The Decree and the decree - [Luke 2:1-14]

Luke’s Purpose: Certainty Through an Ordered Historical Account

I teach some preaching classes, and I remember one student, I critiqued him, and I said, you know, you're faithful to the text, but I'd like you to be a little more enthusiastic. And he wanted chapter and verse for that critique, and he was kind of wanting to have every little detail figured out.

And I said, listen, after the sermon, here's what I mean. I want to take my hands and put them under your armpits, and they better be moist. That's what I mean by enthusiasm. And after today, I don't think I'm going to have to be enthusiastic at all.

It's just hot up here. By the way, I will try my very best to keep your attention. When it's a little warmer, it's hard to pay attention. I want you to do your very best to take notes and look at verses, and we'll worship the Lord together as we hear from his word.

Does this encourage you? In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered, that this was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered each to his own town.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to 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, who was with child.

And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. She gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them at the inn.

Did that edify you? Did that strengthen you? Did that give you encouragement? I have another question, speaking of preaching classes. If you had to preach that passage, how would you preach it? Is there anything to preach there?

Are there any nuggets there where you think, oh, that's right? Well, if you take your Bible and turn to Luke chapter 2, I just read the first seven verses, that is our passage today. And I promise that it will encourage you.

Obviously, it's God's Word and we know it's important for us. We're understanding that. But there are some nuggets in here that are pure gold, pure preaching gold, pure congregational gold. As you know, we're going through books of the Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

We've preached from this pulpit in the last 30 years. Genesis, Exodus, Esther, Mark, 1 Corinthians, Malachi, many other books. And now we're in the gospel of Jesus according to Luke. And we finished before summer, chapter 1.

And now we're working into chapter 2. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, this is probably a Christmas passage. This is when people read the passage. When people read the passage, it's during Christmas time.

And usually the person can't pronounce Quirinius and all that. By the way, I was at BJ's yesterday with Kim, the large retail shop. And I said, I can't believe that they already got Halloween stuff out.

People have Halloween stuff in their yard already. And then we walked past all the Christmas trees. So this is kind of a Christmas message if you want Luke chapter 2, 1 to 7. We're already, it's the reason for the season.

Luke’s Gospel, Its Structure, and the Assurance of Salvation

Did you know Luke wrote more of the New Testament than anyone else? Did you know the longest book in the Bible is Luke? The second longest book Luke also wrote called Acts. And he's only .5 longer, the book of Acts, than the third largest book, Matthew.

Am I too bright? Is the Shekinah coming? If there's anybody else, I'd fire them. When you look at Luke, you should say to yourself, it's not really the gospel of Luke, it's the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Or good news about Jesus Christ according to Luke. And it really breaks down in three sections. Chapter 1 through 9 .50 is the origin of Jesus, his teaching ministry, his healing. Chapter 9 verse 51 through chapter 19 verse 27, Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem resolutely because he knows what has to happen there.

And then chapter 19 verses 28 through the end of the book deals with the last week of Jesus, his Passover, his death, his resurrection, and then his appearance on the Emmaus road. We are today in Luke chapter 2 verses 1 to 7.

But remember, every sermon, every time you read the book of Luke, you can't forget about the first four verses. The interpretive key of Luke is found in chapter 1 verses 1 through 4. And I want to read those again.

Every single thing Luke writes is through the grid or through the lens or through the screen door of these four verses. And that's how they should be preached as well. Luke writes a certain way and he writes with a certain reason.

How does he write verses 1 through 3? Remember of Luke chapter 1 in these memoirs of Jesus? Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, remember he was a doctor, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus.

And of course, for all those who would ever read it. He's writing with accuracy and exactness. Why is it written? Verse 4. That you, the reader, you, Bethlehem Bible Church, may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

This is written so that you'll have assurance, so that you'll know that you have certainty. This is in fact true because eternity is a long time to bear your own sins. We need to make sure that there is in fact a Savior and that He was a true human and true man.

Luke is about Jesus. We're sinful and lost. We read about that in Galatians 2 today. And therefore, Jesus had to come and save us. And chapter 1 is essentially about two babies. It's an infancy narrative of John the Baptist and of Jesus.

