Day 8

Luke 2:1–7 (NIV)

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to his own town to register. ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Pray for God to show you something to use from the passage

Read the Passage

Who is in the passage?

What action verbs do you see?

What other words stick out in your mind

Questions

How does God use the events in the story to further what he has promised?

Who is in control, one of the strongest governments ever or God? What does that say to us about who is in control of our day and time?

Why did God have Jesus born and placed in a feeding trough?

Notes

vs 1 the Jews were not in control, the Romans were. Where you owned land you had to go to pay the tax on it. Joseph must have had some land in Bethlehem. It make sense since that is where his family is from.

vs 4 So why is Joseph living in Nazareth if he owns land in Bethlehem? One possibility is while he owned land it may have become useless in terms of raising sheep etc. Joseph was a carpenter. (Matt 13:55)We know not far from Nazareth there was major construction going on in the building of a city. He simply was doing what we would do. He lived where there was work.

vs 5 God uses the governments of this world to accomplish his purpose. Micah 5:2 says the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem

Isn't ironic that something the power to be meant for its good (settlement of taxes) is used by God to show who really is in control, that Israel was not forgotten.

vs 7 No room- Bethlehem was a small town and already was overflowing with people. note while Joseph owned land evidently there was not a house on it for them to go to. So the God of this world is first in a feeding trough. How Much He loves us!