Luke 2:6 Study Bible: It happened, while they were there, that the day had come that she should give birth.

◄ Luke 2:6 ►

While they were there, the time came for her Child to be born.

While they were there
This phrase sets the stage for the fulfillment of prophecy and divine timing. The "they" refers to Mary and Joseph, who have traveled to Bethlehem due to the Roman census. The journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was approximately 70-90 miles, a significant distance for a pregnant woman. The phrase underscores God's sovereignty in orchestrating events, as Bethlehem is the prophesied birthplace of the Messiah (Micah 5:2). The Greek word for "there" (ἐκεῖ) emphasizes the specific location, highlighting the importance of Bethlehem in salvation history.

the time came
This phrase indicates the culmination of divine timing. The Greek word used here for "time" (χρόνος) refers to a specific period or season. It suggests that everything was unfolding according to God's perfect plan. In the broader biblical narrative, this moment is the fulfillment of centuries of prophecy and anticipation. Galatians 4:4 echoes this sentiment, stating, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son."

for her to give birth
This phrase marks the miraculous event of the Incarnation. The Greek word for "give birth" (τεκεῖν) is a common term for childbirth, yet in this context, it signifies the extraordinary birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior. Theologically, this moment is profound, as it represents God taking on human flesh (John 1:14). Historically, childbirth in ancient times was fraught with danger, yet this birth is surrounded by divine protection and purpose. The phrase invites reflection on the humility and vulnerability of the Christ child, born in a humble setting, yet destined to change the world.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Mary
The mother of Jesus, chosen by God to bear His Son. Her journey to Bethlehem is a fulfillment of prophecy and divine plan.

2. Joseph
The earthly guardian of Jesus, who accompanies Mary to Bethlehem, demonstrating obedience and faithfulness.

3. Bethlehem
The prophesied birthplace of the Messiah, fulfilling Micah 5:2. It is significant as the City of David, linking Jesus to the Davidic line.

4. The Birth of Jesus
The central event of this passage, marking the incarnation of God in human form, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies.

5. The Census
The reason for Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem, orchestrated by God to fulfill His prophetic word.

Teaching Points

Divine Timing
God's plans unfold in His perfect timing. Just as the birth of Jesus occurred at the appointed time, we can trust God's timing in our lives.

Fulfillment of Prophecy
The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem fulfills specific prophecies, reminding us of the reliability and truth of God's Word.

Obedience and Faithfulness
Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem exemplifies obedience to God's plan, encouraging us to follow God's leading even when it requires sacrifice.

God's Sovereignty
The orchestration of events leading to Jesus' birth demonstrates God's control over history, assuring us of His sovereignty in our circumstances.

The Humble Beginnings of Jesus
Jesus' birth in humble circumstances teaches us about the value of humility and God's ability to use the lowly for His purposes.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus' birth strengthen your faith in the reliability of Scripture?

2. In what ways can you demonstrate obedience and faithfulness to God's leading in your life, as Mary and Joseph did?

3. How does understanding God's perfect timing in the birth of Jesus help you trust His timing in your own life situations?

4. What does the humble setting of Jesus' birth teach you about God's values and priorities?

5. How can you apply the lesson of God's sovereignty in orchestrating events to your current life challenges?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Micah 5:2
This Old Testament prophecy foretells the birthplace of the Messiah, connecting to the significance of Bethlehem in Luke 2:6.

Isaiah 7:14
This prophecy speaks of a virgin bearing a son, which is fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, highlighting the divine nature of His birth.

Matthew 1:18-25
Provides additional context on the birth of Jesus, emphasizing the fulfillment of prophecy and the role of Joseph.

Galatians 4:4
Speaks of the fullness of time when God sent His Son, connecting to the timing of Jesus' birth in Luke 2:6.

John 1:14
Describes the Word becoming flesh, which is the theological underpinning of the event described in Luke 2:6.

