About this sermon
Jacob’s blessing promised that the scepter would not depart from Judah until the one comes to whom it belongs. In Luke 2, Caesar’s census brings Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem, the city of David, and Mary gives birth to her firstborn son and lays him in a manger. By then Israel had shrunk to Judah, under foreign rule, yet God was keeping his promise to David. “Firstborn” marks Jesus as the heir of all things, and Bethlehem, the “house of bread,” receives the bread from heaven.
Sermon transcript
little bit later Let us start Genesis 49 starting at 8 and let us read on through 12 Judah Your brothers shall praise you Your right hand shall be on the neck of your enemies Your father’s sons shall bow to you Judah is a lion’s whelp From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He couches, he lies down as a lion. And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine. He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk. That ends the reading of the Old Testament. Let us turn to Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2 reading the first seven verses.
Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David. in order to register, along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son. And she wrapped him in clothes, in cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Amen, and praise the Lord, let us pray. Our gracious God, we have joyed in listening to what you have spoken to us by the red word. Help us to take joy as well. In the expounding of this, your word, we ask that you would give us all reverence for your word. For when a king speaks, People listen, they give their attention. And when we read your word, you, the king, are speaking to us. May we give reverence to the word in that way. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Psalm 130, excuse me, Psalm 119, 130 reads, the unfolding of your words gives light. I want you to just meditate on that for a moment. The unfolding of your words gives light. It is a commentary on God’s word, that God’s word is as a garment that is small, but it unfolds so that we might see the whole thing. Think of a towel or think of any sort of garment that can be folded up, but it can be opened It’s a similar word that is being used.
This certainly is the case. God’s Word is something that unfolds for us before our eyes. The more we read it, the more we understand it, the more we sit under the ministry of God’s Word, the more we understand that God is unraveling this for us. And we are able to see all that He is doing and all that He has done. There is a progression to the Word of our God. And this progression is encapsulated in these glorious words, the unfolding of your words gives life. Right before our eyes, God’s Word is unfolding for us.
It is allowing us to see it in all of its grandeur. And it is unfolding for Joseph. It is unfolding for Mary. And we’ll see tonight, it is unfolding for the angels as well as the shepherds. This story is very familiar to us. But we must look at it with fresh eyes and we must understand the way that God, the Lord, the creator of all things is working behind the scenes in great ways. The time that we find our passage is the time during the reign of Caesar Augustus. And I know that means a lot to you. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe it doesn’t. If it’s not, if it doesn’t mean a lot, that is okay.
We don’t tend to know our Caesars all that well. Who was Caesar Augustus? He is one who was a Caesar, that is, the ruler over all of the then-known world. But to help us understand a little bit of Caesar Augustus, it might be good for us to compare Caesar Augustus with another man.
Another man. His name is Herod. Turn with me to Luke chapter 1, verse 5. Someone who is very familiar to us. Herod is a regional ruler. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. In the days of Herod, But it’s also in the days of Caesar Augustus. Now, what are we to think about this?
Caesar is the king of the world at that time. And Herod is the king of just a small area. Just Judea. He is a king within a kingdom. Imagine Herod is like a mayor or like a governor compared to Caesar Augustus being president. Think of it this way. Herod was an utterly wicked man. He was the nastiest of the nasty.
You may know the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. What happens there? This same Herod that Luke 1, 5 talks about is talked about in Matthew’s Gospel. And there, he finds out that the wise men understand that there’s a king and the scribes know, oh yeah, the king is supposed to be born in Jerusalem, in Bethlehem of Judea, rather. So what does he do? He realizes this could be a rival of his.
And so he has all of the infants, who are male, under the age of two, he has them put to death. We’re talking about a brutal man. Very brutal. He was so brutal and so nasty, he was willing to kill his children. And he did, many times. There was a proverb at that time about Herod. They used to say, you know, you’re better off being Herod’s pig than his son. Just to give you an idea of the horrible nature of this man. We can talk about malevolent Herod. We also can talk about benevolent Augustus. Augustus Caesar was a good man in one sense. He was not a Christian. He was not a believer. We have no reason to think that he went anywhere but into eternal destruction. But humanly speaking, He was not as nasty as Herod.
