As always, it is my great joy, and indeed, an honor, to be able to open up the Word of God to you. And this morning, I fear I'm going to do a little bit of rambling as we talk about some issues pertaining to the incarnation of Christ. We will land on a particular passage, in a few minutes, but if you will just follow along, I want to take you deep into some of the great truths with respect to God's providence; the miracle of his sovereign ability to orchestrate all things to accomplish His good pleasure in redemption, to the praise of his glory. And I believe that you're like me, at this Christmas season, you really need some encouragement. These are dark days in which we live. I have never experienced anything like this. The mounting hostility towards all that God deems holy, not to mention the militant unbelief that absolutely resents the gospel. All of that is so discouraging, isn't it? It's down heartening. It's even frightening. It's not surprising, though, right? Because we know according to John 15, beginning in verse 18, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you." We witnessed this hatred in so many ways. Our culture's love affair with the killing of the unborn and their demand for legal protection. We see it daily with the LGBTQ-IA sexual anarchist that not only demand legal protection, but ultimately demand the complete elimination of all of those who refuse to celebrate their gross immoralities.

As Christians, we find ourselves identifying with Lot. You remember in 2 Peter 2:7. We read that he, "was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men," referring to the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom where he lived. He goes on to say, "For by what he saw and heard, that righteous man while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day, by their lawless deeds." And I know that a number of you are dreading this Christmas season, because you have to be with unsaved family members. I've already heard from probably four or five of you. It's hard, you love your family, but they hate Christ, and they hate you for it. And there's just not a lot you have in common. And many of you will experience yet again, the mocking, and the ridicule. Most of all, most all of us have experienced what Jesus warned you will recall in Matthew 10:34, he says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law and a man's enemies will be the members of his household." Of course, some will say, "But wait a minute, I thought when the angels announced Jesus's birth to the shepherds in Luke two verse 14, they said Glory to be God be to God and the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men?" It's a bit of an unfortunate translation in the King James Version. New American Standard puts it this way, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Many misinterpret this text, they use it out of context. You see it in yard decorations from time to time, peace on earth, which is kind of this idea that let's all have absence of conflict and no more wars. And that's typical of our naive, theologically ignorant society. Because in truth because of sin, the wrath of God abides upon the ungodly. They are his rebellious enemies, those apart from Christ are alienated from God. And they're destined to pay for their sins and an eternal hell,unless they repent and trust in Christ as their only hope of salvation. That's the truth. But because of Christ, we can be reconciled to God and have peace with him. That's what that text is talking about. So the angels are saying Glory to God and the highest. Why? Because he has provided a way for sinful man to be at peace with the holy God. That's the good news of Christmas.

Many also misunderstand the other phrase, and the New King James as well as the King James, it says, goodwill toward men. And you see this in a lot of Christmas cards. People naively think, well, that means that because of Jesus, I guess we're going to all show kindness to one another. And there is something about Christmas where people tend to be a little bit nicer. I have noticed that, but that's not at all what this text is talking about. It literally says, "Peace among men of his good pleasure." Or as the New American Standard, says, "on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Or the ESV "on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." Beloved, when the angel said "Glory to God, in the highest," the reason they were giving him giving him glory, is because those who are their sovereignly chosen recipients of His Divine Grace, are so solely because of his good pleasure. Now they can have peace with God, so all who have received the gift of salvation received it solely on the basis of his good pleasure through no merit of their own. So all the glory belongs to Him, we share in none of it. Therefore, the angels are saying, Glory to God, in the highest. This was the theology. This was the reality that evoked the angelic praise.

So this Sunday, and next, I wish to encourage every believer by reminding you that God is in control of history. Indeed, it is his story, the story of Christ, never forget that. Even when they seem dark and out of control, our God reigns, he is still on his throne, and he is accomplishing all that he has ordained to accomplish to the praise of his glory. May I remind you that the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when He came and took on human flesh, was ordained in eternity past, and we're going to see more of that in a moment through the prophetic Scriptures. Moreover, his crucifixion, was ordained in eternity past. We read in Acts 2:23, that he was "delivered up" or crucified "by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." I might also add that his physical return for which we await was also I should say, is also promised, it is ordained. You will recall when Jesus ascended back into heaven, the angel said in Acts 1:11, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Jesus spoke of this in his Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 Verse 29, he says," But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Beloved, either that will happen or Jesus Christ was a liar.

