Reflections on Advent Part 3

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of 

woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, 

so that we might receive adoption as sons.  Galatians 4:4-5

Timing is everything.  You've heard the adage before.  And it's true for so many things.  If a baseball player's timing is off he will never hit the ball, a quarterback will never get the ball to his receiver, the ball won't roll under the windmill at the goofy golf park.  And we could go on and on and on.  If you've ever needed something from the store and you arrive moments before closing you might exclaim, "I arrived just in the nick of time!"  We've all been there at one point or another.

Here's the thing...timing is perhaps not more important anywhere than in the messiness of the Christmas story.  Talk about a comedy of errors!  But yet all according to a perfect plan!  Hundreds of prophecies dot the Old Testament, promises regarding the redeeming Messiah that would come to save His people, many regarding His birth.  Let's look at how timing plays into the fulfillment of these prophecies.

You have a young couple expecting their first child.  And not just any child, but one of royal, incarnate birth.  Mary is most likely in her ninth month of pregnancy when Caesar Augustus announces that everyone in the entire Roman empire needs to travel to their hometown to register (Luke 2:1-3).  Joseph's lineage required a trip back to Bethlehem from Nazareth.  Remember, Mary is in her ninth month.  When I was pregnant with my second child we lived in Flagstaff, AZ which sits at about 7000 ft. elevation.  I was probably in my eighth month when an opportunity came which required travel to Phoenix, which sits around 5000 ft. lower in elevation.  I was strictly prohibited from making that journey by my doctor.  I would imagine that any contemporary medical doctor would have insisted on making an exception to Caesar's order for a woman in her ninth month of pregnancy.  But in those days that wasn't an option for Mary and Joseph.  Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)  Caesar's declaration demanded action...no exceptions.  And so the young couple embarked on a three day journey to Bethlehem.  I can't imagine traveling 70+ miles by donkey in my ninth month of pregnancy!  Is it any wonder that Mary's need to give birth happens after such a long, arduous journey?

To make matters worse, there would have been quite a number of displaced individuals in Bethlehem in those days, I'm sure.  All traveling, according to the edict, to the town of their family origin.  Apparently Mary and Joseph arrived after many had already taken up the few empty beds in town.  They had no doubt spent a number of nights sleeping under the stars already but that would not suffice for the birth of a baby.  The accommodations they received, however, must have felt little better than those stars.  

They had arrived in a part of Israel that had hundreds of herds of sheep, and not just ordinary sheep.  Many, if not most, of the sheep raised around Bethlehem would have been bound for the temple as sacrificial lambs.  They would have been born either in or near Migdal Eder, the tower of the sheep.  The lambs once they were birthed would be wrapped in strips of cloth to protect them from blemish, since temple lambs were required to be perfect.  Does this sound familiar?  " And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths," Luke declares (Luke 2:7).  Swaddling clothes very well may have been these strips of cloth reserved for the sacrificial lambs.  Do you see the significance?

Jesus would have been part of the lineage of King David, thus necessitating the journey to Bethlehem, city of David's birth.  But rather than a royal birth, which most would have esteemed for the king of all kings, He was born in the humblest of all places.  God, in His infinitely wise plan, may have brought Mary and Joseph, perhaps, to the cleanliest of all stables, but a stable nonetheless.  And one which signified sacrificial death.

Without Caesar's order, Mary and Joseph most likely would have remained in Nazareth.  The timing of that command to register moved a series of events that brought the birth of Messiah to the very place (the very area at least) that the sacrificial temple lambs would have been born.  

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"

John 1:29b