice, the Angel doesn’t just stop there! He gives them something to think about to help them to not fear:

“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

The Angels give the Shepherds something to think about to help with their fear: That a savior had been born. This message is a cause for Joy for everyone in Israel. Notice Jesus is called Christ the Lord. Christ comes from the Greek word Christos, just means “Anointed One,” or we might say “Messiah.” He is also called Lord; this little baby will one day rule the nations.

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“12. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Remember, a manger was just a feeding trough. What a sign that would have been! Can you imagine if an Angel would have told you, “here’s the sign: you’re going to find the Baby wrapped in cloth and laying in a feeding trough?” It probably was such an unlikely scene that it was unmistakable.

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13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

Now, notice how it says “heavenly host.” This means a unit or group of heavenly beings. We aren’t told what these heavenly beings looked like, but we are told that they were praising God. Imagine hearing one angel speak to you. Imagine how out of this world that would have been.

Now, imagine seeing a groups of them! Have you ever seen the northern lights? What about a meteor shower? What these shepherds saw and heard was probably beyond anything we could imagine. And these being were praising God.

14. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

They wanted the attention to be on God himself and they showed the heart of God: peace with those with whom he is pleased. Do you want that peace? Do you want God to be pleased with you? How do we get that as sinful humans? Through the one who was just born! Through trusting in God.

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15. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

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16. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

The angels went away into heaven. They probably disappeared into the sky; and I imagine it got pretty quiet for a while. I also imagine that the shepherds, after a long pause, started saying, “well let’s go to Bethlehem!”

And, just as the angel said, they found a baby laying in a feeding-trough.

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17. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.

So the Shepherds show up and, of course, see a Baby, lying in a feeding trough. I imagine that the shepherds told Mary and Joseph what happened because it might have made them a little nervous to see a group of people randomly show up just to see their child. The story of Jesus’ birth is one of “don’t worry, God told me to”s. Mary was pregnant with Jesus by an act of God, told by an Angel of God that this was God’s doing. The Gospel of Matthew says that Joseph was told by God that he should marry Mary even though she was pregnant before marriage. And now, the Shepherds were told by God to visit Mary and Joseph.

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19. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

Notice that Mary treasured up what was being said, and thought about it. We see the type of person she was. She was a woman who trusted in God’s plan, but she also put a lot of thought into what was happening.

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20. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 21. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Notice they were both glorifying God and praising him. By glorifying, it could mean that they were talking about how great God was with each other, but it could also mean that they were talking about how great God was with other people as they returned. Imagine you saw Angelic beings show up just like the shepherds did, who told them that the Messiah, the one who was going to save the world was just born. Wouldn’t you also want to tell other people about how amazing God is?

21. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The baby was circumcised at the end of eight days, just like the Law of Moses said to do. Remember, Jesus was born under the Law of Moses. The name Jesus is a Hebrew name; it’s where we get the name Joshua. The name means “salvation” or rescue.”

Notes: Jesus was sent to rescue us.

John 3:16-17 says:

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16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

It was God’s plan to save the world through Jesus.

Notes: Also, Jesus was sent to be our mediator between us and God.

Look at 1 Timothy 2:5–6 (ESV):

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5. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6. who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

When we accept Jesus, he gives us Eternal Life and he talks to God on our behalf.

Finally, one day, Jesus will return and rule. Because Jesus wasn’t just sent to save us from our sins,

Notes: he was sent to set things rights.

Remember what we saw in Isaiah 9:6-7 and Isaiah 11. We also see in Revelation 20, that Jesus will one day return, set up a kingdom of righteousness and peace and there will be no more war. His Kingdom of peace and justice will never end. And all of these promises started to be fulfilled in a little town of Bethlehem as Joseph and Mary put laid their new-born baby in a feeding trough; a baby would one day raise people from the dead, who would one day be named Jesus.

As we celebrate the birth of Christ, let us also look forward to Hope to that promised kingdom that will never end. Do you want to be able to have hope no matter how bad the world around gets?

Through Jesus, God has given you a gift to unwrap. You can have that hope by simply believing in Jesus of Eternal Life. You get Jesus as a Mediator, You get to become a Son or Daughter of God as the Apostle Paul talks about in Galatians 4 and Romans 8, and you to get to have hope that Jesus will return and rule the world as a perfect and righteous king!

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What We’ve Seen:

We looked at the Story of Jesus’ Birth.

We saw some of the reasons that Jesus was sent.

We talked about how we can unwrap God’s gift for us today.

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Application:

Thank God for coming down as a human for our sake.

Continue to say no to sin and live by the Spirit.

Use Christmas as an opportunity to share the Gospel in Love.

Prayer