[0:00] All right. Well, hey, I want to say thank you to a whole team of people who have made this possible this week. So, obviously, Eric and the choir, they did an outstanding job recording the songs for this morning.
[0:14] They did that on Wednesday night. The choir, that was their practice. And so, we are certainly blessed by them and thankful for them. Eric, thanks for getting that all ready on that side of things.
[0:25] I also want to say thank you to Pat Schultz and to John Harden and Augie Roberts and Jonathan Warhurst. All of these people have helped with getting the sound and the lights and all of those things ready for us to be able to do this recorded message and recorded worship service.
[0:46] And so, obviously, it's not how we wanted to spend our Sunday. I know I didn't want to spend my Sunday this way. I prefer to be at the church fellowshipping with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
[0:58] But the Lord obviously has different plans for this week. So, we are going to keep it safe. Like I've already mentioned, we're going to keep things safe. And we are going to still study the Word together.
[1:10] We're still going to look at this passage in Matthew chapter 2. And I'm excited for that. Obviously, this sermon I'm preaching from my office.
[1:22] And so, it's a very different atmosphere. It's a very different setting. But hopefully, we can still get into the text. And we can still learn together and grow together in our love for the Lord.
[1:35] And in our appreciation for the text. And what Matthew is doing here. What Matthew is shaping for us. So, I'm going to read again Matthew chapter 2 verses 13 through 23.
[1:47] I'll ask that you follow along with me. And we'll read this together. But it says here in the text. It says, So, he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and escaped to Egypt.
[2:13] He stayed there until Herod's death so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled. Out of Egypt I called my son. Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage.
[2:28] He gave orders to massacre all of the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled.
[2:41] A voice was heard in Ramah weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children. And she refused to be consoled because they are no more. After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel because those who intended to kill the child are dead.
[3:03] So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.
[3:15] And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene.
[3:30] All right, this is the word of the Lord. Let's pray together and we'll look at the text for just a few minutes this morning. Lord Jesus, open our eyes, open our hearts, help us to understand your word.
[3:44] Help us to see more clearly who you are and what you came to do for us and how you made it. God, how you made sure, ensured that your plan would come to pass, that salvation would be possible, salvation would be available.
[4:00] Lord Jesus, we thank you. God, I thank you. I thank you for this. I thank you for this passage of Scripture. And Lord, I look forward to the time that we'll get to discuss this together as a church, maybe another day.
[4:14] But at the very least, we're going to go through it together now. So, Lord, I pray that you would just encourage our hearts, lift up our spirits, and Lord, let us grow in our love towards you. In Jesus' name we pray.
[4:25] Amen. Okay, so this passage, admittedly, is kind of unique. This passage, it's unique because it's three different prophetic fulfillments that we get to talk about.
[4:41] Okay, so I've mentioned this before, but Matthew has this formula. It's called a fulfillment formula. He does it ten times, at least, in the Gospel of Matthew, where he gives a specific Old Testament prophecy and explains how that Old Testament prophecy has been fulfilled now in Christ.
[5:02] In these first two chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, we've seen five of these. We've seen five already. So, the first fulfillment passage is found, obviously, in Matthew 1, verse 23, where he says, well, I guess, technically, verse 22 and 23, but it says, Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.
[5:26] See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel. So, that was the Isaiah 7 prophecy, if you remember that, from Matthew 1. He went on, then, after that, and gave us another fulfillment passage, which he did so a little bit differently than the regular, the normal formula.
[5:47] He did that here in Matthew 2, when the scribes and the chief priests answered Herod's question about where will this Messiah come from.
[5:57] Remember, it says, It was written by the prophet, And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.
[6:09] And I mentioned this last week, that when Matthew quoted the Micah 5 prophecy there, that, you know, the, And you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, you know, though you may seem small among the nations, the actual Micah passage, it says, if I can turn here quick enough, Micah 5.2 says, Obviously, that is a different verse than what we read here in Matthew 2, where it says, And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the rulers of Judah, because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel.
[6:56] That's not what Micah said. So what I pointed out last week, if you remember, is that what Matthew did was he took Micah 5, and he took 2 Samuel 5, and he combined those two together into one prophetic fulfillment.
[7:11] And that's the theme of the Gospel of Matthew. He's willing to take various prophecies, various prophetic utterances, and piece them together to show us that Jesus is the fulfillment of not only these individual specific messianic prophecies, but much more largely, Jesus is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament.
[7:34] Jesus is, in other words, the fulfillment of everything that God has promised. Everything. And so what Matthew is showing us is not just, you know, hey, like, here's some messianic prophecies, and yeah, Jesus was born of a virgin.
