"13 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.”
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is my privilege to have you here with us today. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness and commitment to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. People are responding to God's Word! This is all so amazing. We ask you to pray that God will continue to give us boldness to speak the truth in ministry in the face of adversity in the coming days! As you may have noticed, it's becoming more and more challenging in the day in which we live.
I want to let all of you know how grateful I am for all of you. We are so thankful your prayers and continue to pray for all of you. Prayer is such a powerful tool, and a mighty weapon against the adversary. And through your sharing, God continues to bring a number of people to faith in Jesus Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives. All for His glory!
Father, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, I pray that you will overwhelm our hearts with the reality of the glory and the grace that you have granted us through Your Son Jesus Christ. I pray for those who do not know Christ, may You overwhelm them with the reality of the condemnation that is upon them for rejecting Christ and cause them to run to the cross and to cry out for the mercy and grace, in genuine repentance.Father, I pray that You will use this message to that end.
So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 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."
We saw in verses 3 and 4, "When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born." Herod is very clearly upset and it is in his mind to determine where this threatening king is to be born. He had heard enough of Jewish prophecy, and he was fearful. He knew that they were anticipating a Messiah. So, his mind was set on killing that baby.
Micah, the prophet who wrote verse 5, directed his judgements against the false prophets and the false rulers and the false teachers of his day. In chapter 2, he wrote "Woe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands. They covet fields and then seize them; And houses, and take them away: They rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance. Therefore thus saith the LORD; ‘Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity, From which you cannot remove your necks; And you will not walk haughtily: For it will be an evil time."
Micah was pointing to these rulers, princes and those who are usurping lands, fields and taking homes, assuming the role of a dictator. He says "God will judge you!" And, in chapter 3 he says "Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob, And rulers of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice and twist everything that is straight. Who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with violent injustice. Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, her priests instruct for a price and her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord saying, "Is not the Lord in our midst?"
Micah is pretty clear here, "You’re literally ripping my people apart, tearing their skin off, tearing their flesh off their bones and eating them and boiling them in a pot." These are the judgments that Micah roars against the false teachers. After having done that, he prophesies a future where there will come a true teacher, a true king who will reign with goodness and justice. He speaks of the one who is to come.
As far as we know biblically, they had no confirmation of that great message they had heard from the angel. Then, when the magi finally came to Bethlehem, they really knew this child was the be the Son of God, Emmanuel, God with us. And, it is confirmed from these men from the orient. It’s all true. There are times when God confirms something unique to biblical periods of revelation. It happened to Daniel, it happened to Peter, it even happened to Pharaoh.
Here is verse 13, it happens to Joseph. So, we see the flight to Egypt. "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." This is fascinating fulfillment of prophecy. God is protecting His Son. Egypt, a land which had once been a place of bondage and oppression, becomes a safe haven, escaping from imminent danger for the Messiah. Proof, that the devices of men can never thwart the plans of God.
As a footnote, the word departed is the Greek word is "anachóreó," means to withdraw, taking refuge from danger. Matthew uses the word twice elsewhere in his gospel. One such illustration is found in Matthew 4, "Now when Jesus heard that John had been taken into custody, He withdrew into Galilee." It means to flee in view of danger. So, the angel tells Joseph to flee to Egypt, a journey that was 75 miles to the border and about 100 miles further to the heart of the land. Egypt was a natural asylum for the Jews, even from the time of the Maccabean revolt.
In the Old Testament, the ruling powers are Babylon and Medo-Persia. In The New Testament, it's Rome. Between the Old and New Testaments, there was a period in which the Greek government ruled Israel. There was a revolution was led by some people Jewish family, named the Maccabees, and many Jews began to flee into Egypt during that time. In fact, the scribes who copied down the Old Testament, which is now called the Dead Sea Scrolls, came out of the Qumran community, a group of Jews that lived on the edge of the Dead Sea. In fact, it was Alexander the Great, a Macedonian, who said, "We’ll give them equal privilege with Macedonians." One hundred and fifty years before Christ, the Jews actually were given their own temple in Egypt. And, forty years after Christ's death, there were at least 1 million Jews living in Egypt.
The primary reason they were directed there, is not because it was such a great place to live, but so they could get out from under the oppression of Herod. And, that was exactly where the Old Testament said the Messiah had to go. I have often wondered why God would just instantaneously transport them to Egypt, forgoing the long journey, but in his humanness, this was a child like every other child, dependent on parents to take care of them. The human experience was required in all points of God becoming a man.
Herod wanted to kill Jesus, but he was merely the pawn, Satan, who is a murderer, was actually behind the scheme to kill Christ. Throughout Scripture, we read how Satan continues to want to murder Christ. Read Revelation 12, you'll find the whole story. So, Herod couldn't fool God, he couldn’t be a hypocrite with God.
In verse 14, we see that Joseph obeyed, "So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt." They went into Egypt which was a part of the prophecy. Matthew omits the details, he is focused on the prophecy but I believe they told no one, otherwise Herod would have been hot on their trail.
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." Herod died by the way, shortly before the passover in 3/4 BC. It’s hard to be dogmatic, because in God’s wisdom He has chosen to paint a picture with broad stokes only, leaving out many details scholars still endeavor to fill in. The only eclipse that qualifies is that of March 13, 4 BC. So, I believe it wouldn't have been a short time afterwards.
Either way, God wanted to verify the credentials of the Messiah, so He attached it to a prophecy. We see that at the end of verse 15, which says "This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called My Son." I believe this is one of the most important statements found anywhere in the Bible, it tells you that the prophets who wrote the pages of the Bible, did so by the inspiration of God Himself. The Old Testament prophet was saying that the Son, the King, the Anointed, the Messiah, the Christ is to come out of Egypt.
In Closing..
What if Herod had understood Psalm 112, "How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments…He will not fear evil tidings, his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord." Instead, like all people whose hearts are hardened against the Lord, they curse God, shaking their fists in His face, surely, the mark of a fool!
Throughout redemptive history, God has consistently revealed His heart and character. So did His creation. God has revealed Himself to you today, the only question is what will your response be? Will you confess Him as Lord?
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen