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Matthew 2:1-23
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod
the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have
seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When
Herod the king had heard these
things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And
when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the
people together, he demanded of them where Christ [Messiah] should
be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of
Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, 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]. Then
Herod, when he had privily [secretly] called the wise men, inquired
of them diligently what time the star appeared. And
he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently
for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring
me word again, that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed;
and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them,
till it came and stood over where the young child was. When
they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house,
they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down,
and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures,
they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And
being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to
Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And
when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth
to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child
and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until
I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy
him. When he arose,
he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed
into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod: that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called my son. [Hosea 11:1] Then
Herod, when he saw he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding
wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in
Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old
and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired
of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken
by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard,
lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her
children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. [Jeremiah
31:15] But when Herod
was dead, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream
to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and
his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead
which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child
and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But
when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of
his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding,
being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts
of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets,
He shall be called a Nazarene.” [Isaiah 11:1]
“Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 2. And my voice is a little hoarse this morning. But I think we’re going to do fine. I’m not sick, so you can shake my hand, you don’t have to worry. But I think I just beat up on my vocal pipes pretty much this week, in fact I know I have, just all that crying out to God while it was raining, you know [September 18th Stand New England, coupled to hurricane Ivan]. But anyhow, we should do just fine. The Battle for Marriage simulcast, as mentioned, we’ve been announcing it. But for certain reasons, I’ll note this as we go on, we’re not going to have that tonight, and there’s certain reasons for that. So, we’re going to have to redirect people. If you were planning on coming and you want to be part of that, of course, Tony Perkins yesterday, who came and spoke at the Stand New England, he’s part of The Battle for Marriage, he’s on that simulcast. But if you want to be part of that, you’ll have to go to Redemption Rock tonight, they’re actually airing the simulcast. Tonight we’ll have our normal prayer-meeting that we normally do on a Sunday night. Hey, so let’s say a word of prayer again. We’re looking at Matthew chapter 2, and just want to remind the men again, the men’s retreat coming up, next month, you need to sign up for that. It’s a neat thing the Lord is doing, I even wondered about putting it into a, maybe turning it into a marriage retreat, because all the guys are coming with their wives. So we’ll actually have three pastors and their wives from different Calvary Chapels with us that weekend. I wondered, maybe we should do a marriage retreat. But I think it’s too late to do that. So it’s a men’s retreat. Maybe something will happen with the gals on Sunday night that weekend or something, we’ll see. So keep that in mind, men, neat opportunity next month. And then, not this Wednesday, but next Wednesday, Steve Schneider, he’s from Tel Aviv, he’s a Messianic Jew, he’s a concert pianist, recorded some CDs, I actually went on the Internet and watched him as he led worship at a church in Korea, they had a version of it on the Internet, and I watched it and just pretty cool. He’ll be with us on the 29th, that Wednesday night, that’ll be upstairs…on Wednesday night, the 29th, September 29th. And let’s say that word of prayer. ‘Lord, as we now come to the study of your Word, we just thank you once more, Sunday morning, we can freely come, and we can gather, and we can look at the Word of God, we can look at truth. Of course we have experienced this throughout the week, we have things coming at us, things going into our heads, and it’s great to get right back on track with the truth, and to know what the truth is. So I thank you for that Lord, and I ask that you’d protect the sound equipment here [it’s ringing pretty bad], but also Lord, that you’d just in your grace keep us focused, that we would hear your Spirit speak to our hearts. And so Holy Spirit, be upon all of us, and also upon myself even now. And I thank you, in Jesus name, amen.’
True Servants of God in Unexpected Places
Matthew chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, “Now after Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod, behold, wise men
from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who
has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east,
and have come to worship him.’ When
Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem
with him. And when he gathered all the chief priests
and the scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where
the Christ was to be born. So
they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is
written by the prophet, ‘But you Bethlehem in the land
of Judah are not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out
of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’’ Then Herod when he had secretly called
the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go
and search carefully for the young child, and when you have found
him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship him also.’ When they heard the king, they departed
and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before
them until it came and stood over where the young child was. When
they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house
they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down
and worshipped him. And
when they had opened their treasures they presented gifts to
him, gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then being divinely warned in a dream
that they should not return to Herod they departed to their own
country another way.” (verses
1-12)
J.C.
Ryle makes the point that these Magi, wise men, expected the Christ,
but it’s not known whether this expectation came from the
10-tribes [of Israel, the 10 northern tribes who were taken into
captivity in 721-718BC], or from Daniel’s prophecies, or
whether they were Arabs, Persians or Babylonians. But they were true servants of God, Yahweh. Jesus
does, throughout all the ages, have ‘hidden ones’ who
are his. Remember God’s
statement to Elijah who was complaining of being the only servant
of God left. Yahweh
told him there were seven thousand of his servants left ‘who
had not bowed the knee to Baal’. Also
the Holy Spirit can lead souls to Christ without any help from
outward means. There are hidden believers traveling the
road to salvation, which the visible Church knows nothing about. These Magi, wise men, are proof of that.
The fulfillment of four Old Testament prophecies are
recorded in Matthew 2
1.) He was to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). 2.) He was to be called out of Egypt )(Hosea 11:1). 3.) There was to be weeping in Rama (Jeremiah 31:15). 4.) He was the Root from the Stem of Jesse, and therefore to be called a Nazarene (Isaiah 11:1).
