From You One Will Go Forth For Me to Be Ruler in Israel
Take a moment and pray that the Lord will speak to you in this time of study.
We know from reading (Micah 5:2) that Bethlehem was the city that the prophet Micah foretold as the birthplace of the Messiah. We also we read that Bethlehem was not the place where His parents resided. (Luke 2:4) We read the strange set of circumstances over which the providence of God ruled to ensure that this Biblical prophecy was fulfilled to the letter and the means by which God brought this to pass. We see God working through the most powerful ruler in all the earth at that time-Caesar Augustus; Octavius, one of the most powerful Caesars to ever rule over the Roman Empire. We read in this birth narrative of Christ that a decree, an edict, went out from Caesar Augustus that all of the world should be enrolled. So masses and multitudes of people in the conquered territories of Rome were scrambling to their birthplaces (or to their legal residences where they might hold property) to register for this census. And it came at a most inconvenient time in the lives of Joseph and his now-pregnant wife Mary. She is in the ninth month of her pregnancy, and they have to make the ninety-mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem to sign up for this tax.
Yet, in the midst of this hardship, these apparently insignificant people are forced to make this arduous journey by the decree of the Emperor. But the Emperor’s decree was issued by a higher decree, the decree of Almighty God who decreed from the foundation of the earth that His beloved Son would be born in the City of David–in Bethlehem, even as He had revealed to Micah so many centuries before the event. Octavian had no earthly idea that his decree for this enrollment or that this census had any significance to redemptive history or to western civilization whatsoever. And yet just about the only reason that people today even recognize the name of Caesar Augustus is because his name is mentioned in passing with respect to the birth of the Great King in Bethlehem.
When we talk about the Providence of God, we recognize that God uses the acts of men to carry out His eternal purposes. Never is this fact more evident than in the Christmas story where we see God fulfilling prophecy through the acts of this mighty Emperor Caesar Augustus. The sovereignty of God means that all things are in His control. All things in history are working toward His purposes.
As you pray today, consider that there is great security in knowing that God is working, even now, in the midst of all circumstances. (Romans 8:28) Consider that we can have real peace of mind knowing that He cares for us and is working on our behalf.
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