McNeil, William: Studies In Luke 01 ~ The Birth Of Christ

Now, this week in our Bible studies, I hope to direct your attention to some gleanings from the Gospel according to Luke. To begin these meditations, I want to read to you today some verses from chapter two, The Gospel according to Luke, chapter two, commencing to read at verse seven. 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. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 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. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. I'm sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of these verses. Let us bow for prayer. Our Father, humbly we bow our hearts in thy holy presence. We have been reading once more from thy wonderful word. We pray that by thy Holy Spirit, thou shalt help each of us to take it in, to understand its meaning, and to live out in a practical way the teachings of thy word. May thy blessing rest upon every listener today, as we ask these things, giving thanks in the Savior's name. Amen. Now I thought if we're going to have some gleanings from the Gospel according to Luke, we could start right here in this chapter, chapter two. It's a chapter of great movements. We have here political movements. We have domestic movements. We have religious movements. We have a measure of sorrow in some parts, measures of joy. After all, this is the account of a great event that has left its mark on every succeeding generation and will carry its effects right into eternity. In the opening verses of the chapter, we have two people taking a journey, two young folks, one called Joseph and his wife called Mary. They're taking a journey which they didn't want to take, that's obvious. Something that was thrust upon them, but they took that journey. It was according to God's preordained will, but they didn't know that at the time, I'm sure. By the time we come to the end of this chapter, perhaps in our next study, we shall see these same two people taking almost the same journey. The first time they're journeying, of course, from their home in Nazareth down to the little town of Bethlehem, only a short way from Jerusalem. When we come to the end of the chapter, twelve years have passed, and they're going to take a journey from Nazareth down to Jerusalem. But now we're concerned today with the great movements that are recorded for us in this particular chapter. It starts off by directing our attention to the power of Rome. And then we move from Rome, and we begin to see some movements from heaven, before we come to the point where we find some movements in Jerusalem. Now, it begins by telling us that it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Now, before you can have a taxing, there must be an enrollment. You cannot tax people unless, first of all, you know who they are, where they live, and so there had to be an enrollment in view of the taxation. Just the same as today in some of the modern countries, they have what they call the census, where every man is numbered, and so it is that they get to know how many people live in the country. They take the population record, so to speak. They call it the census. Well, when we read Luke chapter two, they're taking a census. The great power of Rome under Caesar's, Caesar Augustus. They're going to have an enrollment in view of this taxing. Now, verse two says, and this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And so what we're reading of in chapter two is the enrollment in view of the taxation. Now, that may seem a very small matter to some people, but it is a very important matter when it comes to the things of God. Caesar Augustus was simply thinking of money. He was thinking of how he could raise the taxes and who should be taxed. So therefore, there must be an enrollment first, and so all those who came under his jurisdiction had to be enrolled. Now, sometimes men who are in, uh, positions of political power decide certain things. Little do they know at the time that God is working behind the scenes to accomplish his own will and purposes. But they're not thinking of God. They're not thinking of the plans of God. They're not thinking of the purposes of God. They're only thinking of their own political prestige and power. But God has everything under control. We should learn that from this passage. Now, away up in Galilee, in the little town of Nazareth, there was a young couple, Joseph and Mary. They just newly got married. Yet, they had to make this journey away down from their home in Galilee, and they had to go down to Bethlehem, the city of David. Now, some people may ask, why had they to go to the city of David? Couldn't they have been registered up there in Nazareth? No, for the simple reason they were to be taxed, everyone in his own city. And so, if you go through the genealogies, you'll discover that Joseph was a descendant of David, descending through the line that came from Solomon. David, Solomon, and right down you'll come to Joseph. You'll find that in the genealogy in Matthew chapter one. But Mary, his wife, was also a descendant of the house of David, but through a different line. But both of them having descended from the house of David, now they had to go to the city of David for this enrollment. At least that was according, uh, to the decree of Caesar. But then something was going to take place while they were there, for it was while she was there, she brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. Now, let me point out this to all my listeners today, that while these men, who were political men, were making their decrees and suggesting what should be done and how the enrollment should take place, little did they know that they were simply carrying out the decrees of God. For you see, long before this took place, away back in the Old Testament, it was decreed that that is exactly where the child should be born. Listen to this, taken from the little prophecy of Micah, chapter five. Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be a ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. You see, away back there in the little prophecy of Micah chapter five, it was already decreed that in Bethlehem he would be born who would be the ruler in Israel. That is their king, their Messiah would be born right there. Now it's a strange thing. When the wise men came to Jerusalem seeking him, Herod, the king at that time, was upset. And when he heard that a new king had been born, he gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, and he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet. And they quoted that verse from Micah. And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people, Israel. You see, when Caesar Augustus decreed that an enrollment should take place in view of a taxation that would be levied upon them. Little did he think that he was simply causing Joseph and Mary to carry out the prophecies of the Old Testament because they went down to the city of David, Bethlehem, and while she was there, she brought forth her firstborn son. And while it is perfectly true that during his lifetime, people refer to him as Jesus of Nazareth, the fact of the matter is the Savior was born in Bethlehem. Movements in the political world, yet simply fitting in with the prophecies of God. But now we notice also movements on earth because Joseph and Mary had to go down to that town. When they got there, the town was so busy, there was no room for them in the common places where they might have hired a room for the night. Oh, there was no motels or hotels there, but there was the inn and no room for them. But somehow or another, there was a little secluded place. Today they show it to you, it's like a cave, and perhaps in the larger part of it, people put their animals, their donkeys, their cattle, their sheep. But Mary and Joseph got a little corner where there's plenty straw, there was a manger. While she was there, she brought forth her firstborn son. Now, at that time, there were great movements in heaven, and I suggest to you that right here we have the key to the understanding of this passage. Verse nine says, 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. And the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all. Now listen to these words. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Now, I like that. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a what? A Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Now, if our attention has been drawn to the mother and the manger, which was to be used as the cradling place for the babe that was born, now our attention is directed from the simplicity of these things, and we now have our eyes directed to the majesty of things in heaven. Can you imagine this? That here is a messenger from heaven called the Angel of the Lord. But it's not the angel that specially we're interested in, but it's his message. It's the message of the angel that becomes the key to the understanding of this whole passage. And the message of the messenger is this: Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, and that Savior is Christ the Lord. Then with that messenger, there's a whole multitude of the heavenly being, the heavenly host, and they're celebrating what has been said. In plain words, they're celebrating the significance of this great fact. The first note in their song ascribed glory to God, for they're saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards man. Notice how, first of all, it's glory to God in the highest. That was the ascription of praise to the one who occupied the highest position of authority, far above the throne of the Caesars. Why, he had come from the very throne of heaven, come down to Bethlehem, was born of humble parentage, cradled in a manger. There was no room for him in the inn. The song celebrated the meaning of his birth, so far as earth was concerned. On earth there will be peace among men, in whom he is well pleased. Now, a lot of people have tried to argue against this, and they've said, as it were, well now, why should they say peace on earth? There's been no peace. There's been nothing but wars. The last uh two thousand years, there's been one war after another. Think of all the wars that have been even in the Middle East. Think of Jerusalem itself, how it has been destroyed, rebuilt, and so on. Think of all the trouble with the people who have lived in the Middle East. Think of all the wars in Europe and the wars away in the Far East. Why, there's been no peace on Earth. But it's perfectly true that all the world is talking about peace. And the world surely desires peace, at least most people desire peace. While all the time the world is everywhere preparing for war. Isn't that a strange thing? They talk about peace, they build their peace palaces, they sign their peace treaties, and so on. They speak about their accords and s- try to get people to be in agreement. But my friend, along with that, you must admit man is preparing for war. It is good in this connection that we remember this announcement of the angels and understand that the world will never find peace, save as the result of its occupation by a race pleasing to God. After the pattern of the man of his right hand, thus the song of the angels spanned all the centuries from the birth of the baby to the consummation. You see, the angels were not only celebrating the birth of the child, but they were greeting a new race that would result from the coming into human history of that child. They understood, that is the angels understood, that the ultimate issue of that birth would be the rebirth of men who would fulfill the divine purpose and be men well pleasing to God. And the song declared that in this race there would be the realization of peace. How could the world realize peace when they took the Prince of Peace and nailed him to a Roman cross? He came unto his own, and his own received him not, but to as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Until men and women come to know the Savior, they've got no peace. Listen, the great Apostle Paul wrote that masterful letter to the Romans, and in chapter five he said, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. See, peace is centered in the Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace by shedding his precious blood at Calvary's cross. He's the Prince of Peace. He is our peace. So therefore, we only know peace when we know him. So there was movements in heaven. The angel brought his message. A savior is born. A savior, which is Christ the Lord. A lot of people believe that a child was born who was called Jesus, but they don't trust him as savior. There are others who do not admit that he was the Christ, the anointed, the Messiah, but he was. Others will not admit that he is the Lord, that he is Jehovah manifest in flesh, but that's what the angels believed, and that's what the angels said. That was their message. A savior, which is Christ the Lord. And then the whole host of them were praising God, saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. So you have movements in heaven, the heavenly messenger with the heavenly multitude bringing a heavenly message. Oh, my friend, how heavenly is this message to you, that unto you has been born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. He was the Savior who died for you in Calvary's cross. As you proceed down through this passage, afterwards there came the day when they went to the temple in Jerusalem. So you've moved from Nazareth, and you've watched the movements from Rome, you've watched the movements from heaven. Now you go in to Jerusalem and find something there. While they were in Jerusalem, an old man, a God-fearing old man by the name of Simeon, came in. And when Simeon was in Jerusalem, and they came in with a child, it says that this man was just and devout. And here's what he was waiting for. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. It was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. He came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child to do for him after the custom of the law, listen to what old Simeon did. He took him up in his arms, and he blessed God and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. And in speaking of this salvation, here's what he said, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. See, not only was it salvation for Israel, it's salvation in the face of all people. Then he brings in the Gentiles. He says, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people, Israel. Ah, here's the Savior for Jew and Gentile alike. But then there was someone else there after old Simeon, there comes a woman, a dear old widow. Her name is Anna. Oh, she, she has, she's over eighty years of age. It said she was a widow of about four score and four years. Here is what she said. And the widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers night and day, and she coming in that instant, listen, she gave thanks likewise unto the Lord and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Here was an old woman who could give glory to God, and then she could speak to all those who were looking for redemption. Oh, my friend, listen, there may be movements in the political world, or there may be movements in the domestic sphere, there may be movements in heaven, but let me ask you this. Have you realized that all this converges on one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior who was given, the one who can save you, he whose name was called Jesus, for he would save his people from their sins.