The title of the message this morning is The Intersection of Two Kings. We have two kings in our text. We have the King of the Known World, Caesar Augustus, and then we have a completely unknown baby from an unknown family, the Lord Jesus, who is actually the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. What a surprising way that God works in human history. It doesn't get much more surprising than what we have in our text today, which makes it wonderful.

So I've been eager to preach on it. The intersection of two kings. There's a king of the world and a baby is born into his world that he knows nothing about, who will actually be the King forever, the Lord Jesus. We get a view in our text of two kings, one is acknowledged as the ruler of the known world and while does he have the connections? He's born in the right place, he's born in Rome, he has the right family connections, I'll get to that in a minute.

The other is just being born into an unknown family. I've been saying nobody's from nowhere's bill. That's Joseph and Mary were nobodies. Nazareth and Bethlehem are not significant places, not known places. The events of chapter 1 have prepared us for this.

The eternal Son of God is being born as a human so that he can live and die for humans who are dead in their sin. So that's what chapter one was setting up. The appearance of the angels and the events of chapter one were setting up that the eternal Son of God is coming into the world to live and die to save sinners. So that is the context. No other gospel gives us the breadth and detail of what led up to Jesus coming into the world and of His birth and what happened right after His birth.

In fact, if you take the other Gospels and put them together, you get nowhere near combined the breadth and depth of what we have in Luke. So thank God for Luke. It's so good. We need what's here. What's here is rich and such and encouragement.

So Luke is both wider and deeper than the other gospels combined on this particular part of the life of Jesus and the lead up to the life of Jesus. As we come to the text, let's ask God to help us. God, You have worked in such surprising ways to save sinners. Had we known that you were coming into the world, we would have charted out a different life from beginning to end. It would have been a life of great pomp and circumstance and of power, might, wealth, honor, but you did things so differently and you have done all things well.

Thank you for bringing our church to the gospel of Luke and all the sweet truths that are here about how you had mercy on people who don't deserve mercy. I pray that you would use it to encourage us, to strengthen us, to build us up in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, subdividing. Let's take Luke 2, 1 through 3.

Hopefully your Bibles are still open to Luke chapter 2. Follow along as I reread verses 1 through 3 and then talk about it. Luke chapter 2 verse 1, and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own town.

In these verses, we have the world into which Jesus was born. We're getting some knowledge about the world that Jesus was born into. We know from chapter 1 what has happened in the lead up in those days of chapter 2 verse 1. The angel Gabriel was sent to Zacharias to tell him that his wife who was old and past childbearing years would become pregnant and give birth to this one who the prophets had said would be sent before the Messiah to make people ready for the Messiah. Then the angel Gabriel was sent to Mary to tell her that even though she wasn't married yet, She was going to have a baby who would be called the Son of the Highest.

The Holy Spirit would overshadow her and cause her to be pregnant. Then Mary visited Elizabeth. These two pregnant women, one with the forerunner of the Messiah, one with the Messiah, and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. The baby in her womb, who would be known as John the Baptist, was filled with the Holy Spirit, leaps in her womb, and Mary has this astounding praise of God that we recited this morning. And then John the Baptist has been born to the joy of friends and relatives and The tongue of his father is loosed and he has this prophetic praise and foretelling of what his son would do and what the Messiah would do.

Now we learn something about the world into which Jesus was born. The known parts of this world have one acknowledged ruler. So they're sort of a civilized world. It's the known world, the inhabited world. A lot of the rest of the world is inhabited too, but that's not how we speak of it.

The Roman Empire is close to its peak at this time. Almost all of Europe, parts of modern Asia, parts of modern Africa. If you look at a map of the Roman Empire at its peak, it's massive and it's known as the inhabited world or the known world. This is a period of time when practically no one is fighting over this point at this point in time, meaning no one's fighting about who is the ruler of the known world at this time. There is one acknowledged ruler of the inhabited world and it is Augustus Caesar's.

Nations like Israel have been thoroughly conquered. The fighting's over. The Roman general Pompey, if you look at the world, it looks like Pompey. We know that is the location that the volcanic eruptions encapsulated forever in in amazing ways. The word looks the same, but you actually say it, Pompey.

The Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem about 60 years before Jesus was born. And so Israel was thoroughly conquered a couple of generations before Jesus was born. This is the period in history of the Roman Empire that is known as the Pax Romana, or the era of peace in the Roman Empire. The nations, the surrounding nations, have been conquered by Rome and there's no more fighting over who the ruler of the known world is at that point. And so Rome is able to build highways connecting the various parts of the Empire.

When you're fighting, you can't do that. When you're fighting over who's the ruler, you're not building super highways to the far parts of the earth, but now we're in the Pax Romana, or the the Era of Peace, where all that fighting is done. And so Rome can build highways to get to the various parts of the Empire, and so the various parts of the Empire can get to Rome, and freedom of travel from city to city and country to country is unprecedented. Up to this point in human history, you cannot find a time where freedom of travel from city to city and country to country has been more pervasive. If you were picking a time for the rapid spread of the gospel, this is the time you would pick.

If you were picking the time where news of a nobody from nowhere's ville could travel to the outer edges of the empire, this is the time you would pick during the Pax Romana, where the empire is connected and the fighting is over. So in Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5, When we read this, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Things like this, things like what the world was like when Jesus was born, are part of it being the fullness of time. It means that God had set in place a thousand things to make it just the right time for the Messiah to be born. Some of those things are in today's text.

You can make a long list of things that made it just the right time for the Messiah to be born. That's not coincidental at all. That is God putting pieces on the board in place to make the moves that he has determined to make to save people who don't deserve saving. That's what's happening in our text. Now, who was this one acknowledged ruler of the known world?

Caesar Augustus only. That isn't the name he was born with. That's actually completely a title. This man was born Gaius Octavius in 63 BC. So roughly 60 years before Jesus is born, this baby was born in Rome named Gaius Octavius.

He was the grand nephew of Julius Caesar. Born in the right place, the center of the world, born in the right family, the grand nephew of the man who would become the ruler of Rome and its empire, though he was never called an emperor himself. More on that in a minute. So he was the son of Julius Caesar's nephew. That's what a grand nephew is.

It's the son of your nephew. Julius Caesar adopted him because he had no heir. He adopted Gaius Octavius and declared him to be the successor to his throne. So he essentially took this grand nephew, the son of his nephew, as his heir to succeed him on his throne when he would die. When Julius Caesar was murdered by the Senate at Tu Brute, if you know what I'm talking about, if you know history, the Senate murdered him and one of his closest friends was Brutus who had participated in that.

This grandnephew was part of the Civil War over power that followed. So Julia Caesar is murdered by the Senate and then there's a civil war to see who's going to be next. And Gaius Octavius became the undisputed ruler when he defeated his last remaining rival Antony, as in Cleopatra and Antony, in 31 BC. Then the Senate declared Octavius to be the first emperor and gave him the title Augustus, which means exalted one. So Augustus Caesar.

Augustus being this title given to him by the Senate, which means exalted one, and Caesar just being part of the first ruler of the empire's name Julius Caesar. As history says he was born that way by a Caesarian section. He would continue to reign, that procedure was named after him. He would continue to reign until his death in 14 AD. So he had to reign over the Roman Empire of of about 45 years, a long-ruling emperor.

Tiberius Caesar, his stepson, would become the ruler after him and we'll encounter Tiberius Caesar in chapter 3 verse 1. He'll at least be referenced. In today's text this Augustus Caesar issues an imperial edict. A command from the Emperor goes out for all the known world to be registered. You've got to go get your name on the rolls.

Almost certainly this is a census for the purpose of taxation. Who is from where so that we know how to tax you? That sounds familiar at all. We have these same challenges today by the way. Ask anyone who lives in another state but earns income from a company based in New York or Massachusetts or California.

And we are still trying to solve the same problems today where income is generated in one area but you live in another area, all the jurisdictions are figuring out how to tax you and when they can tax you. That's what's happening here. The method in this particular registration or census was this. You travel to your hometown and register there. So how hometown was defined is unclear, but also irrelevant for our purposes.

Other than to say that either Joseph and or Mary were born in Bethlehem themselves and then moved at some point or their predefined relatives, their parents or their grandparents or whatever were from Bethlehem. So that's where they were required to go for registration. So they live in one place, but because of how this census is working, they are required to go to Bethlehem to be registered. It goes without saying that this is not optional. If you'd like to go and be registered, go and be registered.