He was a relatively good man. He was the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. And his original name was Gaius Augustus. And he reigned for about 41 years. He was known for his organizational ability. And he was also known for his leniency. He was a lenient man, what I mean by lenient. When he would conquer other areas and other nations, he would allow them to have a little bit of their cultural and their religious ideas. He would allow them to preserve them. He wouldn’t rob them of those and take them away and Romanize them immediately. He was lenient in those way. He allowed people to have their identity.
And this Caesar Augustus, who was a great organizer, who did many things, is seeking to advance his kingdom. And so he calls for all people in the known world, that is the conquered world, outside of the conquered world, they’re just barbarians, they don’t need to worry about them anyways. within the known and conquered world, everyone has to go to their hometown, they have to register. They need to register so that they might be taxed, so that he might advance his kingdom. God is working behind the scenes of the actions of this one Augustus Caesar.
But there’s just one problem. That is, Mary is pregnant with a child. And she has heard the revelations. She has praised God already because she understands that she’s going to give birth to the Messiah. But she gave birth to a real baby. Which means she struggled with all the difficulties of pregnancy that any other woman would have. But nonetheless, they must have, they must be there. But do you understand the way that God is working behind the scenes here?
Because she’s not going to Bethlehem. There’s no reason for them to go to Bethlehem. Bethlehem is very far away. But the prophecy of Micah 5.2 says, But you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Ephrathah is just the region in which Bethlehem is, 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 origin is of old, from ancient days. The prophecy says that God is going to be born in Bethlehem.
But they’re so far away. But they must make the journey. They must make the trek because of this decree that goes out. So here you have a king, a Caesar, who’s just advancing his kingdom. That’s all he thinks he’s doing, but God is working behind the scenes. Here you have these parents who, they’re going to have a baby, but God is working behind the scenes, ordering things, structuring things, so that they will go and be in Bethlehem, maybe even oblivious to this prophecy. They’re simply seeking to be obedient parents. That’s all they’re seeking to be. But there are also other people who are working. and God is working behind the scenes.
You know a little bit about the history of Israel. It was a very large country, a large nation, not compared with some other nations, and that’s understandable, but it was very large, but after a couple of takeovers, that is to say, some major nations took a lot of the people from Israel and they took them to their own nations. So this once great nation is only Judah now. Just Judah and a couple of surrounding areas, but the majority of it is Judah.
They have suffered the loss of ten tribes. Ten tribes are mostly lost. They really are. But Judah is still there. So that which was Israel at one time, this large area, is now just so small. It’s just the tribe of Judah because all the tribes had their own areas, right? Israel is in Judah and Judah is Israel. All the rest are lost. And do you think that that was something that caused great pride to be in the people who were Jewish? Certainly it was not. They were losing their country.
I mean, what would you think if all, to use a common grace example, if all the rest of the states were taken away and all there was was Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the United States. The United States is Pennsylvania. That’s the idea of what’s going on here.
The earthly Israel, the earthly Judah is slipping away. Do you think that this taxation is significant to them? You bet it is. This taxation that’s coming from the Caesar is to show them that they are no longer sovereign over themselves. that there is another nation that is greater than them. And they are trying to hold on to this, but it is being taken away.
Turn with me to Genesis 49 verse 10, that part that we read. Remember the context of Genesis 49 verse 10. Jacob is blessing the sons, his own sons, who are eventually to be the twelve tribes. And he says very interesting things to all twelve of them.
But the greatest interest is for Judah. Because he speaks of Judah being like an enemy. And he speaks of Judah being the leader. And Judah holds the scepter. That is to say, he holds the power. but there’s an until. Notice the until, after we read, the scepter, that is the kingship, shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet. This is something that invokes confidence.
