In Those Days

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to his own town to register.  So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.”

Luke 2:1-4

Most of my mother’s grandchildren have all memorized Luke 2 in second grade.  I held my breath when my middle daughter Sophia had to say it with her whole class at the Christmas program at school.  We worked day and night, car rides and bath times on those verses.  My youngest daughter Victoria is not even in second grade yet, and she can say the first verses because she heard them so many times.  It was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, and it is still Sophia’s favorite passage of the Bible because she knows how hard she worked on it, too.

In the Christmas program, the children line up on stage and say it without an index card or other aide.  The two teachers get them started to help them stay synchronized and then lean back in the pews.  They join in if the children get off rhythm or they know it is a part that has been difficult for them.  However, for the most part, those darling children are saying those many, many verses by themselves.  It is my favorite part of the Christmas program.  I always say, “Tuition at a Christian school ($ this much), uniforms for school ($ this much), but God’s Word written on your child’s heart, priceless.”

Luke 2 starts with “In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.”  The Roman Empire ruled the world at the time of Jesus’ birth.  The Empire stretched from Britain in the north, to Spain and Portugal in the west, into Africa and Egypt in the south, and as far east as Syria.  Caesar Augustus ruled.

Caesar ordered the census which would be the basis for the Roman system of taxation.  He wanted to generate revenue.  He ordered the census so they could apportion amounts for each provincial governor to raise.  It may have taken a while for his decree to travel from his residence by horse across the Mediterranean Sea to the Roman outpost of Israel.

Caesar spoke and millions of people started to migrate to their hometowns.  His words mobilized the people.  Without a choice, they had to follow his orders to travel to their ancestral villages.  The men prepared for the journey by gathering the required supplies while, perhaps, the women prepared the food.  People tried to travel in groups for safety.  No one wanted to defy the Roman ruler’s order.

Caesar may have thought this census was for his purposes and for his kingdom.  He never knew that a Jewish prophet had written hundreds of years earlier, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).  He didn’t understand that the Sovereign God of the universe had set him in position and used him for His purposes.

Caesar was all part of the Master’s plan to prove to the world that Jesus was the Son of God by fulfilling the prophecy.  No man has control over the city of his birth or the circumstances surrounding his birth.  Only God can control those things.  God used Caesar’s command and agenda to accomplish His own agenda.  Never forget, precious friend, that no matter how this world seems to be moving to a place that you don’t want it to go that our God is still the One in charge.  He rules over every legislation, every law, and every man.  It is His kingdom that is the everlasting kingdom and not any man’s.  We can place our trust in Him!

Pray with me:  Sovereign God, You are in complete control.  Rulers may think they wield the power, but the scepter has never departed from Your hand.  You set up kings, and You depose them (Daniel 2:21).  You rule over all, and You reign on high.  We are Your subjects.  We are doing Your bidding, and You do not do ours.  Although You listen to us and hear our desires, it is Your will that prevails.  We trust in You completely.  It’s in Your precious Son’s Name, Yeshua’s Name, we pray.  Amen.