Christ’s Birth and Events Following

Transcript

GRM 715
12/24/2000
Christ’s Birth and Events Following
Matthew 1:18-2:23
Gil Rugh

Our attention is naturally drawn at Christmas season to the events related to the birth of Jesus Christ. I want to just take our time together today and highlight some of those events and look at some of the responses that were manifest toward Jesus Christ. Two of the four gospels devote attention to the birth of Jesus Christ. Those two are Matthew and Luke. Mark really jumps right into the ministry of Jesus Christ. The emphasis in Mark’s gospel is on Jesus Christ as a servant. There’s not much time spent on developing the background and family lines of a servant.

In John’s gospel his emphasis is on the deity of Jesus Christ. So he begins, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Beginning with a strong emphasis that Jesus Christ is God and His coming to earth was the amazing event of God being tabernacled on this earth in human body.

Luke’s emphasis is on Jesus Christ as the son of man, and he gives the fullest development of events related to the birth of Christ. He unfolds in some detail the birth of the one who would be the forerunner of the Messiah, who would fulfill Old Testament scriptures in coming to prepare the way for the Messiah of Israel. Turn to Luke’s gospel if you would. In the opening part of chapter one of Luke’s gospel we have the events related to the prophesying of the birth of John the Baptist, who would be the forerunner of the Messiah, who would come to the nation Israel and tell them to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Then in verse 26 of chapter one of Luke, the angel Gabriel is sent from the very presence of God to carry a message to Mary, the one who would be the mother of the Messiah. We see here the awesome ministry of angels, as Gabriel comes from the very presence of the throne of God to convey a message to this young virgin woman. Verse 27 says “she was a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David.” The lineage of Christ is obviously of great importance. Both Matthew and Luke deal with the lineage of David both through his mother and his father. It is clearly established that he is in the line required to be the Messiah of Israel.

When the angel Gabriel approaches Mary, he addresses her in verse 28, “Hail favored one, the Lord is with you.” She is going to be given the greatest honor of any woman to be the mother of the Messiah of Israel. He tells her in verse 30, “You have found favor with God. Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. You shall name him Jesus. He will be great, will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.”

Nothing said here of the awesome awful events that would precede his ruling and reigning in glory. But He is the one that the Old Testament said would come to rule and reign over Israel, and these verses have yet to realize their fulfillment. Jesus Christ is coming again and when He does it will be to rule and reign in glory.

Mary has a question, “How can this be, I am a virgin.” The angel said in verse 35, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason, the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.” Very simply, it’s going to be a supernatural conception. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and cause you to conceive. There is no other explanation. There is no human explanation of this event. It’s a supernatural, divine occurrence. The amazing thing is Mary’s response is so simple, so beautiful. Verse 38, Mary said, “Behold the bondslave of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.” What a response. An angel appears and says, “You’re going to give birth to a child, and it will be a supernatural conception.” There are many things that had to be questions. What about my reputation? What about Joseph? How will all this be accepted? What’s her response? “I’m the slave of the Lord. Let your word be done.” Mary’s simple, beautiful humility.

Roman Catholicism has erred greatly in the role it has given to Mary. Sometimes we as protestants have failed to appreciate the beauty of the role she has. She is just a woman, a sinner who would have to experience the redemption provided by her Son. But a highly favored and honored woman and a woman of great faith as is demonstrated here.

Luke goes on to talk about her visit to Elizabeth, Mary’s comments known as The Magnificat, the birth of John the Baptist and so on. We come down to chapter two and he’s ready to unfold the events related to the birth of Jesus Christ. That it happens in the context of the taxation going on ordered by the governor of the area. Coming down from Caesar Augustus. Each one had to go to their hometown to enroll for proper taxation purposes. Joseph and Mary, they have to go to Bethlehem, that’s their background. They’re in the line of David. David was born at Bethlehem according to I Samuel 16. Bethlehem is known as the City of David. They are living in Nazareth. Nazareth is about 55 miles north of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is about five miles south. It’s a journey of about 60 miles. Not a long journey, but you remember it would not have been taken by modern conveniences. Not over easy terrain, but it was a well-traveled route generally. So, they make the journey to Bethlehem, and you are familiar with the story that while there she gives birth to Christ in a stable. The problem of everyone coming for taxation purposes and that there’s no room for them anywhere else.

