R.C. Sproul

And all those who heard it marveled at those things that were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things.

pondered them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them.

The first thing we see about Luke's narrative is found in the opening words.

He begins his account by saying, and it came to pass.

And then he goes on to speak of the activity of the emperor of the Roman Empire and of Quirinius, the governor of Syria.

Real people in real places in real history.

This story does not begin with the words, once upon a time, because this is no fairy tale.

This is sober history announcing the entrance into this world of our Savior.

And so Luke sets his narrative squarely in the context of real history.

And it came to pass, he says, in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This story in this narrative, friends, is about three kings.

One of those kings sits on the throne as the ruler and emperor of the greatest power on the face of the earth in Rome.

The second king sits not on a throne, but is wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in the manger.

This little king

is the King of Kings.

He rules over the king in Rome, and it's about the eternal King, the Lord God omnipotent who reigns from the moment of His work of creation to the moment of His work of fulfillment of His cosmos.

He is the great king who reigns over all things.

And so the story approximately speaks of an earthly decree that is issued and executed by the emperor in Rome.