PT-2 “The World Setting” (Luke 2:1-3)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2026 9:15 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “The World Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 2:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.  This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.” (NASB)

            I will continue from where I left off in this morning’s SD.

            MacArthur continues to write “Of all the decrees Octavian issued during his long reign, Luke is concerned with one mandating that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth (I. e., the Roman Empire; cf. Acts 17:6; 19:27).  Such censuses or enrollments were generally taken either to register young men for military service or for purposes of taxation.  This census was for the latter reason, since the Jews were exempt from Roman military service.

            “Seeking to deny the truthfulness of Luke’s account, anti-Scripture critics maintain that there is no existing record of an empire-wide census during Octavian’s reign.  But that argument from silence is undercut by the many censuses known to have been carried out at about that same time in various parts of the empire (cf. Darrel L. Bock, Luke 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994], 904).  Nor were such censuses merely one-time occurrences.  In Egypt, for example, censuses were taken every fourteen years, beginning no later than A. D. 20 and running through at least A. D. 258 (William Ramsay, Was Christ Born at Bethlehem?  [London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1898], 132; The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament.[2^nd edition; London: Hodder and Stoughton 1915], 256).  Ramsay argued that the practice of taking recurring censes was not limited to Egypt, but was empire-wide (The Bearing of Recent Discovery of the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, 257; cf. William Hendriksen, The Gospel of Luke, New Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids; Baker, 1978], 138-39).  Further, the second-century church father Clement of Alexandria wrote that the same cycle of periodic censuses existed in the province of Syria (which included Palestine).  Clement also stated that the first census taken in Syria was the one connected with Christ’s birth (A. T. Roberson, Luke the Historian in the Light of Research [New York: Scribner, 1920], 122-29).

            “Thus, to charge Luke with error for speaking of two censuses in Palestine (see discussion below), one in A.D. 6 (referred to in Acts 5:37 and by the first-century Jewish historian Josephus) and this one fourteen years earlier in 8: B.C., ignores the historical evidence.  Luke’s readers knew all about the census system he was describing, so for him to have invented the story would have been foolish.

“No historian of any kind or class would state a falsehood whose falsity was obvious to every reader….The conclusion was evident.  Luke trusted to his readers’ familiarity with the facts and the  census-system.  He spoke of the first census, knowing how much that would imply to them.  They knew the system as it was carried out  in the Roman Empire. (Ramsay, The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New Testament, 239).

            “Luke further identified this census as the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  The mention of Quirinius introduces a further difficulty, since he is known to have governed Syria from A.D. 6-9.  As governor, Quirinius administered the census of A.D. 6.  That cannot, however, be the census in view here, because it took place more than a decade after Herod’s death, while Herod was still alive when Jesus was born (Matt. 2:1-3).  Many possible solutions have been proposed….Perhaps the best solution is the one championed by Sir. William Ramsay.  Based on inscriptional evidence, Ramsay argued that Quirinius had twice held an important in the province of Syria (Was Christ Born at Bethlehem?  229).  At the time of the first census in 8 B.C., “Varus was controlling the internal affairs of Syria while Quirinius was commanding its armies and controlling its foreign policy” (Ramsey, Was Christ Born at Bethlehem? 244).

            “The 8 B.C. sate for the decree also presents a problem, since scholars generally agree that Jesus was born no earlier than 6 B.C., and likely closer to 4 B.C..  Evidently there was a delay in carrying out the decree in Palestine, to which a number of factors may have contributed.  First, ancient communication was slow, and implementation slowly enforced.  The latter years of Herod’s reign were also a time of turmoil and upheaval.  Herod was ill, and his sons were fighting over who would succeed him.  Herod executed three of them and changed his will three times.  He also fell out of favor with Octavian.  That instability, coupled with Jewish resistance to Roman taxation, and the logistic difficulties inherent in carrying out a census in those days, could easily have delayed the implementation of the emperor’s decree.

