But it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census should be made of all the habitable world.
Luke dates the birth of Jesus by a Roman tax order. The verse names the most powerful man alive and moves a whole empire, yet says nothing about God — so why does the Saviour's story start here?
The man named here was a real ruler whose life can be traced in ordinary history. He came to sole power after years of civil war, and his reach touched the land of Israel through Herod:
The first Roman emperor... upon the death of Lepidus he shared the empire with Antony, but both were too ambitious to share the kingdom. The battle of Actium, B.C. 31, went in Caesar's favour, and he reigned alone. Four years later he was confirmed as 'emperor' and 'Augustus' in B.C. 27... He confirmed Herod as king, and added Samaria and Gadara to his territory... The Lord Jesus was born during his reign.
The phrase is not a mistake, and it is not a claim that the census reached every nation on earth. It was the way Rome talked about itself:
It is clear that a decree of Augustus or any other emperor could not take effect outside the empire. But it was the phrase of the day, as we see in Acts 24:5. To a Roman, the city of Rome ruled the whole earth. The world and the empire were the same; everything outside counted for nothing. But the apostles had a true and larger view, as we may see in Acts 17:31, Hebrews 2:5, Revelation 3:10, and elsewhere.
Commentators differ over how wide the underlying Greek word can stretch elsewhere in Scripture, but they agree it means the inhabited earth, and that here it is used with imperial pride.
Reading this verse, one writer notes the sheer strangeness of the scene: a pagan emperor issuing orders in the very country where God's throne should have stood.
Instead of God dealing with Israel in grace, we see first the pagan emperor of the world — the head of Daniel's last empire. He is using his power in Emmanuel's land, and over the people of God, as though God did not know them... What a strange state of things sin has brought in!
The order proved how far Israel had sunk. It also did exactly what God intended, moving one couple to the one village the prophets had named:
The power of the world is set in motion by an act that proves its supremacy over the people of God. As His people, they should have been free from every rule except the immediate government of their God, which was their glory. The act proves the complete degradation and servitude of the people. Because of their sins, they are slaves to the nations in their bodies and in their possessions (see Nehemiah 9:36-37). But this act only carries out the marvellous purpose of God. It causes the Saviour-king to be born in the village where, by the testimony of God, that event was to take place.
Verse one records a decree from a man. Behind it stands another will entirely, and the two could not look more different:
But if there was a decree from Caesar, there was a most gracious purpose in God. Caesar might indulge his pride and count the world his own, in the exaggerated style of human ambition and self-satisfaction. But God was now showing what He was — and oh, what a contrast! By this very act, and by God's providence, the Son of God enters the world at the promised place, Bethlehem.
The contrast goes further. At the height of his power, Augustus had no idea what his own order was doing:
While he enjoyed this supremacy, the Roman Emperor had no idea that his Master was born in a village in Judea. His Master came in the lowest ranks of life, among the most despised tribe in the Emperor's realm. That one event changed the whole course of the world's history.
If a tax order carried out God's word once, the same hand is at work now:
There seemed no likelihood that the child would be born at Bethlehem. But the Emperor commanded that everyone should go to his own town for the census. God arranged it this way in His providence, to fulfil His word. So it is today. There is not a movement in the world that God is not ruling directly or overruling indirectly.
This verse also touches how a Christian treats government:
We cannot ignore the days that a government decrees... We have to be aware of the commands of the government. We must give Caesar's days what is due to them. We must be subject to the governing authorities. This lies at the very start of Christianity.
- Decree. One order from Caesar Augustus set a whole empire moving, and Luke dates the birth of Jesus by it.
- Dominion. "All the world" was Rome's own way of speaking: to a Roman, the empire and the world were the same.
- Degradation. The census proved Israel's servitude: slaves in body and property to the nations, in their own land.
- Design. The same order brought the Saviour-king to birth in Bethlehem, so a proud man's decree served God's promise.
- Dependence. If a tax order served God's word then, no movement today falls outside His ruling or overruling.
The census itself first took place when Cyrenius had the government of Syria.
A governor's name and a "first registration" tie the birth of Jesus to a dated moment in Roman records. That one line explains how a couple from Nazareth ended up in Bethlehem, and it has been argued over ever since.
The empire that ordered the count believed it was asserting its own ownership of the world. One writer sets the emperor's pride against what God was doing.
That was the thinking of the world — of the imperial power of that day, the great Roman empire. But if there was a decree from Caesar, there was a most gracious purpose in God. Caesar could feed his pride and call the world his own, in the overblown style of human ambition and self-satisfaction. But God was now showing what He was. What a contrast! By this very act, God's hand brings the Son of God into the world at the promised place, Bethlehem.
What makes it striking is the scale. An empire-wide order sent people back to their home towns, and it all came down to two unknown people.
It is wonderful that the whole machinery of the Roman Empire started moving to bring this about. An unknown couple, as the world saw them, reached their home city, Bethlehem, just in time for the birth of the One who would be the Saviour of the world. Yet so it was.
