Dr Paul Allen

  This is Dick Harfield's answer to the question:  Why did Mary and Joseph have to go to Bethlehem for the census? Luke’s Gospel said that Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for the census of Quirinius “because he was of the house and lineage of David”. There would have been no reason for Mary to go there, as women were not counted in censuses. The reason for Joseph going to Bethlehem is unclear, since the census was applied only to establish to expected taxes from the newly acquired Roman province of Judea; as a resident of Galilee, Joseph would not have been assessed for taxes in what was effectively a foreign country. Uta Ranke-Heinemann says, in Putting Away Childish Things : There would have been no such journey unless Joseph had owned property in Bethlehem. If he had no real estate, as an inhabitant of Galilee under the tetrarch Herod Antipas, he would not have been affected by the order of the Syrian governor Quirinius. Joseph owned no property in Bethlehem. In that case he ...

Christmas is almost here. It’s a time to celebrate what God did. He brought everything together to do what we could not. He brought salvation to ill-deserving humanity in the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ. Like a perfect conductor, God orchestrated all things for the arrival of heaven’s King. That night, some 2000 years ago, God pulled off a jaw-dropping display of sovereignty. He demonstrated himself the hero as he conducted his plan that he made before creation for the arrival of the God-man. The arrival of the long-ago-promised, long-awaited-Messiah was a stunning demonstration of God’s sovereign grace towards sinful humanity. Despite the obstacles of humanity’s sin and contrary historical events, God was moved by his own mercy to sovereignly orchestrate history in order to bring us the Christmas Gift; the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Consider the majesty of God in his heroic demonstration of sovereignty in bringing us the Person of salvation: ...