And remember how it ends, chapter 1? Oh, it is so great as the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, spirit-filled, prophesied, and he just begins to extol God. I mean, there is good news. The gospel of Jesus Christ, according to Luke, it's got good news even in the front end.

Luke 1 .67 tells us what Zechariah says and it begins in verse 68. Blessed be the God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people. He's raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promised to our fathers and remember His holy covenant.

He just goes on and on praising God filled by the Spirit. The oath that He swore to our father Abraham to grant us that we, being delivered from the hands of our enemies, might serve Him with fear and holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High. You will go before the Lord Jesus essentially to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people and the forgiveness of sins.

And then He tells the reason why sins can be forgiven. The cause. And it's wonderful language because of the tender mercy of our God. The tender mercy of God. By the way, dear Christian, do you want to know why you're going to heaven?

Because God has tender mercy. The way He uses the language there is not just mercy, it's mercy that's tender. Bowels of mercy, it basically says. From the inside, the way the Hebrews and the Greeks would talk, it's coming from the inside.

It's language of accommodation so that we can understand why would God do anything? Because we're good, because we have faith. This is the cause of our salvation. The tender mercy of God. Aren't you glad that God's tender and merciful?

It's language that I can understand. And then there's a name of Jesus in this prophecy that's so wonderful. Remember in verse 78, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

We live in a dark world. We live in a wicked world. And we need light to see. Spiritual light to see. And what's one of the names of Jesus? Well, it could be Advocate, it could be Prophet, Priest, King, Alpha, Omega, First, Last, Captain, Author.

What's He called here? Sunrise. What a name for Jesus. Sunrise or language of the rising sun or the dawn. The metaphor of finally in this dark world, the sun comes up to warm and to illuminate. What a name for Jesus.

He's called Son of Righteousness in Malachi 4. He's called the bright morning star in Revelation 22. He's called a star in Numbers 24. He, Jesus, shines light on this spiritually dark world so that we can know what to do.

What a name for Jesus. The light of the world. So now we come to chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. And it's about the birth of a baby. The baby Jesus. Now, every birth of a baby is fun to talk about and wonderful.

But this is probably the best of the best. I've watched five births in my life, four of my children, and then once when I was working in the operating room. And every time you watch a birth, it's wonderful.

But now we're going to talk about the birth of Jesus. While John the Baptist's birth only had about two verses about his birth, here we have 20 verses about the birth of the Lord Jesus. Now I ask again, if you had to teach this section to a congregation, a congregation that has gone through trials and difficulties, needs encouragement, as Pastor Steve prayed, for conviction, how would you preach this section?

I mean, we're familiar with it. At first glance, maybe you don't think there's much to preach out of this. But I want you to know that there are four gold nuggets in this passage surrounding the birth of Jesus that will be designed to increase your certainty.

Think Luke 1 .4. That Jesus is the Savior and that you should trust in Him for the first time. Or, dear Christian, you keep trusting Him. Four nuggets of gold intended to drive you to the Lord and trust Him and have certainty in crazy times.

These are the four words. I'll give them to you first and then we'll see how far we get today. Four gold nuggets. Four words. Word one, history. Word two, sovereignty. Word three, prophecy. And word four, humanity.

History, sovereignty, prophecy, and humanity. And you're going to say, Wow, I'm never going to re-read this passage again the same way. Let's take a look at the first word that I want you to understand to drive you to have an increased certainty in an uncertain world.

And that is the word, history. Luke 2, verse 1. Once upon a time. Oh, sorry. In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. Friends, this is real history.

That's how you write history. This is not Narnia. This is not, it began with the forging of the great rings. Three were given to the elves, the wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen in the mountain hills.

Deep in the land of Mordor and the fires of Mount Doom, the dark lord Sauron forged a master ring. And into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life. One ring to rule them all.

See, you weren't paying attention to Luke, but now I got your attention. Friends, I want you to know the writer is trying to tell you this is real history. This is not make-believe. This is not made up.

You need to be a historian, dear Christian, because if a real Jesus didn't walk on the real Sea of Galilee, there's no hope for you. There's no hope for me. We have to have a real historical person who can be our representative.

