“At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.” Luke 2:1-4
Caesar Augustus reigned as Emperor of Rome from 31 B.C. to 14 A.D. Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. These and other historical facts place the birth of Jesus somewhere between 6-4 B.C. The designation “Before Christ” and “In The Year of Our Lord” (Anno Domini) began in the late 5th century and was legitimized by Pope Gregory in 1582. So the misunderstanding concerning the date of Christ’s birth is not a biblical issue, but a historical one.
The fact that Jesus was born when He was is not a coincidence. God doesn’t do anything by whim or impulse. Paul uses a phrase in Galatians “In the fulness of time” (4:4) to describe the timeliness of the birth of Jesus, i.e., at just the right time.
How so? Even though the Romans were in control, Greek was the spoken and written language of the western world so that the birth, life, and ministry of Jesus could be easily communicated throughout it. Also, because the Romans controlled commerce, travel (including building long stretches of sturdy roads), and civic functions, there was a relative quickness of the transference of information. All of this and more set the stage for the birth of Jesus and His gospel message to move over and around geographical, cultural, religious, linguistic, and ethnic barriers heretofore too high for any one message to overcome.
But the most important reason is that God, in His sovereign wisdom, had been planting seeds in the hearts of the patriarchs and prophets that now would come to bear fruit. It was time for the Messiah, the Redeemer to make His appearance.
This Christmas, thank God that He was fully in control of the timing of Jesus’ appearance, even to the point of prompting Augustus to declare a census just to get this family to Bethlehem to fulfill prophecy!
God, I do thank and praise You that You are my Sovereign God. I trust You with the timing and issues of my life. Amen
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