Life is Hard but Full of Great Things
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
Luke 2:1–6 Read More
If you were looking through all of the prophecies about where the Messiah was going to be born, you might be confused. Isaiah said He’d be called a ‘Nazarene’ which could either mean He was from the city of Nazareth. A Nazarene was also kind of like a hillbilly or a redneck. A person could live on flat ground and be called a hillbilly just like a Nazarene could be from a little village like Bethlehem.
Micah actually prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and to avoid confusion between Bethlehems, he even detailed the exact one. That was between 750 and 686 BC. I’m sure there were crazy end-time people back then like there are now (I love you guys!). If Joseph would have told one of them that his virgin-betrothed-fiancé was carrying a baby announced by an angel and they were heading to Bethlehem for the census, I think there would have been a riot.
There are multiple records of ancient Roman rulers calling for a census. The bad news is that there are no good reasons for a census. Some motives historians propose could have been:
To make sure one group isn’t too densely populated in any area so as to prevent a revolt.
To measure how many taxes need to be taken from any region.
To disrupt people just to get them to travel as a show of government power.
To measure the number of fighting men in an area for a draft (so that they could go invade that other densely populated area and split people up or to invade a new land)
No matter what the reason, thanks to Caesar Augustus and Quirinius, God is about to fulfill the hope of the ages to the exact letter of the 700-year-old prophecy. Imaging how much Joseph and Mary could have complained about the HUGE inconvenience of traveling while she was pregnant!
Yeah, but we’re fulfilling a 700-year-old prophecy that will save all of creation.
Imagine what a mess it would be to leave your work and friends, maybe family support if only the head of household was required to travel. The trip was 80 miles, one way, and interstates weren’t invented yet. Historians suspect that Mary would have traveled with Joseph because she was so close to having a baby and he would need to be nearby for support. Otherwise only the head of a house may be required to travel. This would keep some of the blacksmiths, carpenters, doctors, etc. in their towns and not cause an economic catastrophe.
It was rough, to say the least. But it was Samuel that prophesied that the Messiah would come from the line of David. Traveling 80 miles by foot with a pregnant wife is a pretty confident statement that you are part of the line of David. Going back 80 miles to a 60-acre town that can’t hold everyone is a really hard way to have a baby.
Yes, but we’re fulfilling a prophecy from Samuel in 1154 BC.
Today, this week, or next year, you are going to get thrown some curve balls. Stuff that you didn’t expect is going to happen. Joseph and Mary could be the patron saints of something awesome happening when everything else is going wrong. That’s how the Messiah came into the world. We can be confident that He can come into ours in the same way.
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