Well Here is Why God Really Cares.

        How can one really answer this question to convince someone that God really cares about the plight of humanity? One approach to understanding the care and compassion of God towards humanity is perhaps the historical approach.

        When we think of the historical approach, we are thinking of the discovery of archaeological documents that have laid dormant in the dusty sands of time and of monuments and artifacts discovered throughout our world.  The Bible also contains very ancient information which has been corroborated archaeologically, therefore, showing itself to be quite trust-worthy in its historical statements.[1]  Not only do we find the Bible to be historically accurate, but conversely, we find that virtually throughout the earth, as we find in Mesopotamia and Egyptian thought, “a basic principle of the lack of distinction between heaven and earth” that mankind and the divine were intimately intertwined as Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff indicate in their research,[2] to which Frankfort agrees when he writes that “expressions of a coherent religious conception, proclaiming man’s intimate and reciprocal relationship with animals and beyond these the divine.[3]”  Since much has been said on the historicity of the Bible in past articles in this website, let’s look at historical evidences therein on the why God really does care about man’s plight.

        Luke tells us that Augustus Caesar made a decree to tax the world at the time when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. This required all heads of families to go back to their cities to register.[4]  As we look at this whole episode of taxation and the involvement of Mary and Joseph (historical figures, mind you), and as we contemplate God’s great love for humans, was this significant? One will be amazed at God’s guidance and overseeing of this event with perfect timing, location and significance for humanity and his restoration to divine favour by the forgiveness of his sins. The timing is also crucial as we look at how the proclamation of birth and the fulfilment of prophecy accurately converged. Anything less than this would throw the validity of the Scriptures out as inaccurate.

        By being born in the world Jesus was fulfilling several prophecies. The first one was a 5 to 6 thousand year prophecy. Many Christians accept that the earth is approaching its six thousandth year.  In Genesis 2:17 and 3:15 God told the guilty pair that their sin would bring eternal death upon them, but that He, God, will be the ‘Go Between,’ the ‘the Peace Child’ that will stand between the living and the dead and the plague of death, the curse of sin brought on by man’s rebellion would not just be halted, but would be placed upon God Himself (through the incarnation) and He will be wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, and our punishment will be upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.  He poured out His life unto death, He was numbered with the transgressors; he bore the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors says Isaiah 53.  Friends, this six thousandth year prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus was born and subsequently died on the cross.  It was Augustus Caesar that God used to fulfil this prophecy. If God did not care for us, why would He do such a thing? My friends, It was His great love for us that led Him to go to the extreme to rescue you and me.

        Another prophecy that found fulfilment in Jesus birth is found in Isaiah 7:14, and Isa. 9:6. These predictions by Isaiah around the eighth century BC, speak of the birth of a divine being who will be known as ‘Immanuel’ meaning God with us; while chap. 9:6 calls this child by the names: ‘Wonderful,’ ‘Counsellor,’ ‘the mighty God,’ ‘the everlasting Father,’ and the ‘Prince of Peace.’ Thank God for the taxation.  Another important prophecy that was accurately fulfilled by Augustus’ taxation drive was Micha 5:2. This verse tells us where man’s Deliverer called the one of ‘old,’ ‘from everlasting,’ had to be born.  And that was in  Bethlem Ephratah. Had Jesus not been born there the Bible would have been in error. If one is wondering what is special about Bethlehem then check out the meaning of the word Bethlehem.  It means, the house of bread. In the wilderness when the Israelites journeyed from Egypt to Canaan God fed them with manna.  

        When the people saw the manna, they asked, manna? (Exo. 16:15) Meaning, what is it?  The answer came thousands of years later when Jesus who was born in the house of bread, Bethlehem, said to the people in the gospel of, John 6:48-51, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I well give for the life of the world.”  Friends, was all this purely coincidental?  No, my friends. God synchronized the events in history to demonstrate his great love and compassion for sinful human beings. By this He gives us the opportunity to choose life that we might live and be restored to the divine image. What a caring and compassionate God, how can we spurn such an offer and reject the Life Giver?  Friends, the consequences of rejection would be incalculable, please do not go there!

        One of the greatest consequences of Augustus’ taxation of Israel was the epic pageantry of the fulfilment of the great prophecy of Daniel 8 and 9 that depict the closure of the Jewish call by God to be the missionaries of the gospel to the world, as found in Exodus 19:6, “and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”  This was confirmed by Jesus when He said in Luke 13:35, “Behold your house is left unto you desolate. You shall not see me until you say blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.”  After the allotted time for the Jews to put their house in order had passed, (Daniel 9:24 and onwards) the prophecy goes on to speak of the death of Jesus for humanity as predicted in Genesis 3:15, cited above.  

