December 1st. The official first day of the Christmas season, and the first day of Advent. I thought I might do a little something that would help me focus on what this season is really about, and maybe it could help you, too. I’m going to take the story of Jesus’s birth, found in Luke 2, and go verse by verse, 1 through 24, to see what happens. Here we go…

In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

Can you imagine what it was like “in those days?” Slow-moving by today’s standards, even for the Roman Empire, and manual. I think of that period of time and the first picture that comes to mind is that everyone is doing everything manually. It’s all physical, and blood, sweat, and tears. It was a hard life filled with strict laws and lots and lots of rules. The Jewish people had not heard from God in 400 years, and the last 63 of those years had found them under the thumb of the Roman Caesar.

We are a vastly independent people, here in 21st century America. While we certainly have laws that govern our land, I think most of us don’t feel oppressed by them. They are in place to keep the peace rather than to enslave. And even in this coming election year, while there are quite a few of us looking for a “savior” of the American ideal, it’s a far cry from waiting hundreds of years for a Savior of the world.

To those of us who’ve found that Savior, we’re still waiting for His second coming. While we’re going about the business of following the law, and paying our taxes, and even being counted on the census of today, are we expectant? Do we live everyday with an eye to the sky, ready for, and anticipating freedom from the bonds of this world like the Jews in the BC Roman Empire?

Maybe those days are not all that different from these. Or, maybe they shouldn’t be.

Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him… ~ Revelation 1:7 ESV