Luke 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.… I. 1. Consider the decree that went forth from the emperor. How important it must have appeared to the Roman authorities! 2. Consider also the scene that night at Bethlehem. Little knew the people who were filling that inn whom they were turning out! II. 1. Learn that God is working in all the events of life, great or small; bringing out of them issues very different from the issues intended by the actors in those events. Emperors are but officials in God's Temple, and their decrees are but means by which He carries out His. 2. Learn that God's work does not appeal to the outward senses. It is born at lowly Bethlehem rather than in powerful Rome or in self-righteous Jerusalem. Yet it lasts to eternity. 3. Learn also how the work of Christ in us is like His work in the world. He has to be born in each one of us. (Canon Vernon Hutton, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. |
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