We ask you to turn to the book
of Luke this morning, the book of Luke. As we think about the
incarnation of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, we have the account
written here in the book of Luke about His physical birth, about
His coming into this world, and we know the outcome of that,
that this is the body that was prepared. This is the body that
the God of heaven gave for the ransom of the sins of his people. So we're going to begin reading
here with verse 1 of the book of Luke chapter 2. Now, we're
dealing in this area with Israel. Now, it was interesting to find
out, and I probably knew it at one time, but I don't know what
I've forgotten all the time, but the part of property that
was given to the 12 tribes in Israel was about 1,200 square
miles. And it's interesting to find
out that that 1,200 square miles would fit in the state of Oregon
80 times. It's about the size of Gilliam
County. And so sometimes I think of this
as a great big piece of property that we're dealing with. And
we're going to be looking at some events that took place in
Bethlehem. But Bethlehem has played an important
part throughout Old Testament history. It is here that we find
that Rachel was buried, and it is here where Ruth went and was
married to Boaz. This is the city of David that
we're talking about here in Bethlehem. And it's not far from this that
many events took place. We have the sun stood still in
the days of Joshua, not far from here. And we have the place where
David slew Goliath is not far from here. We have great events
in the Bible taking place in relatively close proximity to
Bethlehem. But the greatest event that is
going to take place is this, in the fulfillment of the prophecy
of God, the promise of God, that the Lord Jesus would be born
in Bethlehem. That's what the Old Testament
scriptures had to say. Now if we look at this, we find
out that his mother was not a resident of Bethlehem. His mother was
a resident of Nazareth. Nazareth and Bethlehem are about
a hundred miles apart. So it's going to take some effort
on her part to get there, but I don't think at the moment she
understood what was going to take place. But there's a requirement
comes from a great and mighty and powerful monarch. His name
is Caesar Augustus, and he is in Rome, and he sends out an
edict. He sends out the interesting
word is dogma. That's what the Greek word is.
He sends out a dogma. that his known world will be
taxed and that's what that word world means in that passage of
scripture but let's look at this it came to pass in those days
now these are the appointed days the Lord has promised to send
his only begotten son at the appointed time we can go back
to the book of Daniel And we find out this is when it's going
to take place. Now, I can't calculate that. And apparently some of
those people that were around at that time did not calculate
that. But it was a sign from God. He will be born at this
time. It came to pass in those days
there went out a decree. This word decree is the word
dogma. We find that word, the Greek
word, found several times in scripture, and we'll look at
a couple of them in a minute. And this decree was from Caesar
Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. Now Rome is
about 1,400 miles from the city of from the place where this is
to be sent, and it's to Israel. It's about 1,400 miles away. So, you know, we read in the
Bible that God has knowledge of what we have need of before
we ask, and so often the answer arrives on the day that it's
needed, and yet it's been purposed long before that. So this is
an action that God has moved upon this great Caesar Augustus,
that his known world, and the word taxed here is not for payment
of tax, but it's the word that means to be enrolled for taxation. Now taxes is going to follow,
but this is an enrollment And he's requiring that everybody
goes to the city where they have their register and make sure
that they are enrolled for this taxation. Now it's very important
to realize this, that Joseph and Mary were both, had their
records, their registrar was in Bethlehem. In the book of
Ezra, would you turn with me to the book of Ezra chapter one
for just a moment? We ran into the same principle
in the book of Ezra when we went through that great book about
the return of the children of Israel after the 70 years of
captivity. But in the book of Ezra chapter
one and verse one, we find these words that could be applied to
what we find here in the book of Luke chapter one. Luke chapter
2 verse 1 that there was a decree sent out from Caesar Augustus
now Caesar Augustus was just a Person in the hands of Almighty
God to fulfill his eternal purpose Caesar Augustus thought he was
very important but God had him just as a minion just as someone
that was his servant and it tells us here in the book of Ezra now
in the day and the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that
the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that
he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also
into writing, thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God
of heaven, hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and
he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is
in Judah. So this is the time that the
Lord used Cyrus, he stirred him up. He's the one that caused
him to do God's bidding, God's work. Now, he's a pagan king.
