Introduction
After Eden there was a continual war between the seed of the Serpent and the Seed of the woman. This manifested itself in the beastliness of the ungodly, and the godliness of the righteous. You become like what you worship. Who do you serve? That is what you will become.
The Text
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 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:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
Luke 2:1-5
Caesar Augustus
After centuries as a republic, Rome was fracturing. Julius Caesar employed all his cleverness and charisma and cunning to wrangled the splintering Rome. Eventually, he declared himself Dictator perpetuo in February 44BC. A month later, Brutus & Cassius assassinated him, on the Ides of March. This flung the Roman Empire into a flurry of drama. Emerging from that instability was Gaius Octavius. Julius Caesar had named him as his adopted son and heir, and thus Gaius Octavius claimed that the laurel crown should grace his brow. His ascension, in 27BC, marked the end of the republic and the beginning of the Roman Empire. He took the title Caesar Augustus. A pretentious title indeed. He called himself the “son of the divine Julius.” Coins were minted, at his command, with the inscription AUGUSTUS DIVI FILIUS: Augustus, the son of god.
All the world, and all the people in it, seemed to him, were under his command and sway. Luke tells us that by Augustus’ command, during the time when Cyrenius was governor of Syria(Julius Africanus, 160-240AD, in a letter to Aristides, claims to have seen the records mentioned here), everyone in his empire must return to their hometown. The purpose was so that he could have a roster of all his citizens, and along with this census was an accompanying toll to be paid. He likely did this in order to minimize tribal conflicts and threats. But almost certainly, his vanity yearned to display the splendor of his power by sending forth his word to move all the people according to his will. But though his word moved the whole world, God was actually the One moving the great Emperor according to His will. For by his empirical word he was in the words of one commentator: “Augustus intends simply to promote the glory of his reign. But he only advances prophecies, and the birth of a King, unknown.”
Taxes
Luke is deliberate in his language here. The Caesar claims that “all the world” should be taxed. A tax is a claim. The Roman Eagle thought that the whole world was firm within its talons. Caesar’s actions here is the fruit that arises from believing Satan’s original lie: you can be as God. Here is a flagrant claim that the whole world owed tribute, not unto the God of Heaven and Earth, but to this earthly emperor. This is the pinnacle of human pride. The despotic emperor in you heart believes that the whole world owes you something. We determine to exert our will in order to make the whole world move according to our own wicked whims. But this is the result of serving the serpent in his rebellion against Yahweh.
From Nazareth
Now, a bit about Nazareth. It was a small village, a few miles west of the Sea of Galilee. Herod the Great was in the beginning stages of building his glorious city of Sephhoris. Thus, Joseph (and later Jesus) was likely employed in that construction project. The town of Nazareth seems to have arisen in roughly 100BC; given the presence of Joseph and Mary, descendants of David, it seems that the name likely arose from the Hebrew word nēṣer, for branch/shoot.
Which is quite interesting. These Davidic heirs seem to have deliberately drawn this name for their village from the messianic prophecy of Isaiah. In Isaiah 11 the prophet says that though the mighty tree of Jesse would been hacked down by the orc-like armies of Babylon. From this stump would emerge a branch/shoot (nēṣer). This branch would put all things right.
The imagery which Isaiah presents us with is that this Messiah, sprouting from David’s lineage, would come as a little child taming all the terrifying beasts. He would cause the wolf to lay down with the lamb. He would make the leopard lay down with a kid. The bear and lion would graze alongside the cattle. The weaned child would play on the serpent’s den with no fear of danger. Now consider the legend of Rome’s founding, Romulus & Remus suckled by a she-wolf. Rome was founded April 21, 753BC. Remember too that Romulus struck down his younger brother (much like Cain, Ishmael, Esau, Joseph’s brothers, Saul, etc.). By the nurture of a wolf, Rome was born.
Now, Isaiah likely gave this prophecy after the northern kingdom of Israel was exiled in 722BC. He foresees that the Messiah, arising like a branch from the stump of Jesse would cause the wolf (Rome) to lie down with the lamb (Israel, Cf. Ex. 12:5). Daniel uses these same animals to depict the empires of Persia (bear), leopard/kid (Greece/Alexander), winged lion (Rome). The beastly kingdoms, even the most serpentine of them, would submit their will to this Holy Child. The head of the Serpent would be crushed. But first…this Child must be born in the prophesied hometown of David (Mic. 5:2).
