Luke 2:1-20
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Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
The Christmas story as told by Luke begins by mentioning the name of an Emperor.
In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus.
Now, Caesar Augustus was the chief ruler of the Roman Empire.
And at this point, Rome was the strongest empire in the world.
So Rome being the strongest empire in the world and he being the emperor of Rome, he would have been by default the strongest leader in the world. Caesar Augustus was a powerful man.
He is known for leading the time of Roman Empire known as the Pax Romana- or the peace of Rome.
Caesar Augustus was known as the one who brought peace. He strengthened their military and he kept them out of conflicts. He built Rome up with complex infrastructure. It was a peaceful time in Rome where they enjoyed success and riches.
He was and is still known to be one of the most influential figures in World History.
Caesar Augustus like most powerful men, was full of pride. It was under his rule that Rome began to worship the emperor. He proclaimed himself to be Lord and God and he forced people to worship him.
In fact, it was his pride and greed that led to him issue this decree.
He wanted to know how many subjects he had, and he wanted them to be registered so that the could get his taxes.
Mary and Joseph were included in this.
Now I tell you all that to tell you this.
Caesar Augustus was a powerful man, but he was not God.
Caesar Augustus, like all men and like all kings, is under the providential and sovereign hand of Almighty God.
The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.
“It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding.
So yes, Caesar issues this decree.
Mary and Jospeh begin making their way to Bethlehem.
And the irony of ironies is this: the true Lord and God is still in control and he is in the Virgin Mary’s Womb .
Caesar’s decree forces Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. But only because, God has spoken through His prophets that it is in Bethlehem, That theMessiah will be born.
And we see the hand of God work like this through Scripture, where God controls the heart and actions of the kings to bring about his purposes.
Juts think of Pharaoh in Egypt. Another powerful man but God shows His power over him.
Caesar is not God. Caesar Augustus is not in control and he never was.
God through Caesar’s decree, sets the world in motion to bring about the event that changed the history of the world, the birth of Christ.
Philip Van Ryken says it this way.
Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 Once, in Royal David’s City
God was taking Caesar’s pawns and moving them to checkmate, so that the real Savior would stand alone as the King of kings.
God is in control of this moment and every moment, though Caesar issues the decree. Its all set in motion by God.
No earthly King rules this world, outside of Christ Himself.. God rules and he is ruling to the end that he will receive the glory.
He is the Sovereign One.
God controls all things from the world’s most significant historical events to the smallest drop of rain, it is all working to bring about His glory, even through a lowly birth in a stable.
Look in verse 3 and following.
And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.
So Jospeh and Mary, living in Nazareth, Mary being very pregnant at this point, had to make their trek to the city of Bethlehem, because they were of the house and family of David.
They had to go to the city of their ancestors. Every one did this. This made it easier for families to be counted together and tracked.
But Why Bethlehem according to the plan of God?
Because The Messiah was prophesied and promised to be a son of David.
2 Samuel 7:12-13
“When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
now the immediate context, you would think he was speaking of Solomon. But Solomon’s kingdom was not forever.
God promised David that he would raise up a descendant whose kingdom would be forever. Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem is the fulfillment of that promise. He is the promised King and he will reign forever.
Why Bethlehem?
Bethlehem was the prophesied place of the Messiah’s birth.
Micah 5:2
“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”
The prophet Micah prophesied that the Messiah would come from Bethlehem.
One whose “goings” are from long ago. From the days of eternity, would come.
The eternal Son of God, the one promised, would come to earth and begin his earthly life in Bethlehem.
So this decree made by Caesar, served the plan of God.
God through the decree of Caesar, is bringing about the divine decree that he had in place from before the foundation of the world. He sent His Son, and he would be born not in Nazareth, not in Jerusalem, but Bethlehem.
And thats what happened.
While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Jesus is born in Bethlehem.
But what happens in Bethlehem at His birth is pretty surprising seeing as how this was the most anticipated and most significant birth that has ever taken place.
(Illustration: I’ll never forget the days Abi and Evan Grace were born. When Lauren went into labor on a Thursday evening, I called my family and hers, and they made their way to Durham, NC. Lauren was in labor for 37 hours, but our families waited there with us the entire time. They were eagerly expecting and waiting the birth of their first grandchild. We were eagerly awaiting the birth of our first child. I took 4 showers in the course of those 37 hours. I was nervous and excited. After 37 hours of labor, Abi was born. We celebrated, we cried. We took pictures.
