3 Prophetic Statements
Sometimes life seems out of control and our response to the problems and difficulties we see around us is to fear. We worry that God either doesn’t know or doesn’t care about what is going on. We worry that evil is getting the upper hand. We worry that God can’t stop the terrible things that are happening, or that God somehow has stopped caring about them. We worry that somehow the world around us is rushing towards a future that is beyond the grasp of God’s eyes and His loving hand.
But the study of scripture paints a very different picture. As I study God’s Word I become more and more convinced that nothing in this world is an accident. That God is sovereign over the affairs of men. And that God’s plan of redemption and love will not be thwarted or stopped by the forces of darkness and evil in this world.
Terrible things do happen. And life consists of a lot of suffering and pain. But God has won the victory through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And one day everything will make perfect sense.
The fulfilled prophecies of the Old and New Testament help to build this confidence in my heart and soul. A God who knows yesterday, today and tomorrow can certainly be trusted to guide my steps and direct my paths. I can confidently place my life into His hands.
The stories of Jesus’ childhood offer proof of God’s loving protective hand and of His plan and purpose of redemption for me and for you. Three key events can be seen in the second chapter of Matthew. Please turn with me to Matthew 2:13-23
Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared* to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."
16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH,
WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING,
RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN;
AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED,
BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared* in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead." 21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."
Matt 2:13-23 (NASB)
God’s plan involves His Son and our connection to Him.
1. God calls His son (and us) to come out of Egypt.
2. God calls His son as a willing sacrifice. Those associated with Christ must expect suffering as well.
3. God calls His son to bear our reproach.
God calls His son (and us) to come out of Egypt.
Look with me at verses 13 to 15.
Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared* to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."
Matt 2:13-15 (NASB)
We see in this passage the cosmic battle between God and His plan for mankind’s salvation, and Satan and his desire to destroy the Messiah and to thwart God’s plan for mankind. Joseph is warned in a dream of Herod’s evil plot and he departs for Egypt.
Egypt was Israel’s closest neighbor and one which they had repeated contact over the years. Egypt was a place of stability and refuge during these turbulent times. But Egypt also symbolically represented the world, its systems and philosophies and values. Just as Jesus left the kingdom of Heaven to come to this earth to save mankind, this journey could symbolically be represented as a trip into Egypt. And just as Jesus would one day rescue mankind from the grips of sin and Satan, so too, Jesus came out of Egypt and entered the Promised Land.
This journey was another way that Jesus could identify with us as frail humans and with His chosen people, the nation of Israel.
Matthew quotes Hosea. I’d like us to read this passage found in Hosea 11:1-5
"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son. 2 As they called them, so they went from them; they sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images. 3 "I taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. 5 "He shall not return to the land of Egypt; But the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent“
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God loves His people. Israel is called the Son of God. God had loved Israel. God had provided for Israel over and over again. God had instructed and guided Israel, but the people had refused to listen. They continually rebelled against the Lord and when confronted with their sin, they often refused to repent. They did not receive the love and forgiveness of God, but continually turned to other foreign gods to worship and follow.
And so God sent His true Son into the world, that whosoever should follow Him in obedience and believe in Him, would not perish but would be saved.
As Abraham had been chosen to lead men to God and to bless the world through his children, the nation of Israel, now Jesus, the Messiah, the only begotten Son of God blesses the world and all those who put their faith in Him.
Egypt throughout Jewish history always represented the kingdom of this world. Egypt and its riches are seen as the things this world has to provide, things which eventually enslave us. Mankind has always fled to Egypt, to the ways of this world, rather than depended upon God for their salvation.
Just as Joseph was a righteous man of God, who sought to obey and honor God, and who was sensitive to the leading of the Lord through dreams, there was another Joseph who was also a righteous man and a dreamer of dreams. He had been sold by his brothers into slavery and ended up in Egypt. God used him to bring salvation and deliverance to his family who were suffering from famine. And so Israel came to live in Egypt, but God never intended them to stay in Egypt. The Promised Land was to be their home. But the people grew comfortable in their life of worldliness and slavery. The people were more willing to suffer under Pharaoh’s slavery than to experience the freedom of walking with and following God.
It took a deliverer to finally set them free. Just as Jesus was a young boy who threatened Satan and his plans, Moses also was an enemy to Satan. And so Satan worked through Pharaoh just as he would through Herod, tried to kill all the baby Jewish boys. But God watched over His deliverer and saved Moses.
Moses led by God, finally leads the children of Israel to the Promised Land. God had said in Exodus 4:22-23
"Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ’Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn. 23 "So I said to you, ’Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn."
Satan has always tried to destroy the work of God. He has sought to kill God’s servants and to prevent the deliverance from bondage that God intends for His people. But God’s plans will not be thwarted.