Judah is going to hold supremacy until Shiloh comes. And to him shall be the obedience of the people until Shiloh comes. And what is Shiloh or who is Shiloh? Shiloh is the peacemaker. Jesus is the peacemaker because he is the Prince of Peace. You understand how explicit of a prophecy this is, of the Lord Jesus Christ, that Judah will be maintained, it will be strengthened, until Shiloh comes. The Jews are trying to hold on to their nation, because the last vestiges of Judah are still remaining, but Shiloh has come, which means they are going to be passing away as well.
This verse is so explicit that do you know that some Hebrew manuscripts make a couple of emendations, just a couple of changes. You might look in the bottom of your Bible and see that an alternate reading could be that Judah will rule until he comes to whom it belongs. What does that mean? It’s just a change that they’ve made to get rid of the explicit, Christocentric, messianic reference that is found in Genesis.
All these people. We have people trying to hold on to their nation. God’s working behind the scenes there. We have a man who is king, who is Caesar. He is just trying to advance his kingdom. And God is orchestrating things so that this little child will be found in Bethlehem of Judea. All things are converging and God is showing that all people are simply instruments in His hands. That the things that they are doing are not the things that they think that they are doing.
And while they were there in Bethlehem, Jesus was born. And Jesus is born a king. Jesus is born king of kings. He does not, later on, take on kingship. He is born and is king at his birth, as the hymn says. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Jesus Christ is God Almighty at his birth.
Jesus Christ is fully God, and Jesus Christ is fully man. Divinity dwells in humanity in the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is no mixing of these. There’s no confusion of these. The Westminster Confession, using a Chalcedonian, or Council of Chalcedon language, says it this way, so that the two whole perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person without conversion. without composition or confusion. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man, and these two are united in a beautiful way, but the divine nature does not squeeze out the human nature, nor the human squeeze out the divine.
Jesus Christ is fully God and He is fully man. And this is a great mystery, even a greater mystery than the way that God is working behind the scenes. This is a great mystery of great proportions. Martin Luther says, the mystery of Christ, that he sunk himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding. Do you have a sense of the awe of the Lord Jesus Christ being born fully God and fully man of this day?
It is true that Christ was born in the first century, yet he belongs to all centuries. He was born a Jew, yet he belongs to all races. He was born in Bethlehem, yet He belongs to all countries. He was infinite, and He was an infant. He was eternal, and yet born of a woman. He was almighty, yet hanging on a woman’s breast. He was supporting the universe, Jesus was, and yet needing to be carried in a mother’s arms. He was king of angels, and yet the reputed son of Joseph. He was heir of all things, And yet he was a despised carpenter’s son.
Do you have a sense of the mystery and the awe of God becoming a man, indwelling man? Solomon said, how can God, how can you be in a temple? God is going to dwell in a temple. How can you do that? The heaven of heavens cannot contain you. You are so great. You’re gonna be in a temple? How much more? The heaven of heavens cannot contain our God. But there’s a mystery here. He is in a man, but it’s greater than that. He is in a baby. And we are told that she wrapped him in cloths. Elsewhere you can see that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes. Just to show how humble this one who was born is.
He’s not washed immediately and wrapped in the most amazing grand glorious robe There’s a Herod in the book of Acts, a man who wears an amazing, glittering robe. So amazing, people thought he was God because of this amazing robe that he wore. And God struck him down because he didn’t give glory to God. That happens in the book of Acts.
But here’s Jesus, meek and mild and sweet as any baby. A boy of poverty. And where is he placed? He is laid in a manger. Basically a trough for animals to eat out of. He was laid in a place that I don’t think any baby has ever been laid. I think I’m pretty safe on that. Jesus at his birth was laid where no one has been placed.
But does that sound familiar to us? Did Jesus come simply to live? Did he come simply to be born so that we might shop more? No, that’s not the reason. Jesus was born so that he might die. so that he might die to atone for sinners, so that all of humanity would not enter into a fiery eternity. He underwent the fiery eternity for his people on the cross so that his people would not have to endure that. That is his people, those who are confessing, believing in him, loving the Lord Jesus Christ because he has first loved us. But when he was crucified, he died in a literal body.