If you're real, and you are, you need a real righteous person to be your representative since you, along with me, are real sinners. It's important to realize that Luke, the physician, is making sure you start reading in those days, a decree, Caesar Augustus, Quirinius.

These are all facts. It's historical. I've mentioned before that when I'm in the land of Israel, I love doing things like skipping a rock on the Sea of Galilee. One of my favorite things is something called the pilot stone.

And the pilot stone was discovered near Caesarea by the sea. There's a replica there now of it, and the real pilot stone is found in Israel's historical museum. And until they found it in 1961, they had no record of Pontius Pilate.

The only record they had is in the Bible, and so people were like, well, we can't take the Bible as fact, and so we need archaeology to back it up. Pontius Pilate was a real man. That's why even the Apostles' Creed suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried, to make sure you realize history.

Christianity is historical. That's exactly what's happening here in Luke 2. The record of divine activity and work in real time. With real people. What's his name? Caesar Augustus. Caesar now is a title.

Think king or emperor. And Augustus means someone who's revered. Someone who's highly esteemed. Someone who is august. And so here we have this king that's to be highly esteemed. You know, there was a real man that history records, and his name was Caesar Augustus.

He was a real person in a real land in real time. And he had a grand uncle, by the way, and his name was Julius Caesar. A real man in real time. Luke wants you to know. Julius Caesar was murdered and, long story, Caesar Augustus takes over.

Caesar Augustus had a sister, and that sister was married to Antony. And she left her husband, or Antony left her, rather. He runs off with Cleopatra. And you know part of that historical background. This real man, Caesar Augustus, has a census, and he wants people to be taxed.

I wonder why they call it rendering unto Caesar. Oh, now I know. By the way, for us, it's no taxation without what? Representation. For them, it was no taxation without registration. And so there's a real man who's going to have a real decree.

And if you were reading this back in those days, you'd know how great Caesar Augustus was. He built a forum. You want to know about Roman roads? He was the architect behind them. You want to know about Pax Romana?

The peace of Rome? He was such a great conqueror. That's through him. Pax Romana was also called Pax Augustus because he was such a great man. Ruthless, yes, but founding libraries and doing many other things.

Matter of fact, he was so great, they said on his birthday, Caesar Augustus, it was signaling the world of good news. And did you know in the British Museum, it writes of Caesar Augustus that he is the Savior of the world.

Caesar Augustus. Did you know September 23rd was his birthday? And they thought he is so great, we're going to have him be starting off our new year at September 23rd since he's called the Savior. And with this great son of God, they called him, the world can have hope and peace and security.

It's almost like Luke is painting the backdrop. Yes, it's historical, but also, they think he's the great one. They think he's the son of God. They think he brings world peace. They think he does everything.

We're going to tell you about the real Savior. In my notes, I said, I think it's kind of cool that Luke does that. So I like to call Luke Cool Hand Luke. Dear Christian, here's my point. Don't go too fast.

This is history. This is not a myth. It's not a fable. It's not a story. It's written like an historical account. And by the way, archaeology always catches up to the Bible. They say, well, that person didn't exist in the Bible in 2 Kings.

And then later, we find something. You can trust the Bible because God wrote it, of course. You have real maps in the back of your Bible. Did you know that? Real maps. Machen said, the student of the New Testament, you, dear Christian, should be primarily a historian.

The center and core of all the Bible is history. The Bible is primarily a record of events. You can retain a lofty ethical idea without history. But let me make one clear point, Machen said, you can never retain a gospel.

For gospel means good news, tidings, information about something that's happened. In other words, gospel means history. A gospel independent of history is a contradiction of terms. So I want you to know, you have a historical book in front of you, and you can trust it.

More history found in verse 2. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. You can study that as much as you want. There's some debate about the timing. Was it one registration?

Two registrations? The point is, this happens in history. As a matter of fact, you can find Latin inscriptions that were discovered in 1764 about a man named Quirinius who takes a census. You can read in Josephus about this man, Quirinius.

If Josephus never wrote about it, if they didn't find things in 1764, I don't really care, but to help us, I think, the Lord has given us just some of these archaeological finds to bolster our faith and confidence.

First John 1, does this sound like the writer John wanted you to know about a historical person? That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, Jesus.

