In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus…
Luke 2:1
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel…
Micah 5:2
If you’re reading the news from the past couple of days, the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has instituted a new mask mandate for the state. Like it or not, this is what the government over us has declared.
Governors and kings like to make decrees. They always have. Newsom is no different than Caesar in Luke 2:1 - he made a decree that everyone had to return to their city of origin in order that a census be taken. The language in v. 1 is remarkable - Caesar made a decree, and ‘all the world’ had to be registered. One man speaks, and countless people must move. His power was remarkable.
Just as Caesar was making that decree, Mary was coming to full term in her pregnancy. Anyone who has had children, or been part of a family when children are born knows just how difficult it is for a pregnant woman in the last few weeks of pregnancy. According to Luke, Mary was nearing the time to give birth - probably in the 8th or even 9th month of pregnancy. Travel would have been incredibly challenging. Walking (the Bible never mentions a donkey, in spite of the Precious Moments figurines) the 100 or so miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem would have been treacherous and uncomfortable.
Nevertheless, Joseph packed a bag, and Mary put on her best walking sandals, and they set off to obey Caesar. The discomfort and the danger wasn’t enough to keep them from obeying.
But in all this chaos and anguish, God was working. Seven hundred years before He had promised through the prophet Micah that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Now, of course, there was a problem. Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth to fulfill another promise - that the Messiah would be a Nazarene (Matt 2:23). Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem, but be from Nazareth. How in the world could that happen?
Very simply, Caesar was God’s puppet.
The decree that moved the world ultimately didn’t come from Caesar. It came from God. God shifted the lives of millions of people so that His Messiah could be born in the city of David - Bethlehem. He made Mary walk 100 miles in the last month of her pregnancy to accomplish it. He put the young couple through countless struggles at great expense, with nowhere to sleep except in a barn.
Why?
So that His absolutely sovereign hand could be seen, governing each of those details, and to prove that His promises would be fulfilled with specificity. No one could have seen it then, but Luke looked back and saw God’s good hand at work!
If you’re struggling today with the mask mandates, ask yourself, “What is God doing in these days, with a new Governor, and new decrees?” He is still working, and our job, like Joseph and Mary, is to follow what He says, and keep our eyes open for how He is working!
