Matthew 2:13-23 part 2

Matthew 2:13-23

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

DAY 11b
July 14, 2024

Escape to Egypt/Return to Nazareth; continued: 
The Two Camps and the Sovereignty of God

Matthew 2:13-23

Before we get started, I just wanted to share something that is maybe completely off topic, but that is on my heart. I was just thinking about this. Do know what I love about God? 

He is so dynamic. Not that He is changing, he doesn’t ever change – which I also totally love about Him, but I love the fact that He is dynamic in the sense that He is always active. He is always at work. He is always doing something. He is always moving forward.

He is dynamic in the sense that He is never gets stagnant. He never gets bogged down.. He always knows exactly what He is doing. He always has a plan. 

But what I love even more maybe, is that for us people who sometimes do get bogged down, who sometimes do get stuck in a rut, He is patient. So very kind and patient. But, even while He is patient with us, He is still – gently – active, gently nudging us forward. Gently Challenging us to move forward, to grow. He is gentle, but He never stops stretching us. He is so good to us. 

  PRAY

Review of last week:
Last week, we talked about Prophecy Fulfilled.
We also mentioned last week that there are a LOT of supernatural things going on here in this short passage.
1. Dreams (God speaking to men thru angels in dreams)
2. Angels (being directed by God)
3. Prophecy (being directed by God)
4. God at work in history

This week we will look at The Two Camps, which we see in every paragraph in this section, and we see illustrated by the contrasting lives of Joseph and Herod.

If you don’t remember anything else from today, please get this, please remember this one glorious truth,  the one main over-arching thought of this passage today:

THE TWO CAMPS
There are only two forces, two camps, if you will,  at work in the universe, or two camps if you will. Good and Evil, God and Satan, the wise and the foolish. There is no middle ground. These two camps are diametrically (fundamentally, philosophically, positionally and spiritually) opposed to each other. 

These TWO CAMPS are alluded to in each and every paragraph of our passage today.

Two of the three main characters in our passage illuminate this truth: Herod the Great and Joseph, whom I am here calling, for the sake of illustration, Joseph the Righteous. And as we go thru Matthew, we will see these two camps, represented in every paragraph of today’s passage, as well most of the rest of Matthew.

First read Eph 1:1-14

Then read Matt 2:13-23. (Point out the “camps.”)

First, let’s take a quick look at these two lives.

HEROD THE GREAT

He was the regional king of Judea, installed by ROME, as a friend and supporter of Rome. He was an Idumean (related to Edomites – enemies of Jews) and his mother was an Arabian princess. He was most likely NOT a legitimate “King of the Jews” according to Jewish laws, customs and genealogical requirements of scripture. That sort of put him in the hated class of “tax collector,” like Matthew was before he was called by Jesus. Craig Keener says that he passed the approval of the Sanhedrin in being officially recognized as King of Judea because he killed the original members of the Sanhedrin and then installed his own, hand-picked members to the Sanhedrin. He ruled as king from 37 BC to 4 BC.

On the one hand, he was a great builder and built many great buildings, including the re-building and expansion of the temple in Jerusalem. That Jewish Temple was the largest and most magnificent building in the world at that time time, according Craig Keener. He was also somewhat astute and savvy at playing the political and financial games between the “occupied” Jews, and the hated Roman occupiers. 

But on the other hand, Herod was paranoid, and obsessive about protecting his place as king. He killed just about anybody whom he even perceived might be a potential threat to his being king, including his favorite wife, Mariamne, and three of his sons. And of course, as the scriptures teach, he tried to kill Jesus by ordering the killing of male infants in Bethlehem. 

One note on Herod I find interesting: If he believed in God enough to believe the prophecies about a king being born, why would he think he could go up against this God?

Quite an interesting quagmire.

One note on Herod I find interesting: He was obsesses with protecting and maintaining his reign as king, and so, he tried to kill the baby who, prophets say, was born to be the king of Israel. So, it seems to me that he at least seemed to believe in the prophets and the scriptures to at least some extent, or he would not have taken prophecy as a threat to his reign as king. 

