Word of Salvation – Vol. 42 No. 47 – December 1997

The Decree Of Caesar Augustus

An Advent or Christmas Sermon

            by Rev. M. P. Geluk on Luke 2:1

Scripture Readings: Micah 5:2; Luke 2:1-7

Suggested Hymns: BoW 264; 176 & 251; 285; 268; 271; 247; 265

Brothers and Sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The earthly ministry of Jesus and the mission work of the apostles took place in the time of the Roman Empire.  And there are two Romans who have been known to Christianity for as long as the New Testament church has existed, and whose names Christians will continue to hear until the coming of the Lord.  The most well-known name is Pontius Pilate, because his name is mentioned in the Apostles' Creed, that well-known confession of faith used much by many believers.  The other name, almost equally well known, is Caesar Augustus from the Christmas story in Luke 2.

All adult believers know of these two names.  Ask any child in the church and the names of Pontius Pilate and Caesar Augustus will ring a bell.  In fact, in places where the Christian church has been established far away from its historical European roots, these two Roman names are familiar.  Christians among Australian Aboriginals, or among the native people in Papua New Guinea, or from the Pacific Islands, or from Japan or China, whose lands and ancestors have had nothing to do with the Roman Empire – Christians from these places still know of Pontius Pilate, under whom Christ suffered.  They know, because they recite the Apostles' Creed they read the familiar story of Jesus' birth in Luke 2.

These two Roman names are to be seen, not apart but together, because Pontius Pilate was no more than a governor who represented the emperor in Rome.  Factually, it is only the might of Caesar which stands opposite the Christ Child who was born a King.  Yes, the only reason why the Bible mentions the two Roman names at all is because of their link with Christ.

Luke, the gospel writer, tells of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem but he begins by pointing to Caesar Augustus who issued a decree to hold a census.  Under its provisions everyone had to register in their home town.  And thus, Mary, already late in her pregnancy, was forced to make the three-day trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem, together with Joseph, for both belonged to the house and line of David, and Bethlehem was the town of David.  That this census was ordered by the emperor at the time Mary was about to give birth to Jesus was no accident.  It was to fulfil the prophecy given many years earlier through the prophet Micah who was made to say from God: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." (5:2)

Everything about Jesus, from His coming from heaven and being conceived in His human nature in Mary's womb, right through to His return to heaven when He ascended – all the big events and the small details of His life – were to fulfil the Scriptures.  So, even though Emperor Augustus had no knowledge of Jesus and right up to the Lord's death never gave Jesus a thought, this Caesar was made by God to order a census from far away Rome so that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem – in order to fulfil the Scriptures.

Now that's the remarkable thing that the Spirit of God wants you to notice from this opening verse of Luke 2.  We have read and heard it so often: "In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire [Roman] world..." and we tend to think no more of this than it being a simple reference to an important fact of history.

Here we say we have the evidence that Jesus was not just a myth, a once-upon-a-time story.  Here in Luke 2, it speaks of when and where He was born.  Caesar Augustus, he was the emperor at the time, Quirinius, he was the Roman governor of Syria which took in Palestine at the time, and there is Bethlehem, an actual town on the map.

But there is far more in this opening verse of Luke's gospel than the mere fixing of a point in history that enables the Christian church to say that Jesus was indeed an historical Person.  Think of it: when the names of Bethlehem and Rome, of Jesus and Augustus are put alongside each other here for the first time, then Rome and Augustus were many times more powerful than Bethlehem and Jesus.

But in the course of time the name of Jesus broke the might of Rome's emperor, and the name of the Christian's Lord and King still curbs the ambitions of all earthly rulers, and indeed will one day destroy all their power and influence.  Even now Bethlehem still lives as the place of Christ's birth and ancient Rome is nothing more than just a pile of old ruins.  And in time to come when Christ will arise in all His glory, then the once powerful Roman Empire will become a forgotten thing.