No, no, no, you will go and be registered. So it's not surprising that the text says, Caesar decreed, all went. So those are the phrases from the text. Caesar decreed, there is an imperial edict, and all went. I'll just bet they did.

So Joseph and Mary are like everybody else complying with the imperial edict that all the world should be registered. We're also given an additional historical time marker. This took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. There are challenges matching this up with the timetables of external historical data and much commentator ink is spilled on that. There are multiple logical solutions that have been proposed by the commentators and I don't care, really care, which one of them solves the problem so I'll not develop that further here.

Just know if you read more on this text, you're going to bump into this. Oh, there are some difficulties with the timetable. Commentators have proposed some things that are logical that solve the problem. Which one of them solves it? Who cares?

We have a time marker and there are some logical solutions to the problems. So that is verses 1 through 3, the world into which Jesus was born. It is the world where Augustus Caesar, really Gaius where Augustus Caesar, really Gaius Octavius with a fancy title, was the single acknowledged ruler of the known world. Now Continuing into verses four through seven. Follow along as I reread verses four through seven.

Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." In these verses, we have the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph both live in the city of Nazareth in the region of Galilee. So we're from Youngsville in North Carolina.

They're from Nazareth in Galilee, but their hometown, either where they were born or at least where their relatives are from, is the city of Bethlehem in the region of Judea. So Mary and Joseph have to go there to Bethlehem in Judea to be registered because Joseph was of the house and lineage of King David. Oh you mean King David was his dad? No. His granddad?

No. His great granddad? No. His great great granddad? No.

David is a thousand years back in his family line. Now, Where were your relatives a thousand years ago? We would say, which ones? A little Welsh, and a little Swiss, and a little German. I'm a mutt.

Most of us are mutts, not purebreds. Where were your relatives a thousand years ago? We have no idea. But Jews have an idea because these families were promised and given land that belonged to those families permanently. At least that's how it was spelled out in the giving of the land.

It was to be their family land, tribal land, and within the tribe, family land, in perpetuity, permanently. And no matter who you sold that land to, it would revert back to the family every 50 years. So you sell the land, but at the end of that 50-year period, it reverts back to you because God promised the land to your family. So you can sell it, but it will revert back to you because it's been given to you permanently. Now, That was no longer in practice as of the Babylonian captivity, but this tells you why family groups were still associated with land and you still know what your family land was even a thousand years later, even 500 years after that practice had ceased at least by and large.

Where your family land was was actually a matter of public record. These are national surveys that exist and were preserved, and some of them we actually have these national records even in Old Testament scripture. You go to Ezra and Nehemiah, you're finding family names associated with cities. This is a matter of public record. These are national surveys that have been preserved.

Now, let's look at a couple of phrases that are interesting and loaded with meaning. First phrase, verse 4, the city of David. That's what Bethlehem is called. Wait, I thought Jerusalem was the city of David. Well, yes, Old Testament calls Jerusalem the city of David, because that is where David reigned as king.

He's the first one to reign as king in Jerusalem. Bethlehem is the other city of David, the little town where David was born into an unknown family and would grow up as an unknown shepherd boy. So this is the other city of David. When he was born, who was his family? Who knows?

Who cares? What is David? Who knows? Who cares? I mean the real answer is he's a shepherd boy, but nobody knows that.

Nobody cares about that. Now Jesus comes to be registered. He's born there. Who's his family? Nobody knows.

Nobody cares. It's like David when he was born in Bethlehem. Jerusalem would be the place where he reigned, but for now he's just a nobody from Nowheresville. In 1 Samuel 16, David's father, Jesse, is called Jesse the Bethlehemite. Jesse from Bethlehem.

So God tells Samuel, the prophet, go to Bethlehem, Find Jesse the Bethlehemite, and the replacement king for Saul is going to be among his sons. His firstborn son, right? The tall one, the strong one, the good-looking one, no. Second one, no. Third one, no.

Fourth one, no. Has he got any more sons? Yeah, the seventh one. He's out with the sheep. This is how David became king.

