Prairie View Christian Church Norway, Iowa PastorTeacher Bill Wenstrom www'prairieviewchristian'org

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Prairie View Christian ChurchNorway,
IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.prairievie
wchristian.org
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Thursday December 20, 2007Christmas Special
Luke 21-8-The Birth of Jesus Christ in
BethlehemTape 3
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 Please turn in your Bibles to Luke 21.
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This evening we will study Lukes account of the
birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem.
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There has been much conjecture as to the exact
date in which our Lord was born in Bethlehem but
Harold Hoehner presents evidence that it was
approximately 4 B.C.
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 Harold Hoehner, According to Josephus, an
eclipse of the moon occurred shortly before
Herods death. It is the only eclipse ever
mentioned by Josephus and this occurred on March
12/13, 4 B.C. After his death there was the
celebration of the Passover, the first day of
which would have occurred sometime between March
12th and April 11th.
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Since the thirty-fourth year of his reign would
have begun on Nisan 1, 4 B.C. (March 29, 4 B.C.),
his death would have occurred sometime between
March 29 and April 4 B.C. Therefore, for these
reasons, Christ could not have been born later
than March/April 4 B.C. (Chronological Aspects
of the Life of Christ, Grand Rapids Zondervan,
1977, pages 11-13).
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 It might sound strange to suggest that Jesus
Christ was born no later than 4 B.C. since B.C.
means before Christ, but our modern calendar
which splits time between B.C. and A.D. was not
invented until A.D. 525.
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 At that time, Pope John the First asked a monk
named Dionysius to prepare a standardized
calendar for the western Church but
unfortunately, poor Dionysius missed the real
B.C./A.D. division by at least four years! 
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Now Matthew tells us that Herod killed
Bethlehem's babies two years old and under.  
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The earliest Jesus could have been born,
therefore, is 6 B.C. and through a variety of
other time indicators, we can be relatively
confident that the one called Messiah was born in
either late 5 or early 4 B.C.
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Luke 21, Now in those days a decree went out
from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of
all the inhabited earth.
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According to Luke 21, our Lords birth took
place during the reign of Caesar Augustus who was
the great nephew and adopted son of Gaius Julius
Caesar who was one of the greatest men of the
ancient world.
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The name Caesar Augustus was his title but his
real name was Caius Octavius.
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 The title Augustus was a religious title and an
attempt to claim deity and he took the name
Caesar by adoption and was the first Roman
Emperor who ruled from 31 B.C. to 14 A.D. 
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Rome was a Republic and then became an Empire
under Octavius meaning he was the sole ruler of
Rome, and whose rulership stretched over most of
the inhabited world at that time and was the
fourth kingdom described in the prophecies of
Daniel 240 and 723.
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 Caesar Augustus was the most powerful man in
the entire known world and the supreme commander
of the greatest army in the worldHe was
Imperator.
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He issued a decree that a census be taken of
everyone in the Roman Empire but it was God who
moved Augustus to issue this census so that the
prophesy in Micah 52 could be fulfilled.
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Proverbs 211, The king's heart is like channels
of water in the hand of the LORD He turns it
wherever He wishes.
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 Micah 52, But as for you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of
Judah, from you One will go forth for me to be
ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long
ago, from the days of eternity.
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 Rome took a census every fourteen years for
both military and tax purposes and each Jewish
male had to return to the city of his fathers to
record his name, occupation, property and family.
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 Warren Wiersbe, Augustus Caesar was ruling,
but God was in charge, for He used Caesars edict
to move Mary and Joseph eighty miles from
Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfill His Word (The
Bible Exposition Commentary, page 175).
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 Jeremiah 112, I am watching over My word to
perform it.
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 Therefore, we can see that when Christ was
born, Palestine was under Roman rule.
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Rome had its god of war called Mars, but with the
reign of Augustus Caesar, the longest, bloodiest
civil war in Romes history had finally ended.
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 Over 100 years of civil war had been brought to
rest and Rome had vastly extended her boundaries.
 
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Augustus was the first Roman to wear the imperial
purple and crown as the sole ruler of the empire
and was moderate, wise and considerate of his
people.
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He brought in a great time of peace and
prosperity, making Rome a safe place to live and
travel and this introduced a period called Pax
Romana, peace of Rome (27 B.C. to A.D. 180).
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 As a result of all that Augustus accomplished,
many said that when he was born, a god was born,
thus, into these conditions was born One who was
and is the source of true personal peace and
lasting world peace, versus the temporary and
false peace that man, even the very best of men,
can give.
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 This rule of peace brought in by Caesar
Augustus also helped to prepare the world for
Messiahs life and ministry so the gospel could
be preached (Mark 114-15). 
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The phrase all the inhabited earth refers to
the entire Roman Empire in the days of Caesar
Augustus.  
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The spiritual condition among members of the
human race was spiritually bankrupt and morally
decadent since the Gentiles were polytheists, as
were the Romans, worshipping many gods and the
Greeks also worshipped many gods along with
philosophy.  
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The spiritual condition of the Jews was no better
as evidence by their reception of Jesus as
recorded in John 111, He came unto His own and
His own received Him not.
