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A Christmas Study Around the Advent Wreath
Faith Community Church, Pipestone, MN
Dr. Oliver R. Blosser, Pastor
Sunday, December 9, 2001
For the Lord, there are no small places in our world. There is no place too small for God to do His work or perform a miracle. In antiquity, Bethlehem was a small mountain village compared to the thousands of larger farming villages of Judah and to Jerusalem itself. Phillips Brooks wrote in his famous Christmas carol- “ little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.” The Lord can do great things in small places such as Bethlehem and through common people such as the Virgin Mary.
People, living in small places, often think that God will do nothing important in their community or work through them because they are just common folk. People often think that God will do His work somewhere else that is bigger and through others. The Biblical history of Bethlehem relates that this is not always the case!
Few small towns are as well known around the world as one that sits on a hillside about five miles southeast of Jerusalem. If it were not for the fact that Bethlehem is the birthplace of Jesus, it would today be a place of little prominence. Yet even before Jesus’ time, Bethlehem held an important place in the history of Israel, because it was the home of King David’s family.
The most important Old Testament figure associated with Bethlehem was David, Israel’s greatest king. Its associations with David are numerous. It was his home, I Samuel 17:12, 15; 20:6, 28, the place where he tended his father’s sheep, and the place where Samuel anointed him to be king, I Samuel 23:15.
The Book of Ruth, which tells the story of how a Gentile girl became David’s great-grandmother, is set mainly in Bethlehem, the district know as Ephrathah, Micah 5:2, a region known for its fertile hills and valleys and for its well, II Samuel 23:15, I Chronicles 11:17.
But the most unusual reference to Bethlehem is found in the Book of the prophet Micah, who predicted it to become the birthplace of the Messiah, the Anointed Redeemer of Israel.
Prophecy: But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He (the Messiah) come forth unto Me (God) that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, Micah 5:2.
Fulfillment: 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, 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, Matthew 2:1-2; cf., Luke 2:4-7; John 7:42; Matthew 2:4-8.
Like all the prophets, Micah knew that the Messiah would be a descendant of David. It is not surprising that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, David’s city, John 7:42. But what is surprising is that Micah declares that the Messiah existed before His birth in Bethlehem, David’s ancestral home. The Targum Jonathan, an Aramaic paraphrase of the Scriptures dating from approximately the second century A.D., renders the passage, “He whose name was mentioned from before, from the days of creation.” This makes the Messiah not only David’s son but also David’s Lord, cf., Matthew 22:41-45, which quotes Psalm 110.
So a primary qualification for the Messiah was that He had to be born in Bethlehem. The writers of the New Testament record the birth of Jesus as taking place in Bethlehem in a rather unusual manner.
With the divine choice of Bethlehem, the Lord eliminated all the other cities in the world for the entrance of His Incarnate Son to earth.
Have you ever noticed that Jesus is called “Jesus of Nazareth” and not “Jesus of Bethlehem”? Nazareth is a northern city in the Galilean area of Israel. Bethlehem, on the other hand, is down in the south. The mother of our Lord, and her husband, Joseph, lived in Nazareth, but the Romans, who were the de facto rulers over Israel, decided that the time had come to take a census (8 B.C.) and that everyone had to return to his place of family origins to be counted. Since Joseph was of the house and lineage of David, he and his pregnant wife Mary had to travel from their residence in Nazareth down to Bethlehem, the home of David. Interestingly, a petition for tax relief from the Jews to Caesar Augustus delayed the census for a period of time, so that Mary came full term while they were still in Bethlehem.
If anyone might have suspected that the family of Jesus had somehow arranged to have Jesus born in Bethlehem and so fulfill the prophecy about the Messiah’s birthplace, this account should make it clear that far from being prearranged, the circumstances were totally out of their hands- for they were there by royal decree from Rome!
It is significant that the King of kings, who was of the house of David, was born in David’s ancestral home. According to Luke 2:11, Jesus was born in “the city of David,” Bethlehem. Christ, who is the Bread of Life, John 16:48, was cradled in a town whose name means “house of bread.”
The story of our Lord’s birth demonstrates to us that God can do great, extra-ordinary things in small places through ordinary people. There is no place too small for the Lord! For with God nothing shall be impossible, Luke 1:37.
Life Application
For us, who live in rural America, who live in a small community and attend a small church, the story of Bethlehem, the Birthplace of Jesus, is a reminder that ... with God nothing shall be impossible, Luke 1:37. God can do a great work in a small place through common people. Each of us can apply several Biblical principles to our lives-
1. Through His will, the Lord often plans to do a great work in a small place. The Lord worked through the prophet Micah to predict that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of the Messiah, Micah 5:2, a prophecy quoted as fulfilled in Matthew 2:6.
2. Great people will often come to a small place to see where God is working and to see His work. It was Micah’s prophecy and the Star that led the wise men, kings of the east, to Bethlehem to see Jesus, the new-born King of the Jews, Matthew 2:1-12.
3. Great men and women of God often come from small places. David, the greatest King of Israel, came from the little town of Bethlehem. Ruth, David’s great-grandmother and Gentile ancestor of our Lord, came from Bethlehem. Peter, James and John came from a little fishing village, and they turned the world upside down! Many great missionaries and Christian leaders grew up in small towns, but God did great things with their lives!
4. The Lord does great things in small places through common people so that we might come to know the greatness of the Lord! Listen to what David stated after he had received the promise of the Davidic covenant, in II Samuel 7:18-22- 18 Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 19 And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord GOD; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? 20 And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord GOD, knowest thy servant. 21 For thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. 22 Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
We could echo David’s words, “Who are we, Lord, at Faith Community Church in the little town of Pipestone, that you would use us to do your great works? What else can we say, Lord, but Thou art great! There is none like Thee!”
We may sometimes think we can’t do much! But God can do so much more than we would ever imagine! God can and will work among us! It is not our work, but His! It is not our greatness, but His! It is not our ministry, but His! And He will do great things in our church and in our lives as we make ourselves available to Him, and trust Him, and step out by faith to serve Him!