Revelation 1:7 If we read, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all of the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be a men." So indeed, even as his first coming was by providential appointments, so two will be his second coming. And of course, this has been the blessed hope of the saints down through the ages. And Titus 2:13, you will recall that we are "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

So Christmas is a time when we can remind the world that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, and King, once came to save sinners, but we can also remind them that he is also going to come again, to judge those who reject Him, and to establish His earthly kingdom, a time when ethnic Israel will finally worship their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and experience the prosperity and security of their promised land as promised in the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. When David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ will fulfill God's promise to David, that his quote, "house and kingdom shall endure before me forever, and his throne, shall be established forever." You will remember that the angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:32, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

Now, this brings us to the text I'd like to camp on for a bit here this morning, as well as next week. And it's found in Luke 2 if you'd like to take your Bibles and turn there. And here we see the miracle of divine providence at work in a very unique way. Let me read the passage to you beginning in verse one of Luke two. "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. 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. 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."

Now, I wish to introduce this passage in Luke's Gospel by first examining one of many, prophecies pertaining to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. One in particular, written 700 years before that birth that was written by the inspired prophet Micah. And what he prophesied was literally fulfilled in the text that we just read. So go with me for a moment, at least in your mind. And let's go back to the days in which Micah lived some 700 years before Christ. Those were days of impending doom for Judah because of their sin, their rebellion against God, but not at the hands of the Assyrians, who were in the process of conquering the northern kingdom of Israel, but at the hands of the Babylonians. And in those days since the Babylonians were currently under the rule of Assyria, the people thought that Micah's prophecy was utterly ridiculous. Of course, all prophecies seem ridiculous to people who do not have faith in what God has said in His Word. Back in that day Judah's economic prosperity and military might made them feel invincible. But all of that only masked the widespread social corruption and religious syncretism. That was a part of their culture, which by the way, parallels the phony religiosity that we see in the United States of America. And all of the corruption that is here; we are not a Christian country by any means. This country is Christian in name only, although many believers live here. Well with their religious syncretism in that day, they integrated the worship of Baal with their Old Testament sacrificial system. And of course, this was exceedingly offensive to God. But Micah's warning of judgment was followed by a message of hope, a promise of future blessing for the faithful, all because of God's unchanging covenant made to their forefathers, when he would restore Israel both spiritually as well as physically. In Micah 2:12 we read, "I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture, they will be noisy with men." In other words, in that day, there will be great commotion due to the throng of people a time of bustling activity and commerce. And the mention of both Jacob and Israel indicates a United Kingdom of Israel where the Lord himself will be their shepherd, and He will protect and bless them. If we go to Micah chapters three through five, the prophet speaks of great blessings that will come after a season of judgment, namely, a blessing of a kingdom for Israel that will bless all of the nations, chapter 4:1, "And it will come about in the last days," that by the way, is an Old Testament phrase, referring to a future time period when God restores the nation of Israel, where Jerusalem will be its temple, it will be the capital city of the kingdom. He says, "and it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains." That's referring to Mount Zion, where Jerusalem sits. "It will be raised above the hills," not only spiritually, but physically in some magnificent way. "The peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD unto the house of the God of Jacob, and he for into the Lord may teach us about his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.' For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." In chapter four, we see several key pieces of information about God's coming earthly kingdom, Israel is going to be reunited, united and restored after judgment in captivity. It will be a time when God establishes His earthly kingdom, with Jerusalem, and its temple functioning in the capital, Israel's former enemies will come to Jerusalem to learn about Israel's God and worship the Messiah King. And the Lord will rule over all of the nation's ,warfare will cease peace and prosperity will prevail. But in the context of these prophecies, Micah tells us something very important. He tells us, I should say he told them and through them, we read about where the Messiah would be born. Micah five and verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah." By the way, indeed, it is a an insignificant little village. "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." Now, Ephrathah, is merely the ancient name for Bethlehem, used to distinguish it from from other towns. But this refers to the Bethlehem where David was born, as we read in First Samuel 17, verse 12. Now we could ask, Why, of all places would the Son of God choose to be born in such an insignificant little village? A few miles south of Jerusalem. Why there? I mean, why not Jerusalem? Why not Rome?