The life was made manifest and we have seen it and proclaim and testify to you the eternal life. I want you to know, dear Christian, you can be certain about your salvation because Jesus was a historical person.

God’s Sovereign Decree and the Outworking of His Providence

Word one, history. Not only that, the second word to drive you to have more certainty is sovereignty. So now we have four words for certainty. The first one is history. Now we look at sovereignty. Verses 3, 4, and 5.

And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to 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.

I don't think Caesar Augustus knew what he was setting in motion. Wait, what's going on? Remember Micah chapter 5, verse 2? Where's baby Jesus supposed to be born? Answer? What city? Bethlehem. Where's the mother of Jesus now?

He's in her womb. Where are they? Seventy miles away. North, Nazareth. They've got to come seventy miles south. We don't know how far along she is, but most think third trimester. And by the way, they didn't have railroads back then.

They didn't have anything except walking and horses. Let's see. Did you know that if Jesus is born in Nazareth, you're all going to go to hell when you die? Your eternal stakes are based on this. You know, mine are as well.

Because every prophecy of the Lord has to come true. Or there's a false prophet. How many false prophecies does it take to make someone a false prophet? Answer? One. He has to be born in Bethlehem. And as mighty as Caesar Augustus was, as Augustus Caesar Augustus was, as powerful as he was, as wicked as he was, there's a decree behind the decree.

And now God uses Caesar Augustus to cause a decree. So now the decree is I have to go be registered in my hometown. And guess where David and Mary's from? Bethlehem. Can you see it? By the way, one of the things that you need to do when you see God's sovereignty like this, is say something to yourself similar to this.

My life seems pretty chaotic now. I know Romans 8 .28 is true and He works all things together for good to those that are called. He has a purpose. I know that. I don't see it though. I'm not experiencing that right now.

With health and finances and everything else, I'm not seeing it. But when I read the Scripture, it's so clear who can miss it. You read about Joseph in chapters 37 -50 of Genesis, and you go, it's so clear.

He's in jail. He's this. He's that. It's obvious. When it's not obvious in life, we put our fingers down to the Scriptures and read it and preach it to ourselves and say it's obvious then and it has to be true now because the same God in those days are the same God in these last days, right?

That's what's so encouraging. God is sovereign. He's just as sovereign today in your life. In His unsearchable wisdom, Caesar Augustus calls it a creed. Or whose wisdom really was it? Micah 5 .2. As for you, Bethlehem, too little to be among the clans of Judah.

From you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity. Jesus is going to be born in Bethlehem because God is sovereign. By the way, some people look at this and say, what do you mean He goes up?

How's He going up to the town of Galilee? Verse 4. And Joseph went up to Galilee. Up from Galilee rather to the town of Nazareth. Well, of course, if I said to you that there's a change of altitude, you would say, oh yeah.

Bethlehem's 25 feet above sea level and Nazareth is about 1 ,800. So they go up, even though on the map it seems like they go down. She's got to travel a long way. True or false? The king's heart is like channels of water in the Lord's hand and He, the Lord, turns the king's heart wherever He wishes.

That's true. It's so obvious. We have to think about that. With our government the last 200 years, God's in charge. God moves the heart of Augustus to do exactly what He wants done. God is sovereign over Cyrus.

Did you know God is even sovereign over Satan? No wonder Luther called Satan God's hardest working servant. Because even though Satan's in to destroy, God does work in spite of Satan and through Satan.

Side note, let me give you an important quote. God knows how God knows how to get you where you need to be. He used the pagan ruler of the world to move Joseph and Mary. God knows how God knows how to get you where you need to be.

Where am I supposed to be? Where am I supposed to go? I think about this sometimes. I have two daughters that are yet to be married. I'm on a time schedule, by the way. How are you going to meet your spouse?

Where will I find them? Where will I go? What do I do? There doesn't seem to be any people that I'm attracted to at this church, so maybe I'll go to a watered down church and I'll do this. All the logic goes around and around and around when it comes to marriage.

Dear single people, I want you to know God knows how God knows how to get you where you need to be. Isn't that good? It's so important that we take comfort in that. Augustus tries to do a census to take control and money.