Some writers read the verse this way: the registration was ordered then, but carried out later under Quirinius. On that reading, the decree accomplished God's aim and no more.
The decree was not carried out at the time we are looking at here. But it went far enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That did not complete man's census; it fulfilled God's prophecy. God took care that it should be just fulfilled enough to carry out His purposes.
What happened to the census afterwards matters too.
Despite all this, the power of the world is working, without knowing it, to fulfil a prophecy about One it does not know. Once that is done, the plan falls away as if it had never been: "the census itself first took place when Cyrenius (or Quirinius) was governor of Syria" — some years afterward.
The ESV reads "the first registration"; Darby's version reads "the census itself first took place." Darby reads the sentence as a note about timing, not as the first count in a series.
Read the phrase this way — "The census itself first took place when Cyrenius was governor of Syria." It cannot mean "this first census." The wording would have been different for that. It should be read: "This census first took effect when Cyrenius was governor." I lean to that sense, since the census was not put into effect when Mary and Joseph went up. They went to be registered, but it does not appear that they ever were.
Critics have long used this verse to attack the reliability of Scripture. No general census of this date shows up in surviving Roman records.
Verse 1 already gives hunting ground to writers who deny that Scripture is accurate and without error. Secular records tell us nothing about any general census at this time… The question comes down to whether Quirinius carried out any administrative duties at the earlier date or not.
The answer offered is simple. The same man held office in Syria twice, so there could be two separate registrations.
He was governor of Syria in A.D. 6, and he then carried out a census — most likely the one Acts 5:37 mentions. That long created a difficulty about Luke's statement that Cyrenius held a census when the Lord was born, in B.C. 4. But Prof. A. W. Zumpt of Berlin states, on what seems good authority, that Cyrenius was governor of Syria twice: the first time from B.C. 4 to B.C. 1, which fits Luke 2:2 well.
The count listed people, not property. The Jews were also allowed to run it their own way, by city and family line.
The "taxing" mentioned in Luke 2:1-5 was probably not a valuing of property but a registration of persons… The Roman emperor ordered it, but it seems the Jews were allowed to carry out the census their own way, by city and family line.
- Decree — Caesar's order claimed the world as his own. God used it to place His Son in Bethlehem.
- Detail — the registration was by name and family line, not property, which is why Joseph went to David's town.
- Dispute — critics target this verse, since no general census of that date survives in Roman records.
- Defence — the answer offered: Quirinius held office in Syria twice, and the earlier term fits Luke's date.
- Design — commentators differ on whether Luke dates the decree or its later carrying out. They agree on the outcome: the plan went just far enough to fulfil prophecy, then lapsed.
And all went to be inscribed in the census roll, each to his own city
Luke's third verse looks like a line of paperwork. A whole empire takes to the road because one emperor wants a headcount — yet God is using that machinery to bring one poor couple to one small town.
The census set roads, families and officials moving across the empire. None of them knew why. Caesar had one aim in his order; God had another:
Caesar Augustus acts with his own subjects in view. Yet without knowing it, he is the means of fulfilling the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. The whole course of the world runs outside the current of God's thoughts. The one great fact for Him and for His kingdom here is the baby's birth at Bethlehem, and the emperor has no thought of it. The decree puts the world in motion, and God makes good His thoughts here below. God is carrying out His purpose of love, and man is blind to it. Who cared to notice the poor Jew, even if he belonged to the house and family of David? The things that mean nothing at all to man fill the heart and eye of God.
Prophecy spoken centuries earlier needed a whole population on the move:
It happened so that an unknown couple living in Nazareth would be forced to travel to Bethlehem. And this at a time when a woman would want the quiet and shelter of her own home. In Bethlehem the prophecy could be fulfilled that Micah wrote seven centuries earlier: the Saviour of the world would be born there. Thousands of people were set moving to bring about this one prophecy.
The wording describes a census taken by ancestry, not by address. That is why the journey could not be avoided:
In this case the emperor wanted to know not only the numbers but the nationalities of the people he reigned over. So when the order for this census went out, every man went to his own city. The order was absolute. Every Jew, wherever he lived, had to go up to his own city to be enrolled, on pain of a terrible penalty.
Some claim that Luke and Matthew disagree about where Jesus belonged. Luke's own wording answers that, since he uses the same phrase for both towns:
Notice that the same phrase is used for Nazareth in verse 39 as here for Bethlehem. That should restrain the criticism which has tried to set this writer of the Gospel against Matthew… Matthew starts with Bethlehem, but not in a way that means Joseph normally lived there. Mark speaks only of Nazareth. Luke deals with both, and takes Nazareth as his starting point.
Being counted by Rome was no neutral event for Israel. It measured how far the nation had fallen:
The power of the world is set in motion. It moves by an act that proves its rule over the very people who, as the people of God, should have been governed by God alone — and that direct government was their glory. The act proves how completely the people have been brought low and enslaved. They are slaves, in their bodies and in their goods, to the pagan nations, because of their sins (see Nehemiah 9:36-37). But this act only accomplishes the marvellous purpose of God.
