His Place of Birth - December 21, 2022 - Fourth Wednesday in Advent (Midweek 4) - Text: Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:4-7

This year during the season of Advent through Christmas and New Year’s Eve we are looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, including the promise to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to David as well as His birth place, His travel to Egypt, and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus.
 

Today we hear the promise of the place of birth of the Savior, as Micah tells us. “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, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). God’s promise of the place of birth was Bethlehem, a small town in Judea. A town with a population of about 8000 at the time of Jesus’ birth. A town which was the birthplace and hometown of King David as well as Mary and Joseph.
 

As the Gospel writer Luke writes of the history of the time, “1In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:1-2). It was this registration, a census, probably for the sake of collecting taxes, during the reign of Caesar Augustus, when Quirinius was governor of Syria, that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Notice how meticulous Luke is in making sure he gets the facts straight and set in time and history. As was prophesied and as we have been told, at just the right time God set for His plan of salvation and that plan included Jesus being born in Bethlehem, thus, the decree, the census, the travel to Bethlehem, the small town in Judea. Here again, unlike many other religions which are fables, stories or myths, the Christian faith is a faith rooted in time, in history and Luke is meticulous in giving us these historic facts.
 

Now, I am not trying to undo your semi-romantic, traditional ideas of Jesus’ birth, but Bethlehem was the town of the kinsmen of Mary and Joseph. And although, according to records and as we said, the population was about 8000, it was probably not the case that they were turned away from one place after the other as they rushed into town with Mary about to give birth as we see depicted in may movies and plays. The actual word in the text that is translated as “inn” is translated as “upper room,” when Jesus is looking for a place to celebrate the Passover with His disciples. There is actually a different word for “inn” that is used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. So, this upper room was probably a guest room and because there were so many relatives in town and because no one would want to turn them away, and because the guest room was taken, Mary and Joseph probably stayed in the main part of the house with the rest of the family and the animals that were in the house with them, thus the manger.
 

Getting back to Micah and all the prophets of the Old Testament. The promised lineage of Messiah was that His birth would be from the family of Abraham, the original promise and we know that this is the land of Israel, thus the lineage of Abraham. And God’s promise was a birth from the line of David, probably the greatest king in all of Israel’s history. Luke is quite meticulous as is Matthew in his genealogy to trace Jesus’ ancestry back to King David.
 

And so, here we are with Mary and Joseph being compelled to travel to Bethlehem which was David’s hometown. Interestingly enough, the name Bethlehem means “house of bread.” Thus, we see that Jesus the Bread of Life was born, in the town which was the house of bread.
 

Matthew and Luke as well as all the Gospel writers write in order to “prove” and assure us that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the promised Savior. Thus, they write using genealogy and using historic information in order to confirm the fulfillment of the prophets. Here we are given the account that Jesus was born of the kingly line of David.
 

According to Micah, Matthew, Luke, as well as Mark and John, Jesus is truly born as the one and only God/Man, that is true God born in human flesh. Jesus was born as the one promised from of old, even being the ancient of Days, God Himself. As we confess in the creeds, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, thus He was conceived in perfection, truly God, perfect and holy.
 

Although Jesus was born of the human line, the kingly human line of King David, his birth was not for an earthly kingdom but a heavenly kingdom. Knowing and understanding the history of the Children of Israel, the deliverance from slavery in Egypt, their constant rebellion, their being given to be punished by God through other nations, even being dispersed, and then being saved, brought by back God into the promised land even if under Roman rule, it is little wonder that too many at the time of Jesus’ birth were still looking for a social/political Savior as that has been the way it was throughout their history. But that was not God’s intent and not the promise made to Abraham as we have heard in weeks earlier. God’s promise was for a nation and land, but according to their obeying His Laws, not their rebellion. But most important was the eternal, spiritual promise, that a Savior for all people would be born, a heavenly, paying the price for sins, shedding of blood Savior. And Jesus is that Savior.
 

While they were there, while Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, sometime after they had arrived and were settled in, again, not rushing into town as she is about to burst as depicted by many movies and plays, then Jesus was born. Most certainly His birth brought great joy to their kinsmen in that small town.
 

What does this mean? First and foremost it means that we can trust God’s Word, His promises and their fulfillment. We can know for certain that Jesus fulfilled God’s promise with His birth in Bethlehem. And lest we omit that one little part of Matthew’s Gospel that the “wise men from the east came” to see the new born King. It was not the religious experts in Jerusalem, but these Gentile star gazers who came to attest to Jesus’ birth as the King of the Jews, but even more so, as the King of All, our heavenly King eternal.
 

Later in his Gospel Matthew tells us that those wise men travel to their ultimate destination, to see the newborn King and they do see Him once they arrive in the little town of Bethlehem. Of course, as we have made note before and many times, by the time the wise men arrive Jesus is no longer an infant, but is close to being two years of age. We know this because of the atrocities of which Matthew relates a little later in his Gospel.
 

Certainly we are confirmed in our belief that Jesus was born of the line of King David, why else would King Herod make such a valiant attempt at squelching a rival except that He was born of the kingly line of David. Interesting as it is that the scribes and teachers of the law in Jerusalem attested to Jesus Kingship by quoting Micah’s prophecy concerning the Christ.
 

And Micah’s words concerning Jesus as the ancient of Days confirms also that Jesus is God in flesh. Indeed, the ancient of Days is one who is old or from of old. Jesus is truly God. He was there at the creation of the world with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. As John speaks in his Gospel, Jesus is the Word that was there in the beginning creating the world through His very Word spoken bringing all things into existence.
 

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). Jesus birth began the fulfillment of God reconciling the world to Himself. What humanity could not do, what the nation of Israel could not do, what we cannot do God did. God sent His Son to live for us, to suffer and die for us, to rise for us, to give us forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

Jesus’ birth, true God born in human flesh, born in the small town of Bethlehem, born according to the decree of the governor, as directed by the hand of God, began the fulfillment of the salvation of all people. Yes, His birth fulfilled the earthly promise, but even more His birth fulfilled the eternal promise of a Messiah, a Savior, a Christ for all people of all places of all times. His birth began the fulfillment of salvation through the forgiveness of sins earned and paid for by Jesus and given to us.
 

Some have posed the thought that God said it, I believe it and that settles it. I would suggest that the thought is more correct when we get ourselves out of the thought, that is that God said it and that settles it. As we continue to see that nothing depends on us, but it all points us to Jesus. God promised a Savior and He fulfilled that promise, at just the right time and most certainly in just the right way, through faith, given, bringing forgiveness and eternal salvation. And ultimately stirring us to rejoice and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.