His Own City

So all went to be registered,

everyone to his own city.

Joseph also went up from Galilee,

out of the city of Nazareth,

into Judea, to the city of David,

which is called Bethlehem,

because he was of the house and lineage of David,

to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,

who was with child.

Luke 2:3-5, NKJV

I love the prophetic nature of the Bible, that the Scriptures record how God precisely revealed the details surrounding the coming of His Only Begotten Son. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, the particulars were already planned, spoken, and written down. And not one item was left to chance. This was all fulfilled in the hands and at the will of the Great Orchestrator.

Four places are mentioned in this passage: Galilee, Nazareth, Judea, and Bethlehem. Matthew will also add Egypt, but I'll deal with that another time. There are prophecies concerning each of those places in the Old Testament in regards to the coming of the Messiah.

Isaiah 9:1 tells us that "in Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." Jesus childhood, early adulthood, and the first portion of his ministry took place in the region around the Sea of Galilee.

Isaiah 11:1 states "There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots." In Matthew's Gospel, it says that Joseph and Mary took Jesus to be raised in Nazareth that he might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazarene." And yet there is no Old Testament Scripture that actually says that. Perhaps it was a reference to some oral tradition, but the word Nazarene in Hebrew is from the same root as the word Branch. Jesus was that promised Branch, and He was associated with a town that meant Branch, and therefore was called Jesus the Branch (Nazarene).

Genesis 49:10 says, "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet." The province of Judea took its name from the ancient tribal lands belonging to Judah, both of which occupied the same geographical areas, and Jesus was born in the province of Judea, but also to a family that descended on both sides from the tribe of Judah.

Micah 5:2 told that "Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting." It would be this Scripture the scholars would consult to pinpoint the birthplace of Messiah for King Herod and the Magi from the East.

Not only that, but God had also made a covenant with David that there would always be an heir to sit upon His throne, and that the House of David would rule over Israel forever. Even prophecies concerning the great Kingdom of the Messiah--what we call the Millennial Reign of Christ--indicate that David will once again sit on his throne.

So in 3 BC, a descendant of David, of the tribe of Judah, who had been born in Bethlehem but was living in Nazareth, took as his wife another descendant of David (as well as the Aaronic priests)--a woman who had conceived a son by the power of the Holy Spirit. And events around the world were transpiring that would take this young couple from their home in the north, relocate them to a temporary home in Bethlehem before sending them into Egypt so that later their Son could be brought out of Egypt, back to the land of His birth, and placed back in Nazareth in Galilee. All so that the prophecies could be fulfilled exactly.

Because prophecy from God should be exact, and so should the fulfillment. Not almost. Not mostly. Not all but for one tiny detail. All of it. And Christ was exactly that.