We are all familiar with the Christmas story -- from the angels appearing to Mary, and to the shepherds in the field, the difficulty of finding a place for baby Jesus, the manger scene, the Magi following the star, and their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. For most of us, since we were young, we have grown very familiar with all the details about the story of Christmas even if some of them were not necessarily found in the Scripture – we have embraced them out of our tradition as some of these stories stirred our minds with a sense of jubilance and excitement about the real meaning of Christmas.
Christmas has always been a message of good tidings which were to be shared with all people: that Christ, our Messiah, our Savior, was born on earth and walked with us.
A lot of times the story that we hear, the musical play that we watch or the church sermon that we listen to – leads us .. up and until the birth of Christ or the visit of the Magi where gift giving was clearly emphasized and for a lot of people, this is our favorite part. For some people this is where our minds are tangled upon. What kind of gift shall I give to my family, or to my friends or what kind of gift shall I give to myself? There is another part of Christmas that we are oftentimes very excited upon, parties and food!
The Gospel of Matthew has always been regarded as the Gospel to the Jews. Matthew wrote the gospel to convince his fellow Jews that Jesus was the Messiah as foretold in the Old Testament. His gospel was written from a Jewish viewpoint for a Jewish audience and one of his goals is to prove that the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah points to no other than Jesus Christ.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed. He called together all the chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet Micah 5:2 has written “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” Matthew is telling his readers that hey, Jesus is fulfilling these prophecies.
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” Did you notice that last line? There was a bit of a deception there, right? Do you really think Herod was going to worship Jesus? Of course not, in fact, the following events tell us the opposite.
The Magi went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Based on what the Bible tells us, we debunk some of the myths associated with the Magi.
First, they are not Kings.
Second, there´s not three of them although the Bible mentioned three gifts but it doesn’t mean there´s three of them.
Third, they did not visit Jesus on the night of his birth. They came much later probably a few months after Jesus was born and if you read your Bible, Joseph´s family was already living in a house at this time.
Now we are going to read our Scripture for today. This is what happened after the visit of the Magi.
13 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.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,
15 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.”
BACKGROUND:
We know that the calendar we use today is divided into two eras and amazingly it's based on the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. B.C. means Before Christ and A.D. means Anno Domini which is Latin for “in the year of our Lord.” Please take note though that Jesus wasn´t born in Year Zero. In fact, there was no Year Zero because after 1 BC comes 1 AD.
The Bible does not provide the exact year in which Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But if we closely examine the chronological details of history, it narrows the possibilities to a reasonable window of time.
Matthew 2:1 tells us that Jesus was born during the days of King Herod. He is also known as Herod the Great or Herod I. History tells us that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C.
After Joseph and Mary fled from Bethlehem with Jesus, Herod ordered to kill all the boys 2 years old and younger because he wanted to kill Jesus. This indicates that Jesus could have been as old as 2 before Herod’s death.
Christ must have been born sometime between 6 and 4 B.C.
In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church finally admitted the miscalculation made by a European Monk Dionysius Exiguus, or Dennis the Small, in the 6th century. He is best known as the inventor of the Anno Domini (AD) era, which is used to number the years of both the Gregorian and Julian calendars.
Nazareth is the hometown of Mary and Joseph located in Northern Israel. In 5 B.C., just before the birth of Christ, Luke 2:1 tells us that Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken so they had to go to Joseph´s ancestral town.
Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem for about 120 kms.
Because of the census which required a lot of people to go back to their hometown to register, it was difficult for Joseph and Mary to find an inn. So it was not the typical scene that we see during Christmas nativity scenes where the neighbours were mean to Joseph and Mary that they shut their doors to them. It was just a busy time.
We are told from the Scripture that we read that after the wise men had left, Joseph is told in a dream to flee to Egypt. He was informed of this because Herod the Great will soon issue a command that all male children two years old and younger, in and around Bethlehem, are to be put to death. Herod's cruel actions fulfilled an Old Testament prophecy by the prophet Jeremiah regarding the slaughter of innocent children in Israel. Why Egypt and not just in other towns or other parts of Israel? Well they had to be outside the jurisdiction of Herod and later on we´ll learn some important lessons about it.
The family traveled from Bethlehem to Egypt for about 70 kms.
Soon after Herod died in early 4 B.C., Joseph had another dream where an angel tells him it is safe to return to Israel. They soon began their travel back to Judea and Bethlehem. However, as they approach Judea, Joseph learned that Herod Archelaus, the eldest son of Herod the Great, is the new ruler of the area. Unfortunately, like his father Herod the Great, Archelaus rules with tyranny and cruelty.
Joseph's fear was confirmed when God sent him a another warning in a dream. So instead of going back to Bethlehem, the family continued their travels northward to their hometown of Nazareth.
After Herod´s death, they traveled to Nazareth which was about 170 kms.
Nazareth was a city in Galilee. But guess what? It was ruled by another son of Herod the Great named Herod Antipas, although this son was slightly less violent than his older brother Herod Archelaus.