[7:50] Boom, messianic prophecy. That's great. You know, Jesus did all these different things, right? Like, that's not Matthew's only goal. Matthew's goal is to show us how Jesus is the fulfillment of the entirety of the Old Testament.
[8:03] And that's important, especially as we look now at starting here in verse 13, because we get this flight to Egypt, okay? The story now takes a turn.
[8:14] So we've seen now the birth of Jesus, the nativity scene. We've already, you know, talked about that. We've talked about the wise men.
[8:24] We did that last week, okay? So, so far we've seen the happy scenes of the birth of Jesus. So, you know, Jesus has been to the temple.
[8:36] Remember, Jesus followed the law perfectly, which means that Jesus' parents followed the law for him on his behalf perfectly, right? Like, in the sense that he had a proper Jewish upbringing in every sense of the phrase.
[8:50] And so, so we know that that's happened. And now we see something, something new unfold, a danger unfold, okay? And the danger, of course, comes from Herod.
[9:01] I mentioned last week in our, in the sermon, that Herod is the, what I would call a cynic. Herod was angry, he was deceptive, he was manipulative, and, and Herod did not appreciate the things of God.
[9:17] It wasn't even only that he didn't appreciate the things of God. Herod was actively trying to stop the plans of God, okay? Being angry, being manipulative, being deceptive, being a madman, and also being an enemy of God and actively trying to oppose the things and the work of God, Herod turns his attention to stopping it all, okay?
[9:41] That's what we see here, starting in verse 13. It says in verse 13, and I'll, I'll try to get the text up on here for us to look at together. Let's see if I can do this.
[9:53] There we go. After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Get up, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.
[10:05] Okay, so right here, off the bat, Joseph becomes aware of the threat, okay? And how does Joseph become aware of the threat? It wasn't that Joseph received a telegram, it wasn't that Joseph received a phone call, It was that God himself sent an angel, a messenger, an angelic being, to speak to Joseph.
[10:26] Now remember, this is not the first time that Joseph encountered an angel. After Joseph had decided to divorce Mary quietly, Matthew shares that an angel of the Lord came over to Joseph in a dream, appeared to him in a dream, and told him, Don't worry, Mary's telling the truth, right?
[10:45] So Joseph has some familiarity here with encountering angels, okay? Joseph, visited by an angel, get up, take the child, flee to Egypt, okay?
[10:56] So this is another sleeping, you know, sleep time, angelic visit. Get up, like you're resting, get up and go. This is an urgent thing that they need to do. They need to leave immediately. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt.
[11:11] Now I want you to notice this too. This is the second time that, not only the second time that Joseph was encountered by an angel, but this is the second time that Joseph immediately responded in obedience.
[11:22] So guys, I want to tell you, when God speaks, right, when God speaks, obviously to us through his word, most clearly, but when God speaks, when God calls, when the Spirit of God moves in a way that he's leading us to do something for him, you know, something within the realm of obedience, something that falls in line with his word, maybe it's sharing the gospel with a friend, maybe it's sharing the gospel with your children, or maybe it's telling your children, hey, you're going to be involved in this youth ministry or this children's ministry because your spiritual life matters.
[11:55] We would be wise to take the approach of Joseph, not Joseph Duggar. Or Joseph of Nazareth. We should be wise, we would be wise to take this wisdom here from Joseph of Nazareth, who when he heard what God said to do, he didn't delay, right?
[12:15] He did not wait. He got up, he took Mary and Jesus, and he left. He got out of town, right? There was a threat of danger, and so Joseph was obedient without hesitation.
[12:27] We would be wise to follow in Joseph's pattern of obedience here. Verse 15, He stayed there until Herod's death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled.
[12:41] Out of Egypt I called my son. This Old Testament reference is in Hosea chapter 11. If we look back at Hosea chapter 11, let me turn there in my Bible.
[12:53] This will give you time to turn there in yours. But if you look now at Hosea chapter 11, verse 1, the context is Hosea prophesying from the Lord to Israel, okay, to the nation.
[13:07] It says, When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. The point here that Hosea is making, or that the Lord is making through the prophet Hosea, is, look, this nation had no idea that I was the one who was guiding them.
[13:28] I was the one who was calling them. I was the one protecting them, preserving them. I stinking raised them. Right? That's what the Lord is saying here. And so when he says, Out of Egypt I've called my son, the Lord is literally talking about the nation of Israel.
[13:45] Out of Egypt, remember they were in captivity in Egypt for 400 years? And then he sends Moses the deliverer, and Moses delivers God's people out of Egypt.
