“. . . a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.”  Most of us recognize that piece of the Christmas story.  We can locate Augustus historically as the ruler of imperial Rome and we all know about taxation and governmental decrees.

We may not think very much about the decree behind the decree.  God had told the prophets that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.  But Mary, God’s choice for the Messiah’s mother, did not live in Bethlehem and had no reason to go there, especially not being pregnant.  Obviously, in order to predict the future, God must know ahead of time what will happen.  There must have been something in the plan that would put Mary in Bethlehem when the time came for the Messiah to be born.  Caesar’s decree was in fact preceded by another decree, an overarching plan for history designed by God himself.

One need not think along these lines very far to arrive at some serious questions, and theologians have not been slow to ask them.  Preeminent among them is how our choices can have any meaning if the whole story is already written.  Could Caesar not have issued his decree?  Did God predict Bethlehem on the basis of knowing what Caesar was going to do or did He in some way arrange the events?  To use a different example, Christ was crucified according to the “predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23).  How then were Judas and the Jewish leadership held guilty for what they did?  Is human life more than a stage play?  Are the choices we make more than illusion?

These questions admit of no easy answers.  As applied to the problem of evil, they challenge the very goodness of God.  They are the source of some significant divisions within the Christian church.  However one qualifies God’s decree or tries to relate it to meaningful human choice, the bottom line is that God does in fact have a plan that He is working out.  That fact ought to encourage us greatly.  The end of history is not in doubt.  The ultimate winner is already known.  A sovereign God is only a threat to those who will not obey Him.