And Prophets spoke directly from God, the very words of God. So, it seems he believed God, at least in terms of the prophecies about Jesus, but he did not believe enough about God  to realize it is absolutely and utterly foolish to go up against God.

JOSEPH THE RIGHTEOUS

Let’s look a bit a Joseph.

Scriptures don’t seem tell us a lot about him but there is a lot to like about this man.

  1. First of all, interestingly, he never says a word. In the whole Bible.
  2. He was the husband of Mary
  3. Joseph was a righteous man
    1. Joseph was a righteous man (NIV84, NASB, CSB, LSB, NET)
  4. When he found out his bride to be was pregnant, He (NIV 1984) did not want to expose her to public disgrace. Very gracious.
  5. He (NIV 1984) had in mind to divorce her quietly. Law-abiding, yet gracious.
  6. He was obedient
    1. An angle of the Lord appeared and gave him several directions and commands
      1. (NIV 1984) Matt 1:24 “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him
      2. Math. 1:25 says; (NIV 1984) “But he had no union with Mary until she gave birth to a son. Joseph was obedient to Righteousness.
      3. And he gave him the name Jesus, as commanded in verse 1:21.
      4. Matt 2:13-14 says, “(NIV 1984) 13 When they – the Magi –  had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt.” He was instantly obedient. In the middle of the night. Ne explanation. No advanced warning. No adjustment period or real time to think about it. No questions. No Plans. No preparation. No time to even fully understand what was going on. Just go straight to a foreign country. Immediately. This is Joseph’s faith working itself out in simple obedience.
      5. Matt 2:19-21 says, “(NIV 1984) 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. Again, simple obedience. God told him what to do. And he just did it. You gotta love this guy Joseph!
      6. And finally, for the fifth time in this little section of scripture, in Matt 2:22-23, it says, “(NIV 1984) 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

In all this activity, in this short passage, not only do we see Joseph’s righteous character and his faith lived out by his simple, unquestioning obedience, but we see God at work … 

  1. We see God Protecting Mary and Joseph
  2. We see God Protecting Jesus
  3. Everything Joseph needed for the “unexpected Escape to Egypt, God had already sovereignly provided.
  4. We see God Directing the events of history according to His perfect plan 
  5. We see God Protecting our salvation, and effecting redemption
  6. We see God effecting His good will and purposes in history for the benefit of those who would believe in Son

But, conversely, we also see Satan’s evil working thru Herod the Great in trying to kill Jesus to protect a throne that is, essentially, not even rightfully his. 

So, we see Herod in one camp, and Joseph in the other.

And God sovereignly overseeing it all.

Joseph’s Obedience

Joseph’s obedience was – and is – so important, not only for that unfolding and most important drama in the first century, but it is so very important for us today. God asks for our obedience. God actually demands our obedience, because He knows that whatever He asks of us, is either for our good, or to protect us from some harm. (BND – Max Anders) Our willing, joyful and immediate obedience is key to our good and healthy relationship with God. And it is the path thru which growth happens and blessings come. 

QUESTION:

Just How important was Joseph’s obedience? (Not only to him, but to Mary, Jesus and us)

What is the example we need to follow today?

How important is it to be prepared ahead of time? Did Joseph just wake up one day and think to himself, “I think I’ll obey God today?” Or was he prepared ahead of time? And how did he get prepared?

-before the “rainy day”

-before the storm hits

When is the best time to get car insurance? Before an accident? Or after?

When is the best time to prepare for spiritual battle in your life? Before the battle or after? 

How important is it to have a correct, a BIBLICAL understanding of who God really is, and not just who we “think’ He is?

How important is it to be able to trust God when the storms of life come? 