He has essentially the same religion that Caesar Augustus has, and
he has the same religion that we have by nature, but we're
thankful that God uses people. He uses this man, Cyrus. He uses Caesar Augustus, and
he is always Using those folks to fulfill his eternal purpose
and it is God's eternal purpose that his only begotten son Come
in the flesh would be born in Bethlehem So Ezra here in chapter
1 verse 1 and 2 tells us about how that happens and we could
apply that to Caesar Augustus so many miles away there in the
in the city of Rome and we also find in the book of the Proverbs
that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord and And as rivers
of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. So this is God's act
upon this, that he moved upon Caesar Augustus, that there would
be a taxation, and all the inhabited land that was under the rule
of Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire, all of that would be
enrolled for taxation. There was the need for more money
by Rome, and here's how it's going to happen. The Romans ruled
the world, their known world, they didn't rule this part of
the world, and they should be enrolled for taxation. Now that
word enrolled that we find here, that they should be taxed, Let's
go back there to the book of Luke, chapter 2, that all the
world should be taxed, that word means to be enrolled, and it's
mentioned in the book of Hebrews. The Greek word is, and it's translated
a little bit differently there, and it tells us how this word
is used. So if you turn with me to the
book of Hebrews, chapter 12, we have this word taxed in its
more correct form here in the book of Hebrews, chapter 12,
and verse 23. it talks about the church here
in hebrews chapter twelve verse twenty three uses this word in
an enrollment sense it says to the general assembly hebrews
chapter twelve verse twenty three to the general assembly and church
of the firstborn which are written in heaven that word written means
enrolled or over in the book of luke it's translated back
so here it has more correct uh... translation Written in heaven
enrolled in heaven. That's a nice Statement that
God makes that fulfills what he also has said in other places
That the names of his people are enrolled or written in the
Lamb's Book of Life So this is what is going to happen here
that there's going to be an enrollment and they must go to the city
of their fathers and it tells us they're in the book of Luke
going back to the book of Luke again and It tells us here that
in verse 3 there's this enrollment first happened during the the
time of the Cyrenus governor of Syria and it says in verse
3 and all went to be taxed or enrolled everyone into his own
city and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city
of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David which is called
Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David and
Another passage of scripture that we ran into over there in
the book of Ezra I'd like to look at because it has to deal
with this very thing. There's a registry in Bethlehem
that had the descendants of King David. Now, by God's wonderful
mercy and grace, Joseph and Mary both are direct descendants from
this king, this King David. If you turn with me to the book
of Ezra chapter 2 we find there in Ezra chapter 2 that it was
a very significant thing that you have a registry Ezra chapter
2 and We find there in verse 60 61 and 62 that there were
some people that said that they were Levites and It tells us
here that they could not find their registry. They could not
find their register So this was a very important thing that the
Jews kept. Where is their lineage? You know,
a bunch of Pharisees. and came to the Lord and says,
we be of our father Abraham. Well, it was very important that
they could trace their line back to Abraham. And they used that
as inclusion into salvation that by this lineage that they could
do that. Well, we find that with Joseph
and Mary, they were not using that as part of their philosophy
or part of their religion. Because we find out that Mary
Recognized the fact that she was going to bring the Christ
child into this world when that angel appeared unto her and when
the angel appeared unto Joseph and to Mary both and says his
name shall be called Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins So she's not going down there to prove that this
is our religious Travels she's going down there because she
is a Part of the family of david and it tells us here in the book
of ezra chapter 2 and verse 61 And of the children of the priests
the children of habaiah the son of cause the children of bersalia
Which took a wife of the daughters of bersalia? The giddy giddy
light it was called after their name and they sought their register
among those that were reckoned by genealogy But they were not
found This was a tragedy for them, because if they couldn't
find their registry, they couldn't find their genealogy, then it
says, therefore, they were, as polluted, put from the priesthood. Well, when we were there, we
looked at this as a statement that if we can't find our pedigree
in Christ, we just don't have any hope at all. And this fulfills
what we read over here in the book of Luke, that Joseph and
Mary both were traveling down to Bethlehem by a edict, by a
decree, by a statement, a law made by Caesar Augustus in Rome,
1400 miles away. Now this was going to require
them to travel about 100 miles, probably by foot, maybe by donkey. But we find that this travel
was going to take place, and as we go back to the Book of
Luke, it tells us there They went up there and it tells us
in verse five of this passage of scripture to be taxed or enroll
with Mary, his espoused wife. And she was being great with
child. Now we find here just a little
bit about the power of this decree. To most people, they say, well,
we're going to put this off and we'll go down there later. Well,
we're going to have this baby born here in Nazareth and then
we'll go down there and we'll enroll. But it seems that this
decree was so serious And the pressure was put upon them to
go. And then we find out just how
much involvement Almighty God had in this, because she is not
in the right place for the time of the birth of this son. And
it's been promised that he would be born in Bethlehem, the house
of bread. That's what that word means.
