Luke chapter 2 and verse 1. 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 to 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, 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. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. The fact of the coming into the
world of God the Son in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the circumstances of his coming is what Luke speaks to us here
about. The coming of the Messiah and
the purpose of his appearance had long been foretold, and it
had been eagerly anticipated by the Lord's believing people
from the beginning of the world. Now we've heard references in
the previous chapter over the last few weeks of Gabriel the
angel speaking of the coming of Christ. We've heard Elizabeth
and Zacharias. We've listened to Mary honouring
her saviour. And now we are told that this
journey has to take place by Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. The Lord's believing people have
looked for this moment for many, many years and now the time of
Christ's incarnation had come and the hour of his birth into
the world of fallen sinful men and women had arrived. However, just before we refer
to Luke's comments, it is important, I think, for us just to pause
to note something of the significance of this event, the eternal significance,
and also its global importance as well. That might be an odd
way to put it, but I'll come to that in a moment. As to its
eternal significance, here begins the unfolding in time of the
great councils of love and peace and grace according to the will
of God. The making of the world, the
creation of man, the entrance of sin into the world, the fall
and the judgment that followed, must all have been a sad story
indeed. A sad story of failure had not
God undertaken to rescue and redeem and renew and restore
a people to himself out of the mass of sinful men and women. That he did so is a testimony
to divine love and mercy. That he conceived such a plan
of salvation as taking a human soul, taking human flesh and
human nature and suffering and dying representatively as the
means of bestowing his grace on sinful creatures is truly
astonishing. that he willingly, gladly bore
our sin in his own soul and body and took our guilt and our punishment
to deliver us from condemnation, yet all the while maintaining
his holiness, justice and truth is astounding. that he devised and arranged
and fulfilled everything required to enable the dispensing of his
grace freely and without price is frankly amazing. And now this
plan conceived in eternity, is being witnessed in time. The birth of the sinner's substitute,
the coming of the Redeemer in time, was now. And upon this
one single event, the eternal salvation of all God's elect
hung and depended. Now the Messiah had come. And there's a global significance
to this event as well. Though it took place in poverty
and obscurity in a strange time among a largely oblivious people,
it nevertheless led to such a complete spiritual victory and accomplished
such a full and glorious deliverance for sinners. that the message
of it, the gospel good news of it, has spread around the globe
for the salvation and the joy and the comfort of a privileged
and a blessed people. Throughout the countries of the
world, There are a people that no man can number who have been
influenced and affected and changed by this event. And while we rightly
look upon Christ's coming as an historical event, it is a
matter whose consequence and effect continues to be felt in
the lives of countless men and women and boys and girls today. all around the globe. And that
we are having this meeting here and now, comprised of the people
that it is comprised of, is directly traceable to the event mentioned
in these verses by the Gospel writer, Luke. Luke gives us a
series of references as to the time and the location and the
circumstances of the event of Christ's birth. And I'm sure
this is all largely familiar to us. But it is just the same,
no less wonderful to note the providence of God in bringing
about all that he promised in every detail according to his
design and purpose. And let's not forget how for
these events to take place, God must order and arrange the decisions
of kings and generals in faraway places and individual men and
women in their own personal arrangements. Micah had prophesied that Bethlehem,
the city of David, where David had been born, that Bethlehem
would be the birthplace of Christ the Messiah. But Mary lived in
Nazareth and she was pregnant and travelling was difficult. It's likely, and I'm speculating
a little bit here, but it's likely that short of mortal danger and
the prospect of imminently being killed by an enemy, Nothing could
have instigated this young woman to make the journey she did in
her present condition. Why would she leave the house
in the state that she was? Why would she leave her father's
house? Why would she leave the company of her mother and her
friends around about her if she did not have to go, that it was
an official requirement? but to Bethlehem she must go. And God so ordered it that Joseph
and Mary, being of the house of David, must travel from where
they both now lived and worked in Nazareth to Bethlehem to be
registered for taxation purposes. And I think we may all take a
lesson from this. When it became clear to Mary
and to Joseph that this journey must be made, I feel sure that
there would be a lot of anxiety and concern that attended the
preparations. But it was all in God's plan
and we should remember this for our own lives too. No matter
what circumstances befall us, what happens to us, what government
might be in place, what laws they might pass, what hardships
that might bring, the Lord is always ordering and overruling
events to accomplish His purpose and to bless His people. Mary
and Joseph likely thought that the timing of this journey was
awful. They probably thought that the
road between Nazareth and Bethlehem was awful. They probably thought
the weather was awful. The availability of accommodation
was awful. The stable was awful. and yet
everything about this moment in time was according to God's
loving will and merciful purpose. His grace was being revealed
for the salvation of his people, though they could not see the
larger plan in that moment. And thus it is with us too. There
are forces at work in your life and in mine right now that are
much bigger than us. And in time, they will bring
to pass great blessing and great cause for rejoicing. The hard
circumstances in this moment are the means by which these
good things will be obtained later. Mary travelled with Joseph
because it was necessary that she be present in Bethlehem. Not only Joseph. If it had been
possible for Joseph to have gone alone and represented them both,
I am sure he would have done that. But she had to be there.
She was espoused to him. They were not yet married. They
had not yet started living together or come together in conjugal
relations. And the circumstances of the
birth of the Saviour are simply related by Luke here in these
verses. But the overriding picture that
we are being given by Luke is of the mean and nasty situation
into which this couple were placed. Without relatives in the town
who would take them in, they were forced to go to an inn, a hotel, for accommodation. But because there were so many
people in Bethlehem, there was no room at the inn. Many people
were in Bethlehem for the same reason. And the only covering
available, short of giving birth in a field, was an animal buyer. And there, apparently without
any assistance, Mary is able to deliver her child by herself. Now let us assume that the birth
was easy because the child was who he was and because Mary's
suffering was yet future. But either way, the young mother
gave birth to her firstborn and having cut the cord that joined
him to her, placed the child in a manger, a trough, from which
the animals fed. He was wrapped in swaddle, which
was a method of constricting the movement of the baby. And what a picture that is. What
a contrast and what a reverse of condition for the Son of God. From glory's majesty, to an earthly
stable, from divine immensity to a swaddling garment, from
riches to poverty, from angelic worship to earthly obscurity
and anonymity. And yet, however we look at it,
this too is in God's plan, and it began a pattern in the life
of the Lord for the future circumstances of his own life's experience. Poor, shunned, ignored, despised,
labouring by the sweat of his own brow, tired. And this is the testimony of
the Lord's humanity. He joined himself with the lowest
of the low, the poorest of the poor, and he lived among them
unseen, unnoticed, and unrecognised. And yet, too, here is the one
who possesses all the character and evidences of the Godhead,
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Well might
the Apostle Paul write, great is the mystery of godliness,
God was manifest in the flesh. Christ's coming into the world
was ordinary and yet extraordinary, commonplace yet wonderful. It took place at a moment in
time and its ramifications shall echo to all eternity for the
salvation that he secured. By God's grace, we shall be amongst
those who worship his name and his accomplishments in the eternal
realm. May we be enabled to begin to
sing our songs of praises now. Amen. Amen.