2 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 Beth-lehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

Many have talked about government interference this year. Many have theorised, presented data. Here is a New Testament example of governmental and imperial interference in the lives of the citizens of the Roman Empire. We complain about masks, but look at this decree! Everyone had to LEAVE where they were and go to their home town. “All the world” is Luke’s take on the situation. How many conspiracies could have been floated then? Whatever it was, an interference, an inconvenience, an imposition it was right within prophetic scripture.

The Lord spoke to me today as I was in a local Abbey admiring the preparations for Christmas when the arrows and barriers, mask wearing, sanitiser, struck me as a real conditioning of a worship experience. Then the Lord said to me it was nothing in comparison to Joseph and Mary’s journey down to Bethlehem. The timing was humanly “inconvenient” because Mary must have been 7-9 months pregnant. Then the danger involved to the unborn!

Inconvenience will shake us into a journey to our purpose

 Joseph and Mary were both in the tribe of Judah, a royal line from David. And Bethlehem was the root of the lineage…prophetic from the point of view of Micah the prophet.

And thou Beth-lehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Micah 5:2

As the journey was to identify the houses, so Joseph is identified with David. This journey is a journey of identification with the promise that God would raise His Rule from Bethlehem. God is not taking us to the objective of our own rule, but His, and not to our success but to His Kingdom. God visited Joseph in a dream, and Mary with an angelic visitation, and now He is placing the Birth of Jesus perfectly within the prophetic purpose of God. This year I have had many wonder if God made a mistake with them, as lives have been turned upside down, but the inconvenience, the upheavals, are directly within God’s perfect purpose. We have not missed it. Our journey through the year, with pain, with discomfort is all to be revealed on the birthing of Him who comes to each generation.

It is time to journey, and stop struggling at leaving where we were.

It is time to identify with David…

 David represents the Root of Jesus, represents the changes we need for eternity. Isaiah 11 speaks of the shoot which comes…Revelation 22:16 speaks of the Root and Offspring of David! When we see Isaiah 11 manifest in Revelation 4 and 5, we see that we must “make our own journey to Bethlehem” too. The Lampstand needs to be in our midst, because it represents the Sevenfold Spirit of Isaiah 11, and it represent the 7 fires, 7 virtues which form the foundation of the Eternal Kingdom. These 7 fires operate in the Church. Jesus rebukes the Church in Ephesus and threatens to remove their Lampstand.

The Lampstand is the distinction between a secular or sacred organisation connected to the world or to God. The Lampstand is a guarantee of that “Shekinah” glory in our midst. It is the Sevenfold Spirit that guides us not to make human judgments made by our senses, but made via our walk by that same Spirit. It is the Lampstand that enables us to abide in the eternal realms as we grow into fulness of each aspect. Zechariah 4 tells us where the “oil” comes from when the Lamps are lit. They come from the Olive Trees of the Covenant. So as we identify with David, we are identifying with eternal aspects of the Root of Jesus, the fruit being the Coming of Jesus, His Earthly Mission, His death, His Resurrection, His Ascension and Glorification. Today the tendency is to see Christmas as merely a Christian festival, which leaves out the connection with David. David is the foundation for our placing in Christ. In Revelation we are called to be Kings and Priests. We are seeing in David the pattern for the New Testament believer. Not for the rejection of the Jews till now, is that spiritual connection broken. Identifying in David is connecting us to the Root and making us the Offspring in Christ. What this does is bring to fulness in our lives the eternal purpose of God the Father.

God is using government as a vehicle to birth His Eternal Government

The birth of Jesus the Messiah is the start of the Government of God birthed within the world. We see this prophesied in Isaiah 9, and is the opening Scripture to the Anglican 9 Lessons and Carols. It is not the totality of the start, we see the second stage in Acts 2, when the Church, the Ecclesia, is inaugurated with the pouring of the Spirit from on high. Then for the 3rd time in Acts 4, when the Spirit came again as government came against the Church.

Here in Luke 2 the governing Empire got Joseph and Mary precisely in the place God wanted them to be. When governments oppose the Ecclesia, so God will get the Ecclesia where she needs to be for God to fulfil His Purpose. We must recognise Psalm 2 being pivotal in this understanding, the pivotal statement from the Father, is that He has set His King upon His Holy Hill. So no matter what earthly governments legislate against His Ecclesia, so as we speak to the King, so these governments shall not hinder the purposes of God. Look at the Captivity, when Nebuchadnezzar had come to bind in chains God’s covenant people, those who submitted to dislocation and captivity were given favour, those who resisted were pursued with the Sword. Jeremiah 37. How we must discern the purposes of God in this day!!

Herod tried to seek out the King and came back empty handed, and died shortly after. So whatever happens on the governmental level against God’s people, Jesus shall be birthed in our generation.

This message is to encourage us that 2020 has been DIRECTLY within God’s plan. Whatever and whoever opposes does not prevent, does not stop, God’s plan will be complete!

We must make this statement this Christmas!

Shalom!