And he was laid once again in cloth, in a place that no one has ever inhabited. What is that place? 53 reads, thusly, and he took it down, that is, took the body and wrapped it in linen cloth. Does that sound familiar? And laid him in a tomb cut into the rock where no one had ever been laid.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, both in his birth and his death, is wrapped and he is set down. But that’s not the only thing that our Lord Jesus is wrapped in. Psalm 104 verse two tells us that our God wraps himself in light. Think about that for a moment. Our God, the Creator of all things, takes light for Himself. That’s to say that He is sovereign over light, and He is able to wrap Himself in it.
Jesus Christ and His humiliation is wrapped in human-made clothing. But in His resurrection, Jesus Christ is wrapped in that most pure of substances, that undefilable of earthly substance, which is light, and He is able to wrap Himself in it. Glorious. Just to show how glorious is our King Jesus. And we have just a taste of that. in the transfiguration. Understand that Jesus Christ is wrapped in light at his transfiguration when a couple of his disciples are there, a few I should say, and he’s up on the mountain and Moses and Elijah come and they appear and his clothing is so bright that nothing could make it, nothing could dye it that bright, that bright white.
Light is coming from him. This is Jesus Christ wrapped and laid down in his humanity and in his humiliation he is wrapped. But in his exaltation he is closed with light. never to be laid down again, but eternally to sit as king, interceding for his people and ruling over his people, the people that he loves with all of his heart and also that he loves with his body, dying for them, dying the most horrible, gruesome death on the cross and undergoing the father’s wrath on the cross. He is exalted, wrapping himself in light. He will not sit. He will not lie down any longer. And Jesus Christ, the glorious one, is the firstborn of Mary.
Did you notice that it said that? The firstborn. This word, firstborn. in the Greek is a significant word of great significance. Prototokos is the word. I just love the way it sounds. Prototokos. He is the firstborn of Mary. But this word does not simply mean firstborn. chronologically born. It does mean that. I want you to understand. It means the first one who is chronologically born. We take any family, the first one, the one who is born first is the prototakos. He is the one who is born first.
But it also has another meaning. It has a double meaning. It’s a double entendre, or a double entente, as some would say. It really also means the preeminent one, the glorious one. Now, I don’t think that the dual meaning of that word is lost on Dr. Luke the Evangelist when he writes this. I think he’s very well aware of what it means to say that he’s got a double meaning going on. That he is the first one born of Mary, but he is also the preeminent one because Luke understands the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can simply turn to Colossians 1.15, but I’ll tell you what it says.
Anyways, speaking of Jesus Christ, it says, He is the firstborn of all creation. This is speaking about Jesus in His pre-incarnate self. He is firstborn over all creation. He is the preeminent one because all things were created by Jesus and all things were created for Jesus. That is why He is Proto-Tochos, firstborn over all creation. He is firstborn at His birth and in His incarnation. We have that in Luke.
In Colossians 1.18 it gives another sense to firstborn. And this is also a sense that has to do with being the first one to do something very special.
Colossians 1.18, Jesus Christ is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things, he himself might be preeminent. You understand?
This preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ, his kingship, It pertains not only to his pre-incarnate state, not only to his incarnate state, but also to his post-incarnate resurrection state that Jesus Christ is preeminent as firstborn from the dead, and that is resurrected Jesus Christ is. And this is very significant. And we must not miss the significance of these things. That Jesus is preeminent above all things.
Was Jesus Christ the first person to be raised from the dead? No. You know that’s not the case. There are times in the Old Testament where people are raised from the dead. Jesus raises people from the dead, does he not? He raises people from the dead.
They’re not the first, so he’s not the first, is he? No, he is the preeminent one who is raised in a great way, raised eternally. He is raised into a body that will never die. And we who are united to the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are also going to be raised into a body that will never die. Do you understand how great Jesus Christ is? The firstborn, the preeminent one, how amazingly great He is.