God sent Samuel to Nowheresville to find a nobody. The son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. What is the significance of all this? A lot. Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah, about the promised Savior, is so clear that the Savior will be a descendant of King David.

He's going to come from the line of Kings and That this Savior will be born in Bethlehem You start when we went through Matthew and then John we were calling them the marks of the Messiah How are we gonna know in this promised Savior's here? He's going to fit these things. He's going to do these things. This is one of the things he's going to fit. He's going to be born in Bethlehem.

I don't know whether it's Luke or another gospel, but in one of the gospels, there's controversy over whether Jesus is the Messiah or not. Some of the people are saying, He can't be the Messiah. He wasn't born in Bethlehem because He grew up in Nazareth. Little did they know he was born in Bethlehem. Listen again to Micah 5 2.

Connor read it. I'll reread it. Micah chapter from Micah, an Old Testament prophet, chapter 5 verse 2. Micah chapter 5 verse 2. But you, Bethlehem, Ephratha, what is Ephratha?

Ephratha is the more ancient name for the same location. So it's actually double named. It's the same location. Ephratha is what it was known as when Rachel, Jacob's wife, died there and was buried there 2, 000 years earlier. So the ancient, It's the same location.

Bethlehem, the more ancient name, is Ephrathah. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, There's thousands of town in Judah. You're little among the thousands. Yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. So Bethlehem is insignificant and Bethlehem is not insignificant.

Meaning there are thousands of towns in Judah, and Bethlehem isn't worth mentioning among the thousands. And yet, the prophet says, the one ruler will come out of Bethlehem. And then there's this phrase that must have been so confusing. Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. What's that supposed to mean?

It would have been confusing to the people hearing that in Micah's time, because they didn't know what we know, that the Holy Spirit was going to overshadow a woman, and that the virgin would give birth to one whose father was God. But now we can look back through the lens of the New Testament and say that's amazing. Micah chapter 5 verse 2 is talking about a son of man who is a son of God, fully man, fully God. So we have this statement, the city of David, not Jerusalem, but Bethlehem. Second, verse 5, we have this phrase, betrothed wife.

We talked earlier about the significance of betrothal. It's not like US engagement 2025, where If you break it off, you just lose your deposit on the venue and go your merry way. You actually have to break a contract and divorce to break a betrothal. So it's radically different than engagement. Now, In Matthew 1, we learn that an angel appeared to the troubled Joseph.

Why is he troubled? Because the girl he's betrothed to is pregnant. He doesn't know who the father is, he just knows who the father isn't. In Matthew 1 verses 24 and 25 says that Joseph did as an angel the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn son. So Joseph and Mary are living together.

That's why they're traveling together to Bethlehem. But there has not been the physical union that consummates a marriage. And that drives home the point that God is the father of this baby, not Joseph. That's the significance of this phrase, his betrothed wife. This marriage has not been consummated by physical union.

They are living together, but God is the father of this baby, not Joseph. This phrase betrothed wife reminds us of that. Now, Mary is very pregnant. Now, I do know that you're either pregnant or not pregnant, but ask a woman in her seventh, eighth, or ninth month if she's a little pregnant or very pregnant and she'll tell you. And This is not an easy journey.

This is 85 miles, some of it through mountainous terrain. It's a three-day journey if you're pushing the pace and it's more if you can't push the pace. Ask one of our pregnant women if they would be eager for a three-day journey, not in a minivan, 85 miles, some of it through a mountainous terrain. The comic book version is this. They arrive in the middle of the night.

She's feeling labor pains. The Hampton Inn is already overbooked because of all the people coming in for the census. The heartless innkeeper looks at the women in labor and her husband and says, you're out of luck and you're on your own. Whatever happened to customer service, right? They find shelter in a stable and Jesus is born and put in the feeding trough.

The text itself doesn't bear much of that at all. I think it bears, they put the baby in a feeding trough. Other than that, I think you have to wipe away the rest of it. First, the text says, verse six, that while they were there, while they were there in Bethlehem, the days were completed for her to be delivered. They did not arrive as she was in labor in the middle of the night.

