Christmas: The Journey

From now until Christmas, we’re going to take a look at various aspects of the accounts of the first Christmas and hopefully gain some new insights and understanding of the events surrounding the birth of the King of kings.

God chose Mary and Joseph because they were devout, God-fearing Jews and God knew their hearts. He knew that He could trust them with the most valuable baby in the history of mankind. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, Jesus was to be born of a virgin, and Mary and Joseph had not yet married. God also chose them because they were in the lineage of David, because prophecy said the Savior would be of the Davidic line.

When the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he told her of God’s plan to plant the seed of God into her virgin womb. God’s Word spoken forth was the seed. Mary’s spoken words that accepted the Lord’s call to carry this most holy child, gave the Holy Spirit access to plant that seed in her. And Jesus was conceived in her.

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Luke 2:1-6 (KJV)

Fast-forward almost nine months. Mary’s pregnancy has progressed and she is almost ready to give birth. However, rather than be able to deliver the baby in her own comfortable home, a decree from the Roman Emperor dictates that she and her new husband Joseph make the journey from their town of Nazareth to Bethlehem, the home of their forefather David. This was a journey of roughly 90 miles.

Imagine a woman having to ride 90 miles on a donkey- what a harsh trip that would have been compared to the way we travel now. And add to that the fact that she was large with child. It had to be a very slow, difficult journey for the couple. What would have taken most people several days to travel probably took them ten days to complete because they had to travel slowly and stop often. This is why they arrived late to their destination, Bethlehem. And because Bethlehem was a small town and had few places for people to lodge, there were no rooms left when they got there.

They had to find shelter in a shepherd’s cave because there was simply no other place to stay- not because they were poor. As a matter of fact, the Bible bears out that Joseph was a highly-skilled artisan and would have been someone who made good money. The word for carpenter that is used to describe Joseph in Matthew 13:55 is the word tekton, which describes someone extremely skilled in the craft of architecture, building, and fashioning of important structures, exquisite furnishings, and even jewelry. Someone who was described as a tekton may have worked with a number of materials including wood, stone, or even precious metals and jewels. Joseph was a tekton, and as such, He was not poor by any means.

God selected just the right couple to parent Jesus and then took them to Bethlehem at just the right time so that prophecies would be fulfilled that said the Messiah would be born of a virgin and born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Although it may have seemed random at the time, the Christmas journey was all carefully orchestrated by God.

****************************************************

For truth regarding the necessity of a virgin birth, see my previously published post called “The Virgin Birth Explained.”