You take a census back in those days because you recruit people from military. Jews were exempt of that. And you want to take their money. Sovereignty of God. I want you to know, dear Christian, God is omniscient and God is omnipotent and God is sovereign and He always accomplishes His purpose.

And His purpose is called a decree. Kings have decrees. Caesar Augustus did. God has a decree. Would it be crazy if your God, the God of the Bible, was not sovereign? Wouldn't it be insane of God to make something He can't control and have no plan for it?

People make things to have a plan for it. You don't make a Stradivarius violin to hit people with it, although maybe that's happened. I don't know. We're making this part up as I go along. I looked over to Elaine and saw her and I thought I have to add something in about music.

I mean, the creation without purpose sounds more like Frankenstein to me. God's hands-on. God's a micromanager. He's in control of every little thing. You say, I can't see it. That's why we walk by faith and not by sight.

Did you know God is so sovereign? He doesn't even say that I have a bunch of decrees. It says He has one decree. Did you know in the mind of God, everything that's ever happened since Genesis 1 -1 is one single thought.

No succession plans. No, I didn't plan for that. No checkmate. When I was a kid, we had something called white-out. You know what white-out is? They still sell it. You make a mistake on a typewriter.

Children, typewriters are things that... And you have to put a little white stuff on there because you made a mistake. Does God need white-out? Has God made a mistake? Think about your own life. Has God made a mistake in my life?

Has God been unfaithful in my life? Has God been less than caring in my life? And I know, dear Christian, because I struggle just like you do, sometimes we think that way. And sometimes we bring God in with questions of why and how could you?

And dear friend, those are always sinful. They're always wrong. And we need to just say, Lord, I can't see what's going on, but I trust you. And I know you're here with me. I know, God, that if you were a chess player strategizing against human history, you'd never hear check.

You'd never hear checkmate. You've got enough power to do it. It's one thing to have a plan. It's another thing to have the power to do it. I want you to know that God's purpose stands. Singular. Ephesians 3 .11.

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord. I'll say it again. Isaiah 46. My purpose will be established, God said, and I'll accomplish all my good pleasure.

One single thought. One single decree. And you're saying, that's blowing my mind. Good. That's what I want you to do. I want you to have your minds blown and you respond with praise. I mean, when I plan something, when you plan something, I have to amend that plan.

Because forces outside of me, forces inside of me, things I can't control come up and I have to change. Would God have to change? Job 23. What his soul desires, that he does. I mean, Augustus made some serious errors.

He made some blunders. He miscalculated, acted rashly, pridefully. That's not our Lord. Our Lord is holy. Do you not know? Have you not heard the everlasting God? The Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable. He's sovereign. He's wise. He does it all. I want you to know your life is tucked underneath the sovereign hand of God. Well, is there anything else that could give us encouragement from this passage?

Prophecy Fulfilled in Bethlehem and the Certainty of God’s Promises

The third word to drive you to trust the Lord. Not just history, not just sovereignty, but number three so that you can have certainty, the third gold nugget is prophecy. Prophecy. History, sovereignty, prophecy.

This is kind of related to the other one, but I wanted to make sure I made it explicit. History, sovereignty, prophecy. Verse 6 and 7. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. So they're down in Bethlehem.

Nothing here about the virgin conception. That's already happened. This is a normal, regular birth. Everything about a normal birth is happening with Jesus because he's truly human. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them at the inn.

Did you know in chapter 1, the angel prophesied that Jesus would be born? Not just Micah 5 .2. Old Testament prophecy. Sometimes you should study how many prophecies are in the Old Testament and how many have come to pass.

One man said, and I haven't counted them, 27 of the Bible is predictive. Another writer said that there are 1 ,800 prophecies in Scripture. They drive you to think God is sovereign. They make you think, well, I'm looking at the text and what God says, He does.

Some fulfill that the second first coming of Christ, some fulfill the second coming, and some fulfill other places. God promised Abraham he'd establish an everlasting covenant with Isaac's offspring. Guess who's that offspring?

Jesus. God promised Isaac the whole world would be blessed in his descendant. That descendant is Jesus. God promised when the blind would see, Jesus healed the blind. When the deaf would hear, Jesus healed the deaf.

