And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Luke 2:1
During his reign, the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus ordered three great census takings. These were so significant that when he made a list of his greatest achievements, Augustus listed those censuses as number eight. Our text refers to the census that took Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem as a taxing. The purpose of the census was to carefully record all citizens of his vast empire so that everyone would be recorded on the tax rolls. Sending everyone to their ancestral home town was part of the process of recording people so that nobody would be missed. Each person who arrived at a centre to fill out a census document would record his name and the names of his parents and grandparents. He would also indicate his ancestral home town, any scars or other identifying marks, his profession or occupation, his wife’s name and age and her father’s name, the names of all of his children, and the names of any other relatives who lived with him. This information, as valuable as it was to Augustus’ administration, was just a tiny cog in God’s great and perfect purposes.
We don’t know why Joseph, a descendent of David, was living in Nazareth, which was some 120 kilometers north of Bethlehem, and when he, or his parents or grandparents moved there. But we can see how God made all the arrangements so that Mary and Joseph, who geographically would have had no expectation of being included in the events of the Messiah’s birth, would fit nicely into every Biblical prophecy. God arranged even the timing of an emperor’s census to coincide with even greater and more eternal purposes. In fact, God arranges events large and small, near and far, that fit in with His plans and purposes for you and me today. There are no coincidences with God, just a vast master plan that is incredibly detailed and absolutely accurate.
Those of us who are getting older can look back over events in our lives that had us puzzled at the time, and we can begin to see a pattern that God has worked in our lives. We all wonder at certain events or conditions, and question how those things could matter. We encounter tragedies and fail to see any point in them. We watch the comings and goings of those around us and are left in the dark as to why those people came and went. And yet, God has had His plan for us, despite our own stumblings and wanderings away from that plan. God is not surprised at what you are today although He would have liked you to be a little more in line with his program, a little more like His Son. Rest assured you are far more blessed than you could ever have been if God had not stepped into the events of your life.
How much do we know of God’s purposes for us as individuals, and of His working around us to achieve those purposes? Something to think about! – Jim MacIntosh