The Birth of Jesus
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The Prophecy, The Timing, and the Birth
The Prophecy, The Timing, and the Birth
The Prophecy
The Prophecy
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
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 Timing
The Timing
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.
All history is in God's hand (Psalms 31:15). He knows the best season for sending help to His church and new light to the world. Let us not be anxious about the course of events around us, as if we knew better than the King of kings what time relief should come. "Cease, Philip, to try to govern the world," was a frequent saying of Luther to an anxious friend. It was a saying full of wisdom.There is no date recorded in the Bible. If the date was vital, God would have included it. But to think of dreary, cold, dark nights in the rain when the sky explodes with light and choruses of angels seems to be a beautiful, and very defensible date.
After Alexander the Great's conquest of Mesopotamia and the rest of the Persian Empire in the fourth century B.C., Greek supplanted other tongues as the official language in much of the region.
40 And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.
The True Glory of Christmas is how perfectly God entered our world that first Christmas. There are five perfections we will see:
His TIMING was perfect because it was in the Fullness of Time.
His NAMES were perfect because they reveal we deeply need what only God gives.
His PLAN was perfect because it was be God with us.
His PROMISES were perfect because they were the culmination of ALL PROPHESY.
His RECEPTION was perfect because He was found by all who were looking for Him.
His TIMING was perfect because it was in the Fullness of Time.
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. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
His NAMES were perfect because they reveal we deeply need what only God gives.
Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’
Is 9:6 “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.”
His PLAN was perfect because it was be God with us.
Micah 4:12 (ESV) But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
His PROMISES were perfect because they were the culmination of ALL PROPHESY.
2 Peter 1:3-4 “3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
His RECEPTION was perfect because He was found by all who were looking for Him.
9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
11 “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.
Sinners Jesus will receive:
Sound this word of grace to all
Who the heav'nly pathway leave,
All who linger, all who fall.
Chorus:
Sing it o'er and o'er again:
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Make the message clear and plain
Christ receiveth sinful men.
Author: Erdmann Neumeister (1718); Translator: Frances Bevan (1899)
The Birth
The Birth
Luke records the birth of Jesus in just seven verses. What a staggering thought, isn’t it? That such a momentous event should be covered in such an economical fashion. In fact, it’s not only the brevity of the announcement that has struck me again this week; it is the fact that there is nothing particularly remarkable about it.
Luke 2:1-7 “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 guest room.”
When: During the Reign of Caesar Augustus
Place: Nazareth
Because the fullness of time and God’s perfection of the prophecy, Joseph receives news you have to register in you home town for the census. Why a census? It’s all about taxes. Judea faced at least three censuses around the time of the birth of Christ, in 8 B.C., 2 B.C., and 6 A.D.
We have concluded from the previous text in Luke that Mary, although a young virgin, knew her OT. After Gabriel’s grand announcement she would have been aware of the prophecy in Micah 5:2 (ESV)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.
I can hear Joseph know. You mean I am going to have to travel 3 days with a pregnant wife, not just pregnant, very pregnant just so Caesar can make sure Rome is getting it’s proper tax. Mary reaching out to his shoulder with a light touch, fear not my husband the baby will not arrive until we arrive in Bethlehem.
Why? In order for what the angel told her to be true, because of Micah’s prophecy, Mary’s knowledge of the Old Testament, they would make it to Bethlehem.
Some would believe after all the fanfare to the angelic visitation of Gabriel, the angel that stands in the presence of God, the birth of the Savior of the world would have been much more impressive. Jesus may be saying to Himself, “I left the splendor of heaven for wha?” No, God continues to confound us with the simplicity and what man may call “foolishness and myths” is God’s mystery.
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.