In just a few days we celebrate again the most wonderful mystery of Divine love in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. As those Bethlehem bells ring again across the miles and down the centuries let us pray that the meaning and message of Christmas be more real than it has ever been before.
Why is Christmas so wonderful? One reason it is so wonderful is because of its sovereign arrangement. It was arranged by Almighty God in eternity past being planned and prepared from all eternity. Have you ever thought what an amazing thing it is that God prepared beforehand that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem? The prophet Micah tells us, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
This is God’s prophecy of where the Messiah would be born. But there was one problem. Joseph and Mary were in Nazareth not in Bethlehem. But it is not really a problem. God just put in the heart of Caesar Augustus that all the Roman world should be enrolled each in his own town (Luke 2:1). And guess what? Joseph was from Bethlehem. God moved the heart of the king to get two little people where he wanted them to be.
Today we live in a world of 7 billion people. Have you ever felt just a little insignificant and little? All the news seems to be of political and economic and social improvements and of outstanding people with lots of money and power and prestige. But don’t let that get you disheartened and discouraged.
One of the principles that we find in the Word of God is that all of the mammoth political forces and giant industrial complexes, without their even knowing it, are being guided by God, not for their own sake but for the sake of God’s little people. For the little Mary and the little Joseph who have to be gotten from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
God wields an empire to bless His children. So don’t think that because you go through adversity that the hand of the Lord is shortened. It is not our prosperity that God seeks but our holiness. Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
He is a big God for little people. We have every reason to praise Him because, unbeknownst to them all, the kings and presidents and world leaders follow the sovereign decrees of our Father in heaven so that we the children of God might be conformed to the image of Christ.
Now think about this. God so ruled the world that he used an empire to get Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem yet when they got there they had no place to stay. They ended up in a stable with manure under their feet. You would think He could have arranged for one room. You’re right, He could have. He could have arranged for Jesus to be born into a wealthy family, there would have been nothing wrong with that. He could have done a lot of things. He could have turned stones to bread in the wilderness, called 10,000 angels to save Him in Gethsemane, come down from the cross and saved himself.
The question is not what God could have done. The question is what God chose to do. God’s will was that though Christ was rich yet for our sakes He became poor that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 8:9). It was for us. The “No vacancy” sign over all of the motels in Bethlehem was for your sake. Just as sure as anything we learn that God sovereignly arranged world events and even motel rooms for Christmas. It was all for our sake. Amen? Merry Christmas and remember that God loves you and so does First Baptists Church.