This is the awesomeness of our God. We were just talking about this yesterday in bible study. We watched a DVD called "Indescribable", it's a sermon by Louie Giglio. If you can get your hands on a copy or can borrow it from someone, please do. It is well worth it.
Basic synopsis: it's a Christian view of astronomy. I loved this DVD because I do love astronomy. To me, it is proof of God. I won't get too much into it. We can look at it more when we go through the psalms. But it gives you perspective on how BIG God is. In the bible, God is explaining that the universe (not just the earth, not just the solar system, not even just the Milky Way Galaxy) is measured in the span of His hand. Just try to grasp that concept for a second...
I know. It's difficult. But the same God who measures the universe by the span of his hand, is the same God that made himself a mortal man for the purpose of dying to save us. And this God that I talked about, didn't come floating down on a cloud, majestic and glorious; he came as a baby through a normal labor into a barn.
This God screamed when he was hungry, he nursed, he had his diaper changed. He had to learn how to walk and talk. If that isn't humility, I don't know what is.
Today, we're just going to go through the first 7 verses.
In those days - meaning during the time that we just finished talking about; during the time Mary was pregnant.
Caesar Augustus - first Roman Emperor and the founder of the Roman Empire. Look at this map. Augustus was the one who conquered Israel.
Caesar called for the census because he had just conquered Israel and he needed to know how many people were now in his land (aka how many people he could tax)
his own town - men took their wives and children to the city of their ancestors. Jerusalem was in the tribe of Benjamin, so descendants of Benjamin's tribe went probably went to Jerusalem. The famous city of Jericho. Descendants of the tribe of Menasseh went to Jericho. Since both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David, they went to Bethlehem. Even though David was the king in Jerusalem, David's family came from Bethlehem.
"pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child" - to me this is really interesting in what it implies. I'll either get more into this when we go through Matthew, or I'll just say "read day 7 again". Remember how we talked about Mary being a virgin and that a woman was soiled if she wasn't a virgin when she was married? Well imagine how it would've looked in that day if your "virgin" fiancee was pregnant. Today, we say, "We're getting married because she's pregnant," or a similar reason. But back then, a betrothed woman who was pregnant was seen as an adulteress. Back then, a betrothal was more committed than an engagement, but could consummate the relationship. A couple was betrothed for about a year when they were pledged to each other, but were not yet married. Mary knew that it was the Holy Spirit inside of her, but Joseph didn't know. Joseph thought that she had cheated on him and was expecting him to raise her child. He thought she wasn't faithful or righteous. He considered divorcing her. Back then, you couldn't break a betrothal the way you break an engagement. It required signed papers and probably returning the woman's dowry. But an angel came to Joseph and told him what had happened. He told Joseph the child was of God, not of a man, and that the baby should be named Jesus. I think it still took a leap of faith to trust the strange words of the angel. But he did. He continued with the betrothal and married Mary. But he waited to have sex with her until after Jesus was born.
I don't think Mary and Joseph were expecting to give birth while they were in Bethlehem for the census. They didn't have a scientific predictability of 40 weeks, and each woman starts showing her pregnancy at different stages, and they didn't know enough about the menstrual cycle, they probably thought, "OK, we'll go do the census and be home in time to give birth in our home." But God's plans are not always our plans. It was God's plan to have them give birth in the city of their ancestors, even more enforcing the fact that the throne of Israel belongs to Jesus alone.
I'm going to do the last sentence backwards.
There was no room for them in the inn, so she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger.
Bethlehem still was a little sheepherders' town as it was in David's time, but it now had more descendants who ALL flocked there during the census. It wasn't like Vegas with a different hotel every 100 meters. This was like Amish country with more animals than people and one hotel. They had travelled miles and miles to get there, I'm sure Joseph had pitched many tents so that Mary could sleep on the road
There's many times I absolutely admire Joseph and his love for Mary. He could've been like a typical guy and obeyed the angel but still had harsh feelings for her and not been able to trust her, but he took care of her, stayed by her side, and helped raise the Son of God.
But on this particular night, Joseph couldn't just pitch a tent. Mary was in labor and Jesus was coming NOW.