Visit of the Magi, wise men
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (verses 1-3). These wise men came in the days of Herod the Great. One thing Herod didn’t want was competition, he would not tolerate it. He killed many in his own family because he was afraid of competition. These ‘wise men’ came looking for a king, and it wasn’t Herod they were looking for! How did the ‘wise men’ know about the Messiah’s birth? Numbers 24:17, the prophecy of Balaam may be a clue. If the whole city of Jerusalem, not just Herod, was troubled, there may have been far more than just “three wise men”. Could have been a whole slew of them. Herod made the Mafia look like choir boys, the original Don Carleone, a real 1st century Mafia boss. Now back to our pastor’s transcript. “Of course we’re back here in the Christmas narrative. And we’re studying verse by verse here through the Gospel of Matthew. Now as we noted last week, this is probably a good time to be studying the narrative of Jesus’ birth, because it’s probably true that Jesus was born more toward this time of year [September-October] than in December that we celebrate the birth of Christ on. [See http://www.unityinchrist.com/messianicmovement/festiavloflights2.htm] Although at this particular time, as we begin chapter 2, this may have actually been a period of time after the birth of Christ. We know that at this time it would seem it’s within two years, or probably a year or two after he was born. But it’s not necessarily, you know you get the Nativity scene in your mind, the little baby just born in the manger, and here come the wise men. But it’s probably been a period of time since we saw last week. But maybe a year, maybe a year and a half. I think verse 16, verse 11, gives us a sense that it’s a bit of time later. Now as we’ve mentioned, Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience. He’ seeking to demonstrate and prove that indeed this man Jesus that they heard so much about, and they even saw and understood that he did miracles and things like that---that he was indeed the Messiah. Some were saying that he did miracles for other reasons. In fact there’s even some traditions written in the Talmud that for other reasons he’d been doing this. He was accused even at times of being used by the Devil, supernaturally. But Matthew here is writing to show that this is the Messiah, this is the Son of God. And as we saw in chapter 1 at the beginning, the genealogy, of course demonstrating he has legal right to the throne, fulfilling the promises to David, and also fulfilling the promises to Abraham, as noted in the genealogy. And then as the chapter went on, Matthew in the last part of the chapter, then even shows in the birth of Jesus Christ, there was something very unusual about him. Of course it was supernatural, his conception. And just the whole scene around it, there was something very unique, very powerful, this is indeed the Messiah he is writing about, showing the fulfillment of the prophecies. But in fulfilling that, he’s also not just a man, he’s very human, but yet he’s also God, he’s God-man, the Son of God incarnate, Emmanuel as we saw in the end of Matthew 1, the prophecy, Emmanuel, God with us. So now we get to chapter 2, and now right after the birth of Christ, he’s again showing as he’s giving the details, just the unusualness to this man’s life, even things going on around it. Clear proof, repeated proof that this was the Son of God, that this was the Messiah. Of course, it’s shown in the people that came to visit him, as we see here, where he was born. Very unusual, people coming from far places like this, and of course who they were. And then, just as we go on, there was different things as we’ll see that just demonstrate there’s something going on with this man’s life, not just the good things, but also the bad things. Not just the fact that there were these miraculous happenings, and just clearly God’s blessing going on in his life, proving that he was the Messiah, but also the fact that the darkness at times surrounded his life, some of the evil, some of the ugliness that was around him and his environment, just the opposition against him. As Matthew is showing, this man was the Messiah. He was clearly the Son of God. And you know, in a strange way, when I have Christ in my life, it’s true in my life also. Not just God’s blessing on my life proves that I’m a Christian, not just the fact that he’s healing my heart and healing my life and giving me victory, and there’s this work of the Spirit of God in me, healing my family, he’s working, that’s evidence. I’m a Christian, there’s something very real. But also the fact that I have opposition. The fact that there’s also some ugliness that comes my way, and there’s a battle and there’s a war. This just proves Christ is in me too. And as Matthew is showing that, and it’s true also in our lives. You know, when somebody accepts Christ in our church, through maybe a friend or maybe during a service, after the service I’ll often say, I’ll meet with them in the back room, “You know you’re a Christian now, you’re just getting started,” and we’ll talk about what that means. But I’ll mention to them, “You know you’ve also entered into the battle, and you have an enemy. And you’ll see that now, and maybe you didn’t have any experiences like that before, but Christ is in you, and there is going to be opposition. But here’s the deal. As it happens in your life, it only proves all the more, that something very real has happened in you. Something very real is going on in your life, the fact that these things are going to come your way. And the truth is too, God is going to use it to the good, he’s going to mature you, he’s going to perfect you, he’s going to build you up and strengthen you through it.” But maybe you’re a new-believer too, and you’ve had some, man, maybe some evil come your way, some opposition and some hardship. It goes with being a Christian, Christ is in you, and there’s light and there’s dark, and the spiritual darkness is very much against Christ. And we’ll see that here as Matthew writes. Well, as he lists there in verse 1, after the birth of Christ, some unusual men briefly come into the life of Christ when he was very young. Again, probably he’s definitely less than two, maybe even a year or so, less than a year, we don’t know for sure. Now these guys, we refer to them as the wise guys, the wise men. The New King James, that’s the way it’s rendered here. The Magi, maybe if you have another translation. Now the word “wise men” comes from the Greek word Magi, and Magi is actually the Greek word that’s listed in this text. They’re also referred to as the kings, or the three kings. Now we know that they weren’t actually kings. That notion actually comes from various interpretations of the Old Testament, that as people looked at the prophecies about the Messiah, then they conjecture, these guys were kings. But we believe that they weren’t kings. But passages like Isaiah chapter 60, verse 3, “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising”, passages like that. So, rising, Gentile, there we are, these guys must be kings. But they more than likely were not kings, they were these Magi, and it’s a good guess they were from Persia. Daniel was a Magi, that is this priestly caste in Persia. Of course Daniel was even an overseer in that caste, as you study the book of Daniel. And it’s a good guess that’s where they’ve come from, they’ve come from the east. We don’t know for sure that they’ve come from there. It doesn’t say that. But that’s a real good guess. And because they were Magi, and in Persia, you know our word magician comes from the word Magi. And so we understand them to be astrologers, not necessarily magicians in the way that we understand magicians. You know, not too long ago, we were blessed with some tickets to go to Six Flags, and I went with my kids because we were blessed with some tickets, my son and daughter. And there was this little magician show, and so I thought it would be fun for my kids. So I took them in there. And of course, that slight of hand, that whole deal. Of course we had to leave because there was stuff going on there, I was stunned they were actually doing, letting kids in. But we left. But not that type of magician, when it says Magi here we understand the culture at the time, they were these astrologers, they studied the stars [not like the astrologers, who are into demonism and all that], and in doing that, they also interpreted the stars. Now this passage is not validity for astrology today, you know the stuff, horoscopes