In this context Luke presents the announcement to the shepherds. In the fields surrounding Bethlehem there were shepherds keeping their flocks. The angel comes and announces to them. Verse 9, “An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before and the glory of the Lord shone around them, they were terribly frightened. The angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid for behold I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people. For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.’” A Savior, the Messiah, the Lord has been born at Bethlehem today. The angels then joined together in chorus declaring verse 14, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.” As soon as the angels leave the shepherds say what? “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see Him. I mean we’re just outside of town.” They arrive that night and you’re familiar, the Babe’s in the manger and they honor Him and return to their home.

Then it goes on with some events we’ll pick up a little bit later. Come to Matthew’s gospel. We’ll devote the bulk of our time to what Matthew has to say. Luke is concerned to present Jesus Christ as the son of man. He is truly man. Matthew is concerned to present Jesus Christ as the King of Israel. The shepherds come to honor Christ at His birth, these lowly, common people in Luke’s gospel. But those associated with royalty and the court of kings will come in Matthew’s gospel to honor Jesus Christ. In chapter one you have the lineage of Christ set forth. You have the announcement to Joseph of the virgin birth of this child of Mary. What happened is Mary and Joseph were engaged, and in the Jewish engagement that was a binding relationship that could only be broken by divorce. But the marriage is not consummated until you have the actual ceremony. During this time of engagement Mary is found to be pregnant, and Joseph assumes, as you would, that she has been unfaithful. But Joseph is a righteous man, and he does not desire to make a spectacle of Mary, so he plans on having a quiet, private divorce. That’s the point in verse 19, when he wanted to put her away privately, secretly, not make it a public issue. So, you see something of his character, even when he thinks he has been wronged by her unfaithfulness.

Then the angel appears to Joseph and gives him the account, and you appreciate the way God does it because it would be a little hard for Mary to tell him, “I want you to understand, Joseph, this is a virgin birth.” It would be a little hard on the human level to accept that kind of explanation, no matter what your feelings for the person are. But the angel comes, and it’s a little hard to tell the angel you think he’s mistaken, so things are resolved here in a final, clear way. We’re told in the end of verse 20, “that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; you shall call his name Jesus for it is He who will save his people from their sins.” The details of how that salvation will be secured is not told us, but you’ll remember the shepherds were told, “Unto you this day in the City of David, Bethlehem, is born a Savior, Christ the Lord.” They did not stop at that time to consider to be a savior without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. This is really a declaration He is going to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His name will be called Jesus. The Old Testament version of that name is Joshua, it means Jehovah saves, and He would be the one who brings salvation to sinners. This is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s great virgin birth prophecy, Isaiah 7:14, which is quoted in verse 23 of Matthew one. Prophesied almost 700 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah.

We’re told that Mary and Joseph are joined in marriage, but they do not have sexual relations until after the birth of Jesus Christ. I take it they lived a normal life; they had children. The names of his brothers are mentioned, four brothers and he also had sisters later on in Matthew chapter 12.

Then we come to chapter 2 with the visit of the Magi, or Magi as we usually call them. I want you to get the time framework here and we’re going to talk about this a little more as we move along, but in the flow of events this takes place significantly later than what took place with the shepherds coming to the manger recorded in Luke chapter 2. It is months, perhaps a year later when we come to Matthew chapter 2 and the visit of the Magi. These wise men from the East, even though in our activities around Christmas and in our songs, we often identify them with the shepherds as though they came at the same time. Some of our representation we do condense events, we do that with other historical things. But it is important that we’re clear that in the unfolding events this would have taken place months, even a year later, even a year and a half later some would take it. We don’t know the exact time, but we’ll see some indicators that we’ve moved along in time. Mary and Joseph took up residence in Bethlehem. They are very poor people, and evidently when they journeyed to Bethlehem for the taxation and Jesus is born there Joseph decides he will continue his carpentry work in Bethlehem. We’ll see some of the indications of their poverty status as we look at some of the details of this chapter.

