Faithbase

Hello and welcome to Thinking About the Bible. We're continuing in our Christmas theme, our Advent theme, and I'm going to read from Luke 2 again. Came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. The census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into 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 wife who is with child. So it was that while they were there the days were completed for her to be delivered. She brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Bethlehem, what's the significance of Bethlehem? Well the name means house of bread, but the significance, and I think that's significant too, because Jesus is the bread of life. He is the one upon whom we spiritually are made, we feed and are made strong and he is our sustenance for living a life that is pleasing to God. But the other aspect of the significance of Bethlehem is that it was the house or the, I should say, the place of David, the city of David where he was from. And it's very important if we read in Matthew and it talks about his the lineage of Jesus the Christ, talks about him as the son of David, son of Abraham, so forth. But being a descendant of David who was the great king, he was the quintessential king of Israel. It was under his rule that Israel became strong and became a power in the ancient world. And of course that was expanded in territory under Solomon, but King David was the first of his line and the prophecies concerning his offspring, one day sitting on the throne forever, were fulfilled of course in Jesus, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So it's very important that Jesus was born in the house of bread, the home of David the great king, because he needed to be a fulfillment of those prophecies that said he would be coming from that line. And as you recall later in his life there was some discussion among his opponents and among those who followed him, well where is he from? They thought it was from Nazareth that he had been born there, but those who understood that he had actually been born in Bethlehem recognized that he was in fact the offspring of David, King David. So that's why Jesus was born in Bethlehem, that's why it was very important, that's why God orchestrated all the events that took Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, and that's where our Savior was born. So this day as you think about the Bible, think about Bethlehem and think about how, a couple things, how important it is that Jesus is the offspring of David, but also how God orchestrates events to bring about his desire to end, that God's will always is accomplished and we can stand in that knowing that just as God brought the parents of Jesus to Bethlehem so that he would be born there, he orchestrates and orders our life as well so that his purposes shall be done. See you tomorrow.