and all that nonsense. That stuff is pagan, that stuff is no good. As a Christian you shouldn’t have it in your life in any way. I know of young believers that look into the horoscopes, you know, for what they need to do that day, meet somebody special, now’s a good time to go to the bank, because maybe some more will come out, whatever the stuff is. Like there’s 12 categories of people in our country, and we’ve all got the same thing going on, kind of strange. But yet there is power to darkness too, and it’s the occult, and it’s pagan. Keep it out of your life. Don’t even go there. This isn’t any validity for that, these guys, these guys are astrologers, and they do at the time, they interpret the stars in certain ways, and God uses it, and he speaks into their lives and he shows them things. These guys are discerning of the times. Now, you know in the pictures, I remember going to Puerto Rico, there was this celebration of these three kings. We don’t know for sure there were three, they’re Magi, there could have been more. [It says all of Jerusalem was troubled, along with Herod, so the arrival of the Magi, as J. Vernon McGee says, there must have been considerably more than three to trouble all of Jerusalem. McGee speculates there could have been as many as 300, or at least a considerable group of them.] There’s plural, but not necessarily three. The reason you come up with three is because they bring three gifts, so you have one representing the gold, one representing the frankincense and one the myrrh. There’s also legend that gives them names, three, Casper, Beltashazzar, Melchior, and there’s the tradition they represent Shem, Ham and Japheth, the ultimate descendants of Noah. And also interesting today, I find these things amusing, you can go into the Cologne Cathedral in Germany and see supposedly, there’s a casket there that contains the skulls of these three Magi, and I would really doubt that, but maybe it’s possible. [I think there’s three skulls there, but they aren’t of the Magi.] But there’s three skulls anyway, and they say they’re the skulls of the three Magi. Well these men come from another nation, they come to the city of Jerusalem and they’re seeking the Messiah, the King of the Jews, and they come for that reason, and as you see in the text that they’ve seen this unusual star. They’re astrologers [I’d say, back then, closer to being astronomers], and they’ve seen an unusual star, and they’ve discerned for some reason that this star is the sign of the birth of the King of the Jews. [“All I know is that in that section of the East, the people had that prophecy, which is a prophecy which is recorded in Numbers 24:17 (Remember that old Balaam gave this prophecy concerning the nation of Israel.) “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy the children of Shem.” These wise men in the East had that prophecy, and so they came out of the mysterious East seeking a king. This did disturb the city of Jerusalem and old king Herod.” See J. Vernon McGee in his commentary on Matthew 2.] Now how did they discern this? We don’t know how they discerned that. But they’ve seen this star, and there’s something radical about this star. And they’ve somehow discerned this star is for the King of the Jews. And so they head off to Jerusalem. We don’t know how they came over there, there’s all sorts of possibilities how that happened, maybe there was some kind of angelic messenger that came with that. It is interesting, that Moulten writes in his journal of theological studies, he writes that the Magicians believed that a star could be what was called the Favrishie, or the counterpart or an angel of a great man. So if you saw a star and there was something unusual about it, they believed that it could be what was called a Favrishie, the angel of a great man, or the counterpart. They had that belief. Well we don’t know exactly how they discerned it was the King of the Jews, there’s different possibilities. But I think a good one, maybe you’ve heard this, I’ve certainly taught this at different times, but coming from Persia, if that’s where they came from, you have Daniel, Daniel was a Magi. And Daniel was a man who God in a wonderful way, spoke through as a prophet, and he saw things into the future, and he recorded them. And one of the things he does record very clearly in different ways, especially Daniel chapter 9, is this prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. And the prophecy in Daniel chapter 9 is a prophecy that if you were discerning of the times, you could look and say ‘Wait a minute, this actually calculates the time, the year, when the Messiah would come, if you look at that prophecy in Daniel chapter 9. So, coming from Persia, being a Magi, then there’s a good sense they had that understanding of the Book of Daniel, the prophecies of Daniel. And then also understanding history, they go ‘Wait a minute, given this decree and all this, this is the time period for the King of the Jews.’ And now they see this star, and then they put the two together [i.e. or put Numbers 24:17 with Daniel 9.], the King of the Jews. ‘We’re expecting the King of the Jews, here’s this radical star, and we have this understanding of the Favrishie, this angel of a great man, must be the King of the Jews, let’s go, his time has come.’ That’s a real good possibility. There’s some interesting historical references about these guys. On the birth night of Alexander, based on their understanding of the constellations, they said that there was this foretelling in the stars that the destroyer of Asia had been born [Alexander went on to destroy the great Persian Empire], on the night of the birth of Alexander, very interesting. Also too, when Plato died, Magi traveled up to Athens and brought sacrifices in memory of his death. So these men have a certain way of looking at life and understanding the stars. They have discerned though, they’ve discerned something, and that is that the King of kings has been born, so they come. Now, because of the star, historically there have been people that have tried to determined what was the star? [Ha! I’m an astronomy buff, and if God wanted to make a special star, and then shut it down, easy for him to do it. Could have been an angel glowing at full-intensity.] Some have actually looked at, evidently 6BC the planet Jupiter and the planet Saturn took certain positions [but Jesus was born 4BC], and they take that to represent certain things, and they say that’s what they saw. Evidently they must have lined up in a certain way [Venus would have been a brighter planet, not Saturn and/or Jupiter, which are barely visible without a telescope]. Others indicate maybe it was a supernova. You can only guess, we don’t know. What is radical though is that the star appears again at the end of those verses I read, and when it appears again it takes them right to where they need to go, to the house. So there’s something really unusual, supernatural of course in this whole deal. And that just testifies that this man himself was out of the ordinary, he’s super-ordinary, he’s the Son of God. Now, what I’d like to note about these particular men, a lot of things we don’t know, but one thing I can say, and I’d like to note, there’s a picture there, these guys were discerning. They were discerning of the signs of the times. They knew, they actually come to the city of Jerusalem, and as we’ve mentioned in our other studies, historically there’s evidence that rabbis are teaching at this time that the Messiah was going to come, the way they understood the Biblical prophecies. Bolton actually writes in his writings, “The whole world was on a tiptoe of expectancy for something”, there was a sense at this time, something was going down. And so they come. So the fact that there is an expectancy in their hearts isn’t so unusual, but what is unusual, what stands out is they’re very discerning now of the time, and they come seeking as ‘He’s here, we’re trying to find him.’ There is that sense, they’ve discerned. And there’s a picture to me of being discerning of the times, the times that they’re in. And with that they make certain decisions, and they direct their path a certain way. They come a great distance into this downtown Jerusalem. And they come with a sense of excitement. Of course, rather than causing excitement in Jerusalem, they cause alarm. The people are alarmed, in fact it says there of Herod in verse 3, that “he was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him.” They’re not excited. You would think they would be excited. These guys come ‘The King of the Jews!’