Gary Dry is the Pastor of the Living Faith Christian Church in Lake St. Louis, Missouri, USA. For Church information, questions or comments, see the Affiliation Directory Link down below.
Something happened over 2000 years ago now; a little
boy was born. He was a very special little boy,
amidst some very special circumstances, with some very
far-reaching consequences. But what happened? What
were the circumstances that accompanied this event?
The Roman general, Pompey, had conquered Jerusalem
about sixty years before these events happened, so it
was that all of Judea was part of the Roman Empire of
Caesar Augustus. The empire spanned from Britain to
the North, to Parthia in the East. In fact, the Roman
Empire was known at the time as "The Empire of the
whole earth," because there was scarcely any part of
the civilized world that wasn't dependent upon it.
It so happened that no wars were being waged within
the bounds of the Roman Empire at the time and the
temple of Janus was now shut (something which never
happened if any wars were afoot) and the Pax Romana
(or Roman Peace) was ushered into being. It was the
time for the arrival of the Prince of Peace.
Quirinius was the governor of Syria, which included
Judea and places the events at somewhere between 6 and
4 B.C.
Whether out of pride or as a matter of policy, we
don't know, but for whatever reason, Caesar Augustus
chose this time to declare a census of the entire
Roman Empire. Everyone in the empire was required to
report to their ancestral homes. And so a mass
migration took place throughout the empire, with
families traveling to the hometowns of their ancestral
patriarchs. Enter our family of focus, a young
carpenter and his wife from Nazareth, Joseph and Mary.
Both of the line of King David and therefore required
to go to his hometown of Bethlehem. It is significant
that Bethlehem was the place that they had to go to,
since it was called out in prophecy as the birth place
of the Messiah, in Micah 5:2, but also because of the
meaning of the town's name. Bethlehem means the
"house of bread." So Bethlehem was a befitting place
for this Messiah to be born that would claim to be the
"Bread of Life."
But Bethlehem was also an important symbolism for
another reason. There were two cities that could
claim to be the home of David. Bethlehem and Zion.
Zion was representative of the time of David during
his reign as King and the power and prosperity that
came with such a position. But Bethlehem was the
place of his birth where he was at the lowest rung of
society, nothing more than a shepherd. So the place
that Joseph and Mary were going was not to the city
that represented the regal, powerful and prominent
lineage of David, but rather to the city that
represented his meager existence in obscurity.
It is also interesting to note that the prophesied
Messiah was not to be brought into the world with a
court that would pay tribute to Him. Instead, he came
into the world in subjection to the powers of the
world. A subject of Caesar and Herod, both of whom
would seek His life as He threatened their status quo.
No Kings would bow before Him, but He who would wear
the mantle of King of Kings and Lord of Lords would be
made to bow to the requirements of the laws laid down
by others.
It is also interesting to note the conditions of His
arrival. His mother was made to travel a difficult
sojourn of some 80-90 miles to be counted in the
census at the appropriate city. Arriving in Bethlehem
His parents were too poor to persuade any innkeeper to
take them in, even though it was quite obvious that
the young woman was about to deliver a child. It is
even more interesting that there were none that heard
or saw the unfortunate couple that stepped forward to
sacrifice on behalf of the laboring mother and allow
her to have their place of comfort. In the end, the
best provisions that could be made were to probably
deliver the baby in an area for housing animals and
then place Him in a feeding trough as His cradle. The
straw was clean perhaps, but the surroundings
certainly would lead one to wonder whether this child
could live to see manhood, let alone be labeled a
King.
But stranger things still attended this young lad's
arrival. An angel came to shepherds who were watching
in the fields near Bethlehem. The angel came to them
at night while they were watching their flocks in a
fashion that petrified them. After calming the
shepherds' nerves, the angel told them that they were
bringing good news of great joy to all people. The
Messiah, the Lord was born in Bethlehem and they were
told how to identify him. Several points bear
inspection in this encounter.
Notice that the ones who were told about this truly
wondrous event were not important people! They were
just shepherds. Not Priests or Levites or Kings or
Nobles or Scribes, just some common shepherds.
Secondly, even though the angel came to the shepherds
at night, the text points out that these shepherds
were wide awake performing their appointed tasks of
watching their flocks. The appearance of the angel
wasn't some dream--and just to be sure, the angel
appeared to several shepherds so that they could
verify with one another what they had seen and heard.
Third, the shepherds were told that the new arrival
was the promised Messiah and this title was further
embellished with the term "the Lord," which had been
heretofore reserved only for God. This boy would be
able to be called "Immanuel," or "God with Us" as the
prophet Isaiah had proclaimed in Is 7:14.
Fourth, the shepherds were told that all people would
rejoice in this child and the news of His birth. The
Jews had understood the Messiah to be one born of the
line of David, a Jew that would deliver them from many
things. But the angel expanded the Messiah's mission
to all people, Jew and Gentile alike.
Fifth, the angel tells the shepherds how to identify
the newborn child, they will find Him laying in a
feeding trough. So the place where the child was born
and laid to rest must have been extremely unusual,
even for a crowded Bethlehem with many poor.
The shepherds then witnessed a whole group of angels
singing praises to God and then disappearing into
heaven. At this they determined to go quickly to find
the newborn they had just been told about by the
angel. Finding Him as they had been told, the
shepherds went and told everyone they could about what
had happened and what they had been told about this
child. Then they returned and gave praise and glory
to God.
But what of the others, the ones the shepherds told of
the good news? They were all amazed at what the
shepherds had to say, but it seems that none were
interested enough to inquire any further about it or
investigate for themselves. There were no huge public
uproars in the town of Bethlehem or Judea in the days
that followed, not at the child's circumcision or at
His presentation in the temple. No, only the angels,
the shepherds and the child's father and mother made
note of this historic event. Then they slid back into
obscurity, hidden from view by the world around them.
It would be almost some two years later before anyone
else would come to pay homage to the child. And then
it would be some Gentiles that had followed a star
from the East to locate Him, followed by Herod who
tried to kill Him.
No, the arrival of this one called Jesus, the Christ,
Immanuel, and God with us, came at some undetermined
time without much notice. It came in the most meager
of surroundings without any pretense of pomp or
circumstance. It would seem as though the child was
placed here alone, without any provisions. And yet
that is where the greatest wonderment of this whole
story lies. God was there all along sheltering,
providing and protecting. God was there because Love
was found in the parents of that young child. Love of
God, of one another and of His promise. And we know
that God is Love, 1Jn 4:8.
At the birth of Jesus the world experienced a wondrous
thing, God opened himself out of Love to each of us no
matter who we are, Jew or Gentile, slave or freeman,
rich or poor, young or old. There is just one small
catch. When you hear the story of Jesus, you have to
do more than listen and be amazed...you have to
believe and inquire of Him yourself! Then you too
will experience the joy of the Love that brought Him
into the world for you.
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