Some period of time they had been in Bethlehem before this baby was born. Also the word translated in, there was no room for them, in the end is not the Greek word used in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Remember the parable of the Good Samaritan. A Jew is on the road, He's overtaken by thieves and beaten half to death, left to die. A priest passes him by and a Levite passes him by and a despised Samaritan comes by and has compassion on him and binds up his wound and takes him to an inn and puts him under the care of the innkeeper, pays and promises to pay any more that's necessary.

This is not that word. That word from Luke 10, the parable of the Good Samaritan, will get there in a year. That Greek word translated in in Luke 10 literally means a public house for the reception of strangers. That's what we're thinking about here, but that's not this Greek word. This is not a public house for the reception of strangers.

That's Luke 10 and the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Greek word translated in here is more literally and better translated. I really don't know why any of the English versions I love translated this way, but it would be better translated as guest room. Prove it. Okay, In Luke 22 verse 11 and in Mark 14 verse 14, that same Greek word is translated in both places, guest room.

Don't argue with me, argue with the translators. They translate it in these other two places, guest room. What does that verse say? Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then you know how that plays out.

It's a personal residence with an upper room that is the designated guest room, and that's where they celebrate the Passover in the upper room. Not the Hampton Inn. So I believe what is most likely the case is that Joseph and Mary were staying with relatives. This is their hometown. They have relatives here.

Joseph and Mary were not the relatives who were assigned to the designated guest room. The upper room. There was no room for them in the guest room. Maybe other relatives arrived earlier and were settled in the designated guest room. Maybe those who were given the designated guest room were much closer relatives.

For instance, if your adult children and your grandchildren came into town, they're probably in the designated guest room. Maybe much more elderly relatives were in the designated guest room. So Mary and Joseph were given the common area of the home downstairs, which functioned as living and working space during the day and where you would bring the animals into by night. This was so common. All the commentators say this.

This is how normal Jewish homes were constructed during this time. An upper room that was a designated guest room and then the downstairs was the common space where you lived and worked during the day and at night when you brought in the animals for shelter, for security, would be brought in downstairs. That actually fits the Greek words used in the text much better than the comic book version. Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths, similar to today, wrapped tight for security and warmth. I can, I still know how to do the blanket at the hospital?

You fold down the corner and that allows you to have the head without the corner sticking up and you wrap them tight because they just came out of the womb and they can sleep when they're wrapped up tight, and if you just leave them free, they can't sleep. It's like that. They're doing something similar. Wrapping in swaddling cloths, tight for security and warmth, was practically the universal custom at the time. It was actually thought that this helped the arms and legs grow straight.

The point is that Jesus was a real baby that received the normal care that loved babies received. All the babies during this time would have been treated this way if they were loved babies. In fact, Ezekiel 16 Verse 4 has a word picture of an unloved baby that is cast out that is not wrapped in swaddling cloths. God is working through his prophet Ezekiel on how he can say that a baby is unloved. Oh, it wasn't wrapped in swaddling cloths.

It wasn't cared for like a loved baby would be cared for. Now, before we conclude, Let me take you to two texts that tell us with great clarity what is actually happening theologically. In other words, in human terms, a baby is being born. Simple enough. What is happening in divine terms?

What is God actually doing? First stop is John chapter 1. John's such a fascinating gospel because he dispenses with all the human, plain stuff. Everything that's happening on planet Earth, John has no time for. He goes right to the theological.

What is what's happening in divine terms? What is God doing? John tells us that and nothing more actually. So I'm going to read 1 through 3 and then I'm going to go back and read Micah 5 2 again and then I'm going to read 1 through 14. So there's a method to the madness.

When I read 1-3 and go back to Micah 5-2, it's wonderful. John Chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. And without him nothing was made that was made I'll listen again to Micah 5 2 but you Bethlehem Ephrathah though you are little among the thousands of Judah yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting." Now back to John 1. I'll read 1-14. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John.

This is John the Baptist. We've been reading and studying about him. Verse 7. This man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.

That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." So, what's happening on the human plane?

God is moving emperors to get these parents to Bethlehem. So that He would be born in the city of David. The Son of David would be born in the city of David. What's happening? Down the heavenly plain, in the divine realm, the Word is becoming flesh to save sinners.

To make it so that sinners could have the right to become children of God. That's what's happening. God! That's what's happening. Secondly, Philippians 2.

