{"id":7686,"date":"2016-12-13T23:02:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-13T23:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7686"},"modified":"2016-12-13T23:13:30","modified_gmt":"2016-12-13T23:13:30","slug":"the-government-christmas-series-part-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=7686","title":{"rendered":"The government: Christmas Series Part 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth\u2026And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 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.<\/em>\u00a0 Luke 2:1, 3-4<\/p>\n

\u2026and the government will rest on His shoulders<\/em>\u2026 Isaiah 9:6b<\/p>\n

God\u2019s big, sweeping plan to redeem mankind from the grip and tyranny of sin was ordained before the foundation of the world. As part of that plan, He also designed smaller sub-plans laced with prophetic and intricate details to bring clarity, precision, and confirmation to His greater plan. And as His plan unfolded, most of the individuals involved were utterly unaware that they personally played a specific role in its fulfillment.<\/p>\n

Take Caesar Augustus, for instance. Caesar\u2019s own records (\u201cThe Deeds of the Divine Augustus\u201d, see http:\/\/classics.mit.edu\/Augustus\/deeds.html<\/a>, #8) reveal that he conducted three censuses during his reign. They were held in roughly twenty-year cycles, and the census that summoned Joseph to Bethlehem when Mary was pregnant with Jesus was likely the second of the three. Caesar Augustus\u2014the self-proclaimed \u201cdivine Augustus\u201d\u2014was merely a mortal chess-piece played by the wisdom and hand of the one true God to fulfill His predetermined purpose. Whereas Augustus took great pride in amassing boundless wealth for his administration through taxes collected in the census, God used this empire-building monarch\u2019s hunger for ever-increasing power to get Mary and Joseph to the right place at the right time.<\/p>\n

Know this: There is no power or throne established by the hand of man or angel that supersedes the power and authority of our God and His Christ. Neither Caesar, nor Pilate, nor Herod, nor Nero, nor Lenin, nor Hitler, nor governments present nor governments to come can override the rule and the plan of God.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be surprised if the heathen rage (see Psalm 2:1). Don\u2019t be shaken if you see the \u201cnations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing. The kings of the earth<\/em>\u201d may indeed \u201ctake their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, \u2018Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!<\/em>\u2019\u201d (See Psalm 2:1-3). The fact is that your God is aware of it all and He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them<\/em> (Psalm 2:4).<\/p>\n

The God who used the governmental drive of Caesar Augustus to get His handmaiden and her fianc\u00e9 to Bethlehem for the birth of the Christ child is not moved by regulations, laws, decrees, or even lawless acts of the governmental leaders in our day. He sees the end from the beginning and His purpose will<\/em> be established; He will<\/em> accomplish all His good pleasure (see Isaiah 46:10).<\/p>\n

Knowing this\u2014that God is sovereign and His purpose will not be thwarted\u2014how then should you live?<\/p>\n