        Imagine, all of this, the birth of Jesus, the exact city of birth, His rejection and crucifixion, the removal of the diadem from the Jews as God’s missionaries to the world (Eze. 21:26), the final return of Jesus to this earth were all facilitated by that one act of Augustus Caesar when He taxed the world, according as God had planned!  Before closing this paragraph, let me say, when I refer to the Jews and their rejection of Jesus and of His crucifixion, I am not condemning these people for I myself am of Jewish extraction.  Our rejection of Jesus was used by God to enable the gentiles to share in the salvation benefits that God provided, and to later bring both Jew and gentile (the rest of humanity) into one united people.  

        Here is what Paul, that great Jewish missionary to the gentiles says in Romans 11:11, 12 “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? (speaking of the Jewish rejection of Jesus), God forbid but rather through their fall (rejection of Jesus) salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” (Paul uses this hyperbole or expression to say that the Jews, seeing how many people accept Jesus as their saviour, would themselves want to accept Him too).  Then Paul ends his thought by saying, verse 12, “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?” The rest of chapter 11 is a most beautiful representation of God love for all humanity, both Jews and everyone else.

        Finally, the greatest fall-out of Emperor August’s taxation is that festival that much of the world recognises, and that is of course, Christmas.  Although history tells us that the Roman Catholic church took a pagan festival and applied it to the biblical presentation of the birth of Jesus, this does not discount the fact that Jesus was indeed born in Bethlehem for the salvation of all mankind, and that both Jew and gentiles have the joy and privilege of celebrating this occasion.  This is a biblical and historic fact.  It is not a Roman Catholic or a Protestant festival, it is a biblical festival of Peace, Joy and Good Will towards all men, a Saviour to the gentiles and to the Jews.  The birth of Jesus, or what some call Christmas, is in fact the same promise of (1) Genesis of 3:15 He is the Enmity between the children of the woman and the children the rebel, Lucifer.  (2) Of Numbers 24:17 He is the star out of Jacob. (3) Of Deuteronomy 18:15 in the latter days God shall raise up a prophet like unto Moses. (4) Of Isaiah 7:14 A virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call His name Immanuel, meaning God with us. (5) Of Isaiah 53 the sin Bearer who gave his life that we may live. (6) Of John 1:29, 36 behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

        Every year much of the world celebrate this festival of the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus is an historical figure, we have explored this at length in previous articles; Jesus lived and died in Israel; the Jewish leadership hated Him not because of his good works but because He claimed to be God, John 10:33.  Today the tomb where He lay is empty; Pilate sent a hundred soldiers to guard His tomb and they saw Him rise on the Sunday morning. We are told that the Jewish leaders bribed the soldiers to tell Pilate the foolish story that the disciples came and stole the body of Jesus from them.  This record of the birth, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus is found in the New Testament and in a previous article we have shown that the New Testaments documents are among the best historical documents that we have due to their testimony being less than thirty years in some cases of the accounts that are written.

        Yes, my dear friends, there can be no better reason to show how much Jesus really cares for humanity than the total involvement of Jesus in the affairs of humanity in order to restore us to the divine image of God, remove our sins, and once more make us citizens of the God’s universe.  May this article and this Christmas help you cross the line and throw in your lot with the citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, all thanks to the decree of Augustus Caesar in the closing years of ancient history as God intended it for humanity.  Merry Christmas.

[1]David Marshall, The Battle For The Book, (Alma Park, Grantham, England: The Stanborough Press Limited for Autumn House Publication, 1991), 9, 10, 17,18, 44-49, 56-60.

[2] C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Ancient Civilizations: The Near East and Mesoamerica, (Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Pub. Co., 1979), 4.

[3]Henri Frankfort, The Birth of Civilization in the Near East, (Bloomington, IN: Doubleday, Doran & Company Inc., 1953), 33.

[4] Luke 2:1-4 tells us that this took place in the governorship of Quirinius. Historically, without getting into detail, it can be shown that there was a taxing during Quirinius time around 5/4 BC. For quick reference one can begin with article found in “ Was There Really A Census During the Time of Caesar Augustus? (crossexamined.org).”

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.

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