Dusk Til Dawn: The Dawn — Thursday
Micah 5:2
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. (NLT)
This may be a character flaw of mine, but as far as plans go for my personal life, I don’t look super far ahead. At work, I do a lot of planning and strategizing, but outside of work, I feel a lot better going with the flow. My wife, Leah (Happy birthday, Leah! Love you!), is a bit more of a planner. A couple times a week, she’ll bring me up to speed on things I (usually) already know we have planned, but those plans will have developed considerably since we last talked. Timing, preparation, and orchestration have magically materialized into thoroughly thought-out and intentionally-designed plans.
Similarly, if you do a deep dive into the covenants (promises) that Jesus’ birth fulfilled, the familiar aspect of His Bethlehemian birth continually pops up. Micah 5:2 specifically foretells that detail, but there are some subtle aspects about this piece of the story I don’t want us to leave the Christmas season without appreciating. The reassurance that this specific location gives us in God’s preparation and intentionality is immense.
There are a few reasons why this detail about Bethlehem is so important:
Jesus fulfills the Old Testament prophecy found in Micah 5:2.
Bethlehem was where King David was born.
God’s control over all things is illustrated.
The Micah 5:2 fulfillment is baffling and amazing in and of itself. Being born where King David was born is important because it reinforced the idea of Jesus’ heritage and His claim to the throne for the Jewish people of that time. But today, I want to really hone in on #3: the intentional details in this part of the story that reveal how God was completely in control and intricately at work.
The timing of Caesar Augustus calling for a census landed specifically when Mary would be near or at full term, requiring Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem at the exact right time for Jesus to be born in King David’s birthplace. Additionally, the reason for the census was taxation and to find out who owes Caesar—perhaps a subtle likening to the debt we owe because of sin, as Jesus was coming to erase that debt. And instead of sending an angel to just say, “Go to Bethlehem,” God used the sinful nature of a non-believer (Caesar) to put everything in motion—fitting in well with Jesus’ mission to “seek and to save the lost,” Jews and Gentiles alike.
Not only is God in control of all things, but His hand is in every detail—in this story, and in ours, too.
Thursday’s Reflection
How have you seen God working in the details of your story?
