One of George Eliot’s most famous novels is a book titled The Mill on the Floss. In one particular scene, Mr Riley in the novel notices an unusual book on a shelf. It is unusual because the book belongs to a little girl named Maggie Tulliver, and the title, on close inspection of the spine, says The History of the Devil by Daniel Defoe.

Mr Riley comments on the book, and Maggie’s father quickly jumps in and says, "Mr Riley, why, this is one of the books I bought at Partridge’s sale. They was all bound alike. It’s a good binding, you see, and I thought they’d all be good books. But it seems one mustn’t judge a book by the outside."

And with this fictitious exchange we have what is a common saying we know well, don’t judge a book by its cover. We ought to resonate with the saying, I think, because the true nature of a thing is usually deeper than surface observation can detect. If Maggie’s father had just opened the book, even to read the front page or the introduction, perhaps he might have rightly judged that this book was not suitable for his daughter. And so too, if only we would bother, we might be able to judge with a right judgment many things.

The psalmist wrote of our nature that man looks at the outward appearance. In other words, we think the truth is always plain to us. Why am I saying these things? Well, in these words of Luke’s Gospel we find an account that is often misjudged, dismissed, or altogether unconsidered. People are often quick to move on to different subjects rather than thinking about Jesus.

To some, the story of Jesus appears unimpressive on the surface, like a book whose cover tells you little of what is inside. They think, "Oh, it is just another ancient make believe tale." It looks the same as what they have seen before. But as William Cowper’s hymn expresses, "Judge not the Lord by feeble sense." You see, Jesus’ humble beginnings veil a great glory and a miraculous working of God in our world.

And so I want to share with you three things about Jesus’ birth from this passage, and with God’s help shine light for us on the substance of the message of Christmas.

Christmas Is Real Time History

The first thing I want to consider with you, from the first two verses, is that Christmas is real time history. Here is one area where many stumble over the story of Christ. Many judge the cover of this book by saying that this is not a historical account, but a story of legend, mythology and make believe.

They say it proceeds from the minds of unscientific people, unenlightened, shackled by religious superstition. Maybe some will concede that the Bible has some literary merit to it, maybe even that it has things we can learn from or values that might be beneficial to society today; but it cannot be considered true fact. It must be considered, they say, as a work of fiction in its essence.

This is a fanciful ancient storytelling piece, comparable, they might say, to the mythical story of Rome’s founding, Romulus and Remus, two boys rescued as infants by a she wolf who went on to found the city of Rome. No one believes that story to be historical, of course, but people tend to order their societies around common origin narratives. This, the critic of Christmas says, is a new origin story we have in Jesus that we can organise ourselves around, but which should not be considered true.

In contrast to this, however, when we study the Gospels we find this is very much a historical retelling of events. In fact Luke, a physician by training and the human author of this Gospel, proves himself at every turn a reliable recorder of historical facts. Attention to detail is paramount for Luke. At the opening of his Gospel he tells us he is writing for someone we know only as Theophilus, clearly someone of renown. Luke’s purpose is to present an ordered, factual account of history.

So in Luke 1:1–4 it says, "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught."

You see, friends, this is no Shakespeare, or even George Eliot for that matter. This is history. This is real people, verifiable facts, time, place, location; the story of Christmas.

In the late eighteen hundreds to early nineteen hundreds, the Scottish born William Ramsay was one of the brightest academics of his day. He was an archaeologist and a historian of ancient Asia Minor. Early in his academic life, Ramsay considered himself a sceptic of the historicity of Luke’s two volume work, his Gospel and the book of Acts. He thought it was fictitious and had bought into the popular theory at the time that these were second century works detached from the time they claimed to describe.

However, as he began to pore over Luke’s Gospel and the book of Acts, and examined them from a historical point of view, he came to believe that Luke was among the best historians in the ancient world. Without question, he said, Luke is among "the historians of the first rank". And so here, in Luke two, we find the birth of Jesus set firmly in history.

We read, "Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth." Immediately Luke places the reader in real time history, in the days of Caesar Augustus and of a certain census which would have been known to all at the time. All of this drives us to the point that the story of Jesus is an inescapable reality that cannot be dismissed as the whims of a crazed fanatic seeking to fabricate and deceive.

We find nothing to validate such a conclusion in the Gospels. The Bible presents itself as open to investigation; yet it is not historical facts that prevent people from coming to Christ. There are all the facts one needs to see that this is verifiable, that God has acted in human history and has come in the person of Christ. Our greatest problem is not a lack of facts, but the problem of sin in the human heart, which rebels against God and his word and wants nothing to do with him. We have no such excuse, for we find that the Christmas story is grounded in history.

Christmas Is Old Promises Fulfilled

The second point I want to draw out from the passage is that Christmas is old promises fulfilled. Christmas is old promises fulfilled, particularly looking at verse three. Here I want to consider the silent and unsuspecting hand of God over history at the birth of Jesus.

The Bible clearly teaches that as human life and history unfold mysteriously, it is God who is the master planner behind the scenes. Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, "Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how the bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things."

You and I make plans, do we not? And so does God. You are planning what you are going to do this Christmas; it was God who planned the first Christmas. He has things he will accomplish in the world, and through humanity, for his own glory.

At the birth of Jesus we see this reality coming to pass, yet again not on the surface of things. Look at the text and you will notice that Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph, his soon to be adoptive father, are on the move. Despite Mary being pregnant, they are travelling from Nazareth to Bethlehem, a journey of at least three days. The reason is that the census requires people to register their names in the place of their family household, probably for Roman taxation purposes. That fact alone would have been a painful reminder to the Jews that their ancestral lands were occupied by foreign powers, the Romans. The glory of the nation was seemingly lost.

