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And so we have heard all about the birth of John the Baptist – who was about six months older that Jesus of Nazareth.
And that brings us to chapter 2 verse 1 – let’s read:
Luke 2.1-14
May 12th 2019
Meat
Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem;
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Alright, back to verse 1:
1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
Okay, right out of the gates we have a confrontation for biblical literalists – of which there are many:
Was all the world taxed?
Of course not! There was no decree from Causar Augustus that Fiji should be taxed. Of course there is the possibility that Caesar Augustus did send out a proclamation that boldly said:
ALL THE WORLD SHALL BE TAXED
And this particular passage could be explained away this way but the Greek word here is not Kosmos but Oikomenia (a term from where we get economy) and best means all that were under the Roman economy in that area – meaning all of Judea at least.
Additionally, there is obviously no secular record of the whole world being taxed.
Caesar Augustus was the Roman emperor and his first name was Octavianus and he was the nephew of Julius Caesar.
He obtained the empire after the death of Julius Caesar and took the name Augustus – which humbly means, honorable as a compliment to his own greatness and it is where we get the name of the month August, which was called Sextilis before that time.
And verse two hits us with an even more difficult passage as it says:
2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
This verse is very difficult in the fact that Quirinius (or Cyrenius) was not governor of Syria until twelve or fifteen years after the birth of Jesus.
Jesus was born during the reign of Herod and at that time a guy name Varus was president of Syria.
Herod was succeeded by Archelaus, who reigned eight or nine years; and after he left office Judea was annexed to the province of Syria, and Quirinius was sent to be the governor (this is according to Josephus, Ant., b. xvii. 5).
These facts are hard to reconcile with Luke’s account. However some have tried and according to one famous apologist name Lardner, a solution might be the following:
When Luke wrote, “This was the first census of Quirinius, governor of Syria,” he called it “the first” to distinguish it from one afterward taken by him in Acts 5:37. It is said to be the census taken by Quirinius, governor of Syria; not that he was then governor, but that it was taken by him who was afterward familiarly known as governor.
Quirinius, governor of Syria, was the name by which the man was known when Luke wrote his gospel, and it was not improper to say that the taxing was made by him, the governor of Syria, though he might not have been actually governor for many years afterward.”
Perhaps.
Verse 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. (Which helps to explain the next verse)
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
Bethlehem was called the city of David because, according to Matthew 2:2, it was the place of his birth.
So why did Joseph go to the City of David (Bethlehem) Because he Was of the house (or family) of David. In taking a Jewish census, families were kept distinct; hence all went to the place where their family had resided. Joseph was of the family of David so therefore he went to the city of David.
Why did he go there?
5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
What do you notice about this passage? Joseph had not made the betrothal official by an actual ceremony yet. They were still engaged to be married though she was great with child.
When Jesus was engaging hotly with the Pharisees we read the following in John 8:41:
Jesus said, “Ye do the deeds of your father.” (who he had implied was Satan) “Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”
Some believe that this was a direct slam against him and his origins of being a bastard child – others see it differently because of context but it is interesting that Joseph and Mary had not finalized their marriage prior to the birth of Jesus.
Of course, being espoused was very similar to marriage contractually unlike our betrothals today. (verse 6)
6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Anciently, when a child among the Hebrews was born, it was washed in water, rubbed in salt, and then wrapped in swaddling clothes which are not like baby clothes today but were bands or blankets that confined the limbs closely to the body.
This shows that there was nothing special or peculiar in the manner in which the infant Jesus was treated.
The word translated “inn” here was a place of lodging and the term “manger” means simply a crib or place where cattle were fed.
“Inns,” in our sense of the term, were not known anciently in the East as hospitality was generally practiced and so travelers rarely had difficulty finding shelter and food when necessary.
In time – and apparently, in the time of Jesus incarnation – caravans or khans became more popular and it seems that Joseph and Mary resorted to such a place at Bethlehem but instead of finding a place in the “inn” they were obliged to be contented in one of the stalls or recesses appropriated to the animals.
This would make sense as the towns must have been filled with people coming to pay their taxes to Caesar.
I do not find this circumstance accidental as Jesus, who came to give us life and the means to overcome our animalistic, carnal selves descended below all things, even to the point of being born in a places for animals.
It is also interesting, to me, that the events mention in Yeshua’s birth – he was wrapped, laid down, no room for him – are also in place at his death, where His dead body was taken and wrapped, he was laid in a grave and that tomb was donated as there was no other place ready, or perhaps nobody else willing, to receive him.
The scripture here calls Jesus “Mary’s firstborn son.”
Whether Mary had any other children or not has been a matter of controversy but to me the scripture is pretty plain that she had other children although I do have to admit it curious that Jesus would leave the care of her to John the Beloved.
Something to think about. (verse 8)
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
So we know these shepherds were “in the same country” and Luke says that they were “abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.”
This is key to our understanding of the timing of Jesus birth.
