The government: Christmas Series Part 7

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth…And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David.  Luke 2:1, 3-4

…and the government will rest on His shoulders… Isaiah 9:6b

God’s big, sweeping plan to redeem mankind from the grip and tyranny of sin was ordained before the foundation of the world. As part of that plan, He also designed smaller sub-plans laced with prophetic and intricate details to bring clarity, precision, and confirmation to His greater plan. And as His plan unfolded, most of the individuals involved were utterly unaware that they personally played a specific role in its fulfillment.

Take Caesar Augustus, for instance. Caesar’s own records (“The Deeds of the Divine Augustus”, see http://classics.mit.edu/Augustus/deeds.html, #8) reveal that he conducted three censuses during his reign. They were held in roughly twenty-year cycles, and the census that summoned Joseph to Bethlehem when Mary was pregnant with Jesus was likely the second of the three. Caesar Augustus—the self-proclaimed “divine Augustus”—was merely a mortal chess-piece played by the wisdom and hand of the one true God to fulfill His predetermined purpose. Whereas Augustus took great pride in amassing boundless wealth for his administration through taxes collected in the census, God used this empire-building monarch’s hunger for ever-increasing power to get Mary and Joseph to the right place at the right time.

Know this: There is no power or throne established by the hand of man or angel that supersedes the power and authority of our God and His Christ. Neither Caesar, nor Pilate, nor Herod, nor Nero, nor Lenin, nor Hitler, nor governments present nor governments to come can override the rule and the plan of God.

Don’t be surprised if the heathen rage (see Psalm 2:1). Don’t be shaken if you see the “nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing. The kings of the earth” may indeed “take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’” (See Psalm 2:1-3). The fact is that your God is aware of it all and He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them (Psalm 2:4).

The God who used the governmental drive of Caesar Augustus to get His handmaiden and her fiancé to Bethlehem for the birth of the Christ child is not moved by regulations, laws, decrees, or even lawless acts of the governmental leaders in our day. He sees the end from the beginning and His purpose will be established; He will accomplish all His good pleasure (see Isaiah 46:10).

Knowing this—that God is sovereign and His purpose will not be thwarted—how then should you live?

• Connected: More than anything else, you are to maintain your vital and intimate connection to the Lord. Though the mountains are shaken and the hills tumble down, His steadfast love will never leave you (see Isaiah 54:10). As you praise Him and give thanks throughout your days, you will be nurturing that vital, unshakable connection with Him.

• Confidently: You have entered an unbreakable covenant with the Child of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ, through the blood He shed on the cross. He will neither leave you nor forsake you. You are called to walk with confidence in Him, knowing that He who has begun a good work in you will see it through to completion (see Philippians 1:6).

• Circumspectly: You also are called to walk with vigilance and watchfulness. To walk circumspectly, you shun the things designed to hinder or halt your connection with the Lord. You listen carefully to Him and let Him lead you through your day as you watchfully pray about the people and situations He places on your heart.

• Compassionately: You are a carrier of the One who laid down His life for the world. Wherever you go, His compassion is upon you and within you. Led by His compassion, directed by His Spirit, and filled with His Word, you are a light shining in a dark place. He is able to move upon situations and people as you yield to His compassion within you.

Caesar Augustus was subject to the plan of God unawares. And despite the rumblings within governmental proceedings of our day, no purpose of God can be thwarted. You, as one who has opened your heart to the Highest Authority in the universe, can be confident in your God as you live out your days. You were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord. No one—neither man nor government nor devil—can stop you from walking as a child of the Light.

Be confident and be bold this Christmas season…and forever! It is your birthright in the Lord.

Dorothy

…if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36

© 2015, Dorothy Frick