Evan Grace’s birth was less eventful. Due to her size, and the amount of fluid surrounding her in the womb, the doctors decided to do a C Section. Again, our families were there in Florence as we eagerly awaited the birth of Evan Grace.)
We made their entrance into the world as special as we knew how. We celebrated. We did all we could do to prepare for that moment and be ready.
This is what we do when children are born.
And with Christ, What in our minds should have been a glorious entrance, where Christ should have been welcomed as the whole earth would shout in praise, did not happen that way.
Jesus was the long awaited King. The Long awaited Messiah.
But Jesus was not honored as such by even the city in which he was born. His entrance into the world was far from a kingly entrance and certainly far from what he deserved as the Son of God.
Luke tells us
And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
No room for Christ.
The Creator of all things. The Maker of Heaven and Earth. The architect and builder in charge of hanging the Sun, the moon, the stars. The one who spoke the oceans into existence. The one who brought the mountains up. The Sovereign Son of God.
No room. No space available.
The place where travelers would come, scholars believe was more so a house where guests would stay, it was full. No vacancy.
So they find a place. Joseph does the best he could.
Mary gives birth in a place where animals fed. We would be mortified to hear of such a birth today in our modern world that holds high sterilization.
What a night it must have been.
In fact, I love the song, but I’m pretty sure it was anything but silent.
Listen to how Pastor Kent Hughes imagines that night.
He writes,
“Imagine the sweat and pain and blood and cries as Mary reached up to the heavens for help. The earth was cold and hard. The smell of birth mixed with the stench of manure and acrid straw made a contemptible bouquet. Trembling carpenter’s hands, clumsy with fear, grasped God’s Son slippery with blood—the baby’s limbs waving helplessly as if falling through space—his face grimacing as he gasped in the cold and his cry pierced the night.”
God’s son was born in a barn. Laid in a manger. No room for him.
In fact, his birth is just a small picture of what he would deal with his entire life.
His whole life, he was rejected.
We hear the sound of rejection from the manger to the cross.
He is rejected from having a warm place and good shelter to be born.
When Herod hears of His birth, he commands that all the baby boys two years and younger would be killed.
John tells us:
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
in John 8:58-59, they tried to stone him because he told them he was the Great I am.
They do it again in John 10 when Jesus claims oneness with the Father.
“I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him.
Then, when given the choice of release between a guilty murderer or Jesus, they choose the murderer Barabbas and they kill Jesus.
But they cried out all together, saying, “Away with this man, and release for us Barabbas!” (He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.) Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail.
The world rejected Him.
From the sound of animals at his birth to the condemning cry, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him! One thing is clear, the world rejected him and the world is continually rejecting Him today.
Norval Geldenhuys said this,
“What the inhabitants of Bethlehem did in their ignorance is done by many today in willful indifference—they refuse to make room for the Son of God. They give no place to Him in their feelings, their affections, their thoughts, their views of life, their wishes, their decisions, their actions, or their daily conduct.”
We hear the sound of rejection today.
From the highest offices to the lowest slums, people reject the Savior.
National leaders in this nation and across this world, like Caesar, have declared themselves to be the ones deserving of worship.
Every common person from the richest to the poorest have rejected the God who created them and every one of us are guilty before God.
as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Thats talking about the people of Bethlehem. Thats talking about the people of Jerusalem. Thats talking about the Jews, and that is talking about every one of us.
But the amazing part of all this is that is precisely why Christ came. He came to make those who were his enemies, his friends.
As the songs says, He was “Scorned by the ones he came to save.”
This is why He came. The Prophet Isaiah told us this is who he would be.
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
The Gospel message is clear here.
We all like Caesar have rejected His Lordship as we have sought to be our own lord.
We all like the people of Bethlehem have had no room for Him.
We all like the people of Jerusalem, have cried out Crucify Him.
And yet He came for us.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
He took our sin, so that if we will only believe, we can go free.
Caesar Augustus claimed to bring “Peace to Rome.”
But Christ came and brought peace to the World.
At his burial place at a place called Halicarnassus, there is a tomb there.
According to the website dedicated to his tomb, Augustus’s Mausoleum is the largest circular tomb in the world.
Wonderful. Its still a tomb and all that gigantic tomb is is a reminder that Caesar was not God.
There is an inscription written on his mausoleum that hails him as the “savior of the whole world.”
And that inscribed on his burial place, where he still lays today.
But the true Savior of the World, only borrows a tomb for three days and then gets back up.
Jesus is God. He is the Savior of the World.
The question is, Do we have room for him?