. You’d think the Pharisees and religious leaders would be ‘All right! Let’s go!’ But the whole city is troubled. Now why is the whole city troubled? Of course it has to do with the Romans, has to do with their relationship with the people of Israel they were over. And of course there was a lot of trouble and uprisings. And Herod was an evil, evil man. And so there’s the fear, a good guess is because, you’re saying ‘King of the Jews’, this isn’t going to go over well with Herod and the Romans. This is going to cause maybe a backlash. So, that’s a good reason, I’m sure for the troubling in the hearts of the people [at least the religious leaders, Herod and what the Romans would think]. But they’re discerning, they’re discerning. And so they’re prepared and ready, they’re searching. And that is a picture for you and I as Christians, as God’s people, it is vital, absolutely vital that we’re discerning of the signs of the times, the day that we live in. You know, the sons of Issachar, right, 1st Chronicles chapter 12, verse 32, the sons of Issachar, who had an understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. And it is vital that we are discerning, looking at the signs of the times, and therefore knowing what we ought to do too. It is so brutally dangerous to not be discerning of the times, it is so foolish not to discern, but just to go along with society and culture, just saying ‘Hey, this is great’, and yet not seeing the writing on the wall. These guys are discerning. You know, I think of Friday night. Of course we’ve been praying for so long that it wouldn’t rain yesterday. We’ll talk about that. We were praying so much, I prayed so much. I never planned so much for something all my life. And I was even saying, “I’m never planning something outdoors again in New England, that is it, that is it, never again, in New England, that is it, that is it, never again.” [chuckles] I guess the Lifefest in Parkhill was boot camp, God does that sometimes, he gives you a little boot camp to prepare you for later. So we had the experience of being soaked and drenched, and we didn’t die. And so I guess we were ready for yesterday, right? Oh boy, torrential downpour, deluge, and all sorts of people trying to read, signs of Noah, and whatever. But could be, could be. But boy, I was a little discouraged, we’d been praying so much, planning for this so much. You know, people are hearing about this around the country, we’ve been getting all sorts of phone calls and contacts. People around the country are aware of this, and these speakers coming, a national Christian man wanting to come and speak at the event, and then planning, and then hearing about the rain. I was a bit discouraged Friday night. I was praying, you know, turned on the TV a little bit before 11pm to catch the news just to see, you know, ‘OK Lord, come on, I know you told me it’s not gonna rain [laughter].’ Although it did stop raining, but then it started again. I thought it was a little different though, you know, I was just trying to picture it a little different, you know, the sun, the fields, people on their blankets, just enjoying Jesus, thousands, and instead it was a flood-plain, you know, we were standing in water, unbelievable, looking out at all these raincoats, pink and yellow, just not what I expected. I turn on the TV to catch the weather report, the reason why I’m sharing this is, I ended up not getting the report, because I turned it on and Barbara Walters was on at that moment interviewing. She was interviewing with this gal that hangs out with Ellen Degeneres, and what was alarming about it was they were talking about their sex life. I’m like, boy, it’s so out and out, they’re just talking like that. I had to turn off the TV, made me angry. And so now, Saturday morning I get up and it’s raining, and I’m really struggling through that, I mean it’s just coming down so hard, the rain, and so I thought, maybe it would stop, and it did I guess, and I went to the church on the way to Stand New England yesterday and got on the computer just hoping to see you know, some sun on the Weather Channel, the weather site, and it did say rain all day long. But as I did, some email came up, and it was an email from a gal, maybe you saw this, the NPR news had a little deal not long ago, and they were interviewing teachers in Boston. And as they were interviewing these teachers in Boston, they were interviewing them about homosexuality in the schools, now that same-sex marriage in this state has been legalized. [They were asking], ‘How has that changed your teaching on homosexuality in the schools?’ Well I was reading this real quick on the way to Stand New England because it got my attention. On NPR radio it just gives the interview. Some of the teachers in the Boston schools now have come out so boldly, in very descriptive terms, with the children in the Boston public schools, teaching them about homosexual sex, how you can do that. Now, I’m on the way to Stand New England, it’s raining, and I’m really discouraged about the rain. But you know, I have those experiences at times too, where maybe things are hard and things aren’t going as well as I’d hoped, but then there’s this reminder about the signs of the times, and it’s a sense that, you know you’re doing the right thing, the son’s of Issachar knew what they ought to do. And we need to pray whether or not it’s raining or not, you know, as Peter Marshal got up yesterday, in the very beginning, talked about the Pilgrims and their perseverance through very hard times and a little rain shouldn’t stop us. But the signs of the times. You know if they’re doing that today in the public schools, we are foolish people if we just think that we can just go along, and we can just ignore it, that it isn’t significant, what it’s going to do in our culture, our society. The signs of the times, we have to discern the signs of the times, and where we’re heading if something doesn’t change. So indeed it’s time to pray, it’s time to seek the face of God, it’s time for us as God’s people to repent of our own sin. All the speakers were reminding us yesterday to live holy and pure lives. And truly, if things don’t change, the signs are telling me that it’s not going to be easy to be a Christian. That’s what the signs say, if I’m discerning. It’s not gonna be easy in Massachusetts, it’s not going to be easy to be a pastor. Maybe you’ve even gotten an email with some type of defense act that they’re passing through Congress in the Senate right now, they’ve appended on that this “hate crimes” thing. And I guess it’s already gone through the Senate and now it’s up to the Congress (House of Representatives), at least if I remember correctly. But if that goes through, it’s the signs of the times. I don’t know if it was yesterday, was it yesterday or maybe it was on the radio on the way to Stand New England, all these things are coming my way, I think it was on the radio, talking about this “hate crimes” legislation that went through in Canada. A pastor was teaching in his pulpit in Canada, from the Bible, teaching through the Scriptures. Homosexual activists came into the service and started to protest because of what he was teaching, and to yell and scream. As a result, it started this whole high-energy thing, the police were called and they came---and who did they arrest? They arrested the pastor. The signs of the times. You have to be discerning to the signs of the times. Now as we go on in our text, of course they’re discerning in a sense that the Christ has come, and they’re [the Magi] not going to miss out on that. But as you go on in this passage, there is this discernment that is continually there with God’s people who are tuning in. And in some cases making decisions that they need to redirect their path and need to be wise about certain things, as we go on and read this chapter. But as I was preparing, you know, I haven’t had a ton of time to study with all that’s been going on. But it’s really been put on my heart and I’ve been thinking a lot about discerning the signs of the times, so important for you and I. So the question to you, is are you discerning that? It’s foolish not to, and just to go along. There is a lion out there that wants to devour, and if the Church is just going along nonchalantly, it won’t be too long before we’ll have people in our services, and we’re suddenly going to find, ‘Now wait minute, we can’t say those things, wait a minute, now we’re in trouble’, and on and on and on, on and on and on. [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/counterattack/counterattack1.htm.]