Think of Psalm chapter 89 verse 27. If we had had one more psalm or a hymn, I would have had us sing it. I just couldn’t fit it in. It says that David will be the firstborn. David will be the firstborn. You know about the story of David? Was David the firstborn of his family? We know that he was the brother of many brothers. Three of them were so cowardly that would just attack him. when Goliath is taunting the Hebrew men, right? And rather than go and attack the giant, they’ll just attack their brother, right? He is the youngest, but Psalm 89, 27 says that David will be the firstborn. that David that he’s talking about is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the David that the Old Testament is looking forward to.
And they go there to be registered. Where do they go to be registered? Bethlehem. What does Bethlehem mean? You understand, the irony of God’s word Where’s Bethlehem? The city of bread. Bethlehem is the city of bread. The one that we will partake of. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is bread from heaven, is born in the city of bread. The house of bread. That is where he is born. The ironies do not stop there. The amazing things that we can just unfold God’s word and look at, they do not stop there. They continue. Here we have Mary and Joseph going to be enrolled.
And there they have their firstborn. Brothers and sisters, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, do you trust in Jesus Christ and Him alone for your salvation? Are you united to the Lord Jesus Christ today? If you are united to the Lord Jesus Christ, then you are one with the firstborn and you are registered. you are enrolled in a city that is not of human making.
Turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12, 22, and 23. This glorious passage, Hebrews 12, 22 and 23. I really wish I could show you what it even says in Greek. You know, I think of these churches that have big screens behind the pastor. And I’m not an advocate of that. But sometimes I say, I just wish I could show what Luke says and what the non-Pauline writer of Hebrews says. If I could show you what he says and show the words and put them up. Look at this, the irony. This is speaking of you and your registry and your being one with the firstborn.
It says, you who are united to Christ, but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. Do you understand that oftentimes God gives these pictures of things going on on earth when there are these heavenly realities that are given to us. The earthly picture, just this one, this family who unsuspectingly has to go be registered because of this Caesar. They’re just going there unsuspectingly, but God is working in the secret He’s working behind the scenes, and these people are being registered so they can be taxed, and they have their firstborn. But you, the people of God, make a much lighter journey.
You don’t have to walk to Mount Zion, Jerusalem, pregnant with the firstborn. The firstborn has already come to you. He has been given to you by grace as a gift from God. And because of this firstborn, this preeminent one, the prototokos one, who is the one who is above all creation because he is preeminent above creation because he made everything, born of a woman, born under law, this one who is prototokos because he is raised, because he is resurrected, he is yours and you are enrolled in heaven, not so that you can be taxed, but so that God will show you grace for eternity, so that you might spend all of eternity and want to spend all of eternity on your face before the living God, praising and worshiping him because he has been so gracious to you.
Because heaven is a place of love. And if we are united to Christ, then we are there with the firstborn. Is it not amazing the way that God’s Word unfolds for us? It unfolds before our eyes. It unfolded before Mary and before Joseph. Jesus Christ is folded, folded up, placed in a manger. He is folded up, placed in a grave. But the light of God’s Word is unfolded before our eyes. And Jesus, our Savior, who loved us so much, is clothed in light. He wraps himself in it. Let us praise Him. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, help us, oh God, to have an understanding of the kingship of Jesus.
Help us to understand the ways that he is Lord, that he is Lord of all things in all times over every epoch of history. and concerning us and our salvation and our being saved from the fire which is to come on all ungodly unbelievers. Lord, we mourn the death of the unbeliever because we know what it means. But we praise you because precious in your sight is the death of your saints. We thank you, Lord, that you have given us an understanding that we do not need to simply read your word in a flat manner, but that it opens to us.
And just when we are amazed by it, it opens more and it opens more. We peel away layer after layer. The unfolding of your word does give light. In Jesus’ name, amen. Let us turn to 152. 152 in the blue hymnal. O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie. Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. 152. Let us stand as we sing 152.
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