A Couple’s First Christmas - Part B

The light of the world being cast out. That's the rejection of Christmas. Now I point that out, and you've heard this before, but this scene is replicated every year.

In fact, I would say this scene is replicated every day of every week of every month of every year. There's no room for Jesus in the public square. They don't want you to talk about Jesus in normal society. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip reveals how the world tries to cast out the light of Christmas in his message, A Couple's First Christmas. But first, here's a resource that brings you powerful teaching from some truly inspiring pastors. Over the years, Skip Heitzig has invited a number of notable speakers to come to Albuquerque. For an end of year resource, we want you to hear some of these amazing messages by speakers such as Tim LaHaye.

I travel all over the country and speak on prophecy conferences, and it's very seldom that you find churches that really recognize the importance of history written in advance, only by God, coming true so we can believe what we believe. Also a part of this pulpit package, the familiar voice of Pastor Chuck Smith. I'm overwhelmed when I see what God is doing here.

What a thrill to see the work of God being wrought here in Albuquerque. This package contains 10 full length messages available on CD or as a download. We will send it to you as a thank you when you make an end of year donation of $100 or more to support this program. Request your pulpit package at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888. This resource is available through the month of December, and this pulpit package includes a classic teaching by J. Vernon McGee. I count it a privilege to be here to talk to many young people and especially those that are interested in Bible study. This is sure a high pulpit made for a tall fellow. Request your pulpit package at connectwithskip.com or by calling 1-800-922-1888.

That is connectwithskip.com or call 1-800-922-1888. All right, now let's turn over to Luke 2 as we join Skip today. Scholars believe this was not a Roman requirement to go to your own city, your city of origin. They didn't care where you went to pay the tax. They just want the tax. They just want the money.

You can give it in the city you happen to live in. And so most scholars believe this was a Jewish requirement. You probably know that the Jews were big into genealogical records, especially tribal allotments in Israel, and they wanted to know what people of what tribe are living where. And so they probably made the stipulation that everyone needs to go back to the tribal allotment of origin. Joseph and Mary are up in Nazareth.

That's the tribe of Zebulun, but originally they come from David's tribe of Judah, so they need to go back down south. But truth of the matter is the occasion for Christmas isn't so much Caesar doing this, but God doing this. Because if you were to just read the story in the New Testament of Joseph and Mary, and Mary's pregnant and they're living up in Nazareth, the story would have normally read that she would give birth to a child in Nazareth.

That's where he lived. But the problem with that, if you know your Bibles, there was a prediction, and every Jewish person, by the way, knew a few things about the coming Messiah. And one thing they knew is the Bible was very specific as to where that Messiah was going to be born, right? And that was in Bethlehem, and that's because the prophet Micah, a few hundred years after David, but 700 years before Christ, made this prediction. Micah chapter 5 verse 2. But you, Bethlehem, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, you're just a little nothing insignificant village. Yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel. You might be a little town, but out of you is going to come forth somebody who is going to rule Israel. And then it says, whose going forth are from old from everlasting. There's going to be a baby born in you, Bethlehem, that has an eternal nature, and he's going to eventually rule Israel.

So here's the real occasion of Christmas. Caesar was ruling on earth. God was overruling from heaven. Caesar was king of the world, but not to God.

He's not king on the chessboard, he's just a pawn. So it's like God looks at his chessboard and goes, there's Caesar, bing. I'm going to put this in his head to make everybody get a census taken so that the Jews will say, got to go back to your town of origin so that Joseph and Mary will make the 90 mile trip from Nazareth down to Bethlehem. And so they do that.

That's the occasion. Let's look at the location of Christmas. Verse four, Joseph also went up from Galilee. Now that's just sort of worded strangely because Galilee is north and Jerusalem is south. So he is moving from north to south. So we would probably say Joseph went down from Galilee out of Nazareth to Judea. But the Jewish people reckon things not north, south, east, and west as much as topographically Jerusalem is way high. They ascended from the valleys and they would have gone up to Judea.

But that's just a little FYI. 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. And so it was that 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. So they're in Judea, they're in Bethlehem, and Jesus was in a manger. That's the location.

Let me paint the picture just a little bit. They leave Nazareth. Nazareth is in the hill section of the north. They went down the hill from Nazareth into the valley. The first valley they would have gone through was called the Valley of Armageddon. They would have gone through that valley through the central portion of the land, the little spine of mountains, and gone over into the Jordan Valley and followed the Jordan River Valley all the way down to Jericho. And from Jericho they then would have climbed upward into the Judean hills.

Jerusalem is about 2,560 feet above sea level. Bethlehem is five, six miles away from Jerusalem. But that's a 90-mile trip, and they don't have public transportation. There's no buses. There's no trains. There's no private car taking Joe and Mary down there.

They're on foot, and she's pregnant. And maybe they had a donkey. Maybe not. Maybe a horse. Maybe not.

We don't know. But it's an 85- to 90-mile trip, and it's dangerous to travel. You're exposed to the elements.