The scribes and priests
“And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of
the people together, he demanded of them where the Christ should
be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of
Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, 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. Then
Herod when he had privily [secretly] called the wise men, inquired
of them diligently what time the star appeared. And
he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently
for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring
me word again, that I may come and worship him also” (verses
4-8). The scribes and priests were filled
with
“head knowledge” but had no real heart for God. They
knew precisely where the Messiah, Christ, was to be born, Bethlehem,
and approximately when. But
did they travel to Bethlehem to search out the Messiah so they could worship him?---No. The
spiritual diligence of the Magi was evident, as seen by the fatigue
that an eastern desert traveler would encounter, greater than most
realize. Just ask some
of our boys back from Iraq what crossing the desert would be like
without their jeeps, Humvi’s, trucks and water-tankers. Ever
hear of a camel-spider? Look
that baby up on www.google.com. This journey to find the Messiah took
faith. And when they
found Jesus he was a baby, in a very humble setting, having no
outward signs he was the Messiah. And yet they’re bowing down to him,
presenting precious gifts to him. And
these very gifts, now that I think of it, may have provided for
his, Joseph’s and Mary’s unexpected journey to and
stay in Egypt. God always provides, and especially for
the needs of his only begotten Son and his parental guardians. These scribes and priests, on the other
hand, didn’t even have to search the Scriptures to know where
the Messiah was to be born, they were so well versed in them. They
knew right off the top of their heads, Micah 5:2, it was to be
in Bethlehem. But their
head knowledge was academic. Here
was this group of Magi, looking for the Messiah, Herod asks the
scribes and priests to find out, so he, Herod in feigned cooperation
with these ‘wise men’ can tell them where to look---so
that when they have found him they can report back to him---so
in reality he can go and kill the baby Messiah, King of the Jews. This sly fox Herod did not want to alarm
the parents of Jesus, Yeshua, so he was going to use these friendly
Magi to search him out, and then have them report back to him. And
then, as we see later, he would have gone and slain Jesus. Now back to our transcript. “Well, verse 4, Herod hears. Now it’s interesting that he actually
does this, he gathers the religious leaders together, says, ‘Now
when is the Christ supposed to be born here? Tell
me, when and where, give me some details.’ Actually,
‘where’, and it says something doesn’t it? The guy gives some legitimacy to these
prophecies himself, Herod himself, an Edomite. So
he does that. They
then respond and they tell him that it’s according to Micah,
in this city of Bethlehem, it’s just a village at the time,
he’s supposed to be born in Bethlehem, and they read to him
the prophecy. And as
they read to him the prophecy, they share that it’s the least
of the communities, this is what God’s plan is, and that
he will be a ruler, he’ll be the Shepherd of my people.’ I
love that prophecy, Jesus, that word Shepherd. Of
course you think of Psalm 23, the Shepherd, you know, you look
at the book A Shepherd Looks
At Psalm 23, shepherd, you know, just there leading the sheep,
loving the sheep, and how the shepherd just looks out for the sheep
in the way that he does. “But he will shepherd my people
Israel.” This is the prophecy in Micah chapter
5. I wonder if they kept reading, because
you go on a little bit more, in Micah chapter 5, verse 2 it says “Whose
goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” And
that says something about this guy, “whose going forth is
from of old, from everlasting.” They should have understood then that
this man that was to come, the Messiah, was more than just a man,
he’s the God-man. Well
upon learning from the religious leaders, Herod then secretly consults
the Magi, brings them into his palace we presume, ‘Hey, listen
guys, got a lot of talk going around, tell me…you go find
this little baby, King of the kings, when you find him, come back
to me. Man, this is
exciting, I want to go and worship him with you also.’ Now
as you understand the context and the story from the narrative,
he’s being deceptive. He’s
not being truthful in any way. He
instead wants to go out and kill the baby. He
wants to do something horrible. Of
course, the fact that he would want to kill the baby, you know,
the gospel account of Herod is very accurate. Because
historically we know him to be a very evil man, I’m sure
there were plenty of times, he was evidently a short guy, four
foot four, but a guy who liked to build. You can go, as we go to trips to Israel,
you can see today even incredible ruins of things that Herod built. But he’s vicious. Josephus tells us that Herod in his rage
over rivalries in his family and jealousies, has put to death his
wife Miriam, and her two sons, and went also on to kill his own
son Antipar, who was heir to the throne. Then
he put to death the brother and mother of Miriam, Astrobolus and
Alexandra, and then he put to death Miriam’s grandfather,
John Hercanus. So the
guy was paranoid, and the guy was vicious. Caesar
Augustus is so often quoted “It’s safer to be Herod’s
pig than to be his son.” Well
so, true to his heart, you know, as you read on in the narrative,
he hears about this guy, he’s paranoid, he wants to go out
and take care of him. Evidently he believes that this must be
the King of the Jews, and you know, this is what the Bible says,
he gives some weight to it, ‘But I got to go out and kill
him’, as the story goes on. But he’s being deceptive.