I think there's a couple of reasons. First of all, because Bethlehem was a royal city in ancient days, this is all part of God's providence, all part of his plan. Since Jesus was born the King of Israel, it was only fitting that he be born in the city where Israel's great King David had been born. Now you will recall, over 1000 years before Jesus was born, God made an unconditional covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7, promising him that God would raise up for him a descendant, the Messiah King, who would establish David's kingdom forever and eternal Kingdom, whereby the whole world would be blessed through the coming seed of David. So Bethlehem is the right place, for that reason. But I think there's a second reason. Bethlehem's history is a picture of it's coming Messiah King. Bethlehem literally means "house or place of bread." And bread is the symbol of life and scripture. You will recall the manna that came from heaven, that God used to supply his people in the wilderness. And did not Jesus say in John six, the that he is the bread of God, the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. He went on to say I'm the bread of life He who comes to Me shall not hunger. In fact, both life and death are part of Bethlehem's history. They literally mark Bethlehem's history. Back in Genesis 35, God changed Jacob's name to Israel and said to him, in verse 10, "I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you and I will give the land to your descendants after you." And on the heels of that covenant, Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel died in childbirth, and she was buried in Bethlehem. Where he set up a pillar, the text says, over her grave, and the child's name, the son's name was Benjamin. Now as Benjamin, or as Rachel was about to die, she named him Ben oni which means son of my trouble. And, of course, that was a divine harbinger of even greater trouble that would be inflicted upon many mothers and their sons in the days of Herod in the region of Bethlehem where she died. And Rachel's Benjamin was one of Jacob's 12 sons. And eventually, from Jacob's son, Judah, came King David, and ultimately through him the greater King, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was in Bethlehem where Rachel agonized in the birth of Benjamin, that David was born and eventually Jesus was born, that was a place that later became a symbol of painful and patient waiting for the sons of Israel as they anticipated, their coming Messiah. In fact, Rachel was the ancestress of the Northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, through Joseph and Benjamin, in the south. And when the Babylonians later came to carry them off into exile, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah, and he said in Jeremiah 31:15, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more" Furthermore, it was later in Bethlehem where the enraged Herod slaughtered all of the male children in Matthew 2, Then according to verse 17, we read, "Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled," saying, here it is, "A voice was heard and Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted because they were no more."

When we move forward in the history of Bethlehem, we see even more of the amazing realities of the providence of God at work. We discover more reasons for its royal greatness and its symbolism about 900 years after the days of Rachel. A Moabitis journeyed to Bethlehem, and her name was Ruth. There she became a servant and a wealthy man named Boaz found her and took her unto himself as his wife. I remember getting in trouble in Sunday school when I was a little boy because I thought it was cute to call him Bozo, but is Boaz. Boaz was a type of Christ, the One who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer, you remember the story. And Ruth was included even in the physical lineage of the coming Messiah in Matthew 1:5. And Boaz and Ruth had a son whose name was Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who lived elsewhere in Bethlehem, and he had a son named David. So it should be no surprise that the Son of David the Messiah King, be born in that royal village as Micah prophesied. Therefore, it should be no surprise that in the providence of God, Caesar Augustus, would demand a census to be taken, one that would require citizens to register in the city of their birth. Therefore, it should be no surprise, therefore, that Mary and Joseph would embark upon an 85 mile journey through the treacherous terrain of that region, especially in her advanced state of pregnancy, to make their way to Bethlehem their tribal home in Judea. And I'm sure Mary and Joseph reflected upon Micah's prophecy as they made their way to Bethlehem. And wouldn't this have been the theme of Mary's pondering when the shepherds made the announcement to her "today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Now back to Micah 5:2, notice Micah prophesied, "From you, one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." And indeed, that's a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Father sent forth his Son." Jesus spoke of this, you will recall in John 5:36, Jesus said, "the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me." John 7:28, "Jesus cried out in the temple teaching and saying," verse 29, "I have not come with myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me." And we can see that indeed, the Father sent His Son to be the ruler of Israel as Micah prophesied.

Now critics might say, Well, okay, wait a minute, where is he certainly not reigning in Israel today. Israel is largely apostate. "He came onto His own and His own received Him not." They crucified him. Well, that's true. Israel rejected their king, they crucified the Son of Man, but this was precisely according to God's plan. This didn't surprise him. This wasn't some plan B, our God is a sovereign God, not a contingent God. And therefore we understand the words of Peter, when he preached at Pentecost in Acts 2:23, he said, "This man," referring to Jesus, "delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." See, critics failed to understand that the Messiah King was also the Passover lamb. He was the final and the perfect sacrifice that came to make atonement for sin. Atonement always requires two things, satisfaction and substitution. From the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17. Did not Pilate say to him in John 18:37 "So you are a king?