So, you have the announcement of the virgin birth in Matthew chapter 1 and you get the sense of condensing of events because chapter 2 begins, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying,” We’re right into this event that took place after the birth of Christ. We’re not told how long after this event occurred. We’ll talk more about that in a little bit, but it’s afterwards. Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. There’s a Bethlehem north in Galilee, so this distinguishes the two Bethlehems for the Jews. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea, the Bethlehem that is five miles south of Jerusalem, the Bethlehem according to I Samuel 16 that was the birthplace of David who began the line that would culminate in the Messiah of Israel. In the days of Herod, the king. Now there are a number of Herods referred to. This is the one known as Herod the Great. He ruled in Palestine for 37 years. As we’ll see in chapter 2, we’re at the closing portion of his reign. He died when he was 70 years old. He reigned by the appointment of the Romans. Don’t lose perspective. Palestine is just a small, out of the way place in the Roman Empire. It is the center of the world in the plan of God, but if you had lived on the earth in those days, this was not the hub of the world’s activities. Rome ruled the world. Herod was a minor king ruling in this little place. The Romans had appointed him there, and he had proved himself very capable. We think of his cruelty, his vileness, but Herod was a very brilliant and capable man, both as a military leader and as a builder. If you visit in Palestine today, you visit the ruins of palaces and buildings built by Herod. The most familiar would have been the temple that was in existence in Jesus’ day. In many ways a brilliant man, but a cruel and vile man as well.

Herod’s the king, and just a note Herod dies in 4 BC. Our Gregorian calendar which was established obviously hundreds of years after the birth of Christ, was not exactly accurate. So, as we would often identify Christ was born in 4 or 5 BC because we know he was born before Herod dies, and we can establish from history that Herod died in 4 BC according to our present calendar. Herod the Great is the king in Palestine. Caesar rules the world, and he is one of many minor rulers spread throughout the Roman Empire. What the Romans did was appoint the rulers of these small territories, if you will, that their responsibility was to keep them under control and loyal to Rome. Their position was dependent upon their ability to do that. We think of the unkind things, the cruel things Herod did, but he was a politician of his day. At times he was very generous with the people and gave them money and so on, and helped alleviate problems, because his position depended on his ability to keep peace and harmony in that part of the world for the Romans.

But while Herod is on the throne, he’s in the closing days of his reign, the Magi from the east appears in Jerusalem. These Magi they were astrologer/priest/wise men. They served in the courts of the king. They weren’t kings, the song calls them the three kings of orient, but they served in the courts of kings. They would have been the religious, political, the minds, the think tank, the counselors if you will, of kings and royalty. They come from the east, or the rising of the sun, the region of Persia, Babylon, in that realm. Remember in the book of Daniel chapter 2 you have the astrologers and sorcerers and wise men and counselors. Now one of the names in that list in the translation of that is the Magi. Their responsibility was to give advice out of their wisdom and supposed supernatural understanding often, to the king. These men were not kings, but they would have served in high and honored kinds of position.

We’re not told how many there are. There’s a plurality. We got three because there was gold, frankincense and myrrh given as gifts. So, we say well each one would have brought a gift, but in all probability, there were more than three, and this is just the gifts they brought. Very valuable, the kind of gift that would be given to honor a king. They traveled from the region of Babylon, Persia. Now keep in mind Daniel served among this kind of group 500 years earlier, and it could be traditions from what Daniel taught and wrote had been passed down over the centuries of time and that there was still some knowledge and understanding of Biblical events that had been communicated through Daniel. I say that because these wise men do have some knowledge of the coming Messiah of Israel. We don’t know where they got it, but keep in mind that Daniel had a major ministry there for an extended period of time, but it had been 500 years earlier.

They arrived in Jerusalem. Now these kinds of men would have traveled with a large entourage. You don’t have three men appearing over the hill on camels with some backpacks. Men of this class would have traveled with attendants carrying valuables in this day from a journey that would have taken weeks, even months from the east. It would have been quite a large contingent and as they arrived in Jerusalem, their arrival would have been noticed. But what really causes a stir, in verse 2, they come in with a question, beginning inquiring around, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews, for we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” They are looking for the one who has recently been born king of the Jews. We want to worship him; we saw his star in the east. Indicate, and other events here indicate, that the star appeared in connection with the birth of Christ. These men saw and understood its significance. How, we don’t know. Maybe an angel appeared to them. Maybe God gave them a dream. He will communicate to them in a dream again later in this chapter. Perhaps there was information that had been passed down from the days of Daniel regarding a significant event. We’re also told in Jewish literature of the time, there was a heightened anticipation. You read the non-biblical Jewish literature leading up to the birth of Christ, during that period of time there was an expectation around of the birth of the Messiah, but how these men knew from a distant land, Gentile men who would have served in the context of much pagan activity. We know that from the book of Daniel. You have pagan sorcerers and soothsayers and all being part of this mix of wise men. Now you have these Gentile Persian Babylonian men come into the city saying, “Where is the one who was recently born king of the Jews? We want to worship him.” Note, not just honor him, they want to worship him. It’s amazing that you’re going to come to this place which at this time in the world was all but a no-place, not all that significant. They didn’t come to Rome to honor the next Caesar, they’ve come to Palestine, to Jerusalem to worship a baby who has been born to be king.