Every week close with SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: A QUESTION

This week I would like to close by reading a devotional that I read yesterday. Interestingly, I read it after I had prepared this lesson today, and God, by His gentle grace, confirmed to me the one main over-arching thought of this passage today, namely, that …

The devotional, by Paul David Tripp in his book New Morning Mercies, January 2, says;

Your rest is not to be found in figuring your life out, but in trusting the One who has it all figured out for your good and his glory. We were on our way to the local mall with our two young boys when the three-year-old asked out of the blue, “Daddy, if God made everything, did he make light poles?” I had the thought that all parents have, again and again, as they deal with the endless “why” questions that little ones ask: “How do we get from where we are to where we need to be in this conversation?” Or, “Why does he have to ask me ‘why’ questions all the time?” Human beings have a deep desire to know and understand. We spend much of our daily mental time trying to figure things out. We don’t live by instinct. We don’t leave our lives alone. We are all theologians. We are all philosophers. We are all archaeologists who dig into the mounds of our lives to try to make sense of the civilization that is our story. This God-designed mental motivation is accompanied by wonderful and mysterious analytical gifts. This drive and those gifts set us apart from the rest of creation. They are holy, created by God to draw us to him, so that we can know him and understand ourselves in light of his existence and will. But sin makes this drive and these gifts dangerous. They tempt us to think that we can find our hearts by figuring it all out. It’s the “If only I could understand this or that, then I’d be secure” way of living. But it never works. In your most brilliant moment, you will still be left with mystery in your life; sometimes even painful mystery. We all face things that appear to make little sense and don’t seem to serve any good purpose. 

rest (or peace) is never found in the quest to understand it all. No, rest is found in trusting the One who understands it all and rules it all for his glory and our good. 

Few passages capture that rest better than Psalm 62:5–7: “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.” 

And he says, regarding trusting God with mysteries of life and faith …

In moments when you wish you knew what you can’t know, there is rest to be found. There is One who knows. He loves you and rules (or directs) what you don’t understand with your good in mind. 

(For further study and encouragement: 2 Corinthians 5:1–10)

And finally, Proverbs 3:5-6 says; 

Trust in the Lord with ALL your heart,
and lean not on your own understanding. 
In ALL your ways, acknowledge Him,
and He WILL direct your paths. 
Amen. 

——————————————

After class notes

At the end of the Sermon on the Mounts, in Matthew 7, Jesus describes two kinds of people: Those who build their house on the rock – that is, Jesus, and those who build their house on sand. It is significant that He ONLY describes two kinds of people, and the whole rest of the NT follows suit and does the same. There is no middle ground. 

The Bible teaches that there are only two kinds of people in the world: The Godly and the ungodly, the righteous  and the unrighteousness, the wise and the foolish, the saved and the unsaved. Those who are born again, and those who are not. Those who know God, and those who do not know God. There is no middle ground. According to scripture, there are only TWO CAMPS. The book of Romans says that everyone is born in sin, and that everyone is an enemy of God, unless and until, we are born again and come to know God. God has the prerogative – and exercises it – to have mercy on whom He will have mercy and extend grace to whom He will extend grace. All according to His perfect will and purposes. 

(NOTE: Just because we are positionally in Christ does not mean we are perfect in every, or even any way. We do not ACT perfectly righteous, nor do we ACT perfectly holy or Godly or wise, although POSITIONALLY – IN CHRIST (our position) – we are considered – we are COUNTED as righteous because of CHRIST’S righteousness that is credited to our account .)

(We are learning and growing. We are in the process called “sanctification” or, growing in Christ-likeness. If we are saved, or born again, and continue to be facing intentionallyJesus, we are on the right path, regardless of how far along that path we are, -or – think we are.)

Main Point #2

The Two Camps and the Sovereignty of God

Illustrated by Joseph’s Faith and Obedience vs. Herod’s Evil 

(Illustrated in every paragraph in this section)

(Last week’s questionsHave you heard of the terms biased or preconceived notions?

 (Have you ever heard of the term pre-suppositional theology?)

Do you think that people have biases one way or another? Where do you think preconceived notions come from?

Discuss these questions

Why is this not only important to Matthew’s first century audience – but to us as well?

This gives us the sure, undeniable confidence that – 

The Scriptures Are Absolutely TRUE and TRUSTWORTHY

And this has huge ramifications for our faith!)