Even Jesus prophesied, did he not? One of you is going to betray me. Judas betrays. The disciples will scatter. Off they went. Peter, you're going to deny me? So he did. They're going to kill me, and I'm going to rise from the dead.

He said that many, many times. Interesting side note when it comes to prophecy. I don't know if there's any prophecy or any stress of prophecy on the Koran or any Hindu writings. But for Christians, it's there because we need to be trusting and hoping and longing for and knowing that when God promises, it will come to pass.

I am God and there's no other. I am God. There's none like me. Declaring the end from the what? Beginning. And from ancient times, things not yet done. Crucified between thieves? Done. And our last word today is humanity.

History, sovereignty, prophecy, humanity. The fourth little nugget in there that we see that's designed to give you strength and certainty so you know this is not just Narnia or Saron language. Saron's not a place I know.

Somebody's going to write me. Okay, we hanging in there? You're looking pretty tired? You're okay? Alright, here we go. There's one left. Humanity. Humanity. Jesus for your salvation has to be not just truly God, and he was and is, but truly human.

We need someone to represent us. If God had Adam in a garden, and he did, and Adam was to obey, there has to be another Adam to obey where Adam failed. Right? It's like in the garden. Just imagine you've got a snowblower, and it's got reverse, and it's got forward, and it's got neutral.

And Adam's in the garden, and he's in neutral. And God says, I want you to work and to do things and labor in the garden. And Adam says, no, I'm not going to do that. And he jams it into reverse. Well, what has to happen?

Adam's sins were forgiven by God because God killed an animal in Adam's place and covered him with the skins. And so now he's back to neutral again. But God still said, I want you to obey, and to be fruitful, and to multiply, and you don't eat that from the tree.

Many, many other commands. So, Adam's fallen. He can't do all those things like he should perfectly. So there has to be another Adam to obey. And that last Adam is Jesus. He has to be truly human. That's why he's truly born from a normal birth.

You can study Pitocin, and you can study birth canal, and you can study all the different things that has to happen in a baby's birth, and that's going to be Jesus. And I'm thinking to myself, what kind of condescending love and grace does the eternal God of the universe have to be born at all, let alone in these circumstances?

Swaddling clothes? What in the world is swaddling clothes? Anybody know what swaddling clothes are? We talk about it all the time, we sing about it all the time. By the way, Jesus was crying his head off after he was born.

That little song, No Crying, he makes. What truly human baby doesn't cry? I mean, it's a nice little song, but I make a decree now, we may never... Swaddling clothes? I mean, just imagine if you had to get back in the womb of your mother.

I'd be thinking I'm going to be claustrophobic to no degree. To the nth degree, rather. Baby's snug, secure, they come out of the womb, and you wrap them up in a nice blanket to keep them nice, and they're thinking, oh, it's cold out here, and it's not like my mother's womb, but I feel tight and protected and good.

That's what swaddling clothes were. They're made out of strips. They're made out of strips of cloth. And by the way, if you were rich, gold, silk, linen. Fasten that little baby up like he looks like a little mummy, or she looks like a little mummy.

J. Vernon McGee said, Dr. Luke, I mean, a doctor would know, wouldn't he? Gets right down to the little human details in the passage. He's saying that Mary put swaddling clothes on this little child, baby clothes and diapers on the Son of God.

How perfectly human He was. I'm not trying to be sacrilegious by saying Jesus had to wear diapers. Because He's human. And because He... Luke knows what a little baby looks like, and He knows. You not only need a substitute, you need a representative.

That's exactly what He's trying to show here. He's showing, yes, historically, it all works. Sovereignty, can't you see it? Prophecy fulfilled, can't you see it? And humanity. Now He's even at a little place called an inn.

That's not really a good translation, but they've just kept it throughout the years. A real translation of inn is found in the Good Samaritan. This word doesn't mean inn. This word means a structure. This word means guest room, if you wanted to have it technically translated.

That's what NIV does. It's a guest room. Thank you. I used to work for Duracell Batteries out of college. And we were at war with energizers. So I wasn't a Christian then. So we'd go to a store, like a CVS, and they had these big brand new displays of energizer batteries.