The order was never carried out in full at that moment. One writer sees in this how exactly God works:
It was not carried out at that time as proposed. But it was carried out far enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That accomplished not man's census, but God's prophecy. God took care that it should be fulfilled just enough to carry out His purposes. It was not until some years later that Quirinius was governor of Syria. Then it was carried out in full.
The child brought to Bethlehem came as a subject of the man counting heads:
The circumstances of His birth show how complete the humiliation is that He has come into. Caesar is lord of the world, and orders it as he pleases, for his own purposes. How different a world this is from the one He made at the beginning! Yet He is in it as one under Caesar's rule. Joseph and Mary are brought out of Nazareth to Bethlehem, to be enrolled as of David's line.
- Decree — Caesar orders a count for his own ends, with no thought of what God is doing through it.
- Movement — every Jew had to travel to his family's city. So an unknown couple from Nazareth had no choice but Bethlehem.
- Servitude — Rome's roll call proved the people were slaves in body and goods. God alone should have governed them.
- Precision — God let the count run just far enough to fulfil prophecy. It was finished only years later, under Quirinius.
- Person — an emperor's order brought the Lord to Bethlehem. He entered His own world under Caesar's rule, enrolled as of David's line.
and Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city Nazareth to Judaea, to David's city, the which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,
God said through Micah that Israel's ruler would come from Bethlehem, yet Joseph and Mary lived far north in Nazareth. A tax order from a pagan emperor moves them to that one village, and Luke ties the journey to Joseph's descent from David.
Luke says the census itself first took place under Quirinius, years later. So the order was not fully carried out at this moment. One writer draws out what that shows about God's control of world events:
It was not carried out at the time in view here as first proposed. But it was enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That accomplished not man's census, but God's prophecy. God took care that it should be fulfilled just enough to carry out His purposes.
The same writer adds a striking detail. Even the mother of the Messiah and His legal father had to obey the decree of the Roman emperor. God's own people were under Rome.
The prophecy behind this journey was already ancient. It said more than where the child would be born:
The proud Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus, set all the machinery in motion to bring this taxing about. He little thought that it was to fulfil the Scripture: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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 coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Micah 5:2). That prophecy came more than seven centuries before the birth of our Lord. In it we see His manhood, the place of His birth, and also the careful assertion of His deity.
Luke gives the reason for the journey: Joseph belonged to the house of David. That short note settles a legal question about the throne:
From the time a woman among the Jews was engaged, she was considered legally the wife of the man she was betrothed to. So the Lord, while really the Son of His mother Mary, was legally of Joseph; and both Joseph and Mary were of the royal line. So the Lord Jesus represented David on both sides. But as the law required, He was the descendant of Solomon on the legal side. He was without question the Son of Mary, descended from the Nathan branch. Yet by law He could not be Messiah while a living representative of the Solomon branch remained. Being the legally reputed Son of Joseph as well as Mary's child, the Lord was descended exactly as He needed to be, in every required respect "David's Son," the Messiah.
Joseph is the heir of a throne. Yet he is a village workman, travelling under orders from a foreign power. That contrast fulfils Scripture too:
He was an obscure village carpenter. This proved the truth of the prophet's words that the tabernacle of David had fallen down and lay in ruins (Amos 9:11). Yet he showed marks of true royalty according to God: in his mercy toward the weak and, as he thought, the failing, and in his trust in the Word of God and his obedience to it.
Luke calls Bethlehem "the city of David," and the name of the town itself points forward:
Bethlehem is "the House of Bread," fittingly the birthplace, long afterward, of Him who as the "Bread of God" came down from heaven to give life to the world. Judah, "praise," is the royal tribe through which in grace the "King" was to come. Praise always flows from knowing the fullness of blessing that is ours in Christ. So food and worship are closely connected — Bethlehem is in Judah.
- Decree. Caesar ordered a census for his own glory. It went just far enough to move Joseph and Mary — accomplishing not man's census, but God's prophecy.
- Prophecy. Micah named Bethlehem more than seven centuries earlier. He named the child's manhood, birthplace and deity too.
- Lineage. Luke's phrase "of the house and lineage of David" gives the reason for the journey. Legally through Joseph and truly through Mary, Jesus represented David on both sides.
- Ruins. The heir of the throne was a village carpenter. David's house still lay in ruins when its true King arrived.
- Bethlehem. The house of bread and the city of David received the One who would come down from heaven as the Bread of God.
to be inscribed in the census roll with Mary who was betrothed to him [as his] wife, she being great with child.
Joseph travels to Bethlehem to register, and Mary goes with him, close to giving birth. Two questions sit in the verse: what did a betrothal mean in law, and why would a pregnant woman make that journey at all?
