Sermon for Sunday, December 22, 2024 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Old Testament reading:
[Hosea 11:1-12 ESV] 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. 3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them. 5 They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me. 6 The sword shall rage against their cities, consume the bars of their gates, and devour them because of their own counsels. 7 My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. 8 How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. 9 I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. 10 They shall go after the LORD; he will roar like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west; 11 they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria, and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD. 12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.
New Testament reading:
[Acts 2:22-24 ESV] 22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know– 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Gospel reading:
[Luke 24:44-49 ESV] 44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Sermon Text:
[Matthew 2:13-23 ESV] 13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” 19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to 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, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Introduction
What do you think about when you hear the phrase “traveling with an infant?”
Maybe your response is “Don’t do it.”
That was one persons advice for the question about flying with a small child.
The questioner asked “I have an infant or a small child. Are there any special preparations I should make for flying?”
And the response of the detractor was “Definitely. Before you leave home, gather together whatever toys, books or games you will need to keep your child occupied. Then remain home, occupying your child until he or she is a minimum of sixteen years old.”
Well, regardless of whether or not you come that drastic conclusion, we all likely admit that there are many difficulties traveling with an infant.
-The preparations ahead of time are more involved.
-The travel more rocky, with more frequent stops. ‘
-And you can rule out making “good time” if efficiency is your goal.
But traveling with an infant is sometimes necessary.
I was doing some research a while ago on my great-grandfather I found he came through Ellis Island in 1903. And he had married back in the Netherlands. So his wife came with him. And from her first marriage a young daughter was on the boat too. And that is impressive. Traveling with a small child across the ocean. But when I did the math, I realized that she was also pregnant with one of my grandfather’s older sister while on the trip. So that is hard travel. But they did it. You can’t exactly leave children behind when you emigrate!
Well, in our text today we have two occasions of traveling with an infant. The infant Jesus.
The first is necessary for safety. Escaping Herod.
And the first and second are travels necessary for fulfilling prophecy.
So Joseph and Mary will travel with Jesus to Egypt, and then they will travel with infant Jesus to Nazareth.
In between these travels we learn of Herod’s “slaughter of the innocents” in Bethlehem.
So we’ll look at this text in three sections.
1) Traveling to Egypt
2) Escaping Death in Bethlehem
3) Traveling to Nazareth
And in EACH of these there is fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. That theme of Matthew continues. Old Testament prophecy is fulfilled in EVERYTHING that is going on with Jesus. And this all shows that he is the promised messiah, the anointed one who has come to save His people.
I. Traveling to Egypt (v. 13-15)
First, we have Joseph and Mary with Jesus traveling to Egypt.
And if we speak of difficulties in traveling with an infant today, surely it was more difficult in the ancient world. So Joseph and Mary weren’t looking for this opportunity. Rather it was forced on them. They had really good reason to travel!
That reason is Herod.
Herod is a dangerous character. This is a man who killed his own family members thinking they were plotting against him.
And word has now reached Herod about “him who was born King of the Jesus.”
Someone warns the Magi about Herod and they flee Israel.
Now the family of Jesus is also warned. But the messenger is not any human person; it is an Angel of the Lord.
The angel appears to Joseph in a dream and says “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt.” And he gives a serious reason why. He says “for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
So they must leave.
Joseph, being a godly man, obeys the angel.
“14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod.”
And note the implication of a virgin birth; that Joseph is not the father. The angel doesn’t say “take your child” or “take your son.” but he says “take the child and his mother.” Joseph is not the father, but he is the guardian.
And poor Mary, she traveled to Bethlehem while pregnant. Now, a year or two later she taking the infant Jesus with her and Joseph to Egypt.
Now, we have the FIRST of THREE PROPHECY FULFILLMENTS in our text.
Matthew tells us:
This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
This clearly harkens back to the Exodus, when Israel left Egypt.
And the words themselves are a repetition of what the prophet Hosea says about the Exodus.
[Hosea 11:1 ESV] 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
Each of the three prophecy fulfillments in our text are more difficult to understand that your standard prophecy. The way a standard prophecy works is that a prophets states something that will happen in the future and then that even occurs.
But when Hosea was speaking, it is not clear that he knew he was talking about the Messiah.
Matthew uses Hosea, however, in that way.
And it is not just a comparison. Matthew doesn’t say simple “Jesus came out of Egypt as Israel came out of Egypt” but he says “this is to fulfill what the Lord had spoken.”
How is it that Jesus coming out of Egypt FULFILLS the prophecy?
Well, this is a long-debated verse. But I like the conclusion G. K. Beale reaches:
“Matthew portrays Jesus to be recapitulating the history of Israel because he sums up Israel in himself.”
That is, there is a connection between Israel and Jesus. He stands-in for Israel, fulfilling the prophecy that was given to the nation.
Beale continues:
Since Israel disobeyed, Jesus has come to do what they should have, so he must retrace Israel’s steps up to the point they failed, and then continue to obey and succeed in the mission Israel should have carried out. The attempt to kill the Israelite infants, the journey of Jesus and his family into Egypt and back to the Promised Land again is the same basic pattern of Israel of old. Hence, Jesus did what Israel should have done but did not do.
