Bethlehem - The Birthplace of Kings

Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, a prophet mentions Bethlehem. It’s in Micah 5:2 – “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

One of David’s descendents, also to be born in Bethlehem, would not be just another king, but the ultimate king – “the One to be Ruler in Israel.”

This is what distinguishes this dusty, little crossroads, a crossroads indistinguishable from thousands of other little villages in Judah. It is the birthplace of kings. It wasn’t just the birthplace of David, Israel’s greatest king, but the birthplace of the King of Kings, the ruler of the Universe. It would be the birthplace of David’s greatest heir - the rightful king to sit on his throne, the one to whom the eternal promise is ultimately given

We know the story of Micah’s fulfillment: Two young people of Davidic descent were betrothed to each other - a young carpenter from Nazareth named Joseph and a young virgin named Mary. And lo and behold, Mary is pregnant. Pregnant, not by Joseph, Oh, no! but as the angel told her, (and thankfully, Joseph as well) pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And she was very, very soon to give birth

But, wait a minute. Their ancestral home was Bethlehem? But they were living in Nazareth? How does that fit? How could their child be the ruler of Israel if he wasn’t born in Bethlehem? How could their child be the fulfillment of this prophecy? He couldn’t, if he wasn’t born there in Bethlehem.

Well, it just so happened that Caesar Augustus got into an argument with King Herod who really wasn’t a king, but an appointed administrator over that portion of Israel. But Caesar had the power, and he determined that from now on, Judea should be taxed as an imperial province instead of being considered independent. In other words, Caesar Augusta was stripping away some of Herod’s power.

But how do you tax what you don’t know? To find out, Caesar required that everyone return to their ancestral homes to be registered. Why there and not their current home? The ancestral home was where the birth records were stored. So back everyone had to go – it became the law of the land.

The account is found in Luke 2:1-5:
“And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. 3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.”

Ah, God thinks of everything. How else could He get Joseph to take his very, very pregnant wife, due any day, all those many miles and all those many days travel to the south? But you couldn’t defy Caesar, so off they go.

And thus prophecy is fulfilled. Mary gives birth to the Christ Child in a bustling little town where there was no room for her in the inn. The only place they could find any privacy was a stable. Perhaps it was simply a cave where animals were kept out of the elements. But here the new king was born and all the traditional events of Christmas happen.

Wow! What perfect timing. Joseph and Mary happened to be in the right place at the right time, and prophecy was fulfilled - all because God had made a decree way back in Micah 5:2, hundreds of years before it happened, and all because Caesar Augusta made a decree hundreds of years after the prophecy. Praise God, what He declares, He makes happen even though it takes a decree from a Caesar to get a pregnant girl to a village far away all so that Scripture might be fulfilled. Does stuff like that amaze you?

Let me read you what Charles Haddon Spurgeon had to say about the timing:
“It was Caesar’s whim, but it was God’s decree. Oh we love the sublime doctrine of eternal, absolute predestination. Some have doubted its being consistent with the free agency (the free will) of man. We know well it is so, and we never saw any difficulty in the subject; we believe metaphysicians have made difficulties; we see none ourselves. It is for us to believe that man does as he pleases, yet not withstanding, he always does as God decrees. If Judas betrays Christ, ‘thereunto he was appointed;’ and if Pharaoh hardens his heart, yet, ‘for this purpose have I raised thee up, for to show forth my power in thee.’ Man does as he wills; but God maketh him to do as He willeth, too . . . Everything is of God and unto Him who guideth the stars and wingeth sparrows, who ruleth planets and yet moveth atoms, who speaks thunders and yet whispers zephers unto Him be glory, for there is God in everything.”

God makes His sovereign decrees, and man, acting totally in accord with his free will, does what he wants. He makes his decisions and acts on his choices, but, somehow, through it all, God’s decrees are accomplished. God sees to it that they happen, because He does rule this universe. And they happen because people are exercising their free will.

Indeed, Caesar was following self-interest and doing what he wanted to do in making the decree for a census. Joseph and Mary were obeying Caesar’s decree to go and be registered in Bethlehem. And God was orchestrating it all to fulfill a 700 year old prophetic decree.
What a great God we serve. We can trust His decrees to come to pass. The prophecies He gives will always come true.