Bethlehem means house of bread. And she needs to travel down
there. Well, she is great with child. I mean, she's in her later stages
Pregnancy, she's heavily with child, and in fact, the amount
of time it took to get down there was the amount of time it took
for her to have that child. So it's very late in her pregnancy. And she was great with child,
and it tells us there that Joseph went down with his espoused wife.
Now, in the book of, let me get there, In the book of Matthew chapter
1, would you travel over there with me? The book of Matthew
chapter 1, Joseph has been informed, he
realizes that his espoused wife, his engaged wife is pregnant
and he doesn't want to make her a public example. Now we find
out in the days of the ministry of the Lord Jesus when a group
of Pharisees brought a woman that had been caught in the act
of adultery, they were going to go stone her. And this is
the probability of what was going to happen to her. Joseph didn't
want to make her a public example. He didn't want that to happen
to her He loved her but he decided that he would no longer go further
with this marriage contract and it tells us there in in the book
of Matthew chapter Chapter 1 verse 22 now all this was done that
it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets
saying Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring
forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which be it
interpreted as God with us." Fulfillment of the book of Isaiah.
Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the
Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. They went
through a marriage ceremony of some kind, and it says he knew
her not till she was brought forth her firstborn son, and
he called his name Jesus. So he was obedient to the purpose
and will of Almighty God. He took her and married her.
She is his wife. She is pregnant. he's not the
father he realizes that and we thank god almighty for that because
human involvement in this a human father would have destroyed our
savior there would be no salvation at all we needed to have that
that son that was promised from old that would have no human
involvement except a receptacle the womb of mary and the Holy
Spirit and God the Father producing that body within her womb without
human involvement. We're just so thankful that that's
our Savior. He's without sin. He's without
reproach. He's without all of those things
that would carry if He was born of a human father. There would
nothing be able to be done to make Him an appropriate sacrifice
Because nothing can be done with us to make us an appropriate
sacrifice for all our sin Mary had up to this time being living
in the wrong place for the birth of the Messiah. She'd been born
Living in Nazareth with her husband. He is we know that he was a carpenter
Joseph was a carpenter and we know also that as she traveled
down there to be enrolled She is going to fulfill the eternal
purpose of Almighty God that has been directed through Caesar
Augustus, a pagan king, over there in Rome. The word gets
over here and throughout the known Roman world that there's
gonna be an enrollment for taxation, and she is moved by this with
such urgency that she is not left there to have her child
in Nazareth and to have a comfortable birth in her home, but she is
moved down here to Bethlehem to have the birth that was involved
by God while they were there. She is God's instrument. She
is moved by God Almighty to be there at the appropriate time.
Going back to the book of Luke, we find these words recorded
in the book of Luke, chapter 2, that, and so it was while
they were there, the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered. The days were accomplished, and
it says in verse 7, 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. The days were accomplished. God put her in the right place
at the right time, so that this one, this one that was flesh,
this one that was God, was united, this body that was prepared,
they were united in the womb of Mary, We have the God-man,
Emmanuel, here, born just as it was promised of old. And she
brought forth her firstborn son. You know, we have to look at
the Scriptures because she is going to have more children.