See, in that part of the world, Judea, shepherds will let their flocks out at night in the warm months and then beginning in the months of October or at the latest November they will take them back to warmer confines. It is therefore very doubtful that Yeshua was born in December let alone December 25th.
We might wonder, in an age and among a people who would keep certain dates specifically, that we do not have a day and date given for the birth of the Messiah.
I suggest that it was so we would NOT have the opportunity to turn His birth into something that has no relation to who He really was to the earth.
HO HO HO HO . . .just my thoughts.
Anyway, under mild weather and skies the shepherds, who without irony, would be the first to have a confirmed witness of the Messiah AND would be the first preachers of Him on earth, would stay the night in the mountains and deserts to protect them from predators and thieves.
And while they were out we read (verse 9)
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
When we read anything of the Lord in scripture, we are talking about a powerful manifestation.
Here were have an angel of the Lord appearing with the Glory of the Lord shining around them!
This was one intently bright revelation.
It is believed that these Shepherds were probably devout Jews who, knowing the scripture, were looking for the Messiah to come.
We note that they were at least to some degree separated from the Sanhedrim, were agrestic, and whose occupation was leading, feeding, and protecting sheep.
It seems only fitting that these would be the ones to introduce the promised Messiah to the world, and not some soft robed religious leader on a gilded chair.
First, we have John the Baptist – a desert dwelling Nazarite who parents were devout to God.
Then we have Joseph and Mary, a carpenter betrothed to a humble woman pregnant and now giving birth to the Messiah in an animal stall,
And then we have the first actual witnesses of this Messiah being shepherds in the fields who take the message out to the rest of the community.
Of course, this Messiah will call similar Apostles – hated tax collectors, fishermen, and will eat and reach and speak to a similar crowd – much to the behest of the ruling religious crowd.
That is a Messiah I can preach and teach about some 2000 years later.
So, the Shepherds are surrounded by the glory of the Lord and they were appropriately terrified. (verse 10)
10 And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
All the way back to Genesis, a Messiah was promised through the words of Moses.
And here, in the field, an angel announces it to shepherds! I LOVE this. Can you imagine the sight and sounds of this news to devout men who loved God?
When the angel says:
Fear not for behold I bring you good tidings the term translated I bring is EU-ANGLE-IDZO – which we get the word, evangelize.
The term is used by both Paul and Luke – almost exclusively in scripture – and because Luke was influenced by Paul we can reasonably give Paul the credit for popularizing the word in our Christian world today.
All it means is to announce or declare Good News. And again, we see a link to whom God chose to do the announcing of the Good News!
We have covered who he called to use and their station in life, right? Now we see that all of those he chose in some way or another, announced the Good News –
Prior to the incarnation, we had
The Angel Gabriel
Then Elizabeth
Then John the Baptist leaping
Then Mary and the Magnificat
Then Zacharias and the Benedictus
And then post the incarnation (or upon the arrival of the Messiah) we have (again)
This angel from heaven –
(Then as we will see, the hosts of heaven)
Then the Shepherds –
Then third was John the Baptist –
The fourth was Jesus Christ –
The fifth were His chosen Apostles –
And the last was Paul.
All far removed from the refineries of religion. Most of humble but heavenly origins and influences. All opening their mouths and with words, sharing . . . the Good News.
And what does this angel tell the Shepherds besides not fearing? He says:
I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
All people – I take that seriously – as this Messiah, while certainly came to His own first, in and through His mission to them redeemed the world.
All people are beneficiaries of God with all, all can rejoice in the birth, life, death and resurrection of God’s only Human Son and what he did has direct application to all.
To the saint and the sinner.
To the believer and the non-believer.
The theist, the Deist, and Atheist
God does not do shoddy conditional work and this fact allowed the Angel to tell the shepherds:
This Good News will be to all people. Then he adds:
Luke 2:11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
The angel appears to cite Isaiah 9:6 which so beautifully describes the Promised Messiah and says:
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Born in the City of David (namely, Bethlehem, as Jerusalem is also called the City of David too in scripture, but it appears that the Shepherds at this time knew it was Bethlehem) and the Angel uses three specific words to describe who was born in the City of David:
A Savior (Soter) which is
Christ (Christos) the Lord (kurios)
Soter Christos Kurios
Soter means “a deliverer” (Savior)
Christos means “the Anointed” (one)
Kurios means, in this case, “the master of Ultimate Authority”
Who was born to them? The angel says:
“The Anointed Master Deliverer of Ultimate Authority.”
These terms are NEVER removed from Jesus – he is always distinguished as “Jesus of Nazareth -“The Anointed Master Deliverer of Ultimate Authority.”
How? How could a man from Nazareth measure up to such a description? Because He was Far Far more than just a man from Nazareth – he was God with us – which fully enabled the Man, born of a woman, born under the law to also be:
“The Anointed Master Deliverer of Ultimate Authority.”
