“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.” Luke 2:1
I appreciate a simple and elegant solution to a difficult problem. God had a little problem with the birth of the Messiah. Mary was in the wrong city. There were a myriad of solutions to get her to travel: business, family responsibilities, friends, etc. but God didn’t take a simple solution.
Rather, He took the superpower of the age and made them do a census. The US just employed 635,000 people & paid $13 billion to do a census. Augustus’ census was probably propositional and resulted in multitudes of people traveling across the face of the earth. The real purpose of all that effort was to getting one teenage couple from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
That sort of seems like a complicated way of doing things.
God could have gotten Augustus to send out messengers announcing the birth of the Messiah just like they did for the census. He did not use scrolls or official announcements; He used the sky. The birth announcement of the Son of God was made with the ink of planets and constellations.
Seems like a complicated way of doing things.
It all seems like a “rube goldberg” solution, until we consider why. Why does an NBA basketball player do a slam dunk when a lay-up or just a dunk will do? A slam dunk is a statement. The census of Caesar is a mankind slam dunk – a statement by God in relation to humanity and our political systems. The Star of Bethlehem is a cosmic slam dunk – a statement by God in relation to the entire physical universe.
God’s redemptive plan is about His glory even down to the details of getting people into the correct locations and the birth announcement. Caesar, any political leader or superpower, is not beyond God’s control and never has been; God can even use pagan Rome to accomplish His purposes; slam dunk – statement!
The orbit of planets and stars are not beyond God’s control. God placed them where He wants them to be and they go where He tells them to go and always have. Nothing is too hard for him. He writes in the sky even when all but a tiny handful will miss the real meaning. God can use the universe to accomplish exactly what He wants; slam dunk – statement!
God’s glory is about God.
God does because He can. We should be encouraged in all situations and give Him all the glory because He deserves it. May our eyes be open to the reality that God is doing “slam dunks” all the time. We just need to be looking to see how awesome our God is.
PRAYER: Lord – you are so far beyond me that I tremble in fear of your vastness. I feel my smallness when I consider the displays of your glory. I am astounded that you would send your own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, in order to remove the condemnation that I faced in my flesh. I am in awe that the righteous requirements of your law is fulfilled in me as I walk not according to the flesh but according to your Spirit. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for sending your Son to save me. Amen
A DEVOTED LIFE 