To Bethlehem
As the crow flies it’s about 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. However, Mary and Joseph weren’t crows and were likely forced to take a bit longer of a route to Bethlehem. Scripture doesn’t tell us what route they took. There are two basic options. The shorter was a supply route that went through Samaria. The Jews tended to avoid this route due to the animosity between them and the Samaritans. Thus, the holy couple in all likelihood took the longer, 90 mile, route.
Consider that the unborn Christ child, in the womb of the virgin woman, traversed the valley of Jezreel then the Jordan river basin, locations famous for many OT events. Deborah inspired Barak to fight against the armies of Sisera in Jezreel (Jdg. 4–5); in that battle, God sent the heavenly host, the stars in their courses, to cascade down by the rainy floodwaters upon Sisera’s armies (Jdg. 5:20). Because of this valley’s strategic geography, and it was also the place where Gideon and his small band of 300 Israelites put the 135,000 Midianites to flight (Jdg. 6–8). Mount Gilboa, which overlooked this valley, is where King Saul fell in despair upon his own sword (1 Sam. 31:1–6; 1 Chr. 10:1–7), thus making way for David to ascend to the throne of Israel.
Mary and Joseph would have passed by the place (near Jezreel city) where Jezebel, that catty sorceress-queen of Israel who plotted against Elijah, was cast down from the wall of Jezreel to be devoured by the dogs (2 Kgs. 9:30–37). They would pass by the covenant mountains of Ebal and Gerizim (Deut. 11:29; 27:11–13; Josh. 8:30–35). The Jezreel valley was where Judah’s last good king, Josiah, was pierced by the bowmen of Pharaoh Necho (2 Chr. 35:20–24, Zech. 12:10). As they ventured further south, down the Jordan river valley, they eventually would cross it in the same general region that Joshua led Israel over on dry ground (Josh. 3–4), and would have passed through Jericho, that first of the Canaanite strongholds to fall (Josh. 6).
At last they would have come to Bethlehem. Into the city of David, the heir of David had returned. The house of bread had no room for the heir of the King who had once fed all Israel with bread and wine from his generous storehouse (2 Sam. 6:19).
O Come to Us, Abide with Us
Thus it was that due to the vanity and pride of Rome’s Emperor, the Holy Child, from the stock of David the son of Jesse, was born in Bethlehem. He came to subdue the asp and the cobra and the lion and the leopard and the lamb and the ox. All the beasts’ kingdom would, in fact, answer to His call and command. Unto Him, as Isaiah foretold, would the Gentiles gather round as unto a New Adam, in a New Eden.
In your sin you behave as a ravening wolf. In your rebellion, you are like a prowling leopard. In your carnal lusts, you are like a rabid lion. Every man thinks himself a Caesar, able to be sovereign over all things, emperor over all others. But the child born in Bethlehem was the promised Seed of the Woman; He was the heir to David’s throne; He was the branch which would become the tree of life. Christ came to subdue all your beastliness. He came to you, that you might come to him. The question we opened with was, “Who do you worship?”
The dragon lied to our first parents, and by this your will is bent to the serpent’s beastly will. But to come to Christ in faith, is to have your will melt into the Heavenly Father’s will. This is the only way to be godly. Christ came in order that by the glad tidings of His coming, your will might be tamed to do the will of the God who made you. Tamed to worship and serve the one true God. This is what faith in God is. It is turning your will away from your own pretensions at being emperor of the world, and submitting yourself entirely to the will of God. It is most fitting, then, for us to sing that lovely Christmas carol:
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, decend to us, we pray.
Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels, the great glad tidings tell.
Oh come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel!
Charge and Benediction
Attempting to be Caesar of the world is like drinking peanut butter through a straw. But that is what our sin is. Sin is thinking that the whole world should revolve around you and bend to your will. But this is the pinnacle of folly. The Story of Christmas compels us to submit our will in all things to the Incarnate Word, the King of kings born in Bethlehem.
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
Numbers 6:24-26
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