And after introducing him and His character to the Shepherds he said:
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
It is doubtful that many babes were ever born in animal stalls – at least not at the same time on the same day – and finding the babe would in a small place like Bethlehem probably be fairly easy – after all, the angel didn’t give the Shepherds an address, did he?
And perhaps as a means to emphasize the magnitude of what had been born among men we now read
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Praise given to YHWY, has long been the practice of things heavenly oriented – and long been denied by the earthly minded.
Way back in the Psalms (148) we read the following verses of beauty beginning at verse 1:
1 Praise ye YHWH. Praise ye YWHY from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of YHWH: for he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
7 Praise YHWH from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapor; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13 Let them praise the name of YHWH: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
The hosts of heaven here, at the birth of the Son of God, are Praising YHWH for loving the world so much he instituted the great plan of redemption which is the purest evidence of His goodness, His love, His mercy, His justice.
We see that the Angels sing:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
There is a strong temptation to believe that the angels were giving glory and praising the babe – but this is not what the text says; it says “suddenly there was . . . “a multitude of the heavenly host praising YHWH,” saying, “Glory to YHWH in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The implications are important on a number of accounts. First, it was YHWH who sent us His only human Son (see, John 3:16, 1st John 4:9-10, Ephesians 2:4,7), secondly, Yeshua came to bring all glory and honor to His Father YHWH (see, Philippians 2:11); third, while Yeshua the infant was honorable as the child of YHYH in the flesh, the promised redeemer, Messiah, Lord and was worshipped the way all kings were approached Yeshua became the begotten Son of YHWH completely at his resurrection.
Over the course of his mortal life Yeshua gained the approbation of His Father incrementally (which is supported by Luke 2:40; Luke 2:52; Hebrews 5:8) he first earned the title of “beloved Son” at His baptism (see, Matthew 3:17) then on the Mount of Transfiguration (see, Mark 9:35) with the title of YHWH’s only begotten son coming by, through and after His resurrection (see, Acts 13:33; Romans 1:4).
Yeshua was certainly God with us, but the Man, born of a woman, experienced Processional Deification on behalf of the world.
To me, Glory to God in the highest is the
equivalent of saying, “Glory to the most high God,” or “Let the most high God be praised for his love and mercy to men.”
Remember, that the prophetic description of God with us in Isaiah calls Him, the Prince of peace.
And here the angels in addition to praising YHWH and giving him glory add:
Peace on earth goodwill to men! Peace on earth, Good will to men!
We KNOW that this cannot be taken literally or materially because ever since His birth (and frankly well before) the earth – even in his name – has been at war with itself.
Even Jesus Himself admitted to this, paradoxically saying in Matthew 10:34:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”
So we have the angels, in the face of his birth saying, “Peace on earth” and we have him saying
“I did not come to send peace on earth but a sword.”
What are we to think?
The only way to reconcile such apparent contradictions is to understand that His Kingdom is not of this world (which he also admits) and that the peace He brings is spiritual, not material; that in his name on this earth, warfare is the result because He brings light into the dark and the natural result is . . . conflict.
Nevertheless, the Gospel – internally present – does bring peace to the lives and hearts of its recipients, and in that sense through His arrival there is, “peace on earth Goodwill toward men.”
Truly.
I mean I am not a naturally “a goodwill toward men” type of guy – I’m actually in my nature a misanthrope – but I can honestly say that Jesus has caused me to have a billion times more good will then when I started this journey.
The ways Jesus brings peace on earth (spiritually – and perhaps as a by-product of that spiritual influence, materially) is touched on throughout scripture:
First of all, he is a healer. If you want unrest and chaos and disorder, examine those who are ill or diseased. But as the healer, He brings peace.
Isaiah 57:19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
Of course we have already covered what Zacharias said of this Messiah in the first chapter of this Gospel, which is that he would come:
“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
Darkness – which is very much a state of the uncertain and the uneasy – is a state of unrest. Death and its weight the same.
As the light shining in the darkness and the one who overcame death, we see Him as the WAY of Peace even more clearly.
Speaking of death, we read that all familiar passage in John 3:16 which says:
Joh 3:16 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.
Now that is a message of peace – to know that there will be no perishing after this life but that everlasting life awaits all who have placed their faith on Him.
Understanding the means of our justification and sanctification through faith also contributes to the peace we have in Him as Romans 5:8 says:
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Helping us realize that our salvation is NOT based on us and our worthiness but Him and His. And this justification by faith alone lends to tremendous otherworldly peace as Romans 5 says:
“Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This inner peace speaks volumes for those who are His, as Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14-17
14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Ultimately, this peace allows those who are able and ready, to see Him as the one who reconciled ALL things – ALL things to the Father.
He reconciled our wayward cousins or childrenw, our parents, the people of other nations and religions, all things – He reconciled to the Father, or as
Colossians 1:20 says
“And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.”
The Shepherds were prophetically told by the host of heavenly angels what that babe lying in the manger was going to accomplish.
Glory to God and peace on earth and His Goodwill toward all men.
And we will pick it up here next week.
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