Faithful on Fridays Blog

The first coming of Christ surprised everyone but God’s timing had finally arrived. The virgin conceived (Is. 7:14), the couple traveled to Bethlehem (Micah 5:1-5), and the birth of a king was accomplished: all prophesied. We know that lower story, what happened in real life, hearing it every Christmas but let’s consider the upper story, what was happening in the spirit world.

Prophecy, God’s word spoken through man, needed to be fulfilled before the Messiah could appear on earth the first time; the Jewish people understood that truth but so did Satan. He needed to stop the incarnation of King David’s Offspring (2 Sam. 7:12-14, 16) whose kingdom will never end; he must’ve hated that prophecy. Satan was determined to remain in his high position of authority as the prince of evil in heavenly places (Eph. 2:2, 6:12), therefore, he determined an intervention was necessary.

As Mary’s labor pains began Joseph must’ve been frantic to find a place for her to give birth (lower story): there was no place for them at the inn. Why would God make that negative point: no place? Undoubtedly because there was an upper story that needed to be revealed. 

The Greek word for ‘place’ is topos which can mean a physical location (lower story), however, it can also mean a ‘place’ of authority or power (upper story). God was clear, there was ‘no place’ at the inn. Why?

Let’s look at the Greek word ‘inn’ for our answer: kataluma. This word can mean a lodge or guest room (lower story) but it’s actually two words. The first, kata, means to come down from a higher to a lower place or position with an end point in mind. Luma, comes from the word luo meaning to destroy, overthrow, abolish, or bring to nothing; here’s my thought.

God said “No” to the inn because He had already prepared a place and the prince of demons would not overthrow that plan. Spiritually, there was no place at the inn, no place for Satan to destroy the plan of a Savior, a King, born to reign over him. 

Now, there are other places that God has ordained. Golgotha, the place of the Skull (Mark 15:22) where Jesus was crucified, the place of torment (Luke 16:28) where Satan and his demons will spend eternity, Jerusalem, the place of worship (John 4:20), and a place for us to be with God eternally: I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:2-3).

Paul must’ve understood this upper story since he commanded us to give ‘no place’ to the devil (Eph. 4:27) and consequently allow him to bring destruction to our life. We need to improve on giving Satan ‘no place’ in our lives.

So, the inn was the wrong place but God had another place in mind where angels would be crying out:

Glory to God in the Highest!

That was the right place.