You're all alone. There are robbers along the way. Jesus even told a story. A man went from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, stripped him, beat him, took him to his clothes, left him by the side of the road.

That stuff really happened. And Joseph and Mary are taking that journey in reverse from the Jordan River Valley to Jericho and then up to Jerusalem. And then we are given this location. They get to Judea. They get to Bethlehem, and Jesus is born, and it says He is laid in a manger. A manger.

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking a little wooden creche, and you're thinking that because, well, you've looked at your own nativity set that you put up at home. And there's a little wooden crib that is there, and all the nativity sets at Walmart have that. And so why not? And this is where I wish I could take you to Israel because if I take you to Israel, I'll show you a manger.

There are several examples all around the country. A manger was a piece of stone, not wood. It was about three feet high. It was maybe four or five feet wide. It was just sort of cut out with a lip around it. They put fodder, animal food, hay in that, and that was where animals ate their food. It was a feeding trough made out of stone.

That is a limestone manger. The Bible doesn't say that Jesus was born in a stable. Some think He was born in a cave. That's the earliest tradition, but we do know He is born in a manger, a stone manger. Because the word manger is mentioned not once, not twice, but three times in this chapter, I think it's significant.

And I'm going to pause here for just a moment. You know, it says He was born in a manger, laid in a manger. When the angel gives a sign to the shepherd, says, okay, here's the sign. You're going to know this is the baby because this is the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, and they stuck Him in a manger.

He's in a feeding trough. So you don't see that every day. When you get to Bethlehem, that'll be the sign. And then it says they get to Bethlehem, and they see the baby, and indeed, He is laid in a manger. So three times the text belabors the fact so the audience knows this baby was put in a manger. So why is that significant?

I think for two reasons. I think the fact that Jesus was laid in a manger, first of all, speaks of His humility. I mean, what could be more humble than a frail baby born to a poor couple in a cave in a feeding trough? That's as humble as you get.

This was Paul's point in Philippians chapter 2. He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man. He humbled Himself. He went from the highest to the lowest, from God in heaven to a baby born in Bethlehem.

He was larger than the universe, but He became an embryo, and a fetus, and then a newborn baby. And He came in the humblest of wrappings, right? Swaddling cloths.

I'll explain more of that next week. Not satin sheets, peasant cloths. He was not laid in a bed of gold, but a feeding trough.

He was not waited on by the best physicians in Rome, but barnyard animals in their trough. You know, this is Christmas time, and we're all going to be getting presents or giving presents, probably. And they're going to be wrapped up.

We do that a lot. Some people are very elaborate in their wrapping. My mom taught me how to wrap presents. She was really good at it.

I'm just marginal at it. But sometimes you get a gift, and it's just so amazingly wrapped. And I got to tell you, some gifts I've gotten, the wrapping is more impressive than the gift itself. Not God's gift. When God gave the greatest gift, His own Son, it's like wrapping it in a paper bag and giving it to the world.

He didn't care about the wrapping. He cared about the gift. And this speaks of humility. The second thing the manger speaks to us about is accessibility. There's nothing intimidating about going to a manger. You don't need an ID card or credentials to get to a manger.

Anybody can come to a manger if they're willing to humble themselves. You know, I've had the privilege of going to the White House a few different times in my lifetime. And you know, to get into the White House, it's pretty hard, and it can be very intimidating. First of all, you have to be invited. You have to get your name on a list. To get your name on a list, they have to do some kind of vetting procedure, background check. Then once you get there, they've got to look at the list to make sure that is your name on the list.

Check your ID to make sure that the name on the ID is exactly the name on the list. It is reviewed by the Secret Service Department. You are admitted onto the grounds of the White House only after going through a metal detector, sometimes a pat-down. And then you're monitored once you're on the property. They look at you very carefully to see if you're a weirdo. Now when the shepherds get to where Jesus was born, they didn't need an ID card.

Their name wasn't on a list, didn't have to be on a list. The magi, the same thing, they could just freely come. Accessibility. The manger was a preview of Jesus' whole life. He was always accessible to people. Whether it was a woman with an incurable disease for 12 years who pressed through the crowd to grab a hold of Jesus, or a Roman centurion who thought, I got to get my servant who is dying, I got to get the attention of Jesus so he can heal him. Jesus was accessible to him.

Or mothers trying to bring their babies to get Jesus to bless them, and the disciples thought, no, you can't, you just can't come to Jesus. You got to have your name on a list. There's protocol here.

Show us your ID badge. Jesus said, he rebuked them, the Bible says, and Jesus said, let the children come to me, for of such is the kingdom of God. And I just want you to know that God is accessible to you. And because he is accessible to you, you don't have to go through an intermediary, you don't have to pray to Mary or a saint or an angel, you can come right to him. And as a believer in Christ, you should come boldly to him.

Boldly. That's what Hebrews 4 says, come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So that's the location, Judea, Bethlehem, a manger. So that's the season, the occasion, and the location of Christmas.