But here we see that God is at work. Luke says, "And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city." Perhaps you have not considered this in any depth before, but this is remarkable. Luke is showing us the divine hand behind the scenes. God is mysteriously ordering people’s times and places to fulfil prophecy associated with the arrival of the Messiah.

The great irony is that while Luke says Caesar Augustus made a decree, man’s decree is fulfilling God’s decree. God decreed in the Scriptures that the Messiah would be born of the house of David and in the town of Bethlehem. God has worked out the first part because Mary and Joseph are both of the house of David, and he has brought them together. He has chosen this couple to be the earthly parents of the Messiah. But there is a problem. They live in Nazareth.

So, ordering history, Caesar’s decree goes out, and it fulfils God’s decree. In Micah 5:2 the prophet says, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go forth for me to be a ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity."

From you, Bethlehem, the Messiah will come. Here we see God’s handiwork coming to pass. It would not do for the Messiah to be born in Nazareth; the prophets would remain unfulfilled. But here the king’s heart is like water in the hand of the Lord, directed as he pleases.

Caesar’s decree fulfils God’s decree. How could Augustus possibly know that his decree would be used by God to ensure that the Messiah, incomparably more powerful than he in authority and domain, would be born according to prophecy? He could not have known. The most powerful man in Rome has, with a single decree, established the claim of David’s greater royal son. Remarkable.

Christmas Is Foreshadowing Christ’s Rejection

The third heading we want to consider is this, Christmas is foreshadowing Christ’s rejection. Look again at verse seven: "And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Mary gives birth to her firstborn son. The great miracle of Jesus’ birth, of course, is that while Mary is engaged to Joseph, Joseph is not the biological father. When Joseph first realised Mary was pregnant, he wanted to quietly send her away and end their engagement. But the angel of God revealed to him that the child was conceived by the Spirit of God and not by man.

In Luke 1:26–35 we read, "Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, ‘Greetings, favoured one, the Lord is with you.’ But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God.’"

You will also notice in Luke chapter two that Joseph and Mary seem to have got their first century accommodation booking a little mixed up. The local inn at Bethlehem is full and overcrowded. They expected to stay there, and the time of Mary’s birth was near. Joseph would have been sweating at this point. What will they do? The only option available is leftover quarters, where animals were often herded in for the night. It is here that the Son of God, Jesus, is born.

With no other bed, the one in whom the fullness of deity dwelt is laid down to rest in a manger, likely a wooden feeding trough. As another has said, the contrast between the birth’s commonness and the child’s greatness could not be greater.

But here I want you to see the subtle foreshadowing of what is the most important thing to know about Christmas. While the heavens would erupt with praise and the angelic hosts would cry, "Glory to God in the highest," and while God would draw men from the East to search for and worship the newborn king, the nature and outcome of Jesus’ coming are already revealed to us.

This birth of humble means, where no room was found for him in the inn, foreshadows the life of humiliation and rejection that Jesus would undergo. Thirty four years from his birth, he would not make for himself an earthly throne, though a king he was. Many would reject him as a prophet, though he was. They would reject him as the Messiah, though he was. They would reject that he spoke the truth and that he himself was the way, the truth, and the life.

There was no room in the inn, and for many there was no room for him in their hearts. Overcrowded inn, overcrowded hearts. They judged the book by the cover and did not like what they saw. In Luke 9:58 Jesus says of himself, "The Son of Man has no place to lay his head." So it was at his birth.

The Messiah would be without an earthly home, moving from town to town, preaching the kingdom of God and announcing the good news of salvation. He would perform miraculous signs, and people would love the signs but disapprove of the message. Our world soon showed its true, sinful state, and we found no room for the Messiah in our hearts. Humanity as a whole was represented when the Jews handed him over for crucifixion.

Christ knocked on the door, but there was no room in that inn. We were preoccupied, going our own way, unable to discern spiritual things, unable to discern who Christ really was. The leaders of the Jews would say, "We have no king but Caesar. Away with him. Crucify him."

In John 1:11 it says, "He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him." Christmas, from day one, foreshadows the cross on which he died. The ultimate reality corresponding to there being no room in the inn is that they only had room for him on a cross, outside the camp, where he was crucified.

But he was the Messiah after all. God’s silent hand at work when Joseph and Mary went from Nazareth to Bethlehem was again at work in Jesus’ journey from Bethlehem to the cross. God’s providence was working all along. As Jesus said in John 3:14, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."

By his crucifixion on that bloodstained and forsaken cross of execution, the Lamb of God became redemption’s price. There he died at the hands of men and on behalf of the many. There God the Father poured out his judgment for his people’s sins. Though Jesus was the king, though his first palace was a stable, his first throne a manger, his first worshippers shepherds and foreigners, and his first crown a crown of thorns, he was the King of kings, the greater David.

He could not be held in the grave into which he went. His death was the end of death itself for all who believe in his name. Though he was rejected by sinful humanity, those who believe in his name are accepted by God.

Conclusion

So consider, friends, the history of Christmas, that these things truly happened in time and cannot be ignored. Consider the providence, the hand of God shaping history, that man’s decree fulfilled God’s decree. Think too of the meaning of the manger. That wooden manger on which he lay spoke truly of the wooden cross on which he was hung for us. Let us worship him who has come in such a way for a people such as us.