Just as Pharaoh opposed Moses, Herod opposed Jesus. And Satan was behind it all. But no one was going to take the life of Jesus. It was His alone to give and to give up freely. God spared Moses’ life through the faithful action of his mother. And God spared Jesus’ life through the obedient and quick response of Joseph. God took care of their every need. I’ve often thought that it is interesting that the Magi had brought gold, frankincense and myrrh to help pay for the flight to Egypt. Without these riches, this very poor family would have had a difficult time making the trek. But God made it possible.
Jesus went into Egypt to identify with each of us who are in bondage to the ruler of this world. But Jesus came up out of Egypt and entered the Promised Land. The same journey is possible for all of us.
God calls us out of the world and into the kingdom of His Son. We can stay slaves in Egypt, or we can travel with Christ to our real home. He makes the way possible for us, but we must decide. Will we forsake Egypt for Him? Will we follow Him out of Egypt?
We live in the world, but we are not to be a part of the world. Our lives are to be characterized by the qualities of the kingdom of God, not the pursuits and pleasures of Egypt.
What about your life? Do you have more of Egypt in you than you do of the Promised Land? Israel kept turning their back on God and over and over again in their history they experienced enslavement to the world. This world will enslave you, if you let it. Sin will suck you into its grasp. Satan would love to destroy your hope and confidence.
Jesus came out of Egypt, so that we can be set free! Come to Jesus. Look to Him. Follow Him. Turn your back on Egypt. Don’t look back like the children of Israel did, and most died in the wilderness never seeing the Promised Land. Set your gaze fully on the Lord and on His kingdom.
God calls His son as a willing sacrifice. Those associated with Christ must expect to suffer with Him.
Matthew 2:16-18
16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:
18 "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH,
WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING,
RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN;
AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED,
BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE."
Joseph brought Jesus out of Egypt. Now they return to the Promised Land, but not to Bethlehem. Joseph probably was inclined to return their, but God guided His steps to Nazareth.
Herod was a tool of Satan, and Satan wanted Jesus dead. Satan does not want to give up his power to anyone. He wants to be like God. He wants to control mankind and lead us away from God. Satan is full of pride and lies and deceptions and evil. He is a murderer. We must remember that this battle between Satan and mankind has been going on since the Garden. Satan has always tried to destroy us and keep us away from God. He wanted to stop God’s plan of a Messiah from the beginning. But in Genesis 3:15 we read that the victory has been guaranteed for us from the beginning. God had a plan, and that plan involved a Messiah who would destroy the work of Satan.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."
Gen 3:15 (NASB)
Herod was a man after Satan’s own heart. Herod was an unbelievably vicious man. He had three of his own sons put to death, because he feared they would take his throne away from him before he died. Herod was a man who knew the scriptures, but who did not honor God. His own scribes had said the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. When the Magi had come, Herod should have been ready to honor and worship the Messiah.
He should have feared God, but knowing scripture did not change his heart. Satan knows more scripture than any of us, but his heart is inclined towards evil.
So Herod had the baby boys in the region of Bethlehem killed. Matthew quotes Jeremiah’s prophecy.
This prophecy referred specifically to the capture of Israel by the Assyrians many hundreds of years before, but in the destruction of lives in that event, Matthew saw a parallel to this event. Rachel, the mother of several of the tribes of Israel was a mother to those of Bethlehem. Her tomb was nearby.
Jeremiah had written in Jeremiah 31:15-17
15 Thus says the LORD,
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
She refuses to be comforted for her children,
Because they are no more." 16 Thus says the LORD,
"Restrain your voice from weeping
And your eyes from tears;
For your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD,
"And they will return from the land of the enemy. 17 "There is hope for your future," declares the LORD, "And your children will return to their own territory.
Jeremiah 31:15-17 (NASB)
There are several things that we can observe from this passage, and some things we find hard to understand.
First of all, notice that God leads Joseph in stages. Joseph returns to Israel, but He doesn’t have the compete picture from the start. Step by step God leads Him first into Israel and then away from Bethlehem and Jerusalem into the more remote community of Nazareth in the region of Galilee.
Second, the question arises, why did God permit the slaughter of these young boys in Bethlehem? This is a question that most of us have wrestled with in our lives. Why does evil exist? Why doesn’t God stop the terrible things in the world? For example, since 1973, more than 45 million babies have been aborted in this nation.
Why does God permit these laws to stand? In the last century Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and countless other tyrants slaughtered millions. Why doesn’t a loving God step in and stop this bloodshed?
And I must admit I don’t have the answer to many of these questions. But there are some things I can say with confidence based upon the character and workings of God in His Holy Word.
- God hates evil and evil doers. God is holy and righteous and good.
- God is patient and long-suffering with the wickedness of men. His desire is for men to repent and to turn towards him.
- There is an enemy who seeks to devour, destroy and delude. Evil is his work in the world. God permits this, because He is looking for mankind to choose good over evil.