The Magi were real worshippers of the baby Messiah
“When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way” (verses 9-12). The star appears again. This must have been a supernatural “star”, as it moved as a guide to them. Stars don’t do that. But they’re overjoyed at its appearing again to guide them. They find the house Joseph and Mary had already moved to with Jesus from what must have been a smelly sheep-fold, which in that area were made out of caves, used to hold sheep for the past 1,000 years. For that is where the Magi find Jesus, Yeshua, in a house. Note, when they saw the young child Jesus, with Mary his mother, they fell down and worshipped him. They didn’t worship Mary, they worshipped Jesus, Yeshua, and presented him with precious gifts; gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then God warns these Magi in a dream not to return to Herod, but to take another route home. “Fortunately in verse 12, these guys are kind of tuned in, they’ve been divinely warned in a dream. How did that happen, what did it mean? We don’t know for sure, but these guys are discerning enough that when this experience happens, they know that God’s got their attention, and they’re not to go back the same way and to talk to Herod. So they go on their journey home a different way. Just imagine if they weren’t discerning, and maybe this guy has this radical dream, gets up and shares it and they go ‘Oh well’, and they kind of move on, and go back to Herod. Just imagine the things that would have happened. But they were discerning again, and they went back a different way. You know, discerning is good, understanding we’ve got a devil that’s after us. We’ve got this lion that’s after us. All these things going on, you want to discern the signs of the times, but also just the voice of God and what I should do and not do. On Friday, you know this Battle for Marriage simulcast, we’re supposed to have it, we’ve been announcing it. But in my heart, you know, we’ve been doing these Stand New England things, of course they cost a ton of money and a bit of our budget, and they’re not political, they’re all about prayer. And I had a sense that, you know, there are people that this is upsetting to. You know, we got an email this week from somebody, and they said “I’ve never seen something so hateful. This is the most shameful thing I’ve ever heard of.” That’s what they said. “You guys are haters” or hate-mongers or whatever they said. And they said to us, they said, “Understand what comes around goes around, and you’re going to get your turn.” This email. We get email like that, we don’t really share it with you, you don’t need to hear it. We never respond to it. What do you with that? Pray for them, and don’t let it get you off-track. But there are people upset, very clearly, don’t like that we’ve done these things. And yet I also know there are people that are deceptive and they’ll do anything to trap you and accuse you. And so I wondered, we’ve not been political about prayer, but you know, there’s no doubt somebody would like to come in and say ‘They’re being political, let’s go after them I.R.S.’, as they’re doing in other places. I don’t know if you know this, but there are states, in fact a lobbyist came up here and he told me, he got involved with this, in some of the Midwest states there are people from these groups that have gone to churches and they’re sitting in churches. And the reason why they are sitting in churches, is they’re listening to the pastor, not wanting to be blessed or to be part of it, they’re listening, as soon as the pastor says anything that they can accuse him of being political, they’re going and reporting him to the I.R.S. So they’ve kind of made it their mission, this little group, they’re going, keeping the Church in its place. But the churches they’re going to aren’t the liberal churches. In every instance they’re going to churches that are doing things like we’ve done, in every instance, those are the churches they’re going to, and they’re just sitting there. As soon as you say something political they’re gonna get you. Well I know that’s going on. Well, anyway I get this phone-call, and the guy wanted to come. He said, “Hey listen, I want to come, we’re making a movie, and I want to come to your church on Sunday night, I heard you’re doing this simulcast of The Battle for Marriage. And because I heard that, we’re making a movie about this marriage thing, and we want to come and videotape your people watching this simulcast, we want to interview them. And so, then I said, well, OK, what’s this guy all about? So I said ‘How many movies have you made, tell me something about your movies that you’ve made?’ And he goes ‘Well we’ve never made a movie before, it’s our first one.’ ‘Now what’s the name of your group?’ He tells me the name. ‘That’s an unusual name. Ok, well, ah, tell me, where do you stand on the issue?’ He said, ‘Oh, well, I don’t really have an opinion, I understand both sides,’ and he goes on, ‘We just want to film people as they are wrestling through this decision.’ Now that may be true. But I asked him ‘What are you going to do with the movie?’ We’re going to put it in movie theater’s, sell tickets.’ That’s going to be in a movie theater and sell tickets? I don’t know, could be true. But I tell you what, I’ve had a check, and I’ve just put a further check on my heart, that this Battle for Marriage simulcast, there’s no doubt there’s a political thrust to that, it’s lobbying. But the Church can do that a little bit on issues. Not on candidates, but on issues. You as a church, there’s a certain amount you can do. And according to the law, you can lobby, in the sense of, you can say ‘Hey guys, you need to call your politicians because of this issue.’ You can do that a little bit. Well, with that phone call, and with all the other things we have done that aren’t political, we don’t even want to be accused of being political. But I wondered about that phone-call. When I got done, I said ‘You know, I don’t know what that guy’s up to, just makes me feel weird.’ And so that’s why we’re not having it. I could be wrong, I could be right. But yet we want to be discerning. Because there are people that want to come in, and they want to stop us. And the more you do what’s right, and there’s no doubt, with certain agenda’s and groups out there, they make it clear, I’ve gone on their own websites and read it, that they want to silence the Church, they want to humiliate the Church, and they want to put fear in the Church, the churches that are standing up and being a voice. Well, I don’t say that to scare you in any way. There’s nothing to fear [as Benjamin Franklin said, “There’s nothing to fear but fear itself.”]. We’ve got Jesus, and we’ve got joy, and we’ve got a good life. Yet we need to be discerning. At this point, discernment is so needed, it’s so needed. Well these guys, they tune in, and now they know that they shouldn’t do that, ‘This guy’s [Herod] setting us up, we need to go home the other way.’