Theology among certain groups is that she's been the eternal
virgin. Well, she had other children. She had Daughters and she had
sons just turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 13 Matthew
chapter 13 that She was going to be Joseph's wife and bring
children into this world through Joseph in Matthew chapter 13
We read about this, that she was the virgin that God used
to bring in His everlasting eternal Son, but here it tells us in
Matthew chapter 13 verse 54, And when he was come into his
own country, he taught them in their synagogue insomuch that
they were astonished and said, which hath this man this wisdom
and these mighty works? So when he's teaching in the
synagogue, those who knew him from early years they said how
in the world could he be saying what he is saying with such authority
that he is saying it and then it says is not this the carpenter's
son is not his mother called mary and his brethren james and
joseph and simon and judas and his sisters are they not all
with us whence then hath this man all these things so they
recognize the fact that he had half brothers and he had half
sisters He is the only begotten son of God. He is the firstborn
child of Mary. She brought forth this son into
the world without human involvement, and she was the one chosen by
God from eternity past to be the vessel that would be used
to bring him into this world. Blessed art thou, Mary, and blessed
will be the fruit of thy womb and the church recognizes the
fact how blessed that is that he the God-man would come into
this world and lay down his life a ransom for them pay their eternal
sin debt for them Mary took great care of this one that was born
we go back there to the book of Luke we find that she took
great care even under the circumstances even being away from home even
being not in a in a Pleasant environment not in a motel room
not in a hotel room not in an inn room But she is in the main
and out in the stable area and it certainly does depict the
the humbleness of our Savior He did not come born like a normal
king Though he is the eternal king of heaven Here it says she
brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling
clothes. You know, that is so pictorial that he was swaddled. He was swaddled. He was taken
care of. His navel was cut. He was swaddled. He was wrapped. And you know,
if we just go for a little bit over to the book of Ezekiel,
we find out how different that is from what our natural birth
is. Here in the book of Ezekiel,
Ezekiel the prophet is used by God to depict our natural state. Now, we may have been taken great
care of in a hospital. We may have been taken great
care of in a home. We may have been born and washed and put
in nice warm clothes, but it didn't affect our heart. That's
the problem. And this picture of Christ being
swaddled is certainly mentioned over here in the book of Ezekiel
chapter 16. Ezekiel chapter 16 beginning
with verse 4. In Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse
4 it says, and as for thy nativity, as for thy nativity, in the day
that thou wast born, thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou
washed in water to supple thee, and thou wast not salted at all,
nor swaddled at all." We have a big problem here. Our natural
estate says you're just unable to take care of this spiritual
condition that you're born into the world of. Now, I believe
it is so significant when we get over here to the birth of
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. As Mary took care of him, she
was very careful. You know, where did she get that
stuff? Did she bring it along? Well, whatever happened, God
provided for her to wash him and swaddle him and salt him
and take care of his navel. He was this, the Son of God,
come to us in the flesh of Jesus and she paid particular attention
to him that he would depict what it is to be born from Almighty
God. Now, the problem is we have a
problem. It's illustrated here. And then
in verse five of that chapter, Ezekiel chapter 16, none I pity
thee to do anything these unto thee to have compassion upon
thee, but thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing
of thy person and to the day that thou was born. It's going
to be significant as we follow this in the book of Luke chapter
two, that there were going to be those eyes that came and paid
particular attention to him. Shepherds in the field were notified
about him coming and they came and saw him. Now as we follow
this out, let's just go a little further. We have the cure for
the problem that's brought up there in the book of Ezekiel
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now last Sunday we mentioned
this verse in the book of Hebrews, but I want to go to it again
and it's found in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 shares
with us that this is God's solution for the horrendous problem that
natural man is in, that we're born in. Spiritually speaking,
when we're born into this world, we're not swaddled. We're not
closed. We are, our navel is not taken
care of, we're not salted, and ultimately, cast out into the
field. We're just out there with everyone else. But here in the
book of Hebrews, chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
5, we find these wonderful words that are mentioned about the
Savior. Wherefore, Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 5, wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me this is
the answer to the problem a body thou hast prepared me and that's
what we see in our mind as Mary brought forth her firstborn son
we see in our mind we don't have to be there and looking at the
scene we don't have to be there watching the scene we by faith
believe exactly what God said here in the book of Luke And
in the book of Matthew, and then we find the fulfillment of it
through the four gospels about this one that came in a perfect
body, God come in the flesh, this perfect body, no sin upon
him, no sin in him. And he walked this world as we
do, yet without sin. So how wonderful it is that this
is brought up now in the book of Hebrews back up just a little
bit there in Hebrews chapter 2 we find another portion of
this wonderful passage of scripture of the book of Hebrews But we
see Jesus now Jesus is that one born. His name is Jesus and He
is the Christ. Now you look that word up, we
find that that word and Messiah in the Old Testament are the
same words. He is the anointed one. Whenever we read about the
Messiah, we're going to read about Christ. And that's what,
that one that was, Jesus noticed there long before he came up
to him, And he said, we know Messiah must come. Well, here
we have. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man. Now if we follow this out, we
find out who God is talking about is every man they're his ones
that he was like his brethren that's what he's speaking about
here and so we find this birth of the Lord Jesus in Bethlehem
the appointed place at the appointed time Mary would have been you
know in the flesh would have been pleased to give birth to
that son there at Nazareth her familiar setting in her home
but she is imposed upon travel a hundred miles from Nazareth
down to Bethlehem and there to have him born where he was purposed
to be born. And she brought forth her firstborn
son, as it tells us there in the book of Luke, brought forth
her firstborn son. Luke chapter 2, she brought forth
her firstborn son. She was delivered, 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. It certainly speaks highly of the position that the
Lord Jesus Christ has among natural men. There is no room for this
one in their line. In the fields there were some
shepherds watching their flocks by night and to me the message
that they gave to them in verse 11 Verse 10 11 the angel said
unto them the angel of the Lord said unto them Fear not for behold I bring you
good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people and all
of God's people. This is the joyous message. This
is the gospel. This is the fulfillment of all
the Old Testament prophets. This is the fulfillment of all
the testimony of the prophets and the Psalms and the writings. This is the fulfillment that
there's good tidings, the gospel. This is the good news. Hope is
here. Help is here. Salvation is here
for His people. For unto you is born this day
In the city of David, now notice how they identify him. A Savior. A Savior. which is christ the
lord now they don't mention his name jesus here but they give
us all of his titles they give us all of the expectations he
is in the city of david he's a savior the messiah the almighty
god lord savior which is christ the lord the messiah that was
promised from old promised before the foundation of the world declared
in the book of Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen mentioned
by all the prophets that hope is coming salvation will be delivered
he had a lamb slain from the foundation of the world and on
that promise all the Old Testament people that God moved upon with
the new birth were saved set aside put in glory and then it
goes on to tell us here and this shall be a sign unto you Ye shall
find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."