            “Eventually, however, the census was taken, and thus everyone went to register for the census, each to his own city.  Obviously, a deadline had been imposed, or else Joseph and Mary would not have made the long trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem in the winter and so near the end of her pregnancy.  Some have questioned why Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem, noting that the Romans generally had people register where they were currently living.  Those owning property in another district, however, were required to go there to register (Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, 101).  Although Luke does not mention it, Joseph may have owned some property in the vicinity of Bethlehem.  Another possibility is that the Romans acquiesced to Jewish custom, which stressed the importance of one’s ancestral home (cf. Lev. 25:10).  Further, an early second-century document from Egypt indicates that the Egyptians were also required to return to their homes for the census just as Joseph and Mary did (Roberson, Luke the Historian, 125-26).  That shows that the Romans were flexible on such matters of local custom.

            “God providentially arranged the world setting to get Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem so His Son would be born where the Old Testament predicted He would be.  As He had with Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:21-26), Tiglath-pileser (Isaiah 10:5-7), and Cyrus (Isaiah 45:1-4), God directed the mind of the most powerful man on earth, Caesar Augustus, to accomplish His purposes (cf. Proverbs 21:1).”

(cf. Proverbs 21:1

“1 ¶  The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.”

3/30/2026 10:04 PM

 

PT-1 “The World Setting” (Luke 2:1-3)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/30/2026 9:23 AM

My Worship Time                                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “The World Setting”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 2:1-3

            Message of the verses:  “Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth.  This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.  And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.” (NASB)

            I mentioned earlier that the prophecy stating that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem was found in the OT book of Micah: “2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.” (ESV). 

            Now to fulfill this prophecy seen above the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and in God’s providence moved the heart of the most powerful man in the world at this time, the ruler of the mighty Roman Empire.  The emperor, seated on his throne in the great capital at Rome, was very far removed from an understanding of the purposes and plans of God, but that really did not matter for God is in complete control of the things that were going on.  This ruler was even further removed from an understanding of the purposes and plans of God, being utterly ignorant of His Word.  However he played a crucial role in fulfilling God’s design concerning the birth of His Son. MacArthur quotes I. Howard Marshall who wrote “The census…serves to place the birth of Jesus in the context of world history and to show that the fiat of an earthly ruler can be utilized in the will of God to bring his more important purposes to fruition. (The Gospel of Luke, The New International Greek Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978], 97-98).”

            Now we see that Luke first noted that Messiah’s birth took place in those days; that is, “in the days of Herod, king of Judea” (1:5).  Herod, the Idumean (Edomite) vassal king under Rome, was nearing the end of his long reign and soon would die after the birth of Christ took place.  These were also the days when the hated Roman Empire ruled over Israel, which the Jews found especially galling for different reasons.  Now first, the Romans were Gentiles, whom the Jews viewed as unclean, and were outside of God’s covenants (Ephesians 2:12). “12  remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”  Now as much as possible, the Jews would avoid contact with the Romans.  Peter told the Gentiles gathered in the house of Cornelius, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him (Acts. 10:28).  It was after hearing of his visit to Cornelius’s house some of the Jewish believers in Jerusalem said in shock and disbelief, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them” (Acts 11:3).  The Jews also abhorred the Romans’ blatant idolatry; they had been cured of their own penchant for idolatry when they were in captivity in Babylon.  They also found the Roman’s taxation oppressive, and hated both it and those Jews such as Matthew and Zaccheus who helped in gathering taxes from the Jews for the Roman Empire.  “11  The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13  But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Luke 18:11-13) ESV.

            MacArthur writes:  “Though in other places (e.g., 3:1) Luke was precise in his dating, here he gave only a general time frame.  Thus it is impossible to deduce the exact date of Christ’s birth from this passage.  Another clue in the text however, helps make the time a little more specific.  Luke connected the Lord’s birth with a particular decree or imperial edict, which was handed down by the emperor and binding on his subjects (cf. Acts 17:7 where the same Greek word is used; see also Acts 18:2).”

Acts 17:7

“7  and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.’”

Acts 18:2

“2  And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,”

            “This particular decree was issued by the reigning emperor, Caesar Augustus.  That was not his name, but rather his title; Caesar means ‘emperor,’ while Augustus means, ‘revered,’ ‘honored,’ or ‘esteemed,’ and reflects the great respect that he commanded.  Augustus’s ascension to the throne marked the beginning of the Roman Empire.  He restored unity and orderly government after a long period of destructive civil wars, and ushered in the Pax Romana, an era of peace and prosperity throughout the Greco-Roman world that lasted for two centuries.  He is arguably the most significant person in Roman history.”

