A ROYAL NATIVITY.
Luke 2:1-7.
Caesar Augustus sent out a decree that “all the world” should be “registered” (Luke 2:1).
Unbeknown to the mighty Emperor, this was going to be the most significant census of all history. After all, even the most powerful of potentates are subservient, whether they know it or not, to the ultimate King of kings and Lord of lords, the LORD God of Israel (cf. Proverbs 21:1).
What this decree does illustrate to us, is just how much Judah was under the yoke of Rome at that time. It seemed that the sceptre had been falling out of Judah’s hands for centuries.
Many centuries before a prophet had predicted that, out of a little place called Bethlehem, a ‘ruler in Israel’ would ‘come forth,’ whose ‘goings forth’ were from all eternity (cf. Micah 5:2). With hindsight, we can see that this is a clear prediction of the incarnation. Even the ‘chief priests and scribes’ understood it to mean that ‘Christ’ would be born ‘in Bethlehem,’ and told the Emperor’s puppet king in Jerusalem, Herod, that it was so (cf. Matthew 2:4-6).
It was this decree which brought Joseph and his espoused to Bethlehem (Luke 2:3-4). This was the right place at the right time as the Virgin Mary was about to give birth to her firstborn son, Jesus (Luke 2:6).
Thus the King of Glory was not to be born in a palace, but “laid in a manger” because there was no room for Him anywhere else (Luke 2:7).
A manger, a long trough for feeding horses or cattle was hardly the ideal place to lay a new-born child. Yet this was the measure of what God was doing when He thus manifested Himself in the flesh (cf. 1 Timothy 3:16). The LORD of glory made Himself of no reputation, and humbled Himself (cf. Philippians 2:6-8), in order to accomplish our salvation. Let us anew make room in our hearts for Him.