Let's close with this, the rejection of Christmas. That's verse 7, she brought forth her firstborn son. You know, Luke is the master of understatement.

Here is the Messiah, the Son of God, the most anticipated birth in history. And Luke, he's a doctor, she brought forth her firstborn son, that's it, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because, here's the phrase, there was no room for them in the inn. We're not given a whole lot of detail. We don't know what the conversation between Joseph and the unnamed innkeeper was like. We don't know if it was an altercation, an argument. We don't know if it was, yeah, man, I understand, no problem, no big deal.

We're just not given the information. Just as we're not sure where Jesus was eventually born, was it a cave, was it this or that, we're unsure exactly what this inn is, to be honest with you. The reason I say that is because the word used here for inn is a different word than is typically used in the Greek New Testament for the word inn. By the way, if you're thinking of like, Ramada Inn or Holiday Inn, don't.

It's not like, yeah, they had breakfast in the morning and room service and a swimming pool. No, it was no holiday, this inn. The word used here for inn really just means a shelter of some kind.

Now, this is what I think it was. I believe that the inn was a caravansary. Now, a caravansary is where caravans would stay. Caravans would travel from one place to another place and they would stay at a inn, a caravansary, which is right off the side of the road, right by the road. It was a square enclosure, four buildings placed in a square with a large courtyard in the middle, two stories. So, buildings, buildings, buildings, buildings with a gate that would allow you to bring your animals and feed them and care for them in the courtyard in the open air while you yourself stayed in one of the rooms. That was an inn. So, it could be that they were turned away from the sleeping place and spent the night in the open courtyard where the animals were being fed. There would be plenty of mangers there.

And out of that inn enclosure, in the open air, into the night, they were put. Hard to imagine a nine-month pregnant girl. By the way, she was probably no older than 14. She was between 13 and 14. That was the typical years that a Jewish girl gave birth in that culture.

Joseph himself was probably no older than 16. Imagine a young couple like that and she's with child being pushed away into the night. The light of the world being cast out. That's the rejection of Christmas. Now, I point that out and you've heard this before, but this scene is replicated every year.

In fact, I would say this scene is replicated every day of every week of every month of every year. There's no room for Jesus in the public square. They don't want you to talk about Jesus in normal society. They certainly don't want you to talk about Jesus when it comes to politics. And if I hear one more person tell me, separation of church and state, man. If you're religious, don't you dare weigh in on political issues. I'm going to pull my hair out.

Some of you say, I'd like to see that. That phrase, by the way, has nothing to do with spiritual people weighing in on political matters. It was originally put so that the political world, the government, could not impinge upon our worship and the spiritual world.

But we'll push that aside for the time being. The Roman government didn't want him. Herod the Great, the Jewish part of the Roman government, didn't want him.

In fact, they will try to kill him. So there's no room for Jesus in the political world. There was no room for Jesus in the religious world. The religious leaders knew Bethlehem is where Messiah was to be born. They even quote, as we'll see in a couple weeks, they cite chapter and verse.

But they wouldn't walk a few miles to see if that was the one that these guys from the east came to check out. 30 years later, the religious world will want to kill Jesus. They'll come up with a plot to get him crucified. There's not even room for Jesus at Christmas time. Talk about the camel taking over the tent. You can't even say Merry Christmas anymore.

Oh, no, no, no, no. It's happy holidays at best. When I see people, I often say Merry Christmas. And every now and then I'll get somebody, I'll say Merry Christmas. And they'll go, yeah, happy holidays.

And then I'll go, Merry Christ mass. His name happens to be in that word. It's his celebration.

He's the one we're honoring. In school, it's not even a Christmas break anymore. Have you noticed what it's called? It's just winter break. Yet the camel is inside the tent. There's just no room for Jesus.

That's the way it's always been. And you got to know something. If you make room for Jesus in your heart, in your life, the world will have no room for you. They'll marginalize you.

They'll scorn you. Just notice this. Look at the end of verse 7. Because there was no room for, what's the word after that? There was no room for them.

Doesn't say him. They're not just saying we have no room for Jesus. We have no room for anybody associated with him. And Mary and Joseph's whole life was wrapped around that Jesus child that would be born. So there was no room for them in the end.

But I want to share with you the great news to close this out with. In the Gospel of John, it says, He came into his own, his own received him not. No room. He came into his own, his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become children of God to those who believe in his name.

All of that to say this. If you make room for him, he'll make room for you. If you make room for Jesus, Jesus will make room for you.

Jesus will say to his disciples, you believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house, there are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you, I'm going to prepare a place for you. I've made room for you. You make room for me, I'll make room for you. And that's what we're left with.

Make room for Jesus. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series Into the Night. Find the full message, as well as books, booklets, and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now, here's Skip to share how you can connect you and many others with the truth of God's word with a gift to keep these messages going out around the world through Connect with Skip Heitzig. This ministry exists to connect you and many others around the globe to God's word and equip you to live the full life God desires for you. I want to invite you to join in that important work today.

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