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 But it does appear that many in Christs day
were expecting and looking for Messiah to come,
which is demonstrated by the fact that they knew
where Messiah was to be born (cf. Matthew 24)
and Luke 225-38 records that Simeon was looking
for the consolation of Israel, the Messiah.
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 Luke 22, This was the first census taken
while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
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Quirinius was governor of Syria on 2 different
occasions (1st Lk. 22 2nd Acts 537) and so the
census in Luke 22 took place during the 1st
reign as governor of Syria in 4 B.C.
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 Luke 23, And everyone was on his way to
register for the census, each to his own city.
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Luke 24, Joseph also went up from Galilee, from
the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was
of the house and family of David.
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 The birthplace of our Lord was in the town of
Bethlehem, which is a very historic place and is
mentioned eleven times in the Old Testament from
the Patriarchs to Nehemiah.  
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Bethlehem originally belonged to the Canaanites
and was dedicated to the god of war and was
located 5 miles south of Jerusalem and is from
the Hebrew words beth, house and lehem,
bread.
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 Originally, the city's name meant the house or
sanctuary city of Lahum.
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Lahum was the god of war of the Canaanites but
after the conquest of Canaan, the Jews
revocalized the name Laham to make it read lehem,
which means, bread.
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 Each man went to the town where his family's
register was kept and Joseph and Mary who were of
the house of David, lived in the town of Nazareth
but both Joseph and Mary's family registers were
in the town of Bethlehem.
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The last 3 months of Mary's pregnancy were spent
in Bethlehem away from the gossip and the turmoil
that would have surrounded her in Nazareth.
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 Luke 25, in order to register along with
Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with
child.
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Luke 26, While they were there, the days were
completed for her to give birth.
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Luke 27, And she gave birth to her firstborn
son and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him
in a manger, because there was no room for them
in the inn.
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 Notice that Luke records that Jesus was Marys
first-born, and not Josephs indicating clearly
that Joseph was the legal father by adoption, but
not by conception.
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The term first born means none had preceded and
so this was Marys first child. 
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She was a virgin and it was necessary that Christ
be the first born to whom all the rights of
primogeniture would fall as (1) the double
portion of the inheritance, (2) headship over the
whole family which for Christ included the entire
redeemed body of believers, and (3) the
priesthood of the family, which included the
entire body of the redeemed, both Old and New
Testament saints (Rom. 829).
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 Mary wrapped the Child in strips of cloth like
bandages used to keep the infant's limbs straight
and to limit movement and this type of treatment
was considered appropriate and also served to
identify a newborn (Luke 212).
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 The mother who bore the child had to wrap the
child herself and the custom of the day included
cleaning and rubbing the baby with oil, usually
olive oil and then the arms were placed at the
baby's side and were wrapped in strips of cloth.
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 This also served as a sign to the shepherds who
were in field and were told by the angel of the
Lord that they could see the Messiah wrapped in
cloths and lying in a manger (Luke 212). 
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The word for manger is the Greek noun phatne
(favtnh), feeding trough.
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The feeding trough was employed by Mary and
Joseph as a crib for the baby Jesus.
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The mangers in the ancient world were often made
of stones laid like blocks, then plastered over
with a substance to make them waterproof.
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 These feeding troughs could also be carved from
a single block of stone.
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It is significant that our Lord was laid in a
feeding trough.
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Animals would eat and drink at these troughs.
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 Placing our Lord in one of these troughs speaks
of the believer feeding from our Lord who is the
Word of God.  We are to feed off the Word of
God.  
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 The feeding trough cut out of rock speaks of
the believer feeding off the spiritual rock,
which is Christ.
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Therefore, we see that at the birth of our Lord
there were no trappings of royalty, no purple
robes, and no signs of wealth or of position,
even though this One was born to be King of kings
and Lord of lords.
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 A manger became His cradle and the King of
glory condescended to be cradled in the manger
that was to hold food for cattle and so He who
had come to provide heavens bread descended to a
manger.
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 Luke 27, And she gave birth to her firstborn
son and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him
in a manger, because there was no room for them
in the inn.
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We do not have any information regarding these
Palestinian inns but in the Roman Empire, we know
they were places of ill repute and travelers,
whenever possible, stayed with friends, thus, the
New Testament emphasizes hospitality to
strangers.
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 Jewish inns may have been better, but this is
only conjecture and some believe the word inn
should be translated caravansary and another
translation might be guest house because the
word can mean guest room but it was, however, a
place where travelers stayed.
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 The earliest non-scriptural reference to the
birth of Christ is found in Justin Martyr, an
early church father, and is dated about A.D. 140.
who stated that Christ was born in a cave and
Origen said the same in A.D. 248 as did Jerome,
one of the most brilliant scholars of the early
church.
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 Sometimes caves were used as a house, other
times as the stable.
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Tradition says it was a cave in the side of the
hill behind the inn or guest house of the village
but the point is that whatever the exact nature
of the place, the city was so crowded with people
because of the census that the only place left
for them was the stable.
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