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Out Of Egypt



"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.”

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." 


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!

Israel left the land of Canaan and sojourned in Egypt for around 400 years. At the end of this time, God sent Moses to deliver His people and to lead them back into the Promised Land. We see here in Matthew’s account, Jesus virtually retraces the steps of Israel, ultimately fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea 11. Hosea, one of my favorite prophets, God brought into his life the most tragic personal experiences, her name was Gomer. 
 
The message of Hosea is one of failure. He looks at Israel and says, "You are a spiritual harlot. You are a spiritual prostitute. You are a spiritual adulteress. Unfaithful to God who betrothed you, racing after false gods who have become your lovers." Hosea’s marriage is symbolic of God’s covenant relationship with Israel. Through Hosea, the Lord tells the story of Israel’s disobedience, and His steadfast, faithful love. Like Gomer, Hosea's wife, who ran off after every lover that she wanted, Israel left God to worship false idols. Hosea, like God, took all of this abuse, though it shattered his heart.
 
In His infancy, Jesus is taken down to Egypt, where God providentially protects His people, just as He protects the Lord Jesus. After His sojourn in Egypt, Jesus returns from Egypt to the Promised Land, just as Israel returned from Egypt to Canaan.
 
Because Israel has been a stubborn nation and rebellious people, even their greatest leaders, including Moses and David and Solomon were sinners. Therefore, only Jesus alone, who is the "Son of Abraham," and the "Son of David," and the "Son of God," can fulfill Israel’s destiny. Because Jesus is the source of every spiritual blessing,  Matthew then, depicts Jesus as the fulfillment of all of God’s promised blessings and Israel’s hopes, as well the whole of humanity. Jesus Christ fulfills the accepted scriptural requirements for messiahship. Therefore, I believe that Matthew's account should then revolutionize our reading and understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures. Matthew sees Jesus in the Old Testament, in places where we would never have expected to see Him. For those of you who know and love Christ, you will understand what I am talking about.It is my prayer, that you will open your hearts as well as your minds, as we approach this marvelous text from our beloved Matthew.

Therefore, whenever men come face to face with Jesus, they must make a decision as to whether they will fall down before Him as God’s promised Savior, or whether they will reject Him. There has not, nor will there ever be a middle ground. In Matthew's gospel, you are confronted by a choice: Will you receive Jesus Christ as the promised Savior, or will you reject Him?
 
As your pastor, I can only present to you the truth as it is written in God's Word, you must then choose to act upon the knowledge presented in order to be saved.
 
 
Let us pray
 
Heavenly Father,

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. 
In Jesus' name I pray
Amen

Today's Message: Out Of Egypt

 
Open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew. As we return to our study of Matthew chapter 2, we come to verses 13-15. As you will remember, Matthew has been presenting Jesus Christ not only as the king but as the king of kings, the anointed of God. From the very beginning of his gospel, Matthew has been pointing the kingship of Christ, the royalty of Christ and the regency of Christ. And, he continues in that way throughout all 28 chapters. 
 
From the very beginning Matthew has been mission minded, I believe that is why Matthew included Gentiles in his genealogy of Jesus. God has provided salvation and blessing for people of every nation, and not just for Israel. Both Jews and Gentiles must own up to their rebellion and rejection of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are confronted with a choice to make concerning our sin and Christ’s offer of forgiveness through His blood. Matthew presents us with the good news, that God has offered the gift of eternal life and the forgiveness of sins to all men. The gospel commands that we take the good news to all people, in every nation.
 
Jesus Christ is a king because He is born a king. Herod, who is an Edomite, a usurper of the throne, is seriously threatened by the existence of the one whom he fears really has the right to be the king of Israel. Therefore, the birth right of Jesus as King is a reason for worship as much as it was a reason for fear on the part of Herod. 
 
Jesus is a king because he is born a king, because he has the genealogy of a king. He is a king through the virgin birth, He is a king because the Magi, the Persian kingmakers saw him as one. He is a king because He fulfills the royal prophecies, of the one who is to come. And, He is a king evidenced by Herod’s fear of his taking his throne.  That said, there are some 332 Old Testament prophecies are made concerning Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ fulfills 330 of those prophesies. Matthew picks out four of those, because there is no way that they could have been true of any one individual, just by accident or by chance. Each one of them is attached to a geographical location, Bethlehem, Egypt, Rama and Nazareth.
 
In the Old Testament, it says Jesus is the Anointed, the Messiah, the Christ, the King, the One Who is to Come, and the Great Prophet who will be associated with Bethlehem, Egypt, Rama and Nazareth.  Jesus fulfills this that in that order, in that sequence, therefore, it must be by the plan of God. There are incredibly specific, in order to solidify the real claimant to the throne, the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as eliminating any counterfeit contender.
 
I invite you to follow along with me as I read, to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for the Spirit of God is saying to each of us. Matthew 2:13-15. Listen for the voice of our Lord. 

"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."

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..
 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

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
 
 
 
 
 
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