[13:55] Right? God sends the ten plagues. God strikes fear into Pharaoh's heart and the hearts of all of the people there in the land of Egypt. And God prevails. And the people of Israel were free.
[14:08] And that's an amazing thing. And you see, God's perspective on this is, Out of Egypt I've called my son. So you have this extremely familial language.
[14:19] Right? The nation of Israel was more than just God's chosen people. They were God's chosen people. But the way that God related to the people of Israel, God did this in terms that they would understand.
[14:35] Right? Like they would understand the familial language. And so you have this same reality in the New Testament. Right? In Romans chapter 8, we know that we have this spirit of adoption by which we call out Abba, Father.
[14:51] Right? We have a heavenly Father, God the Father, who we are able to commune with because of the work of Jesus. It is a neat thing to think about that God saw, the way that God viewed the nation of Israel was as if they were his son.
[15:09] Right? But really what that tells us is what Matthew sees as a fulfillment goes beyond the, quote, normal messianic prophecies.
[15:20] What Matthew does for us here is he shapes the story of Jesus around real historical events. Okay? We have no reason to assume that Matthew made any of this up.
[15:33] Okay? These types of fulfillment claims being pulled out of thin air doesn't make any sense. Also, we trust that this is God's holy and inspired word. Right?
[15:44] It's inerrant, meaning it is with its truth without any mixture of error. And in its original manuscript, it's infallible. It did not have any mistakes whatsoever. Okay?
[15:54] And so we trust that this is God's divinely inspired word. Okay? So we have no reason to think that Matthew made anything up. But Matthew used these historical events, these actual things that took place in history surrounding the early life of Jesus.
[16:11] And he shows us how Moses was a type and Jesus is the fulfillment. So if you read the book of Hebrews, one thing that the author of Hebrews does constantly is he shows how Jesus is better over and over and over.
[16:27] Jesus is better than the sacrificial system. Jesus is better than angels. Jesus is better than humanity. Jesus is better than the priests. Jesus is better than Moses. Jesus is better than the law.
[16:37] Jesus is better over and over and over and over. That's what the book of Hebrews is about. That's the theme is that Jesus is better. and so Matthew now is showing us that Jesus is even better than Moses his life looked a lot like Moses's and that was by design Jesus escaped from Herod's grasp because God spoke to his earthly father Joseph Joseph led the family into Egypt and then years later a couple years later they were they were led they were called out of Egypt Jesus's family they lived in Egypt for a period of time we don't know how long but they they made their way out okay this is the flight to Egypt to avoid the madman Herod okay I want you to also see that even though Herod tried to thwart God's plans God's plans prevailed God's plans prevailed I want you to understand that Jesus faced threats from the time he was born Jesus knows our weakness Jesus you know he was tempted in every way but without sin and so in Jesus we actually have this beautiful picture of the reality of God being completely sovereign completely in control God providentially cares for his own and God shows us that even here in the life of his son Jesus it's a beautiful picture for us of God's providential care and God's providential design all right then Herod when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men flew into a rage he gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men then what was spoken to Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled a voice was heard in Ramah weeping and great morning Rachel weeping for her children and she refused to be consoled because they are no more the second fulfillment passage that we're looking at comes from the prophet Jeremiah obviously the scene that we see here Herod slaughtering the two the boys two years old and under in and around Bethlehem should make us think of what Pharaoh did in Egypt when Moses was born Pharaoh saw that the growing number of the Hebrews was concerning and so he said kill all of the boys age two and under because we have to stop this population increase because they're going to overthrow us of course God providentially sovereignly protected Moses and protected Moses's family God even allowed for Moses to get the best education possible there in
[19:13] Egypt all these things that God obviously providentially cared for in Moses's case Moses was able to flee so to speak into the household of Pharaoh for protection now Jesus is shaped as a new and better Moses who now flees into Egypt and that is where he's he finds his his safety right so that that's what we see it's obviously very very similar to them to the Moses event but you get to this Jeremiah prophecy again not really one that you would have seen and said that that is a messianic prophecy point is that when this tragedy takes place of the of the innocents being massacred the innocent babies being massacred it's an it's it is a tragedy and it's one that is deserving of sorrow and so I don't want to take away from what Herod did here by only thinking through some of the things that I've already talked about like it looks a lot like Moses there is more to it than that Herod did actually take the lives of these boys and that's an absolute tragedy
