The Greatest Gift
This morning I want to tell you about the greatest
gift ever given.
2 Corinth 9:15 “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable
gift.” The greatest gift ever given was God giving
Himself to us through the giving of His Son.
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Luke 1:26-35 (Luke tells us about the angel Gabriel
speaking to Zacharias about the coming of his son
John who would prepare the way for the coming of
the Messiah, the Son of God)
The coming of Jesus would fulfill numerous prophecies,
including those about His linage (His ancestors). In
Matthew ch1 and Luke ch3, the Bible gives us 2
summaries of the genealogy of Jesus.
Matthew’s account likely traces the linage of Jesus’
earthly father Joseph, while Luke’s account seems
likely to give the linage of His earthly mother Mary.
Both genealogies specifically name Abraham, Jacob,
and David as His forefathers, and all of this was
foretold long ago in the writings of the OT.
Messiah to be the Seed of Abraham
shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of
Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His
government or of peace on the throne of David and
over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with
justice and righteousness from then on and
forevermore.”
Psalm 89:3-4 “I have made a covenant with My chosen;
I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your
seed forever, and build up your throne to all
generations.”
Throughout history, God had to protect and preserve the
linage of Abraham, Jacob, and David to ensure that the
Messiah would indeed come into this world through this
linage of ancestors just the prophets foretold.
Messiah to be Born of a Virgin
Another prophecy about the Messiah was made in Isaiah
7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign.
Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and
she will call His name Immanuel.”
Remember what we just read in Luke ch1… When the
angel told Mary she was going to have a baby, she said,
“Wait a minute! How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
In Genesis 12:1-3, God told Abram, a man who was 75
years old and had no children, “Go forth from your
country, and from your relatives, and from your father’s
house, to the land which I will show you. And I will
make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make
your name great; and so you shall be a blessing. And I
will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses
you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth
shall be blessed.”
Literally, she said, “a man I know not.” She was a
young woman who had preserved the purity of her body.
She knew full well what it took to become pregnant, and
since she was not yet married to her fiancé Joseph, that
had not yet occurred.
In Genesis 18:17-18, Lord said, "Shall I hide from
Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham will
surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him
all the nations of the earth will be blessed? For I have
chosen him, so that he may command his children and
his household after him to keep the way of the LORD
by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD
may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about
him."
Do you remember back in the OT the cloud of glory
that resided above the Ark of the Covenant? The Holy
Spirit would come upon Mary and overshadow her with
His power, through which she would become pregnant.
The overshadowing of the presence of God would cause
Mary to be with child, and to bring forth into this world
the one and only Son of God.
Messiah to be of the Seed of Jacob
Something else was foretold…
Numbers 24:17a “I see him, but not now; I behold him,
but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a
scepter shall rise from Israel.”
V19 “One from Jacob shall have dominion.”
Messiah to be of the Seed of David
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will
be given to us, and the government will rest on His
But the angel explained, using the figure of a shadow or
a cloud, as the symbol of the divine presence that would
come upon Mary.
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Matthew 1:18-25 (the fulfillment of this prophecy is
specifically mentioned in this passage)
Messiah would be Born in Bethlehem
700 years before His birth would occur, the Hebrew
prophet Micah foretold the coming of the Messiah.
Micah said He would go forth from Bethlehem, the city
of David’s birth.
Micah 5:2 "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah [eff’ra-tah], too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of
eternity."
According to John 7:42 it was universally known among
the Jews that Christ would come, not only from the
offspring of David, but also from the town of Bethlehem
where David was.
PP: John 7:42 “Has not the Scripture said that the
Christ comes from the offspring of David, and from
Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
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Look now at Matthew 2:1-6 (Micah is even quoted
by the chief priests and scribes showing that they
understood the prophecy that the Messiah was to be
born in Bethlehem)
But here we have a problem…
Joseph and Mary didn’t live in Bethlehem, in fact, not
even close. They lived in Nazareth, which as the crow
flies, was 60-70 miles away. However, most travelers
wouldn’t go in a straight line because, if they did, they
would have to go through Samaria. And you might
remember the Jews and the Samaritans didn’t always get
along too well. Which meant that going around Samaria
would make the trip closer to 80-90 miles.
That may not seem all that far to us today, but back then,
90 miles (or even 60 miles) was a long journey that
would take them several days, maybe even a week, to
get there. And I doubt that Mary, given her very
pregnant condition at the time, would be all that psyched
up for a long road trip.
I remember when Sandy went into labor with Hannah,
we had to drive 30 miles to get to the hospital, and we
arrived with only about 30 minutes to spare. (A couple
of you have already heard some of the other details of
what happened that day that make the story even more
comical, but it’s not the kind of story that needs to be in
a sermon.)
Can you imagine Mary just about ready to give birth,
and so Joseph says, “Alright, Honey, jump on the
donkey and let’s head to Bethlehem and hope we get
there in time”?
As far as I know, they had no intention of being in
Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus. To them, giving birth
to a child in Nazareth would be perfectly fine.
Unfortunately, that would not be perfectly fine
considering what the prophets had foretold.
And here they are, maybe just a few days or a week or
two away from giving birth, and they’re in Nazareth
instead of Bethlehem!
If Jesus had been born in Nazareth, He would be an
illegitimate Messiah and an impostor of the throne of the
Holy One of Israel. It would have been impossible for
Him to be our Savior and Redeemer. So now you see
why there was potentially a big problem.
There was only one way that these two people are going
to end up being in Bethlehem so that the prophecy of
Christ being born there can be fulfilled. God was going
to have to intervene in a very big way!