Flight into Egypt
Verses 13-15, “Now when they had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, ‘Arise, take the young child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.’ When he arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” “Well, again, very clear picture, isn’t it? It says an angel of the Lord comes to Joseph in a dream, and we would assume, a good guess, it’s probably Gabriel, because of the other times, in Luke chapter 2 with Mary, and also with Zechariah. It’s probably the angel that came to him earlier as we noted. But he comes again at a very key moment. As we saw last time, Joseph was heading down a certain road thinking ‘I’m going to put away Mary. I know she says this is the deal here, but I’m going to put her away. I love her, and I’m going to do it honorably.’ And right there as he’s thinking that, Gabriel the angel shows up and says ‘Whoa, whoa, this is God, this is a work of God, you need to keep Mary. You know, she’s going to have the Holy One of God. This is supernatural. She really is pregnant by the Holy Spirit, a work of God.’ Well now at another time, to this step-father, an angel says ‘Listen, listen, Joseph, take the child, take his mother, go to Egypt. Because Herod’s out to kill him, you got to know that. Stay there until I bring you word.’ So you have this picture of a father being discerning. And then it’s so important, you know, David’s words in Psalm 37, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” And then how it’s needed in church families, you know, Dads in tune with God, not just going with what feels right to you. But if you’re a man in the Word of God, you’re a man listening, you’re a man of prayer. And you know, prayer is more than one way, it’s two ways. ‘What are you saying to me, I want to know, be led by you Lord.’ Watching the circumstances in your life, too, and the events, having that peace of God guide your steps also. It’s so important. Joseph is a man that discerns too, and he takes his family off to Egypt and protection. You know, this experience, God is working in his life, God’s given him this responsibility, incredible responsibility to Joseph and Mary, and maybe at this time he doesn’t understand. You know, ‘she’s going to have the Holy One of God, she’s going to have the Messiah, and with all this going on, why would this be?’ Wrestling through and trying to understand, this isn’t easy. We just read through things, and say, ‘Oh, they moved to Egypt and so on.’ Just imagine, God coming to a Dad and saying, ‘Listen, I want you to move, and you know I want you to move to Juarez, Mexico, and I want you to live in a little bitty building there, I got to get you out of the States, yeah you’re going to be real poor, it’s not going to be easy…’ or whatever, you know. It’s not easy ‘OK, I’m going to Egypt.’ Different culture, away from your family. But it’s great he’s got a heart to hear and goes as God leads. Maybe he doesn’t understand, but he has to trust the Lord. You know, the rain yesterday. Last night, had dinner with Peter Marshal after the event, we were talking a little bit, and he asked me, “What did you think of today?---You know, with the rain and everything? You know, if I was in your position, I’ll be honest with you, you kind of struggle at those times. You plan for all these things, and here comes the rain. What do you do?” Of course I had different pastors I was with coming up to me, trying to encourage me. I guess it was clear, I was wrestling through it. One guy was telling me this story, “I did this big thing, and all the media was there, and the governor, and it was 20 degrees, and hardly anybody came, and we froze and there’s all the media and the governor. We planned for thousands and it was so bad.” They were trying to encourage me. Didn’t really help. [loud laughter] Didn’t really help. So now Peter’s saying, ‘You know, the rain, what are you thinking, what’s in your heart?’ I know he just wanted to minister to me. I said, ‘To be honest with you, I don’t understand.’ And I got up yesterday morning, saying, “I don’t get it Lord, I don’t get it. I mean, Lord. Last week was the Oktoberfest, and it was sunny, now your Church is gathering for prayer, which is so much more important, and it’s not just sprinkling, Lord. I mean, it’s like flooding out there. Nobody’s going to come, what’s up with that Lord?” I even confessed last week about the possibility of rain, prophetic, you know, struggling through that even then. That’s why I’m hoarse, to be honest with you, I was just crying out [to the Lord], good ways and bad ways. But, “Hey, Lord, come on, Lord. You know, it was not so bad yesterday, and they say it’s going to be nice on Sunday. One day, Lord.” And when we saw that hurricane coming, we started praying then. “It could have just moved a little. Come on. I don’t understand.” So I’m working it through with the Lord, and I’m telling Peter Marshal this. But you always come to that, don’t you, I’m not going to tell you this, it will stumble you [loud laughter]. But anyway, my wife, after I die and she wants to minister to you and tell you my faults, she can tell you this story…But eventually I got into the Word and opened the Bible, and one of the pastors in one of our meetings, and we’re thinking about Stand New England, and he says, “You know 1st Kings chapter 18, Elijah, God said “Come up to the mountain and stand before me.” “That’s our verse.” And I guess I’ll be a little honest, I was thinking ‘I’m not going.’ That’s what I was thinking. But I was thinking it a little bit, my wife knew it, but I was going to go. I was being a whiner and a baby for a moment. So I opened the Bible, ‘All right, Lord, I know you’re going to say something. (I don’t want to hear it though.) [laughter] Let me have my little tantrum because it’s raining outside there Lord.’ So I open to 1st Kings 18, that’s where I left off, it says, this verse “Come up to the mountain and stand before me.” This verse we were thinking about having. ‘All right, fine, I’m going, I’m not happy about it, but I’m going. I didn’t tell Peter all this stuff. I’m kind of rambling here, but that’s what happens here when you don’t have a lot of time to study. But anyway, I’m talking to Peter, and he says “What do you think?” I struggled, I kept saying ‘God, I don’t understand, I don’t understand, why would you do that Lord? Yet, in the end I have to trust you anyway. In the end I have to go forward.’ And he went on to share as he did in his illustration at the beginning of the event, that you have to persevere. And I was glad he said that too, because you wonder, you do a couple things with your church, and everybody goes out, and every time you get rained on, you’re only going to do it so many times, people aren’t going to be signing up, ‘Let’s go out and get soaked again.’ But you’ve got to persevere. And it isn’t necessarily easy, and sometimes it’s hard. Why would it rain? We don’t know. Maybe it’s possible God is protecting us, you know we could come up with all kinds of reasons. Of coarse if protestors came, that would kind of make it hard to pray. And maybe there were a few that planned on coming. So God said, ‘Well, I’ll take care of that. We’ll make it pour, they won’t come in the rain.’ But some Christians will, the radical ones that want to pray, they’ll come. I don’t know. We don’t understand, but we move on. And so as we’ve even noted a few times as we’ve been studying through Matthew, maybe you don’t understand. You don’t have to understand, you just have to move on and let God work it out. He’s God. But you know this Dad is so discerning, and you know, parents we have to be discerning. You know there’s things that are coming your way, and there’s things that are coming at your kids, there’s things that your kids are being influenced by, and you’ve got to be discerning. You really do. You’ve got to know what to do. You’ve got to hear the voice of God. Parents, you need to be thinking about the things that are going on and the consequences and what it’s going to mean to our children in the end. And here’s a father [Joseph, step-dad of Jesus] that understands, and so he makes certain decisions, and he does maybe what’s not easy, and it’s hard on the family. And I know there’s plenty of families doing that right now too, going ‘Boy this isn’t easy. Would have been a lot easier to go along, now I’ve got to make all these changes, and take on this, remove that, but I’m concerned for my kids and what they’re being influenced by and what’s coming their way. I’m seeing what that might do to them, so I’m going to do this.’ We have to be discerning. [The Puritans, Separatists in England that had moved to Holland to avoid King James’s harsh persecution had to be discerning. They had to discern that the Dutch freewheeling lifestyle would absorb their children and pull them away from their faith. So they finally decided it was time to move, and move they did, to the New World, and founded Plymouth Plantation. Same identical kind of discerning. See http://www.unityinchrist.com/history/saga.htm.] And so Joseph is, and then they go off to Egypt. And it’s according to prophecy, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet saying ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” [Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” Close enough.] You know the Old Testament declared that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, and he would be from Nazareth. It was prophecied. Let’s go to the end.
