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Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
Journey to Bethlehem – Part 1
Luke 2:1-5, "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 into 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."
The year was 29 BC and a new Emperor was now on the throne of the Roman Empire, His name was Caius Caesar Octavianus Augustus. For centuries, the emperors of Rome had ruled the civilized world with an iron fist. Their mighty legions were nearly invincible, crushing every enemy that dared to attempt to stop them. Nation after nation had feel as prey to Roman Army and one of those nations was Syria. One of the provinces of the vast area known as Syria was Judea, the home of the remnant of the Jews of the nation of Israel.
The Jews who lived in Judea were oppressed greatly. It was as though a dark cloud of sin and judgment had covered the land. This great people had disobeyed God and fallen into apostasy and idolatry. As a result, God had not spoken to his own chosen nation for 400 years. For 4 centuries, not one Prophet had appeared in Israel. No one in the land had heard the Word of God come forth as had been done during the time of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Elijah or Malachi.
There was a famine in the Land of Israel. Not a famine of food or drink, but of the Word of God and the presence of God.
In a world bound by sin and darkness, this was the midnight hour. The big government and dominating power of Rome was, once again, poised to renew its oppression of the Jews. They were slaves to Rome with little or no hope of gaining their freedom.
There is nothing like oppression through taxation without representation that will stir a people to action against those who impose unwanted and unwarranted taxes upon them.
Israel had long ago been robbed of its wealth and power. The individual citizens had been taxed heavily to support the Roman garrison and to fill the pockets of the governors and rulers that Rome had put into place without any consideration of the desires of the people.
This was the world into which Jesus was to be born.
It was a world of power and money-mad Dictators. Of big government that refused to be satisfied until every bit of wealth had been drained from the people and that passed new laws and regulations at will to see to it that none escaped its reach.
Thus we see that Caesar had ordered that all the land of Judea should be counted in a census so that none would escape the new taxation to support the lavish Roman government.
To make matters worse, every man who lived in the Land of Judea had to return to his place of birth to register for the census. This census wasn’t just to count how many people actually lived in the land; it was far more invasive and demanding.
A Roman Census consisted of 2 parts:
1) The people had to give their names, their titles or rank of any civil capacity, the name of their employer and job title, the name of their wives, children, servants and slaves and the name, location and value of their estates according to the records of the Roman assessors.
2) The amount of taxes that were to be assessed was solely dependent upon the decision of the tax assessors appointed by Rome. Each assessor was instructed to get every bit of wealth possible from each citizen, rich and poor alike. These taxes could be collected in the form of money, property and/or family members.
Heralds through all the land of Judea spread news of this census. One of these heralds came to a tiny city about 60 miles north of Jerusalem, or 70 miles north of Bethlehem, by the name of Nazareth.
In this city of Nazareth, there lived a poor, hard working and honest carpenter whose name was Joseph.
News of this census caused great concern for Joseph for he knew that, somehow, he must make the long and dangerous journey to his hometown of Bethlehem.
But how could he do so. There was no money for food or lodging. The roads were long, hard and robbers lurked behind rocks all along the way. This was not going to be a pleasant journey.
To make matters worse, the woman that Joseph loved dearly was 9 months pregnant and in no condition to walk 70 miles through deserts and mountainous country. She would have to ride but that wasn’t going to be much easier for he was too poor to own a cart. Mary would have to ride on the back of a donkey for the whole trip.
But Mary had to go. She could not stay behind for the circumstances of her pregnancy were questionable to many who knew her.
Mary and Joseph were convinced that God had blessed them with this child and that God would take care of them on the journey. But, those of Nazareth, especially the hard line Jews, felt that Mary had committed a sin worthy of death by stoning because she was pregnant and wasn’t married. Very few were willing to accept the wild stories they had heard that God had caused Mary to be with child without any man. Joseph worried over the condition of Mary and long, hard journey ahead – but, I believe, he may have feared for her very life and the life of the baby yet to be born, if he were to leave her behind.
It wasn’t necessary for anyone other than the men to make the trip to be counted in the census but Joseph couldn’t risk leaving Mary behind. She just had to go with him and they would have to trust God to help them make it to Bethlehem and back safely.
The World needed a Savior and God sent His only Son, to be born of a virgin, so the World could believe in Him, accept Him and obtain salvation.
Why was it necessary for Jesus to be born of a virgin?
Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
As you know, Satan entered into the garden and began his temptation by speaking to Eve. Through her sin and ultimately, the sin of Adam, the state of innocence into which man was created ceased to exist and Satan’s reign over the souls of men began.
As a result, the Father in Heaven, had to provide a living, blood sacrifice, to overcome the power of sin and pay the price of redemption for fallen man whom God loved so dearly and whom God had personally made in His own image with His own hands.
In this verse in Genesis, God promised vengeance upon the serpent (Satan) through the seed of the woman. Man was to have no part in the promise of this coming Messiah to save the world.
There was to be a human being born of the flesh but this man was to be born of a woman alone. Without the participation of a man, as God designed the family in the beginning, there could be no child brought forth.
But, if a man were to have part in the bringing forth of the Savior, then the Savior would not have been any more of God than you or I. The birth had to come from a virgin woman who had never known a man just as Genesis said.
Therefore, it is by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit that God formed the child in the womb of a virgin – this would be a son, named Emmanuel, or God With Us! This would be God’s son, born of a virgin, who would come to bruise the head of Satan. This would be child born of flesh and of Spirit, like no other would ever be.
Jesus would be born of the Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem. And why would Jesus be born in such an obscure place as the tiny village of Bethlehem?
Micah 5:2, "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The choice of this small town in Judea was no accident either. God does nothing by accident. The very name of the town, Bethlehem, means “Place of Flesh”. To fulfill prophecy and to make His point known, God brings forth His only son, born as a man of flesh, in the “city of flesh”, from the womb of the virgin.
John 3:16-17, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
All of the planning, working and care of God in bringing forth His Son, Jesus was for one single purpose. So that His Son, Jesus, could die on the cross for those who were in the darkness of sin with no hope of salvation.
Through the ages of time, since the dawn of creation, God the Father had fore-ordained and planned that this time would come. And now, the fullness of time had come and it was time for Jesus to be born. God had set His great plan of salvation into motion and now every step that man took and every decision that men were to make would be for the purpose of bringing to pass the promise of God that a Savior would be given.
And so, Mary and Joseph, loaded some clothing, food, water and what little money they had, and began the long journey to Bethlehem. There was no Burger King or McDonalds. There were no Holiday Inns. Even if there were such places, there was no money to pay for these conveniences, so each day, taking probably as much as two weeks or more on the road, they had to stop to rest often, cook their own meals, bathe whenever possible in cold water streams or out of a wash bowl, sleep on the ground and keep moving until they reached Bethlehem.
As we come to the close of this part of our journey to Bethlehem, let us remember just why we celebrate this time each year. It is not the fact of holidays, feasts, time with family and friends, or gifts around a beautiful Christmas tree.
We celebrate this time of year only because Jesus was born of a virgin and came to this earth so that we could be saved from an eternity without God.
We will continue on our journey later on, but why not stop right now and accept the Virgin Birth as reality and confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Until you do, Christmas really won’t have its real meaning in your life.