            MacArthur goes on to write “Augustus was born Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 B. C. His grandmother was Julius Caesar’s sister, making Octavius his grandnephew.  After Julius’s assassination in 44 B.C., Octavius learned that Caesar had adopted him and made him his heir.  In keeping with Roman custom, he then took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavanus (Usually shortened in English to Octavian).

            “After Caesar’s murder Octavian shrewdly used his status as Caesar’s adopted son to build up his power.  After initially clashing with Mark Antony, Octavian joined with him and Lepidus to form the Second Triumvirate (the First Triumvirate had consisted of Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus). They then attacked Caesar’s assassins, Brutus and Cassius.  The forces of the Triumvirate decisively defeated their armies near Philippi, after which Brutus and Cassius committed suicide.

            “The Second Triumvirate lasted for less than a decade.  While Antony was in the east fighting the Parthians, Octavian forced Lepidus from power.  Then in 32 B.C. Antony divorced Octavian’s sister, Octavia, whom he had married to cement his political alliance with Octavian.  He then resumed his affair with Cleopatra (with whom he had two children before he married Ocavia).  This affront to his sister naturally infuriated Octavian.  Even worse, Antony declared Caesarion, Cleopatra’s son from her affair with Julius Caesar, to be Caesar’s legitimate son and heir, thus undercutting Octavian’s position as Caesar’s heir.  War broke out between the two rivals and Octavian decisively defeated the forces of Antony and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Actium (31 B.C), after which Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.  Octavian was now the sole ruler of the Roman world.  In 27 B.C. the Senate conferred on him the titles Augustus (see the discussion of this term above) and Princeps, or ‘First citizen.’  Octavian’s immense wealth, the respect he commanded, and his control of the army made his rule absolute.

            “Octavian died in A. D. 14, and was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius, who was the emperor during the ministry of Jesus Christ.  Octavian left a legacy of peace, prosperity, wise administration, and a commitment to public works.  There is an element of truth in the boast he made on his deathbed that he found Rome brick and left it marble.  The network of roads he developed aided in the spread of the gospel by Christian missionaries.  Octavian was intelligent, decisive, bold, and not afraid to take risks when necessary.  He was a patron of the arts, a friend of such noted writers as Ovid, Horace, Virgil, and Livy.  Such was the respect that he commanded that his loyal subjects deified him after his death.”  This looks like a good place to end this morning’s SD, and Lord willing I will pick up here in this evening’s SD.

            Spiritual Meaning for My life Today:  To live a life that is pleasing to the Lord, and trust the Lord to work out the things that He has called me to do for His glory.

            My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to continue to be in prayer for what is going on with my wife’s issues with cancer, to trust the Lord in the health issues that I am going through at this time, and pray that they will be worked out by the Lord for His glory.

3/30/2026 10:28 AM

PT-3 “Introduction to “Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem” (Luke 2:1-7)

 

EVENNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2026 4:27 PM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-3 “Introduction to “Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 2:1-7

            Message of the verses: “1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. ² This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no ^[g]room for them in the inn.” (NASB 2:1-7)

            I will pick up where I left off in this morning’s SD, as I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s introduction to the verses above.

            “Santa Claus, the secular symbol of Christmas, derives from the fourth-century Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra in modern Turkey.  Though little is known of his life, Nicholas was remembered for his generosity and kindness.  According to one legend, he rescued three daughters of a poor family from being forced into prostitution by providing dowries for them so they could marry.  After doing their laundry, the girls hung their stockings by the fireplace to dry.  That night Nicholas tossed a small bag of gold coins into each girl’s stocking.  The custom of hanging Christmas stockings derives in part from that story.  Settlers from the Netherlands, where Nicholas is popular, brought his tradition with them to America.  Nicholas’s Dutch name, Sinterklaas, or Sinte Klaas, eventually became Anglicized into “Santa Claus.”

            “All of those extrabiblical elements only obscure the simple, yet unfathomably profound, meaning of Christmas.  No less a theologian than Martin Luther confessed,

“When I am told that God became man, I can follow the idea, but I just do not understand what it means.  For what man, if left to his natural promptings, if he were God, would humble himself to lie in the feedbox of a donkey or to hang upon a cross? God laid upon Christ the iniquities of us all.  This is that ineffable and infinite mercy of God which the slender capacity of man’s heart cannot comprehend and much less utter—that unfathomable depth and burning zeal of God’s love toward us….Who can sufficiently declare this exceeding great goodness of God?  (cited in Roland H. Bainton, Here I Stand [Nashville: Abingdon, 1950], 223).