The verse calls Mary Joseph's betrothed, and that word carried legal weight. One writer explains what it meant for the Child's descent from David:
Once a Jewish woman was betrothed, the law counted her as the wife of the man she was promised to. So the Lord was really the Son of His mother Mary, and legally the son of Joseph. Both Joseph and Mary were of the royal line. The Lord Jesus, therefore, represented David on both sides; but as the law required, He was the descendant of Solomon on the legal side. He was the Son of Mary and descended through Nathan's branch of David's family. Even so, He could not be the Messiah under the law while a living representative of Solomon's branch remained. But the Lord was counted by law as Joseph's son, as well as being Mary's child. So His descent was exactly what was needed to make Him "David's Son," the Messiah, in every required respect.
The place of the Messiah's birth was named long before Mary was born:
More than seven hundred years before the birth of Christ the prophet Micah had said in the name of Jehovah, "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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 coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." The chief priests and scribes quoted these words when Herod asked where Christ should be born. So they took them as a prediction of the Messiah's birthplace. But Mary's home was at Nazareth in Galilee, and the time was drawing near for the birth of her holy Child.
The emperor issued his order for his own reasons. He was serving another purpose without knowing it:
Caesar Augustus acts for the sake of his subjects. Yet without knowing it, he is the means of fulfilling the prophecy that Jesus should be born in Bethlehem... All the world is in movement to bring about one event that prophecy required. The poor carpenter, with Mary, His betrothed wife, must be in the city of David, and David's heir must be born there and then... Who cared to notice the poor Jew, though he might be of the house and line of David? The things that are completely unimportant to man fill the heart and eye of God.
Enrolling meant admitting that Rome ruled them:
Even the people of God were placed in servitude. Remarkably, the mother of the Messiah had to obey the decree of the Roman Emperor, and so did His legal father. They went up for the census to their own city, the city of David, Bethlehem, and so fulfilled the prophecies... The decree was not carried out at the time proposed here. But it went far enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That accomplished not man's census, but God's prophecy.
Christ came into a world that Caesar governed:
The circumstances of His birth show how complete the humiliation is into which He has come. Caesar is lord of the world, and orders it as he pleases, for his own purposes... yet He is in it as under Caesar's rule, Joseph and Mary being brought out of Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled as of David's line. Despite all this, the power of the world is working, without knowing it, to fulfil a prophecy about One it does not know. Once this is done, the plan drops as if it had never been.
A woman that near to childbirth would not travel by choice. One writer notes what met her when she arrived:
The virgin who lived at Nazareth had to be taken to Bethlehem. There she gave birth to Him whose kingdom would in time break the Roman empire in pieces and fill the whole earth. She was poor. Naturally she would not have left Nazareth at such a time. They seem to have been friendless too, at Bethlehem. The inn was crowded. No one offered them a home.
- Decree — Caesar orders a census for his own ends, and never knows what purpose he really serves.
- Journey — that decree lifts a poor couple out of Nazareth and puts them in Bethlehem just as Mary's time comes.
- Title — "betrothed wife" is a legal standing. Mary's Son is hers by birth and Joseph's by law, so David's line reaches Him on both sides.
- Fulfilment — Micah named the village seven hundred years earlier. The census accomplished not man's count but God's prophecy.
- Cost — they reached Bethlehem poor and friendless, and no one gave them a home. Once the decree had served its hidden purpose, it lapsed as though it had never been.
And it came to pass, while they were there, the days of her giving birth [to her child] were fulfilled,
Joseph and Mary are far from home, in a crowded town, held there by a Roman registration. Then her time to give birth comes — and the verse turns on one question: whose timing is this?
The words "while they were there" put the birth in the one place prophecy had named. One commentator ties the whole arrangement — decree, journey, and due date — to a single hand.
The appointed time (Galatians 4:4) had come. According to prophecy the Saviour had to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). But Mary lived in Nazareth. God in His own marvellous way ordered everything. He directed Caesar Augustus to issue the decree of taxation at just such a time and in just such a way. He ordered the journey of Joseph and his promised wife Mary too, so that she had to be in Bethlehem when the time came for her to give birth.
Mary's days were fulfilled at Bethlehem. A much longer wait ended at the same moment, and God had let those centuries run on purpose.
"The fullness of time" is an important expression here. The Seed was spoken of in Eden, but God let some 4,000 years run their course before He sent Him forth. In this we may see the perfect wisdom of His ways. He would allow man to fully show his condition. He tried the creature in a variety of ways, under conscience and under law, sending prophets, and so on. But what was the result? Man proved himself in every way a creature beyond cure. Sin, wrongdoing and hostility were everywhere.
The census moved an empire. The thing that mattered was a birth no one noticed.
The emperor and his decree are only insignificant instruments. Caesar Augustus acts with his own subjects in view. Yet without knowing it, he is the means of fulfilling the prophecy that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. The entire course of the world runs outside the current of God's thoughts. The central fact for Him and for His kingdom here is the babe's birth at Bethlehem; but the emperor has no thought about it... Who cared to notice the poor Jew, though he might be of the house and lineage of David? The things that are perfectly indifferent to man fill the heart and eye of God.
