By Divine Decree
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 their own town to register. (Luke 2:1-3, NIV)
It’s easy to look at the circumstances of our lives and world and feel helpless. I’m sure that’s how the Jews in first-century Palestine felt. For the first time in many years, they were enjoying relative peace in the land. But it wasn’t the peace they longed for. It was a peace maintained by Roman military occupation, a peace brought by the iron fist of Caesar Augustus.
The absolute authority of Caesar was plain for all to see when he ordered a census for the purpose of taxing his subjects. Census register populations of peoples. They demonstrate the power of the governors over the governed.
These first three verses in Luke, chapter two, set the stage for the birth of Christ. They paint a picture of absolute authority by an earthly king. A king who himself sent emissaries throughout his empire proclaiming, “Good News, Caesar Augustus is your savior. He has brought peace to the world. Caesar is the prince of peace.”
But while Caesar pulled the levers of power available to him as emperor of Rome, God fulfilled his promise that Israel’s savior, the true Prince of Peace, would be born in Bethlehem.
Caesar’s edict was ultimately the outworking of God’s sovereign will, and the edict that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem fulfilled the prophecy of Micah 5:2 -
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.
We may not always recognize the hand of God at work, but as Christians, we know that however hopeless things seem, God’s kingdom will come, His will be done.
In Christ,
Dan
‘Tis the season to look beyond the fallen and weak kingdoms of this world.
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