Luke 2:1-5 (KJV) And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. 2 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3 And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

I Love Those Words, “It Came To Pass”

“it came to pass”. The greatest event in human history begins with these four words, “it came to pass”. That phrase “it came to pass” is in the Bible (the King James Version) 2,204 times in 457 verses of the Holy Scriptures.

“it came to pass” is found in front of the most horrific things in the Bible. Mankind, created in the image of God, has the ability to design and make fantastic things. We have creative power, and free will to do with it as we will. God gave us dominion over the planet, granting to us what He did not give the angels nor the animals. In a perfect environment we were given all things, and forbidden the one thing that could hurt us.

And Adam chose the hurtful thing.

Sin entered the world when Adam did the forbidden. Sin chained us, enslaved us. We had no idea how bad sin was until “it came to pass”.

“IT CAME TO PASS”. Cain and Abel brought an offering to God. Both sons had been taught what God decreed was acceptable.

Hebrews 9:22 … without shedding of blood is no remission {of sin}..

The Blood of the Lamb must be shed. Both Cain and Abel knew this. In fact, as the elder child, Cain would be taught this truth first.

Genesis 4:3-4 (AP) “IT CAME TO PASS” that Cain brought of the FRUIT OF THE GROUND an offering {for sin}… and Abel brought of the FIRSTLINGS OF HIS FLOCK {of lambs}..

God will only REMIT sin, forgive sin, when the BLOOD OF THE LAMB is shed. Cain refused to shed the Blood, rather choosing his human good works. Like so many today, he thought that he could do good and please God apart from the Blood of the Lamb. God refused Cain’s offering. Without Blood is NO REMISSION of sin!

So Cain killed Abel. Rather than spill the Blood of the Lamb, he spilled his brother’s blood. Abel’s blood cried out to God, and Cain was marked by sin forever.

“IT CAME TO PASS”. This was just the beginning. God called man to salvation from sin. We have creative ability. We have free will. But we are bound to sin unless God intervenes. Though some sought God, most turned away to darkness and selfishness. The few who were righteous compromised their faith. Though light and darkness cannot mix, and though God warned against mixture,

Genesis 6:1-2 “IT CAME TO PASS that men multiplied on the face of the earth … and the sons of God took the daughters of men as wives”.

The only way light can blend with darkness is by compromise, by lowering itself. As righteous sons of God, children saved by the Blood of the Lamb, became intimate with the lost … Cain killed Abel all over again. Wickedness increased in the earth.

But Noah found Grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). God offered Grace to the world. For 120 years Noah built an Ark, and preached the Grace of God and the Blood of the Lamb.

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus!

You stand before God clean and pure, but only if you have “washed your robes and made them WHITE IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB” (Revelation 7:14). Noah found Grace. As he built the Ark, he told the world about Grace. But in the end, only eight souls were saved by water (1 Peter 3:20). those who believed on Him and submitted to His Word.

“IT CAME TO PASS”. God reached out to a broken man named Abram, and renamed him Abraham. Abraham believed the Word of God, and trusted in the Blood of the Lamb. The Bible says:

Genesis 15:6 (KJV) {Abraham} believed in the LORD; and {the LORD} counted it to him for righteousness.

That’s how a person has always been saved, brought into the Kingdom of God. You must believe in God’s Word. You must trust the Blood of the Lamb. You must not doubt the promises that our Lord has given us.

Through Abraham God promised a Messiah would come one day Who would change everything. But it would take years. God would have to raise up Jacob and plant the nation of Israel in Egypt. God would have to raise up Moses to lead Israel from Egypt.

The Blood of the Lamb has never lost it’s power!

How would Israel be released from Egypt? Only by the Blood of the Lamb. God told Israel to kill the Lamb, and to put its Blood on the doorway where faith lived. God told Israel:

Exodus 12:5-7 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

The Lamb would be without blemish, symbolizing sinlessness. The Lamb would live with the family that killed it. The Lamb, once killed, would have its Blood placed on the home where the believer lived. And they shall eat the Lamb. It shall become a part of their lives, of their life force.

Where there was no Blood, God was going to avenge.

As God promised,

Exodus 12:29 “IT CAME TO PASS” that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive

Where God did not see the Blood of the Lamb, judgment fell. But where the Blood was – where the innocent Lamb died – punishment passed by. The family was saved, freed from Egypt.

“IT CAME TO PASS”. We need God. We need to be saved from our sins. We are self destructive, headed toward oblivion. We need the Lamb. We need to surrender to the Will of God.

Our Goodness Is Not Good Enough To Cover Our Sins

We need the Blood of the Lamb. We thought that we could reach God with our good works, but God proved that is not possible. The Bible says that Israel stood at the base of Mount Sinai, the Mountain of God:

Exodus 19:16 … it came to pass … that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

The Bible says “The FEAR OF THE LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10). Our God is awesome. We do not approach Him as if He is a man like us. He is pure, holy, righteous, despising sin.

Psalm 5:5 (ESV) The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.

Psalm 11:5 (ESV) The Lord tests the righteous, but His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.

The Holy God of Scripture cannot tolerate sin. We need a Savior. We need the Lord. But we think we can be “just good enough” to get by with God, but that isn’t true. We need to be changed. God gave us the Law through Moses, who wrote:

Deuteronomy 9:11 it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

Did Israel keep the Law? No. Why? Because sin is ingrained in us. From the womb, to the grave, we need God to intervene.

Romans 8:3-5 (ESV) God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

We could not save ourselves, so God reached out to save us. God did a NEW THING, just as He promised in the prophecies.

Isaiah 43:19, 21 (KJV) Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. 21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.

