“And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”-Matthew
2:23
Without question, Christmas time is my favorite time of year. Annex the commercialization of it all, remember
the reason for it all, and the season seems to inspire a wonderful spirit of
giving. Furthermore, it is a celebration
of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Year in and
year out, we read the Christmas story, hear it preached, and see it played
out. You would think, that hearing the
same story every year gets old, but it doesn’t.
In fact, each year, God gifts a new revelation. This year’s gift was the simple phrase: “He shall be call a Nazarene.”
In the Bible, there are literally hundreds of prophecies about Jesus,
spaced out over thousands of years. Of those
prophesies, at least two are mentioned in Matthew as being fulfilled. One, His birth in Bethlehem. Two, Him being called a Nazarene. Caesar Augustus put out a decree that all
should be tax of his own city. Which set
in motion a migration of people to the city of their fathers to pay such
tax. Mary and Joseph pregnant with
Jesus, among those people. Up they went,
leaving their current dwelling in Galilee of Nazareth headed to Bethlehem to
pay taxes. In Bethlehem, Mary goes into
labor and Jesus was born, as foretold. Meanwhile,
King Herod (ruler of Judah under Caesar) gains understanding of this King of
the Jews which should be born in Bethlehem and his paranoia, pride and jealously
causes him to murder all the baby boys around Jesus’s age. This sets into motion another divine travel
plan causing Mary and Joseph to leave Bethlehem with the child, eventually
landing them in Egypt. Once Herod dies
and the threat is now no more, they return from Egypt, to Nazareth. Thus, our Savior, was born in Bethlehem and
came out of Nazareth as was prophesied. When
you think about all the complexities of events that took place to bring just
these two prophecies to pass; and how the authorship of God is apparent in all of
it. How he used governments, kings,
pride, and evil to bring about the promise of good. How he used the lowly (by the worlds standard’s)
to bring our Lord into this world. The “fullness of time” had come and the plan
foretold through the ages was executed to its perfection. Considering this, it brings into question,
why do we doubt God? Why do we reject
Him? Do we truly believe that our own
plans and ambitions are better than His?
Our designs for ourselves and this world greater than His? Simply look up at the night sky, stop and
think, the God that made all that cares about me. What cause is there not to serve Him? He marshaled so much, with ease, to bring
Jesus into this world, so that we could be converted and sanctified. “But
when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,
made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)
The scripture says, “this is
the will of God even your sanctification.”
This is the will of God, and as God orchestrated the masses to bring
Jesus out of Nazareth; so, he orchestrates the events in our lives to bring us
closer to Himself. The bad, the good, it
is all subject to the providence of God and at His disposal to bring us to
Himself. The gift of Jesus is our
salvation through sanctification, and the providence of God our comfort.