The star appeared and somehow by revelation from God they knew what it meant. They journeyed to Jerusalem. Why Jerusalem? What’s the capital of Israel? Jerusalem. Where do you go to look for the birth of the king of Israel? Jerusalem. Can you imagine, after a journey of weeks or months, arriving in this city looking around there’s no celebration, no banners up, no balloons, nothing. You start asking around, “Where is the one who is born king of the Jews?” It appears you’ve been in the sun a long time, haven’t you. We don’t know anything about this. But there’s a man there who pays special attention. Somebody comes into Jerusalem inquiring about a newborn king, there’s somebody who’s really got his ears up. That man is Herod. He’s always concerned, a man who would tolerate no potential rivals of any kind, a man who could be of great cruelty. One of the towns that had surrendered to him in a conflict, after they surrendered, he executed all 2,000 residents and burned the town to the ground. Murdered his mother-in-law, his favorite wife, and three of his own sons. The last sons within five days of his own death because he thought that son might be trying to become king after he dies. So here now he hears there’s been a king born.

Verse 3, “When Herod the king heard it he was troubled.” Strong word, agitated, stirred up, just like if you start stirring up the water, you know, and you have it all agitated and going all, that’s the picture here. And all Jerusalem with him. You know why? This could only mean trouble. Because you’re talking about someone being born to be king, Herod’s not going to like it. Herod is not going to like it; you know what that means? Trouble for everybody. So, the whole city now is agitated. Rumor spreads quickly. A large entourage of important men have arrived from the east and they’re asking around everywhere, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?” Herod seeks them out, calls for the Sanhedrin and wants to find out.

Verse 4, “Gathering all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born.” Herod is king of the Jews, but you know Herod was not a Jew. Remember Jacob and Esau? Well, Herod was in the line of Esau. He was not very much liked or admired by the Jews. He was an Idumean. He was a descendent of Esau, but he’s king of the Jews. So, he calls the Jewish leadership together, the chief priests, the rulers, the governing Sanhedrin. He says, “Where does the Old Testament say the Messiah will be born?” They had a ready answer. “Well Micah chapter 5 verse 2 says he’ll be born in Bethlehem, in Bethlehem of Judea.” In John’s gospel chapter 7 verse 42, one of the problems the Jews had with Jesus was, he was from Galilee. In John 7:42 they say the Messiah has to come from Bethlehem. He can’t be the Messiah; he lives in Judea. They hadn’t really considered that he had been born in Bethlehem. It was common knowledge. Micah 5:2, he would be born in Bethlehem.

They tell him and quote the verse. There’s no discussion here, there’s no debate. It’s common knowledge thing. You know, the amazing thing is, the last you have of the Jewish leaders is the end of verse 6. They tell Herod what he wants to know. The whole city is agitated here. These men who had traveled so far because the Messiah has been born, they tell Herod where he’s born. They don’t go to Bethlehem. They’re busy, they’re just not interested. There’s an apathy about it. Do you want to know where the Bible says he’ll be born? He’ll be born in Bethlehem; now do you mind if we go home? You know, we’re busy, you know, we have a lot of things on our mind, there’s things going on, and you know, he’s going to be born in Bethlehem. Do you need us for anything else? Just a tremendous indifference on the part of religious leaders. Five miles away, Bethlehem. You can see Bethlehem from Jerusalem, and they don’t care enough to go find out. They’re done. Herod cares, but he cares for the wrong reason.

Verse 7, “Then Herod secretly called the Magi and ascertained from them the time the star appeared.” One of Herod’s family members will be called the fox by Jesus, one of his sons. Another characteristic of Herodians. Very clever. They didn’t rule for 37 years by letting details slip by. He’s going to find out first of all from these Magi, when did you see the star to signal his birth. You know what he’s trying to find out? I got to find out how old this kid is. Am I talking about someone who’s a month old, am I talking about someone who is 10 years old? I know where he’s going to be born, Bethlehem. All right now I’ve got to find out how old he is, narrowing down in his thinking. He’ll use that later. Isn’t it amazing here that Herod will believe that the Old Testament scriptures could prophesy hundreds of years earlier where the Messiah would be born, now this Messiah they’re declaring has been born, Herod takes it seriously. So seriously he’s going to do all he can to kill the baby.