Sermons

People

Anna, Aser, Asher, Augustus, Cyrenius, David, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Phanuel, Simeon

Places

Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Nazareth, Rome, Syria

Topics

Accomplished, Birth, Born, Bringing, Child, Completed, Delivered, Forth, Fulfilled, Full, Giving, Pass

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Luke 2:1-20

2515 Christ, birth of

Luke 2:1-40

5652 babies

Luke 2:4-7

     2206   Jesus, the Christ
     2421   gospel, historical foundation
     5663   childbirth

Luke 2:4-16

5099 Mary, mother of Christ

Luke 2:5-7

2535 Christ, family of

Luke 2:6-7

2033 Christ, humanity
5720 mothers, examples

Library

December 25. "I Bring You Glad Tidings" (Luke ii. 10).
"I bring you glad tidings" (Luke ii. 10). A Christmas spirit should be a spirit of humanity. Beside that beautiful object lesson on the Manger, the Cradle, and the lowly little child, what Christian heart can ever wish to be proud? It is a spirit of joy. It is right that these should be glad tidings, for, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." It is a spirit of love. It should be the joy that comes from giving joy to others. The central fact of Christmas is …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Was, Is, is to Come
'... The babe lying in a manger...'--LUKE ii. 16. '... While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven...'--LUKE xxiv. 51. 'This same Jesus... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go...'--ACTS I. 11. These three fragments, which I have ventured to isolate and bring together, are all found in one author's writings. Luke's biography of Jesus stretches from the cradle in Bethlehem to the Ascension from Olivet. He narrates the Ascension twice, because it has two …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Boy in the Temple
'And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me! wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?' --LUKE ii. 49. A number of spurious gospels have come down to us, which are full of stories, most of them absurd and some of them worse, about the infancy of Jesus Christ. Their puerilities bring out more distinctly the simplicity, the nobleness, the worthiness of this one solitary incident of His early days, which has been preserved for us. How has it been preserved? If you will look over …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Simeon's Swan-Song
'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: 30. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.'--LUKE ii. 29,30. That scene, when the old man took the Infant in his withered arms, is one of the most picturesque and striking in the Gospel narrative. Simeon's whole life appears, in its later years, to have been under the immediate direction of the Spirit of God. It is very remarkable to notice how, in the course of three consecutive verses, the operation of that divine Spirit …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Shepherds and Angels
'And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. 10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Angel's Message and Song
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the LORD came upon them, and the glory of the LORD shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the LORD . And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

December the Nineteenth the Sun of Righteousness
"A light to lighten the Gentiles." --LUKE ii. 25-40. That was the wonder of wonders. Hitherto the light had been supposed to be for Israel alone; and now a heavenly splendour was to fall upon the Gentiles. Hitherto the light had been thought of as a lamp, illuming a single place; now it was to be a sun, shedding its glory upon a world. The "people that sat in darkness" are now to see "a great light." New regions are to be occupied; there is to be daybreak everywhere! "The Sun of Righteousness …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

December the Twenty-Fifth Christmas Cheer
"Good will toward men!" --LUKE ii. 8-20. The heavens are not filled with hostility. The sky does not express a frown. When I look up I do not contemplate a face of brass, but the face of infinite good will. Yet when I was a child, many a picture has made me think of God as suspicious, inhumanly watchful, always looking round the corner to catch me at the fall. That "eye," placed in the sky of many a picture, and placed there to represent God, filled my heart with a chilling fear. That God was …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Religious Joy.
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."--Luke ii. 10, 11. There are two principal lessons which we are taught on the great Festival which we this day celebrate, lowliness and joy. This surely is a day, of all others, in which is set before us the heavenly excellence and the acceptableness in God's sight of that state which …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Wilderness: Temptation. Matthew 4:1-11. Mark 1:12, 13. Luke 4:1-13.
The University of Arabia: Jesus' naturalness--the Spirit's presence--intensity, Luke 2:45-51.--a true perspective--- the temptation's path--sin's path--John's grouping, 1 John 2:16.--the Spirit's plan--why--the devil's weakness--the Spirit's leading--a wilderness for every God-used man, Moses, Elijah, Paul. Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar: Jesus the only one led up to be tempted--the wilderness--its history, Genesis 13:10-13. 18:16-19:38.--Jesus really tempted--no wrong here in inner response--every …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Joy Born at Bethlehem
In our text we have before us the sermon of the first evangelist under the gospel dispensation. The preacher was an angel, and it was meet it should be so, for the grandest and last of all evangels will be proclaimed by an angel when he shall sound the trumpet of the resurrection, and the children of the regeneration shall rise into the fullness of their joy. The key-note of this angelic gospel is joy--"I bring unto you good tidings of great joy." Nature fears in the presence of God--the shepherds …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