Even so, God does not yet want us to lose sight of the fact that old Rome was a tool in God's hand in order to fulfil His purposes.  And therefore, God in His Word, has made Luke write the name of Caesar Augustus right at the beginning of the historical account of Jesus' birth.  And by the same providence of God has the name Pontius Pilate appeared in the Apostles' Creed.

So, what is the significance of mentioning the name of Pontius Pilate when we confess our faith?  Well, your Saviour did not just shed His blood in order to wash your sins away.  There is more to it – much more!  Your Saviour died under an official court sentence pronounced by an earthly judge.

If the blood of your Christ was to merely wash your sins away, then He could have had His blood spilled by a lone assassin or by rioting mob.  Like John the Baptist, your Jesus could have been beheaded in one of the cells of Jerusalem's prison.  In these different ways the blood of your Lord could have flowed from His body – but in any of these ways His blood would not have saved you.

You see, what you really need to have is a righteousness.  What counts in Jesus sacrificing Himself for you is the fact of justice.  You, in your nature unjust, had to be declared just.  You, by nature unrighteous, had to made righteous.  God's right has been violated by your sin and it had to be restored.  Therefore, your Saviour had to come and stand in your place, be judged by the judge, so that in the eyes of God you could go free.  That, now, is the reason why Pontius Pilate is mentioned by name in the Bible and in our Confession of faith.

Note well, it is not the name of king Herod, nor the name of Caiaphas the high priest, but Pontius Pilate, the Roman judge, because at the time only he had power to decide over life and death.  The Jewish Sanhedrin had power to eject Jesus as a blasphemer; the Jewish high priest, Caiaphas, had the power to deliver Him to the authorities; and king Herod had the power to ridicule Him.  But all that was nothing more than an expression of their anger and frustration concerning our Lord.  The power to judge Jesus guilty of death and to have Him sentenced belonged to no one else but the Roman governor, for he was Caesar's representative and the Roman empire at that time also ruled over Israel, the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

So, in order to have you, a sinner, made just before God – to have you stand even now in a right relationship with God the holy One – it was necessary for Christ to be condemned to death in a court ruled over by Rome which had power over Israel, the people amongst whom Jesus came into the world.  And so God made the emperor of the time take a decision without this Caesar being aware of God ruling him, and through God's doing Mary went to Bethlehem where your Saviour was to be born.

But there is still more in this first verse of Luke 2.  Not all courts of law carry the same weight and not all have the same influence.  There is a difference when justice is pronounced by a local court or by the supreme court.  A sentence in the highest court from a world power like the USA will have greater impact in the world than a decision reached by a magistrate in a small town court.  But a judicial sentence would have the greatest significance if it was handed down by a power which had lawful authority all over the world.

Now, that is what is stated in verse 1.  Not as the NIV has it.  It says that Caesar decided to take a census of the entire Roman world.  But in the original Greek the word 'Roman' is not even there.  It just says that a registration had to take place of 'all the world'.  Literally, 'of all the inhabited earth'.  At that time the emperor of Rome was not just over a single tribe, not just over one nation, not just over a continent like Napoleon was over Europe at the height of his power.  No, Caesar had power over the whole world as it was then known.  It extended quite a way into Asia, took in most of northern Africa, and practically all of Europe.  For anyone living in that huge area the Roman Empire was the world of that time.  Beyond that not much was known.

So, what Caesar did, or what his representative the governor did, held good for the whole world.  Jesus' death sentence was not handed down by a local king but in the name of the highest authority in the world.  Quirinius, governor of Syria, and Pilate, his successor, were mere extensions of the hand of the emperor.

Thus, Jesus was born under the jurisdiction of Caesar, the ruler of the world, and under the same power of Caesar, Jesus was put to death.  Not death by lynching, or in any other unlawful way, but by a lawful execution under a law system that was by far the most developed of that time.  Roman law, although devised and carried out by sinful men, was the best.  Today we still enjoy its fairness in our legal system.

Now the Saviour did not just come for you and for me, but He came for the whole world.  And as God entered this world in the Person of His Son, then we see not only His work amongst Israel, His chosen nation of old, but we also see His work amongst the nations of the world.  But you wouldn't think so at first.