            “For the moment, the curtain has fallen in Luke’s narrative on the story of John the Baptist (1:80), and is about to rise on the story of Jesus Christ.  The promise made to Mary by Gabriel (1:31-35) is about to fulfilled.  As Luke picks up the story of Jesus’ birth, he demonstrates how God sovereignly orchestrated events to bring about a direct fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  Divine intervention was required, because in the normal course of events, Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem as the Old Testament predicted (Mic. 5:2), since Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth.”

(Mic. 5:2)

“2  But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

            “Before describing the birth of the Savior, Luke gave three settings for it: The world, national, and personal.  Those settings are fitting for the One who is the Savior of the world, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and redeemer of individuals who humbly put their trust in Him.”

3/29/2026 4:51 PM

 

PT-2 “Introduction to “Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem” (Luke 2:1-7)

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2026 8:05 AM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-2 “Introduction to “Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 2:1-7

            Message of the verses: “1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. ² This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no ^[g]room for them in the inn.” (NASB 2:1-7)

            I will pick up where I left off in last evening’s SD, as I continue to quote from John MacArthur’s introduction to the verses above.

            “For the first few centuries of its existence, the church did not celebrate Christ’s birth.  Some of the early fathers, most notably Origen, even argued against celebrating the birthdays of saints and martyrs (including Jesus).  They reasoned that such people should be honored instead on the day of their martyrdom.  Noting that the only birthdays mentioned in the Bible are those of Pharaoh (Gen. 40:20) and Herod (Matt. 14:6), they viewed birthday celebrations as a pagan custom.  But the second century, the actual date of Christ’s birth had been forgotten, as evidenced by the numerous dates proposed for it (e.g., January 2 6; March 21, 25; April 18, 19; May 20, 28; November 17, 20).

            “Exactly when the early church settled on December 25 is not known.  The first recorded reference to that date as the day of Christ’s birth is found in the writings of Sextus Julius Africanus early in the third century.  The earliest evidence of the church celebrating Christmas on December 25 comes from the fourth-century manuscript known as the Chronography or Calendar of 354.  According to that document Christmas was being celebrated on December 25 by the church at Rome no earlier than A. D. 336.  That date was gradually adopted by the church as a whole over the next several centuries.

            “Why the church finally decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25 is also not known for certain.  Some believe that it was to offer a Christian alternative to the popular pagan holiday known as Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (“the birthday of the unconquered sun”), which was celebrated on December 25.  That festival was inaugurated late in the third century to honor several sun gods, chief of which was Mithras, whose worship (Mithraism) posed a serious threat to the Christian church.  Others hold that the date was chosen because it is nine months after March 25, the day that some in the early church believed (without biblical warrant) was the date of Jesus’ conception.

            “Over the centuries the trappings now commonly associated with Christmas gradually seeped into the celebration.  Gift giving was an integral part of the pagan winter festivals, and became firmly associated with Christmas by the end of the eighteenth century.  Mistletoe was sacred to the ancient Druids, who attributed to it both magical and medicinal powers.  Kissing under the mistletoe may derive from a Druid or Scandinavian custom that enemies who met under mistletoe were to cease fighting and observe a truce.  The creche, or manger scene, originated with Sr. Francis of Assisi in the thirteenth century.  The practice of singing carols also originated in the Middle Ages.  The city of Riga in Latvia claims to be the home of the first Christmas tree, dating from the year 1510.  Others legends attribute the first  Christ mas tree to Martin Luther, who allegedly brought an evergreen tree into his house and decorated it.  There is, however, no contemporary record of his having done so.  Christmas trees became popular in Germany in the seventeenth century, and first appeared in America early in the nineteenth century.  The first  commercial Christmas cards were sold in London in 1843.”

Spiritual Meaning for my life today.  Ever since I have become a believer my thoughts about Christmas have changed from what they were before I became a believer, as I have always thought that if the Lord wanted us to know the date of His birth He would have let us know.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Be thankful for the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ each and every day.