- The children who died in Bethlehem saw the face of God and were saved for eternity. Eternity and the kingdom of Heaven is more real than this life of sin and sadness here on earth.
- There is a cost involved in our association with Christ. Because these boys were closely connected to the prophecies of Christ, they suffered. Jesus promised that we would suffer as well. But we were to be full of hope, because Greater is He that is in us, than He that is in the world. And He has overcome the world and Satan through the cross.
The biggest lie Satan has caused believers in this country to hold on to is the lie that when you become a Christian your life should be easy. Satan seeks to deceive believers every day into thinking that if just they were a little more religious, then all of their problems would go away.
But just as Jesus needed to walk the road to Calvary, He calls us to follow Him in denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily. The Christian life is a life of death to the world and sin and Satan, and life in God.
He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. When we identify with Him, our hearts break over the sin and suffering in the world. We weep with Him over the hardness of heart in people. We enter the spiritual battle.
Herod was a tool of Satan, but Herod’s attempts to thwart God’s plan failed. Herod died a miserable death. And His wicked Son was dealt a similar fate. God will right every wrong, and will protect and provide for His children, even as we go through the battle.
I’d encourage you to learn more about this by attending our Sunday school class on the Invisible War.
God calls His son to bear our reproach.
The third prophecy is mentioned in Matthew 2:19-23
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared* in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, 20 "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead." 21 So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."
Matt 2:19-23 (NASB)
Joseph and Mary had originally lived as single people in Nazareth. It was their hometown. And so they return home.
Herod’s son was no better than Herod. Archelaus began his reign over Israel by slaughtering more than 3,000 people who opposed him. And so God redirects Joseph away from the cities where Archelaus would have knowledge of them.
Nazareth was the end of the road. It was a community with a terrible reputation in Israel. It was a holding place for Roman soldiers and there were many Gentiles who lived in the region.
It was a place full of shame. If you were from Nazareth, you didn’t brag about it because you were from the wrong side of the tracks. It was a place of reproach. Isaiah had prophesied regarding this shame in Isaiah 53:3
3 He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah 53:3 (NASB)
Nowhere in the Old Testament do we find the town of Nazareth mentioned. So what does Matthew mean when he says the prophets spoke of the Messiah being a Nazarene?
Well there are several possibilities. The Hebrew word for Nazareth is closely related to several Hebrew Words.
One of those words is Nazarite. Remember Samson had been called as a judge of the people of Israel. He was to follow the laws of the Nazarites. The word literally meant “one who was separated or set apart for God’s use.” In Judges 13:5-7 we read:
5 "For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines." 6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, "A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name. 7 "But he said to me, ’Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ "
Judges 13:5-7 (NASB)
Another word that is very close in Hebrew lettering to Nazareth is the word for ‘crown or diadem’. In this we may see reference to the crown of thorns He would one day wear on our behalf.
But most scholars agree that the word Nazareth is most closely connected in its root meaning to the Hebrew word for “branch”.
Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah 11:1
1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
Isaiah 11:1 (NASB)
Jeremiah had said in Jeremiah 23:5
5 "Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD,
"When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.
Jeremiah 23:5 (NASB)
And Zechariah had written in Zechariah 3:8-9
8 ’Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 ’For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ’and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
Zech 3:8-9 (NASB)
Of Course we remember that Jesus had declared that He was the vine and we are the branches. It is interesting to note that the early Christians were called Nazarenes (followers of the man from Nazareth), and that early Christian groups were called Branches. In fact when the Christian and Missionary Alliance began, before it was established as a denomination, the different groups around the nation were called Branches. And Jews for Jesus today speak of their different ministry locations as Branches.
The important thing to note in all of this is that this was a term of reproach. When people were called Nazarenes, it was not a nice thing to say.
Jesus took our shame. He identified with us in our sin and suffering. He became like one of us. He lived among the poorest of the poor. He acquainted himself with our suffering. He is one of us.
When we identify ourselves with Jesus we carry about with us, the shame and victory of the cross. The cross is symbol for death. It is a symbol for all that is wrong with mankind. But it is also a symbol for the victory Christ won over the plans of Satan to kill and destroy. The cross has been turned from a symbol of shame into a symbol of victory and of glory.
We are all connected to each other and to Him. He is the vine. His Father is the vinedresser, and we are His branches. Do you understand your connection to Christ? Do you understand that you are a part of the branch of God?
If you do, then you will understand that everything you do is a reflection of Him. We are no longer identified with Satan, or this world, or the principles and plans and plots of this world. We belong to Jesus. We are to be identified with Him. We live for His purposes and plans. We are one with Him.
In 2006 remember:
- You have been called out of Egypt. Don’t go back there.
- You will suffer from your identification with Christ. Be prepared.
- Identify fully with Him in the shame of the cross, and the victory of the empty tomb. Do not hide your faith.