Jesus answered, 'You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." But also did not John the Baptist that divinely appointed herald of the King say in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This he accomplished at His first coming. But in his millennial reign on earth, that awaits a future fulfillment, we will see the king return in all of his glory. So the full manifestation of the King and His Kingdom is yet to be fully realized. And during the interregnum. Interregnum is just a big word that that means an interval between a king's first and second coming. During that time, the Kingdom has taken on a form that is called in Scripture "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 13:11, referring to the doctrinal truths not disclosed in the Old Testament, but now being disclosed in the new and referring to the gospel and the church and those things. But make no mistake, dear friends, and I believe this with all of my heart, Christ will be the king of Israel, as the prophets have foretold. A time when according to Romans 11:26, "all Israel will be saved. Just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

Now I want you to notice what else the prophet Micah said about the one whom the Father would send forth. Again, chapter five, verse two, "His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." And scripture bears this out. The pre Incarnate Christ appeared in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord on a number of occasions. In Genesis 16, he appeared to Hagar near a spring in the desert and commanded her to return to Sarah, and Genesis 18, he appeared to Abraham where he promised him and his elderly wife, Sarah, a son. And he promised that out of Abraham, a great and powerful nation would arise and all the nations on the earth would be blessed through him. In Genesis 31, he came to Jacob in a dream, and in chapter 32 we read how Jacob wrestled with him all that night, after which the Lord blessed him, and then changed his name to Israel. In Exodus, to Moses in the burning bush. Joshua 5 he appeared to Joshua near Jericho. Remember with a sword drawn in his hand, he appeared to Gideon in Judges 6, and said, "The Lord is with you mighty warrior." And I love that great passage in Daniel 3 where he appeared to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in the fires of torture.

And now beloved, in Bethlehem, he appears again, the Son of God, who willingly laid aside His glory to take on the form of a Jewish peasant child from Galilee. And of course, from Bethlehem, he would eventually go to Jerusalem. He would eventually go up the Mount of Olives, to Gethsemane, and ultimately to Calvary, where he would purchase our redemption and then he would ascend into glory, where he now awaits to descend again, in power and great glory. The wonder after Jesus's birth, the angel of the Lord announced his birth to a group of shepherds taking care of sheep, that were destined to be sacrificed in the temple, shepherds on a Bethlehem hillside. Now, with this prophetic background, we come back to Luke 2 for just a few minutes.

As I say, we're just going to look at some of this morning. I want to show you three intriguing concepts eventually, that emerge from this narrative. We're going to see Bethany's destiny, Bethany's child, and Bethany's manger. And today, we're just going to look at Bethany's destiny. Notice that beginning in verse one. "Now, it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth." And again, remember now this is all according to God's plan. God caused certain things to happen and had he not done so, Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem and Micah's prophecy would be unfulfilled, and it would be false and the Word of God would be discredited. But that is not the case. Now, "it came about in those days," what does that mean? Well, every good Bible student is going to say, Whoa, I need to check into this what was going on in those days? Well, the covenant people of God were scattered all over the Roman Empire. They were being persecuted. They were basically owned by the Romans. They were dejected, discouraged. They had been deceived by their religious leaders, they were longing for the Messiah to come and to deliver them from Rome, not from their sin, but from Rome. And because of the rebellion, the rebellion of their ancestors, God had not directly spoken to the covenant people of Israel for 400 years. In fact, the dazzling light of God's presence called the Shekinah that once hovered between the cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies had departed from that temple area. We read about that in Ezekiel 10, verse 18. In fact, it departed, went over and hovered over the east gate, the gate Jesus would have entered earlier. It's like Jesus comes and now we look back in ancient Israel, we see how that the Glory had departed. Fact in Ezekiel 11:23, we read that the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. By the way, may I remind you that as we look at Scripture, we see that when Jesus returns, his return will be westward through the Eastern Gate, Ezekiel 43:9, and he will return to the Mount of Olives, the opposite direction from which the Glory had departed in the Old Testament. We read about the Mount of Olives descent in Zechariah 14:4. So for 400 years, the Jewish people had floundered around in ritualistic Judaism filled with legalism and hypocrisy and sorrow still awaiting their Messiah while they were the subjects of Rome. And only a remnant of faithful people really worshipped Yahweh. Only a few remained; those who truly loved the Lord their God, with all their heart, that's what was going on, "in those days." There was also days of Roman occupation, where the Jews had to see all of the vile idolatry and all of the sexual immorality that went along with it. That's why they would have no contact with them. There was also days when the insanely jealous king by the name of Herod was the vassal King appointed by Rome to rule Judea in which Bethlehem existed. He was an Edomian, which means he was an Edomite. And they were the perennial enemies of God that hated the Israelites. We read about that all through their history. And Herod would later slaughter the babies in that region, in hopes to eliminate the rival to his throne. Especially when he heard the Persian king makers had come to town, looking for the King of the Jews.