Christmas Was The Target Of “It Came To Pass”

We could not get better on our own. We need the Blood of the Lamb. Go back to our starting place:

Luke 2:1 … it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

A tyrant decrees a census. An unknown man named Joseph and an obscure virgin named Mary are forced to travel to Bethlehem. Is the trip useless, cruel, and unnecessary. No. For God stoops LOW to save us. God reaches out to save Himself a people. He could have destroyed the earth, but He loved us so much that He stooped low. Look how low He stooped! Mary and Joseph are headed toward Bethlehem. A woman, nine months pregnant with the Son of God, suffering, hurting, heads toward Bethlehem.

The Crain Law Group writing in Nashville Christian Family (December 2024) wrote:

“…in 2 AD, there was no court challenge available to a ‘decree’ from Augustus Caesar. There were no religious exemptions. There were no medical accommodations due to pregnancy. There were no constitutional arguments. When Caesar said to go register for the census – you went. The penalty for non-compliance was not losing your job; it was death. Caesar Augustus’ mandate declaring the entire Empire must register at designated locations was centered less on taxation and more on identification. Concerning the word “taxed” in verse 1 of Luke’s account, W.E. Vine in An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, explains that it is translated from the Greek word apographo, meaning ‘to write out, enroll, inscribe in register’.”

Both Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem, the “City of David”, because both were descendants of King David. Mary couldn’t stay behind, or she would have been killed. Roman soldiers had often murdered pregnant women and children at the behest of the Empire. Mary had to go. Period.

Mary and Joseph were chosen by God to bring forth His Son onto this earth specifically because they were descendants of David. The Blood of the Lamb was coming.

The Messiah was prophesied to come from David’s lineage (2 Samuel 7:13). Mary and Joseph were descendants of David.

The Messiah was prophesied to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Mary and Joseph were forced to go to Bethlehem by the census, but God is in control.

God prophesied in Isaiah 9:2, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined”. That was Caesar’s Empire. Everyone lingered under the shadow of death and destruction. Caesar appointed a murderer named Herod to oversee Jerusalem and Israel. Herod had the full support of Caesar – even unto mass genocide of the Jews – to eliminate anyone who would diminish his glory.

God is in control. He could have stopped Caesar, but did not. God could have made sure that Mary did not travel pregnant. God knows the end from the beginning. Had Mary been blessed by the Holy Spirit 9 months earlier, she would be traveling with a child to Bethlehem. God could have done anything He wanted to do. He could have provided a nice room for His Son to enter the world in. God could have provided mid-wives.

Luke 2:6-7 (KJV) And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

God the Father sent His Eternal Son to this earth. The Blood of the Lamb is now with us. Why was there “no room for them in the inn”? The order of Caesar caused a mass movement of people, all seeking a place to be during the census. But God is in control. The Bible says:

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV) The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

God could have made room for the baby Jesus. He could have made sure Mary had her baby in a more sanitary place. But the Bible says:

2 Corinthians 8:9 (ESV) … you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

The Creator of the universe was incarnated, became flesh, through His own creation. God, rich beyond our wildest imagination, Ruler of the Eons, became a helpless Baby, a Lamb without spot or blemish.

A little Lamb belongs in a manger.

Here is Immanuel, God with us (Matthew 1:23). He came to reach the lowest, and the least. There was no admission to see Jesus, no admission fee to a manger. Anyone can walk in, if they will. The world has no time for Mary or Joseph, nor for the little Jesus. This again is a fulfillment of prophecy. The Bible said that when the Messiah came,

Isaiah 53:2-6 (ESV) He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as One from whom men hide their faces – He was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

Who Would Be Interested In Seeing A Lamb, But Shepherds?

Luke 2:8-11 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Christmas is “good tidings of great joy”. Though “IT CAME TO PASS” that we brought sin into the world, God had a plan. His plan was to reach beyond our sin, beyond our imagination, and to send His Son to this earth for us. For Who? We are told,

good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people

All are sinners, and Christ came for all. He came for whosoever will. Some WHOSOEVERS choose to follow their own path. Jesus said,

Mark 8:35 … whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

Others prefer to choose popularity and oneness with the world, rather than boldly standing with the shepherds. Jesus said:

Mark 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Yet others are too INTELLECTUAL, too educated to receive Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Jesus said:

Mark 10:15 … Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

God came to His creation as a little Child. We must receive Him as a little child. The Angel told the Shepherds:

unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord

That little Baby in the Manger, the Lamb of God, is A SAVIOR. He is the only Means by which we can be saved. He is THE LORD. When the Shepherds heard this, they did what any sane person would do. They dropped everything and went to the Lamb:

Luke 2:15-17 … the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

They left their sheep, and went to the Lamb. They went “with haste”. They didn’t hesitate, for hearing that God was with us, they put aside all else. Nothing is more important than surrendering to Jesus, to embracing the Lamb. And after they saw the Lamb of God, they didn’t head back to their sheep right away. No,

when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child

They told others about Jesus. They were

Luke 2:20 … glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Closing Plea

“IT CAME TO PASS”. If you live your life without Jesus, one day you will regret it. A young 16 year old girl killed a student and a teacher at a Christian School in Wisconsin before killing herself. The world blames guns. The problem is not guns. In January of this year, 2024 a man stabbed seven people, killing four. In April 2024 a person killed six people with a knife before police shot and killed him.

Cain didn’t use a gun to kill Abel – and probably not a knife. What kills? Sin. The Bible tells us that,

Romans 6:23 … the wages of sin is DEATH

You need Jesus. It is only Jesus that will “SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS” (Matthew 1:21). Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? If not, today would be a great day to receive the gift of Christmas, the little Lamb of God, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Do so without delay, I beg you.

Amen.