The census that brought them there was never completed at the time. One writer sees God's care in that half-finished paperwork.
It was not carried out at the time proposed here. But it went far enough to call the parents of our Lord from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem. That accomplished not man's census, but God's prophecy. God took care that it should be fulfilled just enough to carry out His purposes.
The promise about Bethlehem was on record centuries before Caesar drew up his tax list.
If God is sovereign in His purposes, His sovereignty is no less displayed in His choice of instruments to fulfil them. More than seven hundred years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Micah had said in the name of Jehovah: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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 coming forth is from of old, from ancient days."
Mary was poor, and no woman in her condition would have chosen that journey.
But we see God's hand in her movements. The Emperor in Italy was the instrument that made the Virgin leave her home for Bethlehem, and give birth to her child there... She was poor. In the normal course she would not have left Nazareth at such a time. They seem to have been friendless at Bethlehem too. The inn was crowded. No one offered them a home... The world did not want the presence of the One whose birth heaven would rejoice over.
What God did at Bethlehem, one writer says, He is still doing.
There seemed no likelihood that the Babe would be born at Bethlehem. But the Emperor commanded that everyone should go to his own town for the census. God arranged it in His providence to fulfil His word. So it is today. There is no movement in the world that God is not ruling directly, or overruling indirectly, for the gathering of His people.
- Timing. The birth came at "the fullness of time." God had let long centuries show what man is. Mary's days ran out on a clock far older than hers.
- Instrument. Caesar issued a tax decree for his own ends. He never knew he was serving prophecy. The emperor was the tool; the birth was the point.
- Precision. The census was only half carried through then. It went just far enough to move one poor couple to Bethlehem. That accomplished God's prophecy, not man's census.
- Place. Micah had named the town seven hundred years earlier. So God moved a woman of Nazareth there in time for the birth.
- Assurance. God moved an empire to place one mother in one village. No movement in the world today falls outside His ruling and overruling.
and she brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him up in swaddling-clothes and laid him in the manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke tells the birth of Jesus in one plain sentence. There is no drama and no crowd — just a mother, strips of cloth, and a feeding trough. Commentators keep asking one question: why does the Spirit of God record the manger and the inn at all?
The missing room was no accident of timing. It shows the welcome the Son of God met on earth:
The Son of God is born in this world, but He finds no place there. The world is at home in the inn, or at least its resources find it a place there. The inn becomes a measure of man's place in the world, and of the welcome the world gives him. The Son of God finds no place at all, except the manger. Does the Holy Spirit record this detail for nothing? No. There is no room in this world for God, or for what is of God. That makes the love which brought Him down to earth all the more perfect. He began in a manger and ended on the cross, and in between He had nowhere to lay His head.
The inn ran on money. Space went to whoever could pay for it:
Luke always loves to present moral features. So it is very instructive for us that Jesus lay in the manger, not in the inn. The children of men found their place in the inn according to their means, as it suited them. Those who had money could command a place in proportion to what they were willing to pay. But the parents of the Lord were so poor that people at the inn utterly despised them. The only place where they could find shelter for the Babe was a manger. Yet this did not stop the outflow of divine grace, and only unbelief could deny the divine glory of the One laid there.
Every step down was chosen. God passed over the great cities, and then passed over the village inn too:
He ignored the imperial city of Rome. He passed by the royal city of Jerusalem and chose Bethlehem, though it was "little among the thousands of Judah." He also passed by the poor fare the village inn could supply, and chose the shelter of the ox's stall. There in Bethlehem's stable the One "whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" was born and cradled in a manger.
The cloths matter as much as the manger. What the angels announced and what a visitor would see stand worlds apart:
Who would have thought of the Son of God coming to earth as a Man in the way He did? Look for the Son of the Highest whom the angels are celebrating, and what do you find? A "babe" — the weakest of beings. "Wrapped in swaddling cloths" — the badge of helplessness, worn by One who had clothed Himself with light as with a garment. "Lying in a manger" — in the company of the animals!
Luke's word here is precise. He uses a different word when he means an only child:
"First-born son," prototokos; but when Luke speaks of an only son he uses monogenes: Luke 7:12; Luke 8:42; Luke 9:38.
One writer draws a conclusion from it:
"Firstborn son" in Luke 2:7 proves that the perpetual virginity of Mary, and the worship of Mary in extreme ritual religion, are fictions.
The poverty at Bethlehem raises a question about what came before it:
He was rich and He became poor. A man in conversation with me denied the eternal deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He argued that Jesus began to exist in the manger at Bethlehem. My answer was this Scripture: He was rich, and He became poor. If what that man believed was true, then our Lord never was rich before He was poor, and the Scripture is a lie. There was none poorer than He on the day He was born in David's city. A manger was His cradle and a stable His shelter!
