Of Powers, Preservation, and Providence

“Of Powers, Preservation, and Providence”

Lu 2:1-7 ¶ And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Text at hand deals with the powers that be among men, the prophecy of Scripture, the preservation of Scripture, and the Providence of the God of Heaven!

I. The Powers that Bevs. 1-3

Many will complain in our day of politicians and the “powers that be” even among God's people. Perhaps we have forgotten that the Lord is indeed on the throne! Perhaps we have allowed the philosophies of this world to intrude upon our Biblical convictions, conforming and perverting them with the rudiments of this world! Let us examine our text this morning and consider how God indeed USED the powers of the day to bring about His precise plan!

A. The Pawn.....Caesar Augustus

God would use Caesar to move Joseph and his wife (great with child) on a journey of more than 80 miles.

Eccl 8:2-4

2 I counsel thee to keep the king's commandment, and that in regard of the oath of God. 3 Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him. 4 Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?

Prov 21:1

1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

B. The Plot.....King Herod

*This Point Will be more relevant soon*

Matt 2:1-8

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. 5And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, 6And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. 7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

The Enemy of God, Herod, used the written Word of God to identify where the Lord Jesus Christ should be born! God HELP US when wicked men with wicked agendas have a higher opinion of the validity and accuracy of God's Word then men that are called His servants!!

Mt 2:12-15 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. 13 ¶ And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Matt 2:18-23

18In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

II. The Preservation of Scripturevs. 4-7

A. The place

Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Bethlehem of Judah

B. The problem???

The Saviour was to be born in Bethlehem of Judah, yet the Lord chose Mary and Joseph who lived in Nazareth of Galilee!

Joh 1:45-46 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

Lu 1:26-27 ¶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

Nazareth of Galilee

C. The peculiar *the prophecy spoken yet not recorded*

Matt 2:23

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

1. Spoken before by the ProphetsGod's inspiration of the Prophecy

2. Scripture did not recordGod chose not to preserve it in written form!

>Many have speculated on this: They call Jesus a “Nazarite” but the Scriptures do not support this!<

God apparently communicated this truth to His people by inspiration through the prophets, but did not preserve this recorded in the written Scripture. WHY?

John 20:30-31 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

*Just as there were many “other signs” that the Lord chose not to record for us in the life and ministry of the Lord, so, apparently, there were things “spoken” by the prophets (note the plural form indicating multiple prophets), yet never recorded in the Scriptures.* → This whole issue of the Word of God, it's preservation and inspiration is not a matter of scholarship, but a matter of FAITH! Here we find our faith strengthened by the understanding that God indeed PREPARED His people through the multiple SPOKEN prophesies of the whereabouts of the child, and He PROTECTED His Son, keeping His location private and obscured from his enemies. No doubt there are many events in the life of God's people, in the live of Israel, the live of Christ, the life of the early churches that God did not preserve for us... This says to us a few things about What He has left for us in His Word...

a. God didn't include unnecessary things in His preserved Word!

*Every word is PURE (Proverbs 30:5), PROFITABLE (II Timothy 3:16), POWERFUL (Heb. 4:12)!!!

b. God DID include necessary things in His preserved Word!

2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

c. God has indeed preserved His Word for His Saints

Ps 12:6-7 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. 7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.

d. God will indeed preserve His Saints with His Word!

Ps 17:4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.

Though the enemies of God plotted to destroy the child Jesus, using even the written Word of God against Him, the Lord used His Preserved record to OBSCURE the whereabouts of His Son and PROTECT Him from His enemies!

Kept the child’s whereabouts privy...

Kept the child protected...

Caused the child’s identity to be obscured from the enemy...

What an amazing truth is found here! God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary! Some would expect the Lord to protect His Son in a miraculous way, they have attitudes much like Naaman the leper that expected great am mighty things by the hand of Elisha, yet God words in ordinary, often obscure ways to bring to pass His mighty works. Here, buy simply OMITTING a detail that was indeed spoken by prophets from the written record, He protected His Son from those that would harm him!

III. The Providential Plan of God

A. The Preservation of Scripture

1. God's providential Hand seen in “what is written”!

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

2. God's Providential Hand seen in what was OMITTED!

John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.

B. The Placement of His Family

From a virgin espoused to a man in Nazareth of Galilee, to a manger in Bethlehem, to Egypt, and back to Nazareth... God Placed and Protected the family of Joseph!

C. The Protection of His Son

God used ordinary means to do the miraculous!

Matthew 26:53-54 Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?

D. The Power over Kings

God used the Power and GREED of Caesar to move the family of Joseph to the prophesied place of birth even when Mary was “great with child”

God prevented King Herod from laying a finger on the family of Joseph by the faithful mission of wise men, and a simple omission of His written Word!

E. The Precision of His Plans

F. The Provision of the Savior