Verses 5-11. Philippians 2. Verses 5-11. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation." Can I say, but made himself a nobody from no where'sville? Taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men.

And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that Every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. This is about both the saving of sinners and the exaltation of the eternal Son of God through the incarnation. Incarnation is just God taking on flesh.

What's that about? What's that about? God taking on flesh? It's about the saving of sinners, but the exaltation of the eternal Son of God in the saving of sinners. You can set man too much at the center of the Gospel.

Yes, it is for the saving of sinners. We should all say, Amen, hallelujah. It is about that. But that for the exaltation of the eternal Son of God, which then reflects and redounds to the glory of the Father. So the glory of God is the end of all things.

Now let me give you a few great quotes from the commentators, then we'll apply. First, J.C. Ryle says, little did the haughty Roman Emperor think that he was only an instrument in the hand of the God of Israel. How he would have despised Israel, compared to Rome. Little did the haughty Roman Emperor think that he was only an instrument in the hand of the God of Israel, and was only carrying out the eternal purposes of the King of Kings.

Little did he think that he was helping to lay the foundation of a kingdom before which the empires of this world would all go down one day and Roman idolatry pass away. I declare a census. Yes, you're setting the groundwork for an eternal kingdom. That won't crush your kingdom. You have no idea.

But you will do it because God has set you to do it. A note from the ESV study Bible. On the surface, political reasons determine where Jesus is born. We're having a registration for tax purposes. But the ultimate cause is the God who controls history and who guarantees that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem in accordance with Old Testament prophecy.

On the surface, politics is happening. Beneath the surface, God is fulfilling promises. Finally, one more J.C. Ryle quote. Had he come to save mankind with royal majesty, surrounded by his father's angels, It would have been an act of undeserved mercy.

Would you complain if that's how Jesus came the first time? Surrounded by angels to rule in a palace? I wouldn't complain. I would think that was an act of great condescension. Heaven to an earthly palace?

Who would even do that? This is the point that J.C. Rowell is making. He continues, had he chosen to dwell in a palace with power and great authority, we should have had reason enough to wonder. But to become poor as the very poorest of mankind and lowly as the very lowliest.

This is a love that passes knowledge." Look at the love of God on display. Where Jesus, who did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, or did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, relinquished that to be born as a nobody in Nowheresville. This is a love that passes knowledge. You know nothing of this love experientially, meaning you loving others that way. Applications, I'll give you three.

One, the kings of the earth all have a king. He is king of kings. He is lord of lords. Of lords. In Daniel chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar, an emperor of an empire, of a great empire, is given a vision of a statue, head of gold down to feet of clay, everything in between.

Daniel is called and he interprets it's one kingdom following another and then a rock comes and smashes them all to powder. At the end of this in Daniel chapter 2 verse 44 we read this, And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever." That's what's happening in our text. The rock is coming to smash the other kingdoms and to be the kingdom that will last forever.

That's application number one. The kings of the earth all have a king. Two, the kings of the earth rarely understand what their ultimate king is doing even though they, what they are doing is fulfilling the ultimate king's purposes. This happens all the time. Kings of the earth rarely understand what their ultimate king is doing.

They rarely acknowledge him as their king. You think God is disquieted by that? You think that slows God up? Even though what they are doing is fulfilling the ultimate king's purposes. The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord and like rivers of water he directs it wherever he wills.

John MacArthur says this in the study notes, he planned for their visit to occur under the authority of a pagan emperor who was utterly ignorant of scripture. Think Augustus Caesar knows Micah 5-2. I doubt it. Three. Order your life around the right king by all means be involved in politics but just understand where it sits It's so freeing to know that the kings have a king.

And so if you fear Him, you don't have to fear anything else. And the fear of Him isn't the terror that drives you away, it is an awe that draws you in. Let's pray. God, every week there's something to learn that's very precious. I thank you for setting before us the person of your Son, the one who was made to be the one ruler who was from everlasting.

He was from everlasting. He was to be born in Bethlehem. Thank you for the work of Jesus taking on flesh, making himself an acceptable substitute, and dying in the place of sinners like us. Thank you for our time and Luke. Use it, God.

Please use it in Jesus name amen