God's work in Israel was at its greatest during the reign of Solomon.  At that time Israel's domination extended from the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea and well to the north and the south.  Then Rome did not even exist.  Not even in Israel's decline and its captivity hundreds of years later was Rome of any significance.  The major and minor prophets of the Bible were busy with Babylon and Tyre, with Nineveh and Moab, with Egypt and Assyria, but Rome hardly rated a mention.

It is only in the years that follow that Rome begins to stir but the secular history of Rome and the sacred history of Israel follow their own course and seemingly neither had anything to do with the other.  Empires collapsed in Asia and Africa, and finally Rome became a world power.  Greece also faded away and whilst Israel's lamp was slowly being extinguished and the Jewish nation was no longer of any consequence, the Roman Empire gained full power.  All opposition was crushed and Rome's might and influence was embodied in the person and position of the emperor.  In time the Caesars were proclaimed as gods and all in the empire were to worship them.

Notwithstanding, the quiet work of God amongst His people went on.  The Annas and the Simeons were expecting their Messiah.  John the Baptist came on the scene to herald the coming of the Lord.  Mary was told she will be the blessed among women and give birth to the Saviour.  Angels descended from heaven.  The Christ Child was born in Bethlehem.  And whilst the all-conquering Roman legions marched through the breadth and the length of the empire, and the changing of the Roman guard took place in front of the temple in Jerusalem, with the noise of their boots and trumpets, the quiet of the fields of Ephrathah was broken by a wonderful singing of angels speaking of peace on earth among men.  They gave glory not to Caesar Augustus on his throne in Rome but to God in the highest of heaven.

In this way the work of God amongst His people Israel came nearer and nearer to God's work amongst the people of the world.  We see it first of all in the decree of Caesar Augustus to take a census and later even more so when Pontius Pilate, the emperor's governor, decreed that Jesus must die.  And finally the work of God, at first limited to one nation, took over the most powerful empire the world has known.  The Roman worldly empire collapsed and the Christian church conquered Europe and from there the gospel of our Saviour went out to all the continents of the whole world.  Jesus Christ, your Lord and King, has triumphed.

This twofold work of God still continues – His work amongst His people and His work amongst the nations of the world.  On the one hand there is the work of God causing sinful hearts to be born again, of applying the Saviour's riches to the lives of these new believers, of their growing and maturing faith, of their works of love and mercy.  In short, the quiet work of God in and through His Son Jesus amongst those whom are being saved.  This work goes on even though through history the church is constantly pushed back and harassed.

On the other hand there is the history of the peoples and the nations of the world.  It's a history of wars and rumours of wars.  There is the constant rising and falling of the different powers as they struggle to improve their lot in the world.  But it is nearly always a striving to adopt ideals and practices that go against the Christ of God.

This twofold history continues on, this onward march of the nations of the world and of the church.  The church's history is mostly quiet and often pushed out of view by the world whose history is loud and open and daily brought to our attention through radio and television.  But one day the two streams of history will converge.  God will see to this with the same sovereign power that He used to control Caesar Augustus.  It will happen when the same Lord Jesus Christ will return to this world and as the real Emperor He will have His commands heard and obeyed by all the inhabitants of the entire world.

This two-fold history is to be noticed in your own life as well, and in that of your children.  That outward, visible history is with you in your lot in life, in your upbringing, in your meeting of people, in your daily work, in your life's experiences and in your troubles caused by other people.  But next to that there is also that other work of God which goes on inside you.  It is God working faith and love and hope in you.  It is God having given you a new, spiritual birth, a conversion, a daily turning to Him whom you have come to worship today as the real King.  It is your Lord, who works repentance and is making you godly, who seals your salvation and guides you on as Christ's follower.

These two works of God in your life will also come together more and more and the day will come when the kingdom of man will be completely taken up by the kingdom of Christ.  Then you will receive a crown, not from a worldly emperor but from your King and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.