Advent 2019 - One Plan - Two Purposes Series

Advent 2019 – One Plan, Two Purposes

Please stand as we read our newest memory Scripture together …

Jude 1:24-25

“To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy –

“To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

And our memory refresher verse(s) for today is(are) …

1 Timothy 6:6

“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”

Please open your Bibles to Luke 2:1-7

Aren’t you glad that the Lord chose someone like Luke to investigate and “write an orderly account … so that [we] may know the certainty of the things [we] have been taught ….” Luke 1:3-4

First, let’s lay some groundwork. What are the things we should know for certain that come from the Bible?

(Explain each of these in more depth)

- We were created by God in His image

- We rebelled against Him

- In this rebellion we left Him behind

- God made a plan to get us back when we were unredeemable

- Jesus is that plan

Now, when it comes to Jesus being the plan of getting us back to God we obviously should want to know everything we could possibly know about this plan.

With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Luke 2:1-7

(Prayer for help)

One thing I love about the Gospels is that they are told from different perspectives.

Mark does not contain any information about the incarnation event at all.

John only briefly mentions that “the Word” who “was God” “became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” John 1:1 and John 1:14.

Matthew tells us about Joseph and Mary’s interactions with the angel during their betrothal period in Nazareth and then jumps to the visit of the Magi in Bethlehem sometime after Jesus is born. He never tells how they got there or why.

Luke, however, gives a much more detailed account of Mary’s interaction with Gabriel and her trip to see Elizabeth but he says nothing about the situation with Joseph.

Luke then describes Jesus being taken to the temple on the eighth day to fulfill the requirements of the law and jumps from there immediately to Jesus visit to the temple at the age of twelve.

But Matthew recounts Joseph taking Jesus and Mary to Egypt for their protection from Herod.

When you put these two accounts together it paints a fascinating picture of Jesus’ arrival here on earth, doesn’t it?

So, let’s take a look at a couple of elements of Joseph Mary’s trip to Bethlehem.

The distance from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 80 miles and Mary was nearly full term in her pregnancy.

One commentator was saying that the trip would take 4-5 days if they were walking or 8-10 days if Mary rode a donkey. The reason it would take longer on a donkey is that a donkey walks as fast as a donkey wants to walk. When you lead a donkey it is more like you are pretending to lead the donkey when in reality you are just holding a rope and moving as fast as the donkey wants to move. And, when the donkey is done moving, he is done moving …

So, why were they going to Bethlehem? They were going to Bethlehem to register for the census that had been ordered by Caesar Augustus. If the Caesar says, “Go to your hometown to be registered” you go to your hometown to be registered. That, pure and simple, is why they hit the road to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

But God the father knew that they were really going to Jerusalem in order to fulfill a prophecy that had been written by Micah nearly 800 years before Jesus’ birth.

Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me One who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

You, see, Joseph had a plan and a purpose; the plan was to go to Bethlehem and the purpose was to register for a census.

God had a plan and a purpose.

- God’s plan was to raise up a dictator in a civilization called the Roman empire who would order a census in such a way that Joseph and Mary would have to go to Bethlehem.

- God’s purpose was to fulfill the prophecy that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.

- God’s further purpose was to put Micah 5:2 and Luke chapter 2 in place 800 years apart so that we could believe that Jesus IS the Messiah!

You see …

- God and Joseph had the same plan; go to Bethlehem