The Birth of Jesus

Few accounts in the New Testament are more well known than the record of the birth and early years of Jesus found in Luke 2. Our familiarity with the events, however, may lead us to overlook some of the deeper significance of our Lord’s birth.

Consider, for example, how it happened that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. According to the prophecy of Micah 5:2, the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem. But our Lord’s earthly parents lived in Nazareth, and ordinarily Mary would have given birth there. They were compelled to go to Bethlehem right when Jesus was about to be born, however, because Caesar Augustus, the most powerful king on earth at the time, was taking a census of his empire. John Calvin, in his commentary on Luke 2:1–7, makes much of this fact as evidence of God’s hand of providence. God is in control of all, and if He said that the Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem, He would do what was necessary to make it happen, including using the will of a pagan emperor to set in motion Joseph and Mary’s travel to Bethlehem (vv. 1–5). As a brief aside, some have questioned the historicity of this account because the census during Quirinius’ governorship mentioned in today’s passage is not attested in extrabiblical sources. There is no good reason to doubt Luke’s record, however, because extrabiblical sources are not comprehensive records and we know that Luke is a careful historian. It is also possible that Luke refers not to a census taken during Quirinius’ time as governor of Syria but to one conducted before it.

Jesus’ birth in the humble setting of a stable and placement in a manger, or animal feeding trough (vv. 6–7), also serve as a great reversal wherein God brings low the foolish pretensions of men. Caesar Augustus was perhaps the greatest emperor that the Roman Empire ever knew, presiding over a time of peace and prosperity from his regal palace in Rome. As strong as Augustus was, however, his reign ended with his death. Almost no one was aware of the birth of Jesus at the time, for He was born in the humblest of circumstances. But as the King of kings, even though the beginnings of His reign occurred in the most inauspicious of places, He rules forever (Rev. 11:15).

Thanks be to God, our Lord was born in lowliness so that we could live forever. Calvin comments, “Jesus was thrown into a stable, and placed in a manger . . . that heaven might be opened to us, not as a temporary lodging, but as our eternal country and inheritance, and that angels might receive us into their abode.”