Herod’s Wrath
Verses 16-23, “Then Herod when he saw that he was deceived by the
wise men was exceedingly angry, and he sent forth and put to
death all the male children who were born in Bethlehem and all
its districts, from two years old and under, according to the
time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet
saying,
‘A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and weeping and great
mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted
because they are no more.’” That
was fulfilled, you know that partial fulfillment earlier in 586BC
when the Babylonians came in to that area and just deported the
Jews. But now Matthew
is noting the total fulfillment. “And
when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a
dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, ‘Arise, take the young child
and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought
the young child’s life are dead.’ Then
he arose, took the young child and his mother and came into the
land of Israel. And
when he had heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead
of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned
by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee,
and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, ‘He shall
be called a Nazarene.’”
1. Lesson: Rulers of this world are seldom if ever friendly to God’s cause. Trouble awaits the Messiah as soon as he enters the world. He and his parents had to flee to Egypt, and you can see why. Herod, in a blind rage, tries to kill the baby Messiah by having all the male infants and toddlers from two years and under killed in Bethlehem and its environs. Then on the way back from Egypt, Joseph is told to avoid the Jerusalem area altogether and settle his tiny family in a backwater city in Galilee, Nazareth. In actuality, at this point, Nazareth is little more than a town compared to our cities. 2. Lesson: Rulers are not mortal. True believers in Jesus, Yeshua should never be greatly moved by persecution. What goes around comes around, as the saying goes. Herod dies. God has a way of dealing with those who mistreat his own, sooner or later. Vengeance belongs to God, as the proverb goes, and we’re not supposed to dabble in it. Quite the opposite, Jesus said that we are supposed to pray for those who despitefully use us, and pray for those who persecute us and hate us (see Matthew 5:20-48). “The mirth of the wicked is brief” (Job 20:5). The Lord lives forever and his enemies are only human and are but for a moment in time---get God’s perspective. This is an unusual prophecy for Rama, Old Testament Ramah. Rama was as far north of Jerusalem as Bethlehem was south of Jerusalem. When Herod gave orders to the Captain of the Guard to slay all the children two years old and under, the general probably asked, ‘Where should I begin?’ Herod probably drew a circle around Jerusalem’s radius encompassing Ramah to the north and Bethlehem to the south, thus that evil Herod killed a whole slew of male babies and toddlers. You can just imagine all the crying, screaming and wailing between Ramah and Bethlehem.
Return to Nazareth
“But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene” (verses 19-23). J. Vernon McGee says this about “He shall be called a Nazarene”, “The Hebrew word for Nazareth was Netzer, meaning a branch or shoot. The city of Nazareth was so called because of its insignificance. The prophecies of Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 53:2-3; and Psalm 22:6 are involved in the term Nazarene. But the Lord Jesus was given the term not only because He was a root out of the stem of Jesse, but because He grew up in the city of Nazareth, and He was called a Nazarene, which fulfilled the prophecies.” Now, my point, and I had gotten ahead of myself. There’s not a prophecy in the Old Testament directly saying that he would come from Nazareth, but it does go back to the Hebrew word Netzer, which means branch. The Hebrew word Netzer means branch, and of course you go back to the Old Testament, there’s a lot of prophecies about the Branch, the Branch. [Zechariah 7:12-13, “And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord: even he shall build the temple of the Lord; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”] And so that’s in the context of what Matthew means there.” It was also important to get the Christ child out of Egypt as soon as it was possible once Herod was dead, as he was supposed to live under the Mosaic Law perfectly, the only human being ever to do so. So he couldn’t be allowed to linger or live in Egypt long enough to learn anything of Egyptian culture or lifestyle. Archelaus was another Herod and very brutal. Joseph, knowing the political rulers over his country like we know the ones over ours, discerned Jerusalem wasn’t a safe place to go back to and raise Jesus, Yeshua in. So, we have a dad that’s discerning. Now God give us more and more Godly dads that are really discerning about the well-being of their children in this time that we live in. Let’s close in prayer.” [transcript of a sermon given somewhere in New England on Matthew chapter 2, with extra information culled out of J. Vernon McGee’s and J.C. Ryle’s commentaries on Matthew.]
Christian Home-schooling resources:
http://www.libertyonlineacademy.com
Central Massachusetts:
http://www.MastersChristian.org
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