I'm not sure if the barn they went to was owned by the innkeeper, or if they snuck into a barn, but there they were, amongst the noisy, smelly, messy animals. Mary gave birth right there and his bassinet was a manger. A manger was the trough that pig slop was thrown in. It held hay for horses. It probably had poop on it. it was in this disgusting wooden container that the savior of the world slept his first night as a human on earth.
I'm going to stop here and we'll pick up tomorrow with the Angels. Buenos Noches!
Today, we're just going to go through the first 7 verses.
In those days - meaning during the time that we just finished talking about; during the time Mary was pregnant.
Caesar Augustus - first Roman Emperor and the founder of the Roman Empire. Look at this map. Augustus was the one who conquered Israel.
Caesar called for the census because he had just conquered Israel and he needed to know how many people were now in his land (aka how many people he could tax)
his own town - men took their wives and children to the city of their ancestors. Jerusalem was in the tribe of Benjamin, so descendants of Benjamin's tribe went probably went to Jerusalem. The famous city of Jericho. Descendants of the tribe of Menasseh went to Jericho. Since both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David, they went to Bethlehem. Even though David was the king in Jerusalem, David's family came from Bethlehem.
"pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child" - to me this is really interesting in what it implies. I'll either get more into this when we go through Matthew, or I'll just say "read day 7 again". Remember how we talked about Mary being a virgin and that a woman was soiled if she wasn't a virgin when she was married? Well imagine how it would've looked in that day if your "virgin" fiancee was pregnant. Today, we say, "We're getting married because she's pregnant," or a similar reason. But back then, a betrothed woman who was pregnant was seen as an adulteress. Back then, a betrothal was more committed than an engagement, but could consummate the relationship. A couple was betrothed for about a year when they were pledged to each other, but were not yet married. Mary knew that it was the Holy Spirit inside of her, but Joseph didn't know. Joseph thought that she had cheated on him and was expecting him to raise her child. He thought she wasn't faithful or righteous. He considered divorcing her. Back then, you couldn't break a betrothal the way you break an engagement. It required signed papers and probably returning the woman's dowry. But an angel came to Joseph and told him what had happened. He told Joseph the child was of God, not of a man, and that the baby should be named Jesus. I think it still took a leap of faith to trust the strange words of the angel. But he did. He continued with the betrothal and married Mary. But he waited to have sex with her until after Jesus was born.
I don't think Mary and Joseph were expecting to give birth while they were in Bethlehem for the census. They didn't have a scientific predictability of 40 weeks, and each woman starts showing her pregnancy at different stages, and they didn't know enough about the menstrual cycle, they probably thought, "OK, we'll go do the census and be home in time to give birth in our home." But God's plans are not always our plans. It was God's plan to have them give birth in the city of their ancestors, even more enforcing the fact that the throne of Israel belongs to Jesus alone.
I'm going to do the last sentence backwards.
There was no room for them in the inn, so she wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger.
Bethlehem still was a little sheepherders' town as it was in David's time, but it now had more descendants who ALL flocked there during the census. It wasn't like Vegas with a different hotel every 100 meters. This was like Amish country with more animals than people and one hotel. They had travelled miles and miles to get there, I'm sure Joseph had pitched many tents so that Mary could sleep on the road
There's many times I absolutely admire Joseph and his love for Mary. He could've been like a typical guy and obeyed the angel but still had harsh feelings for her and not been able to trust her, but he took care of her, stayed by her side, and helped raise the Son of God.
But on this particular night, Joseph couldn't just pitch a tent. Mary was in labor and Jesus was coming NOW.
I'm not sure if the barn they went to was owned by the innkeeper, or if they snuck into a barn, but there they were, amongst the noisy, smelly, messy animals. Mary gave birth right there and his bassinet was a manger. A manger was the trough that pig slop was thrown in. It held hay for horses. It probably had poop on it. it was in this disgusting wooden container that the savior of the world slept his first night as a human on earth.
I'm going to stop here and we'll pick up tomorrow with the Angels. Buenos Noches!
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