3/29/2026 8:37 AM

 

PT-1 “Introduction to “Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem” (Luke 2:1-7)

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2026 7:58 PM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-1 “Introduction to “Jesus’ Birth in Bethlehem”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                     Reference:  Luke 2:1-7

            Message of the verses: “1 Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. ² This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³ And all the people were on their way to register for the census, each to his own city. ⁴ Now Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵ in order to register along with Mary, who was betrothed to him, and was pregnant. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. ⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no ^[g]room for them in the inn.” (NASB 2:1-7)

            In this evening’s SD I will quote the introduction to these verses as seen in John MacArthur’s commentary.  Just a note it was the 9^th of February that I began my study on the gospel of Luke.

            “Luke’s simple, straightforward, unembellished language describes the most profound birth, with the most far-reaching implications, in the history of the world.  On a night like any other night, in an obscure village in Israel, unnoticed by the world, a child was born.  But while His birth was like that of every other child, the child was unlike any other child ever born, either before or since.  For this child was the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, deity in human flesh, Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, the Savior of the world.  In His birth God entered human society as an infant; the creator of the universe became a man; the eternal “Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

            This chapter, which provides the most detailed look at the events of the first Christmas, is perhaps the most widely known chapter in the Bible.  Its familiar story has inspired music, cards, books, and pageants over the centuries.  But the world celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ of all the wrong reasons.  Christmas has become an excuse for self-indulgence, materialism, and partying; it has degenerated into a secularized social event that misses entirely its true meaning.”

            Now let me give my two cents worth here.  No one actually knows exactly what was the date that Jesus Christ was born.  We know where He was born, and I will give an account of this event later after I finish what I have to say here.  Now in the last SD’s that I finished this morning we learned some things about the catholic “religion” and you can refer to that by looking at the last couple of SD’s.  I have mentioned that I have a great deal of trouble with the holidays of Christmas and Easter in past’s SE’s, and I think with good reason as Easter to me is a heathen holiday, along with the Easter eggs that are apart of it, and the way that they are seen in the Old Testament was a part of heathen practices.  Now I will attempt to find what I have copy and pasted about where Jesus was actually born.

12/25/2020 10:41 AM  As I was having a little trouble sleeping last night I was thinking about this SD that I was going to put onto my blog and also my FB story.  What I was thinking about was as one reads the story in the Bible about the birth of Jesus, perhaps they think that because of the reason that Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem that all of the inns were filled and so they had to find a farmer who had a barn and that is where Jesus was born.  I truly believe that the place where Jesus was born was certainly in the plan of God; for God was in control of all that His Son would be doing while on planet earth.  Why would not the Messiah who is later called “our Passover” and also we read the following in two places in the gospel of John “Joh 1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!  Joh 1:36 and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"  It was no accident of Jesus being born in Bethlehem as the OT says he would be born there and so why would not the “Lamb of God” who is our “Passover” be born in the cave where the Passover Lambs were born?  12/25/2020 10:49 AM

I, Jacob Howard, wrote Dr. Charlie Dyer, who is the speaker on the Land and the Book Radio, a question about Midgal-Eder, mentioned in Micah 4:8. This was Dr. Dyer’s response.

 

Jacob,

 

Thank you for your e-mail, and thanks as well for your kind words! Denny and I both appreciate the privilege God has given us to serve Him in this way. You have encouraged us both!

 

As far as Midgal Eder is concerned, there is no universal identification of the site. But I do believe it was a real site. The best thing I’ve read on the subject is from Alfred Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. (You can find his complete work online at Google Books.) I’ll include his quotation here, and then I’ll follow it with a few observations. (I’ll also highlight the key point he makes in the quote.)

 

But as we pass from the sacred gloom of the cave [i.e., he was just talking about the birth of Jesus in a cave] out into the night, its sky all aglow with starry brightness, its loneliness is peopled, and its silence made vocal from heaven. There is nothing now to conceal, but much to reveal, though the manner of it would seem strangely incongruous to Jewish thinking. And yet Jewish tradition may here prove both illustrative and helpful. That the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, was a settled conviction. Equally so was the belief, that He was to be revealed from Midgal Eder, “the tower of the flock.” This Midgal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheep ground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town, on the road to Jerusalem. A passage in the Mishnah leads to the conclusion, that the flocks, which pastured there, were destined for Temple-sacrifices, and, accordingly, that the shepherds, who watched over them, were not ordinary shepherds. The latter were under the ban of Rabbinism, on account of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance unlikely, if not absolutely impossible. The same Mishnaic passage also leads us to infer, that these flocks lay out all the year round, since they are spoken of as in the fields thirty days before the Passover—that is, in the month of February, when in Palestine the average rainfall is nearly greatest. Thus, Jewish tradition in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of the Messiah from that Migdal Eder, where shepherds watched the Temple-flocks all the year round. Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to speak.

