Advent 25 | Jesus is Born! 2024

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"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. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Luke 2:1-14

And the Hits Keep on Coming

First off, Merry Christmas! We’re here, it’s Christmas day. We have been looking forward to this day all year and counting down to it all month. Today is when we get to see everything come together perfectly.

Remember all those prophecies about whose family the Messiah would come through? Well, it’s happening. If you have any doubts you can see all their names in Matthew 1 where he traces the genealogy all the way down from Abraham to Jesus (or can listen to Andrew Peterson’s song “Matthew’s Begats”).

Today we get to see all the promises coming together in one glorious birth. We get to see God keeping his word to his people: to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, Ruth, David, Joseph, Mary, and others. But how does God do it?

You and I both remember that Gabriel appeared to Joseph and Mary telling them about Jesus, right? And we know that way before that he promised that the baby would be born in Bethlehem. But did you ever stop and realize that Joseph didn’t even live in Bethlehem? Sure, it’s where his great, great, great grandfather David lived but that was 1,000 years earlier. It looks like Joseph actually lived about 100 miles from Bethlehem. So how and why did he get to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus?

You Just Can’t Make This Stuff Up

On the one side, you have a pregnant virgin with an elderly cousin who is also pregnant, both of which have been announced by angels from heaven. On the other hand, you have a pagan ruler who wants to get as much tax money as he can from those he is ruling over. What do they have in common? God is God over them all. Somehow God put it on the heart of this Caesar that he needed to tax the people of Israel and the best way to do this is to get everyone back to their ancestral hometowns so that they can be properly registered. And it just so happens that this is the exact time that Mary

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