And It Came to Pass.

Shane reminds us that “it came to pass” because God has a plan for everything. Even the decree by Caesar Augustus was in His plans.

December 1 – Morning

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah…”  Micah 5:2 

Why did the Lord choose Bethlehem to birth His Son?  Why not Jerusalem, the nation’s capital, or Shechem, or Jericho, or any of the other famous cities of Israel?  One reason is because Bethlehem bears the signature of God.  God has always bypassed the rich, the famous and the powerful of this world in favour of the meek.  He has hidden Himself from the wise and prudent and has chosen to reveal Himself to babes (Mt.11:25). 

Palestine was a despised nation in the eyes of the Roman Empire at the time of Christ’s advent.  Christ did not march into our world a Roman, nor set Himself up as a cultured Greek.  Jesus Christ was born a Jew, despised, enslaved, unrecognized and weak.  Bethlehem was “little” among the thousands of potential cities of Judah in which Messiah could have been born.  Yet God chose this very place to be the black velvety cloth against which He could display His rarest diamond. 

The Saviour Chooses to Dwell in Us

You and I are also “little” among the thousands of rich and powerful of this world, yet the Saviour chooses to dwell in us.  Marvellous is the thought: He has decided to display His mighty power in these earthen vessels, these jars of clay, in order that His power and excellence might clearly be known (2 Cor.4:7).  He forsook the palace for the stable.  He bypassed the kings and nobles, and instead invited the despised shepherds to witness His birth.  He refused to call the chief priests and Pharisees as His disciples but chose instead unlearned fishermen and former tax collectors to be among His twelve.  That’s why He has chosen you and me.  God has not chosen the wise, the mighty and the noble to display His glory, but has chosen “the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty” (1 Cor.1:27).     

You want to be great?  Then shrink yourself small.

To look a little like the Son,

relinquish everything, give up all.

Take as your pedestal a manger stall

and of the world’s fame take none. 

When He came here he erased his face,

and let His massive name be killed.

Alexander (the great) did a little kingdom make

but next to Christ he seems ungreat.

Jesus’ name is the smallest and greatest still.

December 1 – Evening

“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…”  Luke 2:1

Why does Luke tell us the name of the Emperor at the time of Christ’s birth?  As a historian, he was no doubt interested in names and dates, but as a theologian, his purpose was to magnify the birth of Christ.  Octavius being his surname, Augustus was a title bestowed upon the first Caesar who brought peace to Rome.  After years of civil strife that had threatened to undo the Roman Empire, Octavius brought peace to the Roman world.  For this reason, Luke uses the name of Augustus Caesar as a foil for the true king, who was quietly delivered and placed in Bethlehem’s manger, without fanfare, without pomp. 

God Uses Caesar Augustus

Augustus, as a title, means “revered one.”  In essence, it was a divine title.  Augustus Caesar was the first among many Roman Emperors to receive divine worship.  It was in the shadow of this larger-than-life character that the mighty Christ was humbly born.  By relating the story in this way, Luke reverses the popular opinion of his day, mainly that Augustus was the most powerful person in the whole world, sovereign in all things.  Who but Caesar could command a census for the whole world?  But it was not Augustus who called for the census.  It was God who used the little Caesar as a puppet to do His bidding.  Instead of telling Joseph through a dream to go to Bethlehem to have Messiah born, like He did when he told Joseph to leave Egypt (Mt.2:19,20), God chose instead to uproot an entire nation from their homes.  In a sense, everyone was uprooted from their homes in order to make ready for the Divine King.  A greater king than Augustus was served through the census.  The entire Roman world unwittingly participated in the birth of Christ. 

Unknown to Augustus Caesar himself, he was serving as a pseudo-sovereign, a mere servant to the truly divine One, our Lord Jesus Christ.  It wasn’t Augustus who received worship from his empire that night, it was a little slave-Jew born in a corner of “his” empire.  Half the world today would probably still be ignorant of Caesar Augustus’ name, had not the truly “August One” been born under his reign.   

He didn’t march into our world as Roman

nor set himself a cultured Greek,

Jesus Christ came as a Jew,

cast his lot among the few,

despised, enslaved, unrecognized and weak.

Though He Himself is the radial center

and of all of heaven He’s the core,

He lived down here outside the margin

and by dying He obtained us pardons,

He laid His birthright down to move us fore.

He lived here, de-centered and un-powered,

wore the mask of a common human face,

swabbed the deck like a servant slave,

was called a liar and a knave,

that we might have a portion in His grace.

Do you believe that God is in control of all events? Please share with us below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.