[20:21] Herod in his own free will of his own volition was the one who took this upon himself and he sent out to kill these children Herod acting evilly Herod acting in sin went out and did these things and what we see is that when these types of tragedies when the loss of innocent life takes place when innocent blood is spilled that is something that is absolutely tragic to the heart of God because that is not what God desires now providentially God still uses these things for his glory even the evil things of this age God can still use for his glory but make no mistake it's tragic and I want you to also see that Herod Herod who made this evil decision and a ton of other evil decisions and rejected God Herod is getting his just reward and what I mean by that is he is spending eternity separated from God all right that's that's the reality here so I'm gonna really quickly I'm gonna read through the rest of this passage and we'll we'll wrap up here this morning I know that some of you want to get out and play in the snow and ice and some of you really really don't but I'm gonna keep going here so we're in now verse 19 after Herod died an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to
[21:43] Joseph in Egypt so another angel to Joseph now Joseph's a couple years removed maybe he was a little bit freaked out this time from the angel but nonetheless an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying get up take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel because those who intended to kill the child are dead all right it's safe okay Herod finally died and now it's safe for you to go back to Israel so again third time Joseph hears from an angel what God designed or what God expected and Joseph responded in obedience guys I'm telling you this is so important when God leads we are called to obey it's that simple when God leads we are called to trust him and trust that his ways are better than ours and we are called to obey okay so there are steps of there are obvious steps of obedience that we should all partake in okay those things like being baptized sharing in the Lord's Supper gathering together at church or virtually if we have to there are things obedience is the fruit of the Christian life or the fruit in Joseph's case of the life of someone who loves God okay so if we love the Lord we'll obey when God leads Joseph entered Israel but when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod he was afraid to go there and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the region of Galilee then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene okay so Joseph takes his family back into Israel but there's still this fear because Herod the Great is dead but now
[23:27] Herod Archelaus is ruling in Judea which is you know around Jerusalem and Bethlehem and all those things and so it wasn't it still was not safe for them to stay right there in Judea so they had to they had to navigate north obviously they had connections in Nazareth even if they weren't from there which it seems like from Luke's gospel they were initially from there so they went back up to Nazareth they navigated their way there to Nazareth and they stayed and now that's this is why Jesus is Jesus of Nazareth okay he's a carpenter's son from Nazareth this is where Jesus grew up was Nazareth and then it says that this was to fulfill this is one of the most interesting of the fulfillment passages in all of this gospel that this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets so it's plural through the prophets that he would be called a Nazarene there's a couple of challenges here first of all it's multiple prophets secondly it's not he says that he would be called a Nazarene instead of saying he would be called a Nazarene and thirdly and most importantly you will not find that quotation anywhere in the Old Testament so you wonder what does this mean and now there are a lot of answers to this question um there's a lot of you know in-depth question answers to this question and I will not bore you with those in-depth answers on this video if you're interested we can talk through it I promise please ask me I'm happy to I want you to see in this is what I think is the most likely explanation is that what what you see throughout Old Testament prophecy is that the Messiah is not going to be someone you expect that's essentially that's the the Messiah you you know your expectation is this political ruler your expectation is this you know violent you know powerful you know captor and all those things uh but then the what the Old Testament prophecy shows us over and over again is that the Messiah is going to be humble he's going to be a suffering servant he's gonna you know he's gonna be beaten and he's gonna be bruised and he's going to even die he's gonna be crushed um that's
[25:36] Isaiah 53 and you see these these you know these all of these um prophecies these messianic claims that are just on like unexpected right like I I wouldn't if I if I you know if I was a Jew expecting the Messiah I would not have expected him to be Jesus of Nazareth you see what I'm saying and so what what Matthew probably is doing in this case is Matthew is showing in this in this uh in this kind of unique way that Jesus would be called a Nazarene because the the Naz people from Nazareth were from Galilee um they were they were you know they were the hicks right like they were the ones that were looked down on by the people in Judea and in Jerusalem and the surrounding um area the southern portion of Israel did not respect the northern portion of Israel and so it was unexpected that the the actual Messiah would come from a place like Nazareth and you remember even I'm sure in John's gospel uh at the very beginning John chapter one Philip goes and gets Nathaniel his brother and he tells him hey come here man I found the Messiah uh so this is this is uh what happens here the next day Jesus decided this is um I should tell you John chapter one verse 43 um sorry I get excited sometimes I'm just kind of keep going uh it says John John chapter one verse 43 the next day
[27:02] Jesus decided to leave for Galilee he found Philip and told him follow me now Philip was from Bethsaida the hometown of Andrew and Peter Philip found Nathaniel and told him we have found the the one Moses wrote about in the law and so did the prophets Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth and this was Nathaniel's response can anything good come out of Nazareth and then this is I love Philip he said come and see come and see you meet Jesus you come and witness Jesus and you're going to see this this per this Nazarene this person from the north who nobody's going to expect and nobody's going to respect you come and see because guess what I promise you this when you spend time with Jesus very quickly you realize that Jesus the Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah the promised one the anointed one he's the one Moses wrote about he's one the prophets prophesied about and that's what Matthew I think that's what Matthew is doing in this situation Matthew is telling us this Jesus is the Messiah I've proven that he's from