Can I pause here for brief commercial message?
Or at least take a short break from our story to make an
important point…
Have you ever seen God intervene in life in order to
bring about a circumstance He desires, or to fulfill some
purpose He seeks to accomplish?
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things
to work together for good to those who love God, to
those who are called according to His purpose.”
Have you ever seen that in your life? That God has a
particular purpose in mind, and He brings about the
appropriate circumstances to make His will to occur?
And the timing of God’s work? Doesn’t it often appear
that the sovereign hand of God keeps bringing things
together in perfect timing?
I know I can look back at my own life and see several
junctures where I had no idea what was going on, and I
couldn’t imagine why God would have me go from one
place to another at a particular time in my life. So often
I failed to grasp His wisdom and His purpose for each
step of my life.
But it all makes sense now. In my mind, I can see a
literal map of all the places I’ve been over the past 30
years, as well as all the circumstances of each time and
place.
And now I know, because God was working all things
together for His purpose, I had to go to college in
Tennessee because that’s where I’d find the very best
wife that God had picked for me.
And then I had to go to that place…
And all along the way another piece of the overall
puzzle would fall into place, and now I know (I’m
firmly convinced) that all that had to happen… so that I
could be here today.
Yes, I believe that God does indeed intervene in life to
cause all things to work together for good . . . according
to His purpose.
Back to our story…
How is God going to get Joseph and a very pregnant
Mary from the town of Nazareth to the town of
Bethlehem, and just barely in time for her to give birth
there?
As it turns out, God is the God of history, and He is in
control of every detail. And not just the small details.
You’ve heard the expression: “God sometimes works in
mysterious ways.” Well, apparently He also works in
big and powerful ways, and sometimes in connection
with big and power people.
Historians mention a couple of different reasons
for the census…
First, Augustus was very interested in the number of
citizens in his empire. Marriage and birth rates had been
declining, so he had passed a law giving various
advantages to fathers of 3 or more children.
So one reason for the census was to see if his plan was
working, or, at the very least, to see if birth rates were
indeed increasing.
Perhaps you’ve heard of Julius Caesar…
Second, just like in our country today, Augustus and his
government needed to collect tax revenues to pay for all
his personal luxuries as well as all this projects
throughout the Roman Empire.
He’s the guy who was named Roman Dictator in
Perpetuity and a month later was assassinated.
Thus it would have been necessary for a census to be
taken for the purpose of assessing taxes.
It happened on March 15, 44 B.C., aka the Ides of
March. Caesar was attending what would be his last
meeting of the Senate when 60 conspirators, led by his
good friend Marcus Brutus, came in with daggers
concealed in their togas and struck Caesar at least 23
times.
I would say there’s also a third reason why he ordered a
census to be taken at this particular time in history.
That was when Caesar allegedly said to Brutus, “You
too, my child,” or as Shakespeare later made famous,
“Et tu, Brute.”
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Something interesting showed up in Julius Caesar’s will.
Therein he adopted his grandnephew Octavian and made
him his heir. This led to Octavian’s rise to power in
Rome, eventually being declared Emperor in 27 B.C.,
and he reigned as such for 41 years.
He took the name Caesar from Julius, and the Roman
Senate gave him the name Augustus, meaning “the
exalted” or “worthy of reverence.”
The World Book Encyclopedia gives this account of the
achievements of Caesar Augustus: “He restored peace
and order after 100 years of civil war. He maintained
honest government, a sound currency system, and free
trade among the provinces. He developed an efficient
postal system, improved harbors and established
colonies. An elaborate highway system, connecting the
most remote parts of the empire, was built during his
reign.”
Another thing Augustus did (that becomes a crucial part
of our story) was to order a census of all the people
throughout the empire.
Actually, according to his own written records, he did so
3 times during his reign. One of them began in the year
8 B.C., and it probably took a few years to complete.
He did so because God needed a way to get Joseph and
Mary to Bethlehem so the prophecy about the birthplace
of the Messiah could be fulfilled!
That brings us to Luke 2:1-5…
Some scholars have scoffed at the notion that people
such as Joseph and Mary, who lived a long ways away,
would have had to travel to their ancestral birth place
just to register for a census.
But apparently that was one of the stipulations that was
enacted for this particular census. And proof of such is
not just what we read here written by Luke, but other
documents have been found, Roman census documents,
in which citizens were specifically commanded to return
to their original homes in order to register for the
census.
In all my reading and studying for this lesson I came
across this statement that I like: “All the world shall be
at the trouble of being enrolled, only that Joseph and
Mary may.”
And that’s how God reached out with His divine
hand into the pages of history, and brought forth
perhaps the only and unique circumstance that
would cause Joseph to place his beloved Mary on a
donkey in the town of Nazareth and travel several
days to Bethlehem, where they arrived just in time
for her to give birth to the Son of God in the city of
David just as the prophets had long ago foretold.
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Luke goes on to say in v6-7…
The apostle Paul in Galatians 4:4-5 tells us “when the
fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born
of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might
redeem those who were under the Law, that we might
receive the adoption as sons.”
The Bible tells us, that even before creation itself, before
the foundation of the world, God decided that He
wanted us to belong to Him as His very own children.
But like we talked about last week, we all have a
problem with sin.
And the only way that God could adopt us as His very
own children would be for someone else to pay the price
for our sin.
And so God decided long before you and I were ever
born, even before creation, that one day…
He would give to us the greatest gift ever given.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and
only Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
He did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but that through Him the world might be saved.”
Our invitation song says:
I stand amazed at the presence of Jesus the Nazarene,
and wonder how He could love me a sinner condemned
unclean.