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Matthew 2:12-23
WHAT WAS SPOKEN WAS FULFILLED
By Johnny Tatum
PART 4: RESIDING IN CUT AND SHOOT
The Eternal Word Entering the World of Death
Spiritual Application:
Maybe another reason God allowed this even to happen… Let us suppose there were 15 boys killed by Herod in Bethlehem, INCLUDING Jesus. How many of them died? All of them. I mean ALL. Not just 14 boys, but all 15 died. The difference is that 14 of them have their spirits in heaven and their bodies are still here on earth somewhere. ONE of them [Messiah Jesus] died and He was resurrected from the dead; His body is not on this earth anymore.Picture:
The scene at Bethlehem is a picture of the human race. All human babies (except for the redeemed who will be taken by Messiah before their fleshly death) are going to die. One of the features of the human race is mortality and death. Bethlehem is a symbol of the world; the whole planet is just a big cemetery. It is a revolving cemetery with 10 billion dead people buried in it.Picture and Fact:
In this world, ONE Person went into the grave and came back out again. He was the only survivor of that massacre.Again,
the key word here is identification. Jesus was born in Bethlehem where everybody else had been killed. It is a picture, and a fact, that the Eternal Word of God entered the world of death.Think About This:
Taking On Mortality for Us
[This is probably an absurd thing to even speculate about…]
Let us suppose the nation of Israel had accepted Jesus as King of the Jews, as their Messiah. Now we still have a problem, because He had to die for our sins.
However, let us suppose that in this weird, hypothetical case I have created, Jesus lived and did not go to the cross. He just got older and older. What would have happened to Jesus? He would have died. Is that not a strange thing to think? He would not have lived forever. Why? Because the Son of God became a real human being, Jesus. He did not cheat! He would have died eventually. He would have at least died of old age if of nothing else.
What a Picture:
He was the immortal, Eternal Word of God, but He took on mortality for us.That is the reason I believe God allowed this juxtaposition -- all of the death at the time Messiah Jesus was born:
Understanding Another Level of God's Providence
Again, I am amazed at how God's providence works. It does NOT surprise me that He used Joseph, because Joseph was in tune to Holy Spirit. It does NOT surprise me that the Lord God uses unbelievers when He forced them to do things. It DOES surprise me that He used people like Caesar Augustus; he was just doing the things that he wanted to do. But now, we are getting to another level of God's providence.
The Lord God uses people who are consciously against Him. In this Matthew 2:12-23 passage, the Lord God used Herod who was hostile to Him. The Lord God was using Herod 1) to isolate Jesus, and 2) to identify Messiah Jesus with us.
We need to clarify something: It is not that God works AROUND people like Herod. That would be one thing. Instead, He USES what they are doing.
The Lord God uses their sin!
Scene Four:
The scene shifts back to the royal family leaving Egypt and making the trip to Nazareth.Herod killed thousands and thousands of people, and then he killed babies. However, since he was mortal, Herod also died. The historians at the time said Herod endured weeks of suffering and then he died a loathsome (disgusting), horrible disease.
19
But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,20
"Get up and take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."21
And he arose and took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
Where did Joseph go? I believe he went right to the border of Israel. The reason I think that is…
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.
The word Heard means "heard second-hand, heard rumors." If Joseph had gone to Bethlehem or Judea, he would NOT have heard rumors, he would have SEEN Archelaus was ruling. I believe Joseph took his family to the border of Israel to understand where God would send him next.
When Joseph heard Archelaus he thought Uh-oh and he was afraid to go there. And God confirmed Yes, your fear is correct…
Being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee,
Galilee is located in the far north of the Land.
Who Was Archelaus?
When Herod died, His kingdom was divided among three sons (they were probably the only sons he had left; though it is surprising that he had that many left): Phillip, Herod Antipas, and Archelaus.
Phillip became the leader of what is called the
Decapolis, located north and east of Judea, where Messiah Jesus took a trip (see Mark 7:31-37). Herod Antipas, the one that Messiah Jesus encountered later on (Messiah called him a Fox, and He did NOT mean that he was cute -- see Luke 13:32), became the leader over Galilee. Archelaus became the leader over Judea.What was the big concern about Archelaus? Let us learn a little about him…
While his father, Herod, was still ruling, Herod put a giant eagle on top of the Temple. Now the Jews did NOT want the eagle. Why not? Because it was idolatry that sent the Jews to Babylon for 70 years, and the Babylonian captivity thoroughly cured them of idolatry. They were NOT going to let that eagle stay, so two scholars climbed to the top of the Temple to remove the eagles. Of course, Herod had them killed. No problem for him!