[28:08] Bethlehem I've shown you how his life his early life was similar to Moses's and now I want you to see he is the Messiah even though you wouldn't expect it and so there's this there's this kind of this tension of like you guys don't like the people from the north and yet Jesus is the Messiah like it doesn't matter if you like him or not receive him accept him because he is the Messiah what I hope you're encouraged by this morning are a few takeaways a few takeaways here from Matthew chapter 2 I hope that you're encouraged I hope that you're strengthened in your faith I hope that you have a great day and a great week and that you stay safe and you stay warm but I want you to remember a few things number one number one this is really important when God calls obey when God calls obey Joseph received blessing upon blessing because he was faithful and obedient to the word of the Lord Joseph received one of the most unbelievable prestigious titles of all time which was he was the earthly father of Jesus Christ what an unbelievable blessing that is what an amazing gift that is from God and God used him I would suggest because God knew that Joseph was a faithful obedient lover of God he loved the Lord so when God calls obey okay that's number one number two no one no matter how mad no matter how how manipulative or deceptive no matter how scary things get no one can thwart God's plans God is in control he is sovereign right we live in the providential care of a loving God it's an amazing thing like Herod tried to thwart God's plans they think back to what you saw last Sunday in Minneapolis you had a group of protesters who are trying to thwart God's plans where the people of God had gathered to worship the Lord and and instead these individuals who went to protest these individuals are the ones who look like fools why because they are to try to stop the plans of God to try to stop the people of God from worshiping him is a fool's errand all right my point is like Herod he was on a fool's errand trying to stop the Messiah from being the Messiah what a ridiculous proposition but that's what
[30:28] Herod tried to do we can always trust and rest in the fact that we stand in the arms of a loving providential father God the father all right no one can thwart God's plans no matter how evil no matter how wicked and then third Jesus may not be what people expect right when when you're trying to tell someone about Jesus he may not be what they expect you serve a God who died what does that even how does that even happen and here here's what I want you to see Jesus even though he may not be what people expected make no mistake Jesus of Nazareth is the holy anointed son of God the one who was promised the one who fulfilled the one who died on the cross and rose again and it may be unexpected right the the gospel is unexpected like how do I get saved how do I how do I know that I'm right with God how does that all happen how does that work out well here it is you ready believe in Jesus Christ believe in Jesus of Nazareth believe in Jesus the son of God place your faith in him your soul trust in him live for him and you will be saved like it's it's unexpected right and so what the the takeaway though the encouragement for us is it may seem unexpected but God's plans are better God's plans are good God's ways are faithful
[31:51] God's ways are trustworthy and so even though the gospel story is unexpected even though the life of Jesus was unexpected we can trust the God who works through the unexpected we can trust that God so I hope you're encouraged again I hope you're safe if you need anything this week if you uh run out of food run out of water like look I don't know if I can drive on ice but let me tell you I will find a way we will find a way to help so please don't hesitate to reach out email me joseph at fbclewisburg.org um I will add my email here so you can read it um joseph at fbclewisburg.org it's on our website go to our website and you can email me if you have questions um I would love to to help if I can okay um make please trust we're I'm praying for you we're we're praying for our church family we're praying for our community um we're praying for the state of Tennessee and and all over the U.S. where all of this ice and and snow has hit so so um please if you need anything reach out um okay so church family
[32:51] I love you I'm thankful for you I'm so thankful for technology and the ability to get together even though we aren't together um please if you would just you know comment in the in the facebook comments that you that you watch the service today like we can't we can't see everybody together but make a little comment let us know that you're here uh that you've watched and that you were encouraged and strengthened through the word of the lord today um I hope that you've enjoyed this time of fellowship even though we're separated I hope you've enjoyed this morning of worship and and um yeah I hope that we get to you know come back together again soon um and and study the word together uh I love you church family I'm going to pray for you and and then and then we'll be done Jesus we thank you for who you are we thank you for your word uh lord I pray your blessings over our church family I pray your blessings over our community I pray for safety in the snowy and icy weather lord we know that your plans are good and we can trust your ways we know that we rest in the providential care of a loving father we thank you for that Jesus I pray right now that you would just encourage your people strengthen your people and hold your people fast hold your people safe and secure let us rest in you we love you and praise you and in Jesus name we pray amen God bless you