No one is too low to find Him there:
So the poorest child who has become aware of his sin may realise this: the Son of God has been younger than he is, and lower than he is. He brought all the might of Omnipotence into swaddling cloths, and all the wealth of God's matchless grace into a stable.
The closed door at Bethlehem has a way of repeating itself:
We live in a day when people seem to have less and less time for one another. Children, and unborn children, are often unwanted. Young people have trouble finding their place in society, and more and more elderly people live in hard circumstances. It reminds us of the words, "There was no place for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7). It should not be like that, yet even we as believers may show the same wrong attitude.
- No room — the inn measured people by their money, and His parents had none.
- Room refused — He passed by Rome, Jerusalem and the inn, and chose the stall; the manger was no accident.
- Room He left — He was rich before He was poor, so His life did not begin at Bethlehem.
- Room for the lowest — Omnipotence in swaddling cloths brings God within reach of the poorest child.
- Room to give — the road ran from manger to cross; the question is whether we still leave Him, and one another, outside.
And there were shepherds in that country abiding without, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
Outside Bethlehem, men on the night shift were watching their sheep. Heaven was about to hand them the greatest news it had. Why shepherds, and not priests, kings, or scholars?
The verse names no one. Their obscurity is part of the point. They were working men near the bottom of the social scale. Even in their own trade, they held the least prized job.
The story of the shepherds has become so well known through hymns and carols that we are perhaps in danger of missing its full meaning. Shepherds as a class were not held in much esteem in those days. These were the men who took night duty. They were unskilled compared with the men who cared for the sheep by day. To these extremely humble and unknown men the angels appeared. Heaven's secret about the arrival of the Saviour was disclosed to such nobodies as these!
The choice was not random. God looks for something in people, and it is not rank.
Compare this chapter with Matthew 2. There the scene is set among the great ones in Jerusalem — Herod the king, his courtiers, chief priests and scribes. They know nothing of this marvellous event for months afterwards. God shows no partiality, but He does have regard for humility and integrity of heart before Himself. So He passed by the important people in Jerusalem and sent a delegation of angelic beings to wait on a small group of despised night watchmen, so that they might be let into the secret of heaven's ways. These shepherds were a few of the godly remnant waiting for the Messiah, as their later words and actions show us.
God's care ran in the opposite direction from the world's.
Some poor men were faithfully carrying out their hard labours, far from the restless activity of an ambitious and sinful world. They receive the first news of the Lord's presence on earth. The God of Israel did not look for the great among His people, but had regard for the poor of the flock.
Notice what they were doing when heaven broke in: their job. That fits a pattern.
The men of Beth-shemesh were busy, and worthily so, harvesting their grain when the ark appeared. In the same way, the shepherds of Bethlehem were faithfully guarding their flocks by night when the rejoicing angels told them of the birth of the infant Saviour. "The devil visits idle men with his temptations; God visits industrious men with His favours," as Matthew Henry put it. Gideon was busy threshing wheat when the angel of the Lord appeared to him.
The job itself has a history in the Bible.
From earliest times the calling of the shepherd had been linked with faith. The thought of sacrifice stands out here, along with the tender care that reminds us of the true Shepherd of His sheep. Abel, Jacob and David were all shepherds and men of faith. These nameless shepherds here clearly belong to the same company. It is to such men that heaven will make known its wonderful secret… And it is fitting that this truth should be announced in the shepherds' ears, for only by sacrifice could it be made good.
There is a quiet mirror here. These men keep watch in the dark. So does God.
The angel does not choose distinguished rulers to hear his marvellous announcement. He chooses shepherds who kept watch over their flock in the night. This beautifully shows the grace of God. For He is the Shepherd of Israel who never slumbers nor sleeps, watching alone while the world is unaware.
"By night" is more than a time stamp. Israel was at its lowest point as a nation, and everything about that night was small.
Everything here is small, and the people are hidden, but God has come in. It is all behind the passing greatness of the world, which only carries it out. The empire displays its worldwide power, and this is what brings Jesus' birth to Bethlehem. Yet all the people involved are small and insignificant — Jesus, Mary, the shepherds. But nowhere in all the history of Israel do we find God so near as in this darkest time of the people. Blessed truth! Nowhere else does He share His grace so closely. It was hidden, yet deeper and truer, with more personal heart in it.
- Low ground. God passed by the capital and its leaders. He sent angels to unskilled night watchmen. Heaven's secret went to nobodies.
- Low season. The nation's darkest moment was the moment God came closest. He came near in hiding, not in public.
- Low estate. He had regard for "the poor of the flock," not for the great — grace choosing weakness on purpose.
- Low task. The news found them at their ordinary night work. God visits people who are busy at their work.
- Low trade. Shepherds stand in a line of believing men — Abel, Jacob, David. Their work points to sacrifice, and only by sacrifice could this truth be made good.