Now to think if God prophesies 500 years earlier when His Son would be born, that you could kill him. There’s no rationale to the sinful heart that is so opposed to God and His purposes and plan. Well Herold, always thinking, he tells the Magi what. “You go to Bethlehem. You find this newborn king because I want to worship him with you, and when you find him you come tell me and I can come and join you in worship.” Herod’s wise enough to know even if he did go or send his forces, that they may try to hide this baby. If the Magi go, this will be wonderful then they’ll come back and tell me and we’ll just go and put an end to this new ruler, so-called.

Verse 9, “Having heard the king they went their way and lo the star which they had seen in the east went on before them.” So, you see, the star that they had seen signaled the birth of Christ in Jerusalem, now reappears for them. They had seen it in the east. Now they come out from Herod, no they have to go to Bethlehem and lo there’s the star. A lot of foolish silliness written about the conjunction of planets at this time and all of that. This is a supernatural event; it leads them to the exact house where Jesus is now living. Nothing but a supernatural event. “When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy, and they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.” You can be sure these wouldn’t be just little, small tokens. These are men who had traveled a great way, they are men of means. They have come to honor and worship the one they know will be the Lord of lords and King of kings. These would have been gifts of great value bestowed here.

We ought again to admire the faith of these Magi, these wise men. I mean, having come to Jerusalem and nobody even knows that the King of the Jews has been born, that they have to have a meeting to find out where the birth would take place. Then they tell us you go find him and then come back and tell us. So here they go out, their entourage out of Jerusalem, and nobody cares. They come to Bethlehem, this little town, a little no-place, and come to a very humble home, a lowly home, the poverty side of town. We’ll see this in a moment, and walk in. They’re not talking among themselves, “You know I think we’ve made a mistake; I think we’ve traveled all this way for nothing.” They walk in, here’s Mary with this child in this humble dwelling and they fall down and worship him. My word, what faith. They really believe the message that had been communicated to them; and without hesitation they bring out their gifts to honor him. Amazing event that takes place here.

A few things that help set the time for us, and also something of the setting that Mary and Joseph and the young child would have been living in. They come into the house, that’s one of the indications that some time has passed. They didn’t come to the manger; the shepherds came and find the baby in the manger. They came that night. But some time has passed. Mary and Joseph have resettled into a house.

Secondly, this would have taken place after Jesus was presented at the temple 40 days after His birth. Turn over to Luke’s gospel, Luke chapter 2. Verse 20 concluded with the shepherd’s account. They went back glorifying and praising the Lord in Luke 2:20. Then in eight days Christ was circumcised. His name is given as Jesus according to the angelic instruction. Then in verse 22, “When the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.” That was required of the law. Purification for the woman after having given birth, and the presentation to the Lord of this firstborn 40 days after his birth. Now you notice in verse 24 the sacrifice they give. “They came to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” They could make their choice—give a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. But that was only an option for those who were too poor to offer the normal sacrifice. Leviticus chapter 12 says the sacrifice required was a lamb. Leviticus 12:8 says that if someone is too poor to offer the lamb, then they can bring these birds that are worth next to nothing. That’s why I say you get a sense of the lowly condition that was characteristic of Mary and Joseph at this time. That’s why I say the house they were living in would have been one of very humble, humble means. They offer the sacrifices at 40 days that were only provided for those who were in more poverty conditions, not the general sacrifice expected normally.

It also indicates that the Magi had not yet presented their gifts. Because if they had presented the gold, frankincense, myrrh before this, then Mary and Joseph would not have been eligible to offer two pigeons. They would have had the resources to give the lamb. You get some of the order of events here. Also, it would have been unusual if the magi had already been to Jerusalem, and you have that turmoil for them to go back into Jerusalem for this event. It would have been a very dangerous time and obviously somebody coming in from Bethlehem with a child that Herod was looking for, you’d have all kinds of things. These kinds of things indicate that the coming of these wise men takes place sometime later, at least 40 days after Jesus was born.

Come back to Matthew. Another event that indicates that some time, and maybe substantial time, occurred is down in verse 16 of chapter 2 of Matthew. “When Herod saw he had been tricked by the Magi he became very enraged and sent and slew all the male children of Bethlehem and all its environs from two years old and under according to the time which he had ascertained from the Magi.” So here he determined from these wisemen when Christ was born, and then when it comes time to try to execute him, he executes all under two years of age. I take it that that’s related to the time he says he found out from the wise men. You can be sure Herod would have allowed some space there. That’s why I say we don’t know how much time has gone by. Some say as much as a year and a half, and Herod would have allowed the extra six months. Some say a year. You can be sure Herod didn’t just try to hit it pinpoint because he killed all of them under two years. He wasn’t just going to take their word and say, “Oh he’d be about two years old now. Okay, we’ll just kill the two-year-olds.” No, he kills everybody up to that age. So, you can be sure he went beyond what they had said, how far beyond we don’t know. Christ could have been a year old when the Magi came. A year and a half old, we don’t know. It could have been three or four months. But just so you have some time sense of the setting here that is taking place.