Later on, when Herod was ill and while he was in Jericho trying to ease his symptoms, Archelaus temporarily ruled Judea. Archelaus was just as paranoid as his father -- I wonder why?
The Passover feast was going on in Jerusalem, and the Temple area was filled with 3,000 pilgrims. Archelaus looked out and thought that the Jews were storming the king's palace to kill him in retaliation for the two Jewish men that Herod had killed. So what did Archelaus do? He sent out swordsmen who killed all 3,000 pilgrims. No problem for him! He was just as cruel as his father was.
Moving Onto Nazareth
Based on the timing of the Passover massacre, I believe the incidence was what Joseph heard about when he arrived at the Israel border. And God confirmed what Joseph heard by telling him
Do NOT go there. Where does the royal family go? They go to Nazareth in Galilee, about 80 miles from Bethlehem…23
And he came and resided in a city called Nazareth,Again, here is
the key phrase…That what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled saying, "He shall be called a Nazarene."
Of all Matthew's quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures, this one is most surprising.
Again, Matthew took quotations from the Old Testament and matched them up with Jesus' life. The only problem is that the phrase
He shall be called a Nazarene is not found anywhere in the Old Testament Scriptures. Actually, it is really a simple matter; I do not know why such a big deal is made about it. In the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament and the Scriptures that Matthew used), Isaiah the prophet said A shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1a). In Greek, the word shoot means "a Nazarene". So there was an Old Testament quote to match up with Jesus' life.However, the real point here is
identification. He shall be called a Nazarene would be like saying Messiah will come from Cut and Shoot. Nazareth had a bad reputation. For one thing, Messiah was despised because Nazareth was the headquarters in the north for the Roman army. Also, the people in Nazareth were considered to be seedy (tacky, worthless).You Are There:
John's Disciples Find Messiah
Phillip went to Nathaniel and said
We found Messiah, the One spoken of by Moses in the Law and by the Prophets. And He is from Nazareth. Nathaniel said Get real (in Aramaic, of course)! What good thing comes out of Nazareth? (See John 1:45-46.)
Nazareth was considered unsavory, and the people were considered worthless. Do you know what they would be called today?
Scum of the earth. Do those adjectives describe Messiah Jesus? NO! But they certainly describe us -- human beings -- right?Identification:
Messiah Jesus was NOT ashamed to be called Scum of the earth like what we really are. He was NOT unsavory, He was NOT worthless, and He was NOT scum of the earth. But He let Himself be called all of those things. Why? Because He identified Himself with us and we really are all of those things.
The writer of Hebrews said:
Jesus is not ashamed to call them (those who are sanctified) brethren. (Hebrews 2:11b)
And:
God is not ashamed to be called their God. (Hebrews 11:16)
This shows the depths to which Messiah Jesus humbled Himself. He did not mind being called what we are, although He was NOT those things.
In this passage, we have seen the Lord God moving in providence to fulfill His prophecy. He will work with people who:
In His providence, the Lord God controls everything. Again, God does not work around people; instead He will use them, no matter who they are.
How did the Lord God use His providence? He brought Messiah to a situation where He could identify Himself with us in these four scenes; that is why:
Before We Close:
Understanding Why Jesus Came to This World
Why did Messiah Jesus identify Himself with human beings? So He could be our substitute.
Why does every human being need a substitute? Because:
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).
And
The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
There is no getting around it. We are like babies who were born in Bethlehem during the reign of Herod -- Death IS Coming! For each human being, that includes spiritual death and physical death.
For those who trust in Messiah Jesus, since He identified with us and therefore can take their sins upon Himself, they do not have to pay the wages of their sin which is death. Messiah Jesus did!
Just think, all of this and He is just an INFANT -- He has not even started His ministry yet!
Ultimately:
And
We will begin the next Matthew study with His forerunner, John the Presbyterian -- uh, Baptist!
Father, we thank You for this passage.
Above all, we thank You for Your providence. You amaze us because we see You working through people who were indifferent to You, with people who were in tune with You, and through people who were hostile to You. If You can maneuver situations and people who were opposed to You and who were indifferent to You, how much more is the possibility of Your leading those of us who want to be lead by You?
Thank You for sending Jesus. We thank You that He was born in Bethlehem so He could be insignificant like we are. We thank You that He went to Egypt, because we were trapped by the world and by Satan. We thank You that He was born at a time when others were dying, because He took mortality on for us. And we thank You that He lived in Nazareth, because He did not mind being identified with us, who are the worthless, the seedy, and the unsavory.
Father, we thank You for Your Living Word, the
Bread of Life, Messiah Jesus.We pray in His name. Amen.
To:
Matthew 3:1-12, HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND?
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