And lo, an angel of [the] Lord was there by them, and [the] glory of [the] Lord shone around them, and they feared [with] great fear.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people;
The night sky over Bethlehem opens, and heaven's first word to working men is not a command but a comfort. Why does the news of a Saviour begin by calming fear, and how far does its joy reach?
The order of the angel's words matters. He calms dread before he gives any news. One writer sees Christ's whole coming as the answer to that dread.
Has it struck the reader that the first thing said out of heaven to men after the birth of Christ was "Fear not"? Does it not suggest that His coming as a Baby was meant to remove all fear from our hearts? It was meant to remove all suspicion from us. It was meant to help us see that His attitude towards us, after our four thousand years of sin, was still friendly, loving, gracious. It is so hard for fallen man to believe anything but the lie that deceived him at the beginning. He cannot credit the living God he has sinned against with any kindly attitude towards him.
Another writer sees the same order at work in people today.
A sense of God's presence produces the true fear of God in the soul. At that very moment the gospel comes and takes the fear away. So at once the angel says, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy." Here is the gospel preached for the first time on the plains of Bethlehem.
The glory shining around the shepherds frightened them. What happens next in the chapter shows that the fear did not return.
The shepherds are filled with fear in the presence of the glory, but the angel says to them, "Fear not." A multitude of the heavenly host then appears in their sight, but they do not fear. Instead they go into the city with joy, repeat the news, and return with praise. It is very happy for us to know that the presence of the glory need not alarm us. Nature fears, but the voice that speaks from heaven makes the soul bold. So we learn that joy and praise, not fear, suit the presence of the glory.
The choice of audience is itself part of the message. God passed over the great of His people.
Some poor men were doing their hard work faithfully, far from the restless activity of an ambitious and sinful world. They receive the first news of the Lord's presence on earth. The God of Israel did not look for the great among His people, but had regard for the poor of the flock.
Older versions translate the last phrase "to all people." Commentators read it instead as "all the people," meaning Israel, and the ESV renders it that way too.
The great joy of the message centred on this: He had come as Saviour. They had had the Lawgiver and the prophets, but now the Saviour had arrived, and He was so great a person as Christ the Lord. This good news was for "all the people" — not "all people." For the moment a wider circle than all Israel is not in view.
Another writer treats Israel as the starting point, not the limit.
In the end Luke does proclaim the saving grace that goes out to all men. But he begins within the strict limits of Israel. He shows God faithful to His people, and willing to carry out all His promises if they would receive Jesus. But they would not. So God was morally right to turn from the Jews who despised Him to the Gentiles.
The angel promised "great joy." One writer presses that word against our habit of gloom.
Are we not too much afraid of joy? There is much to sadden in life: our failures as believers, the state of the world, the confusion of the church, the small number of believers, the vast crowds who are indifferent. We should feel all this deeply. Still the angel's words stand and proclaim "great joy to all the people."
- Fear removed — Heaven's first word after Christ's birth is "Fear not." It answers the suspicion fallen people carry about God's attitude towards them.
- Fear replaced — The shepherds trembled at the glory. Then they went into the city with joy and came back praising. Joy, not terror, suits God's presence.
- Joy given — The news brings joy because it announces a Saviour. It arrives just when a soul first feels the true fear of God.
- Joy delivered low — It comes to working men in a field, not to rulers; God had regard for the poor of the flock.
- Joy extended — The news came first to "all the people" of Israel. Luke goes on to proclaim the saving grace that goes out to all men.
for to-day a Saviour has been born to you in David's city, who is Christ [the] Lord.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And this is the sign to you ye shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
An angel had just told the shepherds that a Saviour was born. At once a great crowd from heaven stood beside him. Who are these beings? Why did the birth of a baby stir them? And why did they praise God rather than speak to the shepherds below?
The word "suddenly" marks a reaction. Heaven heard the news given to the shepherds. It answered at once, and held nothing back.
If men had not believed the news, angels had; if earth is indifferent, heaven is not. The heavenly hosts, so to speak, break all bounds. They join this angelic messenger who announced the glad fact... They never saw Him before. The heavenly hosts came trooping down to earth with deep joy. Heaven is full of ecstasy, and why? Because the unsolved riddle of four thousand years is now made clear. How is man to be saved?
Notice who they praised. The angel spoke to the shepherds. The host that followed him did not.
A multitude of the heavenly host gathered with the angel. The angel of the Lord addressed the shepherds. The angelic choir seemed not to notice them. It was completely absorbed in praising God. They could not keep silent, for glory to God, and blessing to men, would result from that child's birth.
The words point to heaven's own inhabitants, gathered in force. Not one of them is jealous of the grace shown to men on earth.
A multitude of this heavenly host greeted the divine Saviour's birth as man with delight and no jealousy. They praised God and said, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men. Here we see them as the native inhabitants of heaven, gathered as if for a festival, rejoicing in the results of grace for men on earth.
Luke says the host was "praising God and saying." He does not say they sang. One writer treats that word as deliberate.