That will help appreciate when it comes time now to flee to Egypt. Mary doesn’t have to go, just having given birth. He is not a newborn baby. She will have had a chance to get her strength, and the baby will have had a chance to develop and get beyond those initial days and weeks, and even perhaps months before that journey and stay in Egypt. Matthew chapter 2, they give their gifts in verse 12, the Lord warns them to go back a different way. They leave Bethlehem and go out another route. You say, “Well, why didn’t Herod chase them?” Well by the time Herod realized it they were out of his jurisdiction. Again, one thing Herod doesn’t want to do is cause trouble in someone else’s jurisdiction, because you will then have a conflict here that will bring the Romans in and then you have, so these territorial things as we’re aware later when it comes Pilate even getting involved becomes significant. “When they had departed,” verse 13, “behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, ‘Arise, take the child to Egypt, his mother, flee to Egypt, remain there until I tell you for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him’.” Now it’s time to run. Go to Egypt. Egypt, and I don’t remember exactly, but it’s about 60 miles to Egypt, I believe, from Bethlehem. About as far from Bethlehem to Egypt as it was from Nazareth to Bethlehem, their original trip. It’s not a long trip of several hundred miles. They would probably go across the border and somewhat into Egypt, so if they went another 50 miles in it would only be a trip of around 100 miles or a little more. Where they went evidently to a town there to stay out of Herod’s jurisdiction and safe from where he would have any kind of authority to wait there. They were there until the death of Herod so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled saying, “Out of Egypt did I call my son,” quoting from Hosea chapter 11 verse 1.

You’ll note there’s a repeated emphasis all through Matthew’s gospel, that all the events associated with Christ are the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy; and you’ll note just in chapter 2 the events associated with the birth of Christ are ordained by God, the good and the bad. You’re to have all the male babies in Bethlehem executed here, and that will be according to the plan of God. You’ll have the son of God taken to Egypt for his safety all according to the prophesied plan of God. Isn’t it interesting, Herod thinks he’s in control here, he thinks he’s being clever, he’s going to do what he can using his own sinful desires to execute the Messiah, and all he does is what—fulfill scripture. Sinful man cannot frustrate the purposes and plans of God. Out of Egypt did I call my son. Hosea 11:1 is looking back in history to the exodus out of Egypt of Israel. Israel is called God’s son in the Old Testament, Exodus 4:22, Jeremiah 31:9. Israel is called the son of Jehovah. But there the historical reference also has a prophetic significance. You wouldn’t know it without the guidance of the Spirit here, but it not only was referring, not only looking to the past of the deliverance of the nation Israel out of Egypt, but it was also looking to the future and the deliverance bringing His Son out of Egypt. Beautiful detail that the Spirit of God unfolds.

Verse 16, Herod saw that he had been tricked by the Magi. He became very enraged, and he was a man given to fits of intense wrath. That’s when he killed his favorite wife that he regretted to the day he died. In a fit of temper killed three of his sons. Now he’s on his deathbed, has one of his sons is in jail. One of the Roman Caesars said it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son. What he’s saying here is he treats his pigs better than he treats his kids. Well, this sons in jail, in prison, and Herod within five days of his own death, he’s on his deathbed, and somebody brought a false rumor to this son that his dad died. So, this son tried to bribe the jailer to let him out of jail. The jailer instead of letting him out of jail, sends word to Herod, “Hey your kid just tried to bribe me to get out because he thought you were dead,” Herod immediately sends the executioner to have him executed. To what purpose? Can’t have any rivalry. Enraged that he would try to do that. When it looked like he wasn’t going to recover, and Herod hoped he was going to recover (Josephus writes a lot of this), he had all the major Jewish leaders gathered up and imprisoned with instruction to family members that upon my death execute them all, that will guarantee mourning in Israel with my death. He knew how popular he was. That’s all right, I’ll have a great funeral and there’ll be lots of mourning. His family members did not carry out that instruction. The fact here that he’s going to kill all the male children in Bethlehem under two years of age is not out of character for Herod at all.

