A Strange Agent of Providence
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered....So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. Luke 2:1-6, NKJV
God's providence works in strange ways. Throughout the Roman Empire periodic censuses took place with the double object of assessing taxation and identifying those liable for compulsory military service. We know from the historical record that in Egypt such censuses occurred every 14 years. And from A.D. 20 until about A.D. 270 the exact documents for each census are extant. Interestingly enough, a government edict from Egypt states that "it is necessary to compel all those who for any cause whatsoever are residing outside their districts to return to their own homes" for the census.
Thus it is that we find in the birth of Jesus the initial contact between the most powerful emperor in the world at that time and the future King of kings. We have in Luke's passage a premonition of kingdoms in conflict. Of course, we can be absolutely certain that Caesar Augustus had not the slightest notion of the existence of Joseph and Mary or the promised Christ child. In fact, he probably had no knowledge of even Nazareth or Bethlehem.
But Luke is making it clear that the birth of the boy called Jesus is the beginning of a confrontation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. Within a century or so the successors of Augustus would not only have heard of the birth of the child, but would be seeking to obliterate His followers. And in just a little more than three centuries the Roman emperor himself would become a Christian. The story of kingdoms in conflict was already in progress on the road to Bethlehem.
Careful students of the Hebrew Bible would not have been surprised at the Bethlehem connection. Seven hundred years before, the prophet Micah had written"
"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,...
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient of days" (Micah 5:2, RSV).
God in the past has used strange methods and people to work out His providence. My guess is that He does the same in our day.
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered....So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. Luke 2:1-6, NKJV
God's providence works in strange ways. Throughout the Roman Empire periodic censuses took place with the double object of assessing taxation and identifying those liable for compulsory military service. We know from the historical record that in Egypt such censuses occurred every 14 years. And from A.D. 20 until about A.D. 270 the exact documents for each census are extant. Interestingly enough, a government edict from Egypt states that "it is necessary to compel all those who for any cause whatsoever are residing outside their districts to return to their own homes" for the census.
Thus it is that we find in the birth of Jesus the initial contact between the most powerful emperor in the world at that time and the future King of kings. We have in Luke's passage a premonition of kingdoms in conflict. Of course, we can be absolutely certain that Caesar Augustus had not the slightest notion of the existence of Joseph and Mary or the promised Christ child. In fact, he probably had no knowledge of even Nazareth or Bethlehem.
But Luke is making it clear that the birth of the boy called Jesus is the beginning of a confrontation between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. Within a century or so the successors of Augustus would not only have heard of the birth of the child, but would be seeking to obliterate His followers. And in just a little more than three centuries the Roman emperor himself would become a Christian. The story of kingdoms in conflict was already in progress on the road to Bethlehem.
Careful students of the Hebrew Bible would not have been surprised at the Bethlehem connection. Seven hundred years before, the prophet Micah had written"
"But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,...
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient of days" (Micah 5:2, RSV).
God in the past has used strange methods and people to work out His providence. My guess is that He does the same in our day.
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