 

—Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, pp. 186-87

 

If Edersheim is correct (and I believe he is), the location for Midgal Eder would be north of Bethlehem and near the old road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. (That road is the old “Hebron road” one drives on between Jerusalem and Bethlehem today!) I believe this puts the location somewhere between the Jewish kibbutz of Ramat Rachel and Bethlehem, probably just to the west of Har Homa. There used to be an actual sheepfold in this area where I would take our groups but, sadly, it has been covered over by the modern road that now goes to Har Homa.

 

A key point here. Edersheim indicates that Migdal Eder was an actual spot, but he is not saying it was a town or village. Rather, the name means “watchtower of the flock” which seems to identify it as a specific pasture area for sheep. And the sheep that grazed here were those specifically destined for Temple sacrifice. In that sense the shepherds keeping watch over the temple sacrifices were the ones to whom God announced the birth of the ultimate “sacrificial lamb.”

 

I’m attaching a screen shot from Google Earth that might be of help in identifying the location for Midgal Eder. Note that Ramat Rachel is at the top of the picture and Bethlehem is at the bottom. The road running along the left side of the picture is the old Hebron Road, and Homat Shemu’el/Har Homa is just to the right of center in the picture. Based on Edersheim’s description, I would place Migdal Eder almost in the center of the picture…north of Bethlehem, just to the west of Har Homa, and east of the road from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Since the word means “tower of the flock” it is likely a high spot in this area where sheep would graze. The hills right around (or right at) Har Homa are probably the best possible location.

 

I hope this is helpful!

 

Charlie

3/28/2026 8:31 PM

 

 

 

PT-5 “Excursus: Why Every Self-respecting Calvinist Must Be a Premillennialist.”

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/28/2026 9:30 AM

            I continue this morning to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary intitled “Excursus: Why Every Self-respecting Calvinist Must Be a Premillennialist.”

            “How about James, the head of the Jerusalem church?  Was he amillennial in his view?  Acts 15—“James answered, saying, ‘Brethren listen to me.  Simon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name.  With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written,” After these things I will return, and I will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago” ‘ “(vv. 13-18).

            “The acceptance of the Gentiles is not the cancellation of promises to Israel.  After Gentile conversion, after the times of the Gentiles are over, God will rebuild the tabernacle of David that is fallen—rebuild its ruins and restore it.  Davidic covenant promises and Messianic promises will be fulfilled.

            “Maybe the writer of Hebrews was an amillennialist: “When God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and I will surely multiply you.’” (Heb. 6:13)—I will, I will; no hesitation.  And he calls on our understanding of swearing.  “Men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute.  In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with and oath” (vv. 16-17).  God swears or makes an oath.  And “it is impossible,’ the next verse says, “for God to lie.”

            “Maybe the apostle Paul was the first amillennialist:  “What advantage has the Jew?  Or what is the benefit of circumcision?  Great in every respect.  First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.  What then?  If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God. Will it?  May it never be!” (Rom. 3:1-4).  And this is where Paul [the amillennialist] would have said, “Absolutely…absolutely; it nullifies the promise of God; unquestionably, it nullifies the promise of God.”  But it doesn’t say that.

            “Romans 9:6-8 says, “But it is not as though the Word of God has failed.  For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel [that is to say, they’re not all true Israel, that is believers]; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but ‘through Isaac your descendants will be named. ‘  That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but children of promise are regarded as descendants.”  There are children of God has elected to fulfill His promise in.  And He goes on to describe it, saying something as blatant as this:  Jacob I loved,”  verse 13, “but Esau I hated.”  Verse 15: “ I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  Verse 16: “It does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”  Verse 18: “He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.”  This is back to the whole idea of sovereignty again.