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, that there are only two types of people – two camps. One camp, or one type of person is building there house – their lives – on the Rock. The other camp, the other type of person, is building their house – their lives on sand. There is no third scenario, no third category of people, no third camp that people fall into. We all – no matter where we are on on our journey – are in either one camp or the other. Again, there are only two camps: Either we are in Christ, or we are not. Either God is our Father, or Satan, the devil, is our father. Either we belong to God, or we belong to the devil. See John 8:42-47

Two weeks ago we asked the question, “What is the greatest  thing in a

ALL your life?”

Now, the question for this week to think about is:

What is the most important thing you can DO in this life?

Prayerfully read, study, meditate on, memorize and wrestle with, the Word of God

 – SO THAT – 

You can love the Lord your God with ALL your heart. 

Remember from last week – 

You can’t really love God if you don’t know who He really is!

Closing Prayer from the book, Be Thou My Vision, day 6, page 70:

O Lord, I do not deserve a glimpse of heaven, and I am unable with my works to redeem myself from sin, death, the devil, and hell. Nevertheless, you have given me your Son Jesus Christ, who is far more precious and dear than heaven, and much stronger than sin, death, the devil, and hell. For this I rejoice, praise, and thank you, O God. Without cost and out of pure grace you have given me this boundless blessing in your dear Son. Through him you take sin, death, and hell from me, and do grant me all that belongs to him. Amen.

Martin Luther

Initial OVERVIEW rough thoughts, observations, ideas: One of the things we see in this section of scripture is the theme of the two diametrically opposed camps. The Godly and the ungodly, those in Christ, and those who are not. 

In this section, in each and every paragraph, we, interestingly, see a representation of each camp. In paragraphs one and two (vs 13 and 14), we see the Lord and Herod. 

Then in paragraph three (vs 16) we see Herod and the prophet Jeremiah. Then in vs 19 we see Herod and the Lord again. Then, in the last paragraph, we see Archelaus and Herod on the one side, and the prophets on the other. 

As mentioned earlier, Matthew tells the early childhood story of Jesus more from the “Joseph” side, and Luke tells the story more from “Mary’s” side. 

Just to be clear about what we are talking about, what side was Herod on?

And then, that begs the question, Going back to the Magi story, whose side were they on? 

What side was Joseph on? Mary?

How about in verse 4, whose side were the “chief priests and teachers of the law” on? 

Then in vss 1and three it speaks of Jerusalem. What side do you think “Jerusalem” was on?

 (We don’t know! We must be very careful about guessing and not putting something on or in scripture that may not be there. The same is very true today! We must be very careful about judging people, or putting labels on them, or putting them into a box, or a “camp.” God has given us some tools for understanding and discerning, and judging to and extent, but in the end, only God can really judge the heart.

What side are you on? Are you conscious of it daily? Are intentional in acting accordingly?

Review of question from last week-

Two weeks ago we asked the question

“What is the most greatest thing in ALL your life?

Last week we talked about the fact that there – POSITIONALLY speaking (not practically speaking)



Bible Project Gospel of Matthew, Summary part 2

Bible Project Disclaimer: While the Bible Project Animation Videos are generally very good, we at the Orchard Church do not necessarily agree with every single point of every single video. Particularly, for example, we do not agree with everything they teach regarding the Atonement (which is NOT referenced here in the Matthew summaries.)
All authors, teachers, preachers and churches have points upon which we disagree, are flawed or mistaken in some way or another. Only the Bible is perfect in all it says and teaches. Grace abounds, even while holding tight to sound doctrine. Know your Bible well! For more disclaimer info, go to our Links page.



Bible Project Gospel of Matthew, Summary part 1

The Olive Tree Bible App is free and comes with several free books. You can buy additional books if you like.
Olivetree Bible App website – home page

Holman Commentary of Matthew in Olive Tree r

Olive Tree Support page “HOW TO” videos

What is a Covenant? By Keith A. Mathison on TableTalkMagazine.com

What is a Covenant in the Bible? by Ester Kuhn at firmisrael.org

Discover the Five Covenants in the Bible – an article on the Olivetree Blog

Why was geneologies so important to Israel? By gotquestions.org

What is the Relevance of Geneologies in the Bible? By gotquestions.org

Good article on The Kingdom of God by Tim Barnett of Stand To Reason website

Why did God give us Four Gospels by GotQuestions.org