One more time, the emphasis, this is not the normal birth. This is not the normal son. This
is not what you'd normally find after the birth of a baby. This
is the Savior. This is Christ the Lord, and
He will be in swaddling clothes. Well, in some way, that's going
to be a sign to them. And I believe it's a sign that
we find there in the book of Ezekiel. We, by nature, don't
have all of that happen. The spiritual realm of humanity
is so fallen. We don't have that great work,
but we are dependent upon that great work of God giving us swaddling
clothes, that robe of righteousness, and that He takes care of our
life. He hooks us into Christ. We're
no longer attached to that relationship that we had with Adam, except
in the flesh. Our spirit is attached to Christ. We have that life-giving flow
from Christ through our spiritual navel. And we have been salted. We have been promised. Salt is
so often a picture of the covenant, and it's a sign to us of the
covenant of grace. And we have been picked up, we've
had noticed, we've been loved by this one who came and found
us lying there out of nowhere. He found us in that position.
And then it tells us that these shepherds went and they saw,
the first observers, they saw this one, this child laying in
a manger. Verse 15, it came to pass as
the angels were gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said
one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this
thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known
unto us. Christ the Lord has made known
unto us the Lord and they came with haste. and found Mary and
Joseph in the babe lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made
known abroad the saying that was told to them concerning this
child." And that's just the normal thing to take place. When we
see Christ, we're going to go tell people about it. He's the
only Savior. He's the only hope. He's the
only one. He's the one that was promised
by the father before the foundation of the world. And he's that body
that was prepared. And he came for the suffering
of death. And as we go through the gospels, we find towards
the end of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he was taken to the
cross. He laid down his life for his
people. No man takes it from him, but he laid down his life
for his people. And he went to the cross and
bore all the sins of all his people. He did not become a sinner,
but he took our sin upon him. It was laid on him. And God punished
him as if it was us being punished. And he took away all our sin. He paid for it in full. And this
is the fulfillment of the Savior, as is mentioned to those shepherds,
a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And so, as we come to this
time of year, it's a thought that we are given every day,
our Savior came to die for his people, now he is sitting at
the right hand of the Father. You know, last week I mentioned
this little song that is sung, but most people don't have any
understanding of the depth of what these words mean, as Jesus
was in the temple at 12 years of age. Answering the questions
not asking questions answering the questions of those great
doctors of the law It could have been said what is your name? And he could have said on my
mother's side. My name is Jesus But on my father's
side they call me Emmanuel How old are you on? My mother's side. I'm 12 years of age. I On my
father's side, I've just always been. Where are you from? On my mother's side, I'm from
Bethlehem. On my father's side, I'm from
New Jerusalem. I'm from heaven. And what's your
plan? On my mother's side, I shall
be crucified. And on my father's side, in three
days, I'll rise and sit down at my father's side. Oh, as we
think about these things, how glorious is the coming of Emmanuel,
the expectation of prophets for centuries, the expectation of
prophets for all the Old Testament, the expectation fulfilled in
one day by this one Mary in Bethlehem when she brought forth her firstborn
son. And then the gospel comes out.
and shares with us the good blessings of His coming, His death upon
the cross, His resurrection from the grave, and sitting down at
the right hand of the Father, making intercession for all His
people. How glorious, and we thank Him
for it.