Now some reject this account because they say there is no supporting evidence outside of the Bible that Herod did such a thing. Somebody writing history and in some country in another part of the world, in some African country there was a minor dictator who has executed 20 or 30 children, would it make the news? No. Why? We don’t even know what’s going on, it’s really not that relevant in the flow of world events. I mean, Herod, he’s killed thousands at one time. I mean he’s killed far more important people than these 15 or 20 babies. They estimate maybe 20 male children under two with the population of Bethlehem. The best they can judge at this time. We’re not talking about hundreds of babies scattered all over the streets. It’s a minor, minor thing, not even a blip on the map for Herod. It’s not amazing, it’s not in any textbook. The only significant thing is that it’s a Biblical event. Other than that, we look at our newspaper today and see a lot more than 20 people killed, executed some place and that’s terrible and on we go. Does matter in scriptural events because again it ties to a scriptural prophecy. Jeremiah 31:15, “A voice was heard in Ramah weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they were no more.” That picture there in Jeremiah 31 immediate reference is to the Babylonian captivity. The children of Israel being carted away. But it has a view beyond that as the Holy Spirit unfolds it. A fuller fulfillment in the wailing that took place in the coming of the Messiah and ultimately there will be the wailing that will take place in the tribulation. So here you see the details of it all significant of the unfolding of purposes of God.

Tragic event. Did Herod succeed in frustrating the purposes and plan of God? Well, I don’t know which one he was, but I’m sure I got the Messiah. No, all he succeeded in doing was what? Fulfilling Scripture and then the next verse puts it all in perspective. “But when Herod was dead.” Time puts things in proper perspective. You know we have a hard time even keeping up, after Herod the Great, the names of four or five rulers in Palestine. They’re just not important now. In fact, the ones we remember, we remember them because they were significant in Biblical history. They thought they were so important, they thought they were so necessary. The Caesars in Rome, we remember them in history books, but they’re minor compared to the significance of Jesus Christ as one born in Bethlehem. The Magi had it right, they came to worship him. Who cares who the Caesar is on the throne in Rome? Who is significant? Jesus Christ. When Herod was dead, he died an awful, ugly death. Worms eating his body, putrefaction. But right to the end he hoped he was going to pull out of it. He’s 70 years old, he’s reigned for 37 years, he’s withing 5 miles of the birth of the Messiah, the Saviour, and all he can think about is killing him, and in a short time he’ll be dead, and some day stand before the one who was born five miles away that he was intent on killing. Awesome picture.

“But when Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, ‘Arise take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’ He arose took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel, but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father Herod he was afraid to go there.” Herod dies, and now there is battle for who gets to take over. You know any time anybody made any progress, he’d put them out of the way. Archelaus the son ascends to the throne, but Jews and non-Jews alike don’t like Archelaus, so they go to Rome and appeal to Caesar. So, what Caesar does is divide Herod’s kingdom into fourths. He gives two parts, half of it, to Archelaus, and he gives one-quarter to another son and another quarter to another son. That’s why we have the tetrarch, each one a quarter. Archelaus had half of Herod’s territory, and he’ll rule for 10 years. On one occasion he executed 3,000 people at one time because they, Jews, rebelled at Passover. So, a man of despicable character. In fact, the people couldn’t take him, even the Romans after 10 years deposed him and sent him into exile without any support. Sometimes they sent a ruler into exile they provided a living for him. He was sent into exile without any financial support.

You know who comes along to replace him? Pointius Pilate. He’ll play a role. All these different figures all have significance. Archelaus, Joseph said he’s just like his father, and he may have the carryover, knows what his father tried to do, we move back into his territory. What he does is go to Galilee. Now Galilee is outside. That was given to another son. So, Archelaus won’t be able to interfere in that territory given to another son because there’s already conflict and you know battles among the sons. The Romans have drawn the line so Archelaus can’t go outside of his territory.