Let me tell you about what was going on there, because it was "in those days" that all of this is going on. Just briefly the Parthian Empire, which was the land of the Medes and the Persians, which the Romans greatly feared, had deposed their king, his name is Phraates, the fourth. The story is, that history tells us, that one of his Italian concubines had born him a son, and she wanted her son to take his place. So she poisoned him. And of course, this is all part of God's providential plan all of this work. So the Parthian Empire, were looking for a new king that could help them conquer Rome. They hated Rome, Rome hated them. But kings of the Parthian Empire had to be chosen by the magistony called the Magi, which was the priestly line from among the Medes, the ancient meads, and the wisdom of the Magi was called the law of the Medes and Persians, Esther 1:19 and Daniel 6:15. And they specialized in dream interpretation. The Magi rose to power through their demonic,, cultic astrological abilities. They used sorcery and divination and astronomy. And they became the great advisors of all of the kings of the East. And thus they were called the wise men. And they can be traced all the way back to the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember in Daniel 2 they were called the Chaldeans. They were also called the magicians. And you will recall there that they were unable to interpret the king's dream so he sentenced them to death, but Daniel came along and interpreted the dream, and Daniel pleaded with the king in Daniel 2:24 "do not destroy the wise men of Babylon." It says," I will declare the interpretation of the king." Chapter five, verse 11, we read that Nebuchadnezzar then made Daniel master over the Magi, "the king appointed him chief of the magician's, conjurers, Chaldeans, and diviners."

Now, because of all of this, obviously, Daniel had their undivided attention, he had saved their life and undoubtedly he began to teach them about Yahweh, Jehovah God and the coming Messiah and Old Testament prophecy. It's astounding, isn't it that 600 years before Jesus was born, the sovereign grace of God reached into the hearts of at least some of these Magi in Nebuchadnezzar's court through Daniel and they heard a message of forgiveness and hope of a Messiah that would one day come, Emmanuel, God with us. That the glorious presence of God would again appear upon the world. That according to Numbers 24:17, "a star" Hebrew a "kochav", "will come forth from Jacob and a sceptre shall arise from Israel." By the way that was prophesied 1400 years before Christ was born. Daniel would have explained that to them. Obviously, they were looking for that blazing force of the Shekinah of God's glory. And when they saw it, many years later, they knew just what to do. So in the miracle of divine providence, 600 years later, the Magi, the king makers, in the Parthian Empire looking for a king, see a blazing light. It wasn't a star like you see on Christmas cards, there's a blazing light that would appear, some could see it, some couldn't, and then it would disappear, then it would appear again. Jumping ahead for a moment to build further context in Matthew 2:1, as we read earlier, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem." So this would have been a large contingency of these kingmakers accompanied by Persian troops, and a massive caravan of supplies. That's how they traveled in those days. And they were asking, verse 2, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star," aster" in Greek, we saw the his "blazing forth" in the East. And when "Herod the king heard it, he was troubled." By the way, that's an understatement. In Greek, it means that he trembled, he shook, he was terrified. Not only was he troubled, it says, and "all Jerusalem with him." And what's funny, we know that historically, Herod's troops were out on a mission and so they were quite vulnerable. So here comes all of these characters into town. Terrified by all of this, Herod schemed against God and consulted with his emissaries of Satan that served him, the chief priests and the scribes, and we read in verse four and, "Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it was written by the prophet,'" and he quotes Micah or they quote, Micah 5:2. Verse four says, he began to "inquire." Grammatically, the original language, it means he was constantly asking, I mean, this was this was high priority. He was on a search and destroy mission. He's got to find that child and get rid of that child. I'm sure there were hourly briefings. So he was in a panic.