Matthew is full of Old-Testament references.
II. Escaping Death in Bethlehem (v. 16-18)
He does it again with the “slaughter of the innocents.” That’s what it is called when we look at what Herod does.
But I call it “escaping death in Bethlehem” which puts the focus on the work of God in protecting Jesus Christ.
The similarity with the old testament is that baby Moses escapes the murderous intent of the Pharaoh.
Now Jesus escapes the murderous intent of Herod.
Practically, fleeing to Egypt gets the family out of the reach of Herod. It was a Roman province as well, but run by another governor. And there were many Jews there, making it an effective refuge.
And indeed, it is a good thing Jesus and his family got out of Israel.
But, this doesn’t make the slaughter itself to be cheery.
While no one—not even infants—are without sin, the term “innocent” can be applied in the sense that Herod has no legitimate reason to have them killed.
The slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem is one of the hardest things to hear from all of the Bible. The murder of infant children. The estimates vary. Bethlehem was a fairly small place though, and so the murder may have been 20 or so infant boys. Yet even one would be terrifying and life-altering to all relatives and friends. The death of 20 or more infants would be the causing of great mourning. And the number could have been larger if more of the surrounding area was included.
Matthew quotes from the prophet Jeremiah.
[Jeremiah 31:15 ESV] 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.”
The prophecy speaks of Ramah which is a place some distance from Bethlehem. It is not necessarily the case that children were killed in Ramah as well. The mourning of those killed in Bethlehem would reach far beyond.
Rachel is the wife of Jacob/Israel. She is, in that sense, the mother of the nation. In Jeremiah the words about her weeping apply to the Babylonian Captivity. There is great lament for the loss of the people of Israel to be brought as slaves to Babylon.
Then, later Rachel dies after giving birth to a child and she is buried somewhere near Bethlehem.
So Matthew weaves this Old Testament history together. And indeed there is now weeping in the land with the death of infants by the command of Herod.
He is called Herod the Great, but he is not great in anything but in his evil.
Our text tells us that Herod then dies. But it doesn’t say anything about his death.
The historian Josephus, from that same era, however, does speak of Herod’s death. Josephus makes Herod’s death to be a really bad one, fitting for a bad king. Herod had a fever, and “malignancy of the innards,” “swelling of the feet”, difficulty breathing, and spasms in his limbs.
But with all this death — both of the innocents and of the evil —God has arranged it such that Jesus and his family escaped the tragedy. We might use a phrase that is prominent later in the Gospel “for it was not yet his time.” Jesus would indeed die for his people, but there was work to do first.
II. Traveling to Nazareth (v. 19-23)
So the section concludes with another occurrence of “traveling with an infant.”
If leaving Israel was “retreat,” there is some sense in which the return is “a victory.”
Herod sought to kill Jesus. But who died? Herod did.
So Jesus and his family return to Israel.
The angel of the Lord again appears to Joseph in a dream. He says
“Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
And again Joseph obeys.
21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
But the don’t go back to Bethlehem and the area around Judea. That is too dangerous. While Herod is dead his son Archeleus reigns there.
But you might have a map in your Bible showing how the territory was divided up among the sons of Herod. Archeleus had a large territory including Jerusalem. But Galilee was the land of Antipas. Apparently it was considered safer in the lands of Antipas. So the family goes to Galilee, to the town of Nazareth.
And the text tells us that this also fulfilled a prophecy.
23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
This is not referring to a single verse in the Old Testament. That is indicated by the fact that it says “prophets” plural. “So that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”
This is not a specific prophet, but a theme we find in the Scriptures Nazareth is a rough place. Or a disparaged place. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth.” And the prophets tell us that Christ would be despised and rejected. (Isaiah 53:2-3) Or to say it another way, He will be called a nazarene, despised and rejected.
Application: God’s redirection is your right direction.
Now, something we can learn from the text.
God knows what trouble awaits us, and can make our escape if it is His will. Matthew Henry says “God is acquainted with all the cruel projects and purposes of the enemies of his church.” God knew Herod’s intent, and so brought Jesus to safety.
If you are going through difficulties, the Lord may be using them as part of your escape from worse things.
“God’s redirection is your right direction.” [EXPAND]
The Lord opens and closes doors.
The Lord brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for the census.
The Lord brought them with Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod.
And the Lord brought them all to Nazareth to fulfill prophecy, for you and for me.
To show us that Jesus is the Christ.
To bring him to a place of disapproval in the world. To make him despised of men, for our sakes.
For the low will be raised up. And the haughty will be brought low.
So this Christmas we ought to remember, “Jesus Christ was born for me.”
“Jesus Christ fulfilled prophecy for me.”
“Jesus Christ lived for me.”
and
“Jesus Christ died for me.”
The travels of the infant Jesus were not haphazard. They were with purpose. They were for the benefit of His people. Praise the Lord.
Let us pray.