            “Just because there are some Jews who don’t believe does not nullify the faithfulness of God.  Just because there are some that God chooses, doesn’t mean that He’s not going to choose a whole duly constituted generation of Jews to fulfill His promises.

            “And then perhaps most notable, Romans 11:26; All Israel will be saved.”  How can we interpret that?  One way.  Someone tells me that’s not Israel?  Where in the text does it say it’s not Israel?  I would understand if it said, “And God has cancelled His promises to Israel.”  But verses 26-27 say, All Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The deliver will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.  This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’”

            “Yes, they are enemies at the present time.  But that is for the sake of the Gentiles, verse 29, “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” which brings us back to where we started.

            “If it depended on the Jews to obey on their own, it was impossible from the start.  Only the One who made the promise can enable the obedience that is connected to the fulfillment of the promise.

            “So when Jonathan Edwards wrote this:  “Promises that were made by the prophets to the people of Israel concerning their prosperity and glory are fulfilled in the Christian church according to their proper intent,” I say, “where did he get that?  Where did that come from?”  It didn’t come from any passage that I can find.”

            “Let me just conclude with some effects.  I’d suggest for you reading, Israel and the Church by Ronald Diprose.  It first appeared in Italian as a Ph. D. dissertation and has no connection to traditional dispensationalism.  It’s a really, really fine work on replacement theology.  It shows the effect of this idea upon the church of the Dark Ages, explaining how the church went from the New Testament concept of the church to the sacerdotal, sacramental, institutional system of the Dark Ages that we know as Roman Catholicism. Diprose lays much of that at the feet of replacement theology, which rises out of Augustine and a few before him.

            “Where did the church ever come up with altars?  There’s no altar in the New Testament.  Where did the church ever come up with sacrifices?  Where did the church ever come up with a parallel sign to circumcision?  Where did the church ever come up with a priesthood?  Where did the church ever come up with ceremony and ritual and symbolism?  Where did the church ever come up with the idea that we should reintroduce mystery by speaking in a language that the people there couldn’t understand?  And we replace preaching with ritual.

            “From the formation of the church in those early centuries to the system of Roman Catholicism, all the trappings fit Old Testament Judaism.  And the hierarchical, institutional, nonpersonal, nonorganic, sacerdotal approach to the church, Diprose traces largely to the influence of causing the church to be the new Israel.  Replacement theology justifies bringing in all the trappings of Judaism.

            “Another effect of replacement theology is the damage it does to Jewish evangelism.  Here’s a little scenario.  Someone is talking to a Jew and saying, “Jesus is the Messiah.”

            “Really; where’s the kingdom?

            “Oh, it’s here.”

            “Oh, it is?  Well why are we being killed all the time?  Why are we being persecuted and why don’t we have the land that was promised to us? And why isn’t the Messiah reigning in Jerusalem, and why isn’t the peace and joy and gladness dominating the world?  And why isn’t the desert blooming?”

            “O no, you don’t understand.  All that’s not going to happen.  You see, the problem is you’re not God’s people anymore.  We are.”

            “Oh, I see.  But this is the kingdom of Jews are being killed and hated and Jerusalem is under siege.  This is the kingdom?  If this is the kingdom, Jesus is not the Messiah.  Can’t be.  It’s ludicrous.”

            “No matter how many wonderful Jewish-Christian relationships we try to have with rabbis, this is a huge bone in the throat.  Why can’t Jesus be the Messiah?  Because this isn’t the kingdom.  Unless we can say to a Jew, “God will keep every single promise He made to you and Jesus is your Messiah.  But look at Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and Zechariah 12:10 and understand that He had to come and die to ratify the New covenant before He could forgive sin—but the kingdom is coming.”

            “That we have a chance to communicate.  The rest doesn’t make sense.  Now if we get election right—the divine, sovereign, gracious, unconditional, unilateral, irrevocable election—then we get God right.  And we get Israel right.  And we get eschatology right.  And guess what?—then we can just open our Bibles and preach our hearts out on the text and say what is says.  We don’t have to scramble around and find some bizarre interpretation.

            “Get it right and God is glorified.  Get it right and Christ is exalted.  Get it right and the Holy Spirit is honored.  Get it right and Scripture is clear.  Get it right and the greatest historical illustration of God’s work in the world is visible.  Get it right and the meaning of mystery in the New Testament is maintained.  Get it right and normal language is intact—Scripture wasn’t written for mystics.  Get it right and chronology of prophetic literature is intact.  Get it right and shut out imagination from exegesis.  Get it right and the historical worldview is complete.  Get it right and the practical benefit of eschatology is released for our people.  Get it right.

            “Kingdom theology of the eschaton is the only view that honors sovereign, electing grace; honors the truthfulness of God’s promises; honors the teaching of the Old Testament prophets and the teaching of Jesus and the New Testament writers, which will allow Christ to be honored as supreme ruler over His creation, now temporarily in the hands of Satan. And the earthly, millennial kingdom, established at Christ’s return, is the only and necessary bridge from temporary human history to eternal divine glory.  Let’s make our churches second coming churches and make our lives second coming lives.”

            Well this is the end of this very informative sermon, and it is my prayer that all who read it will be better off for reading it, and that it will bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.  This evening I will begin my study on the second chapter of the gospel of Luke.

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Trust the Lord to use what I write on my Spiritual Diaries to bring glory to the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord that as He sends this sermon around the world that His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ will be honored.  3/28/2026 11:10 AM

 

PT-4 “Excursus: Why Every Self-respecting Calvinist Must Be a Premillennialist.”

 

EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/27/2026 05:30 PM

            I continue this evening to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary intitled “Excursus: Why Every Self-respecting Calvinist Must Be a Premillennialist.”

            “Let’s dig a little into the text of verse 7:”which the Father has fixed [tithemi, ‘set, appointed’],” “Fixed” is in the aorist middle’’—“fixed for Himself.”  It’s about His glory.  It’s about His exaltation.  It’s about the whole world finally seeing paradise regained.  It’s about God finally being glorified—who is so dishonored through human history.  It’s about the glory of God and the honor of Jesus Christ.  And God the Father has fixed for Himself that time by His own authority—it is singular, unilateral.  There is no other way to understand it.

            “There’s no replacement theology in the theology of Jesus.  There’s no supersessionism, which is a movement to establish that there is no earthly kingdom for Israel.  That is absolutely foreign to the Old Testament and completely foreign to the New Testament.  Jesus didn’t say, “Where did you get that crazy idea?  Haven’t you been listening?”

            “They just couldn’t know the seasons, the time.  The cross was always the plan.  He said, you remember in the eighteenth chapter of Luke, also recorded in Matthew and Mark, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem” (v. 31).  And what’s going to happen, if we put those three accounts together? “I [Jesus] am going to be betrayed.  I’m going to be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes.  They’re going to condemn Me.  They’re going to hand Me over to the Gentiles because the can execute Me.  All this is in exact order.  Then when I’m handed over to the Gentiles, I’m going to be mocked, mistreated, spit on, scourged, crucified, and I’m rising again” (see vv. 32-33).  “32  For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. 33  And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’” (Luke 18:32-33) ESV)

            “That’s not plan B.  In fact, If we think that’s plan B, we’re fools.  And Jesus used that terminology: “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25).  So, wherever this amillennial thing came from, it didn’t come from the Old Testament, it didn’t come from the New Testament Jews, and it didn’t come from Jesus.

            “We might say, “Well, were the apostles amillennialists?”  How about Peter; was Peter an amillennialist?  In Acts 3, Peter is preaching away: “Men of Israel,” and so forth.  Verse 13: “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the One whom you delivered [there’s that primary and secondary element] and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.  But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murder to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life” (vv. 13-15).” “13  The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. 14  But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15  and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.”  “What an indictment!  They [the Jews] couldn’t be any worse, and more horrific.

            “Verse 18:  “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ should suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”  That’s literal isn’t it? “Therefore repent and return, so that you sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord [‘the times of refreshing’ is a kingdom phrase] and that He may send Jesus, The Christ appointed for you [set for you, fixed for you], whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration[another kingdom term] of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (vv. 19-21).

            “And then I specially love verses 25-27, “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers.”  Does Peter cancel the covenant?  What does he say?  “You…are the sons of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’  For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning everyone of you from your wicked ways [and He will do that; you’re still the sons of the covenant].” That was a perfect opportunity to cancel those promises.”

            It looks like I will be able to finish this sermon in my “Morning SD for tomorrow.

3/27/2026 6:02 PM