"Nunc Dimittis"
We shall note, this morning, first, that every believer may be assured of departing in peace; but that, secondly, some believers feel a special readiness to depart now: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;" and, thirdly, that there are words of encouragement to produce in us the like readiness: "according to thy word." There are words of Holy Writ which afford richest consolation in prospect of departure. I. First, then, let us start with the great general principle, which is full of comfort; …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Christ About his Father's Business
But now I shall invite your attention, first, to the spirit of the Saviour, as breathed in these words, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" and then, secondly, I shall exhort the children of God, with all the earnestness which I can command, with all the intensity of power which I can summon to the point, to labour after the same spirit, that they too may unfeignedly say, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? " I. First, then note THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. It was …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

The First Christmas Carol
Let us turn aside, having just thought of angels for a moment, to think rather of this song, than of the angels themselves. Their song was brief, but as Kitto excellently remarks, it was "well worthy of angels expressing the greatest and most blessed truths, in words so few, that they become to an acute apprehension, almost oppressive by the pregnant fulness of their meaning"--"Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." We shall, hoping to be assisted by the Holy Spirit, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Christ's Boyhood
LUKE ii. 52. And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour both with God and man. I do not pretend to understand these words. I preach on them because the Church has appointed them for this day. And most fitly. At Christmas we think of our Lord's birth. What more reasonable, than that we should go on to think of our Lord's boyhood? To think of this aright, even if we do not altogether understand it, ought to help us to understand rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

The Christ Child (Christmas Day. )
LUKE ii. 7. And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapt him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. Mother and child.--Think of it, my friends, on Christmas day. What more beautiful sight is there in the world? What more beautiful sight, and what more wonderful sight? What more beautiful? That man must be very far from the kingdom of God--he is not worthy to be called a man at all--whose heart has not been touched by the sight of his first child in its mother's bosom. The greatest …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Music (Christmas Day. )
LUKE ii. 13, 14. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. You have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of the first Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; what Peace on earth and good-will towards man meant, I have often told you. To-day I want you, for once, to think of this--that it was a hymn; that these angels were singing, even as …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Of Having Confidence in God when Evil Words are Cast at Us
"My Son, stand fast and believe in Me. For what are words but words? They fly through the air, but they bruise no stone. If thou are guilty, think how thou wouldst gladly amend thyself; if thou knowest nothing against thyself, consider that thou wilt gladly bear this for God's sake. It is little enough that thou sometimes hast to bear hard words, for thou art not yet able to bear hard blows. And wherefore do such trivial matters go to thine heart, except that thou art yet carnal, and regardest …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Birth of Jesus.
(at Bethlehem of Judæa, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke II. 1-7. ^c 1 Now it came to pass in those days [the days of the birth of John the Baptist], there went out a decree [a law] from Cæsar Augustus [Octavius, or Augustus, Cæsar was the nephew of and successor to Julius Cæsar. He took the name Augustus in compliment to his own greatness; and our month August is named for him; its old name being Sextilis], that all the world should be enrolled. [This enrollment or census was the first step …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Circumcision, Temple Service, and Naming of Jesus.
(the Temple at Jerusalem, b.c. 4) ^C Luke II. 21-39. ^c 21 And when eight days [Gen. xvii. 12] were fulfilled for circumcising him [The rite was doubtless performed by Joseph. By this rite Jesus was "made like unto his brethren" (Heb. ii. 16, 17); that is, he became a member of the covenant nation, and became a debtor to the law--Gal. v. 3] , his name was called JESUS [see Luke i. 59], which was so called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. [Luke i. 31.] 22 And when the days of their …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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