Beloved, can't you see the marvel of the providence of God? And I'm just hitting the highlights. Can't you see that we serve a sovereign God who has ordained the end from the beginning? Oh, I hope you find comfort in all of this. So Luke says in Luke 2:1, "Now it came about in those days." Now you know what those days were all about, right? "It came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth," referring to the Roman Empire. And the census, of course, would provide a record for the purpose of collecting taxes and they were taken every 14 years. But notice in verse two, this was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor. That means the leader, the person of authority, the governor of Syria. Isn't it interesting, Luke is very specific. This was the first census taken, the first 14 years cycle while Quirinius was governor, we know this historically. Now why is this important? Because we know that the second census that was taken while he was governor, resulted in a giant Jewish rebellion. Luke mentions this in Acts 5:37, where he quotes Gamaliel. And also the great Jewish historian Josephus describes this uprising. So when did that second census occur? Well, we know that it occurred in AD six to nine, about a decade after Herod's death in four BC. So since we know a census was taken every 14 years and we know that the second census was taken in AD 6-9, we simply backup 14 years to determine the date of the first census that Luke specifies, which would have been about 8 BC. And it would appear that it was finally carried out and completed in Palestine, about two to four years later. Those that were living in Luke's day would have had a very accurate understanding of all this. In fact, archeologists have discovered a fragment of a stone. It was it was discovered near Rome in 1764 that contains strong evidence that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, which would confirm Luke's account. So here's the bottom line with this rabbit trail that's probably boring you out of your mind, okay. Somewhere between six and four BCE, the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, not zero ad. Back to Luke, verse three, chapter two, "and all we're proceeding to register for the census, everyone in his own city." It's fascinating isn't it? The Jews despise being taxed, normally, the Romans would allow their citizens to register wherever they currently resided. For reasons that we don't understand apart from the providence of God, Mary and Joseph travelled 85 miles to register in Bethlehem. Why? Don't know. There's some compelling hypotheses. One would be that the Jews highly honored their ancestry and kept scrupulous records. We know, for example, that when they entered into the Promised Land, every tribe, and every family was was allotted a specific region of land and each family was linked to that tribe. And each one had their own portion of the lot. They kept meticulous, genealogical records, and every seven years, the land would be returned to the original owner to maintain the ancestral ownership and perhaps this is what motivated Mary and Joseph to return. Perhaps this was required by Herod so he could keep track of the families. Perhaps they owned land in Bethlehem, we don't really know. But whatever the reason that is what happened.

Verse four, "and 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 the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary who was with child." Beloved, this is so fascinating. In the genealogy of Jesus that Luke supplies in Luke chapter three, we learned that Mary was the physical descendant of David thus her ancestry was linked to the city of David where the Savior was born. And because of his physical connection to Mary, Jesus had therefore, a legitimate right to the throne. But in Matthew's genealogy, Jesus legal, not physical, claim to the royal throne had to come through the royal bloodline, which would have come through Joseph, who was Jesus' legal, not natural, father. And all of this links him all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant and to David. And therefore Jesus Christ is described as the son of David. Well, this is probably a good place to stop. I hope this has been encouraging to you because what I want you to see, I know you're not going to remember all of these details, but what I want you to see and what I want you to marvel at, is how God, in his infinite wisdom, and omnipotent power, is accomplishing absolutely everything down to the very person, down to the very second, that he has ordained to accomplish. And I want you to realize that that includes what's going on in your life right now. Right? And so I trust that as you contemplate all that we've examined here today, you will rejoice that in his infinite love for you, he has a plan for all of those who placed their faith in Him. And so let's rejoice in that, remembering that he is going to come again someday and take us unto himself. And according to 1 John 3:2, "when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself just as He is pure." And I pray that that will be our heart's desire this Christmas season.

Let's pray together. Father, as we contemplate the astounding truths of your sovereign work down through redemptive history, we once again find ourselves overwhelmed. And in this, we rejoice knowing that you have set your love upon us even in eternity past, and that you have saved us. You have begun a good work in us and that you're going to accomplish that. And that one day you are going to bring us unto yourself. And I pray that these great truths will encourage each one of us this day, during this Christmas season. For its in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.