Joseph takes Mary and goes back to their hometown, which was Nazareth. He didn’t originally intend to do that. Originally, he was going to stay in Bethlehem, then he had to flee to Egypt. Now he has come back but he can’t stay in Bethlehem because Bethlehem is in Judea, and that’s part of Archelaus’ territory. He continues north back into Galilee and resettles in Nazareth, which had been their hometown. That also fulfills the Old Testament scripture, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” You note there’s no indication this is a quote, because there is no specific Old Testament passage that says Jesus will be from Nazareth, or Jesus will be a Nazarene. There is one that says he will be from Bethlehem. But now we’re in Nazareth, 60 miles north of Bethlehem and we’re in Galilee. The answer seems to be in passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53. It makes clear that Jesus will be a man despised of men, a man rejected. You remember in John’s gospel when it was said that Jesus of Nazareth, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” That it fulfills the Old Testament, that he’ll be a man despised, looked down upon. There’s nothing about him that we should desire him. Who wants anything to do with anybody from Nazareth? They’re prudes, undesirable people that are associated with that saying. He will be called a Nazarene, be known as Jesus of Nazareth because that becomes his hometown from this young age. Again, scripture fulfilled. The sovereign control of God.

Scripture is fulfilled and the varying responses to Jesus Christ the scripture is always fulfilled. No one will ever thwart the purposes of God, yet Herod will never be able to blame God for what he did, because it was all his own rebellion that rejected the Messiah. His own sinful desires that drove him to try to kill the Messiah, but it was within the plan of God. The Jews, their indifference. The worship of the Magi within the plan of God. Herod actively hostile toward Jesus Christ, want nothing to do with him. The Jews indifferent and apathetic were busy. In our lives we’ve got a lot of things to do, all we want to be careful is you don’t upset the apple cart, don’t cause any trouble, we like it the way it is. The least likely, Gentiles from far away come to worship Him, and that’s carried out down through time. We see the same response today. There are people actively hostile to the gospel, even this Christmas season. People don’t want to hear it. They’re hostile toward Jesus Christ.

There are many people who are apathetic. I don’t know who He is, I don’t know, I just like the holidays, I like celebrating, I like getting together with family, and I just don’t care about the other things. Indifferent. Like the Jews, Yes, born at Bethlehem, can I go home now? It’s only five miles over there. See, you can see the light. Don’t you want to go? No, I have other things on my mind. Just like people today, going about. What are you celebrating? Christmas. We go to Christmas programs. Why? It’s what you do, it’s the holiday season. Just don’t care about the message of Christ. They listen to a beautiful presentation, they go out and say, what are we going to have for dinner? Pass the turkey. But praise God by his grace there are those that are like the Magi. By God’s grace they are brought to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Savior of the world. You know that is the message of the birth of Christ, the life of Christ, and the death and resurrection of Christ. That a Savior has been born, Jesus. He will save His people from their sins and Jesus did say that unless you believe that I am He you will die in your sins. So, what happened to Herod? He died. Where is Herod? There’s an eternal hell for those who will not believe in Christ. The Jews, apathetic, indifferent. What happens to people who are apathetic, indifferent? He who is not with Me is against Me, Jesus said. There’s nothing but an eternal hell for those people. But for those who will recognize their sinfulness and believe that Jesus Christ, in spite of how overwhelmingly impossible it seems. Like these Magi nobody else knows, nobody else cares, so what? They come and worship him. So, none of your family is interested? Some of your friends are hostile. So what? What about your sin? What about the Saviour who was born at Bethlehem. He that believes in the Son has life, he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. There is no middle ground. You cannot say look I’m not hostile like Herod. I’m not a worshipper like the Magi. I’m just somewhat neutral. We have a song; neutral you cannot be. If you’re not with Me, Jesus said, you’re against Me. The neutral Jews at this point will become hostile. People who are neutral, when they’re pressed, do become hostile eventually. But why? Stop and think about it. Isn’t it sad five miles away the most significant event that happened in history to that point was occurring. The Son of God had been born into the human race and those who should be expected to come and worship him didn’t. But these foreigners, the Gentiles did. What a tragedy, you would sit and hear the gospel and of all people you would think you would believe. But you would hear it and go away week after week indifferent. What an opportunity God has given that we should hear the truth of His Son and be called to believe in Him. Let’s pray together.

Thank you, Lord, for your grace, your grace showed to us, grace manifested in your Son’s coming to earth, grace manifested in His death on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, grace manifested down through the history of time as the message of your Son is proclaimed again and again. Lord, grace bestowed upon us this very day as we’ve been privileged to gather again and consider the message that the one born in Bethlehem is Jesus, the Christ, the Lord, the Savior of the world. Lord, I pray that each one might consider carefully their relationship to this One. That they might bow before Him, recognizing and acknowledging that they are sinners and that there is only one Savior. Thank you for the joy and privilege of worshipping Him as those who have been cleansed by His blood, the One who is Lord of lords and King of kings. We pray in His name. Amen.