Scripture never mentions singing except in connection with redemption. It never even says that angels sing... It is only therefore redeemed ones who can sing, and we learn from this the true character of Christian song. It should express the joy of salvation — the praise and gladness that knowing redemption produces in the soul.
The angels' next words, in verse 14, turn on a short phrase about God's attitude to men, quoted here in an older wording.
It is not exactly good will toward men, which is the point here. The word expresses God's good will and complacency in men... For the Son of God became, not an angel, but really a man, according to Hebrews 2. He did not take up the cause of angels, or concern Himself with it. It was men He took up.
The host celebrates outcomes that had not yet happened — glory secured, peace on earth. They never explain how. Everything rests on the identity of the child.
The means of this are not pointed out here. They are redemption, the destruction of Satan's power, the reconciliation of man by faith, and the reconciliation of all things in heaven and earth with God. Everything depended on the Person and presence of Him who was born. All was wrapped up in Him. The state of blessing was born in the birth of that child.
- Suddenly — one angel announced the birth, and heaven could not hold back. The host broke in at once. What left earth indifferent filled heaven with joy.
- Host — these are heaven's own inhabitants, gathered as if for a festival. They delight in a grace given to men, with no trace of jealousy.
- Praising — their words go upward, not to the shepherds. Scripture says they praised and said. It never says they sang, for song belongs to the redeemed.
- In men — their joy is that God's good pleasure settled on mankind. The proof is that the Son of God became a man, not an angel.
- In Him — the host announces the results, not the method. Redemption and reconciliation still lay ahead. Every blessing already lay in the Person of the child born that night.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good pleasure in men.
Luke moves from one angel speaking to shepherds to a whole army of heaven praising God over a baby in a feeding trough. Their song has three lines — glory above, peace below, God's pleasure in men — and each raises a question, not least why the earth is still not at peace.
One writer draws out how far "in the highest" reaches:
It would not be only "Glory to God below," but "in the highest" — through the whole universe of God, and above all in its highest places. Glory to God at last, everywhere. On earth there had been nothing but war against God, and among men confusion, misery, and rebellion. Now it is "on earth, peace." Nothing less than this would follow from the birth of the Messiah, though not all at once.
Another writer lists what Christ has done to bring God that glory:
It is important to see first of all that God is glorified. Sin has been dealt with. Sins have been dealt with. The cross has judged the prince of this world. Death itself has been conquered. These are only a few of the things Christ has done. Every promise of God is fulfilled in Him. Man has been recovered in reconciliation for God. All that God ever wanted for the delight of His heart of love is centred in the blessed Man in whose face the glory of God now shines.
The last line is where translations differ. One writer reads it not as good wishes sent toward people, but as God's delight in people — with the proof in what the Son became:
The point here is not exactly good will toward men. The word expresses God's good will and delight in men... For the Son of God became, not an angel, but truly a man, as Hebrews 2 says. He did not take up the cause of angels, or concern Himself with them. It was men He took up. But much more appears here: it is God's delight in man now that His Son has become a man.
The wording is disputed. The same writer notes the other reading, which matches the ESV's "among those with whom he is pleased":
Revisers, with the editors, adopt "peace to men of good pleasure."
Peace was announced at the manger. So why is the world still not at peace? One writer traces it to the rejection of the One who brought it:
The prophets said again and again that peace would mark the long-awaited kingdom. God presented the fulfilment of it to the nation in a Saviour, Christ the Lord, born to them in the city of David... But the One whose coming could have brought in peace was rejected. The peace He offered was taken from the earth, and can now only be celebrated as peace to be established in heaven. The fact was that He, in whom all the fullness was pleased to dwell, had to lay the only possible ground for peace in such a world by the blood of His cross.
Another writer says plainly where the blame lies:
Sadly, peace on earth did not follow at once after this announcement, but man is to blame for this. God has offered peace to men from His heart, in the person of His Son. But they have refused His Son. The world cannot know peace until it receives the Prince of Peace. Such peace is certain, but it lies in the future.
The song is not left hanging for those who know the Person it celebrates:
We read in Colossians that the day is coming when God will reconcile all things to Himself, but we read further that believers are already reconciled. We have been brought into the good of this because we know the One who has brought glory to God in the highest. We know the One who will bring about peace on the earth: He is the Prince of Peace. And we know the One in whom God expresses His good pleasure toward men. Because we know this Person in our hearts, we have been brought into reconciliation.
- Person — the whole song hangs on one Man. Glory, peace and God's pleasure are all secured in Him.
- Glory — "in the highest" means everywhere, at last. God is glorified by all that Christ has done.
- Pleasure — the wording is disputed. One reading is God's delight in men, proved by the Son becoming a man and not an angel.
- Peace — offered at His birth, refused by men, and now celebrated as peace in heaven. The world will not know it until it receives the Prince of Peace.
- Possession — the earth still waits. Those who know this Person are already brought into reconciliation.