Jesus was called “out of Egypt” up to Nazareth fulfilling the prophecy in the Old Testament. In a few verses in Chapter 2, Matthew was able to prove to his readers that the birth of Christ and the circumstances surrounding His birth confirmed that He is the Messiah as prophesied in the Old Testament.
Jesus spent his childhood and young adult years living in Nazareth, which fulfilled the prophecy stated in Matthew 2:23. It was implied that Jesus´ step-father Joseph may have died sometime between his 12th and 30th birthday. Jesus continued to live in Nazareth until he journeyed to Capernaum to begin his public ministry.
The prophecies fulfilled according to Matthew are the following:
Prophecies Fulfilled:
• Messiah will be born in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:5, Micah 5:2,4)
• Israel will weep for her children (Matt. 2:18, Jer. 31:15)
• He will be called out of Egypt (Matt. 2:15, Hosea 11:1)
• He will be called a Nazarene (Matt. 2:23)
In Matthew 2:15, he quoted an Old Testament passage in Hosea 11:1 which says:
“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”
Most Bible Scholars agree that this prophecy was more of a pictorial prophecy. It is more of a type of Christ and Matthew used it as an analogy comparing the relationship of God as Father to the nation of Israel. Because of His love for His children, He called them out of Egypt which represented slavery and bondage bringing them to the Promised Land.
When I was studying these passage, I also noticed an element of contrast. God called His Son out of Egypt, which for a period of time, served as His place of refuge and safety. God called Jesus out of Egypt also to send Him to the Promised Land but not necessarily for His own safety and protection. Jesus was called out of Egypt primarily for the safety and protection of EVERYONE of us. He was called out of Egypt in order to fulfill the will of the Father.
LESSONS:
I believe we can draw a few lessons from our story this morning.
The redemption plan of God is something unimaginable, it´s definitely unthinkable. Can you imagine God sending His only begotten Son to walk on Earth and eventually be crucified? And with all the Old Testament prophecies about the coming of the Messiah and how He will crush God´s enemy, Satan must have been long planning a counter-attack. In our story, we can say that King Herod´s actions of killing all those innocent children were definitely an evil scheme to prevent Jesus from fulfilling His mission.
1. Whenever God does something good for His children, rest assured that the enemy will try to do the opposite.
God devised His redemption plan, sent His son Jesus Christ with complete humility and meekness of a baby in a manger. Satan on the other hand came up with a counter attack by obviously influencing King Herod to murder innocent children. The enemy wanted to prevent Jesus from growing up and being able to fulfill His calling because Satan knew that this prophecy will put an end to his control of this fallen world.
I don´t know about you but have you experienced receiving a wonderful blessing from the Lord. You were so happy. Everything seems to be working fine. You were so excited. You just joined WCCC as an official member. You became part of a very productive ministry. Then all of a sudden, for apparently no reason at all, something “bad” happens. I believe sometimes, the enemy is involved. He tries to spoil our joy of experiencing the blessing provided by God and he tries to counter-attack God. This is the reason why some people don’t want to be very happy anymore. They say that if they are very happy one day, they expect that tragedy awaits the following day.
Every time we appoint a key church leader, for example somebody responded to become a pastor or to become a church leader like President of the Board or like an Elder or Ministry Head. We always tell the person, watch your guard. Don´t bring down your guard. The enemy is watching for an opportunity. He is out there to steal, kill and destroy.
It reminds me of the 4th fight of Pacquiao and Marquez on December 8, 2012. Pacquiao was doing very well on that sixth round with left and right jabs pushing Marquez to the ropes. With a split second of Pacquiao trying to set up a left jab, for a split second he took down his defense and Marquez took this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity giving Manny a right hook straight to his mouth bringing Manny down flat into the canvass with his face down.
Sometimes our Christian life is like that. We´re too quick to put our guards down. Sometimes we get so high and we bask in our accomplishments and cherish those moments but we end up putting our guards down.
The Apostle Peter said “Be on your guard. Your enemy the devil is like a roaring lion. He prowls around looking for someone to chew up and swallow.”
The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6:10 “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Paul was very clear. Be strong in the Lord, not relying on your own strength.
2. God allows “bad” things to happen for the time being to accomplish His bigger purpose.
God could have stopped King Herod from slaughtering those little children but He did not. Not because He could not, but He did not.
Remember in the past I preached to you one of the most difficult and relevant arguments we face today, especially by our children. You can find this also in Norman Geisler´s books.
IF GOD IS ALL-POWERFUL, HE COULD DEFEAT EVIL.
IF GOD IS ALL-LOVING, HE WOULD DEFEAT EVIL.
BUT EVIL IS NOT DEFEATED. EVIL IS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE.
SO EITHER GOD IS NOT ALL-POWERFUL OR NOT ALL-LOVING BUT HE CANNOT BE BOTH. OR THERE IS NO GOD!
Did you hear that argument? You share Christ to someone this Christmas he brings up this argument. Isn't it difficult?
I am thankful because prior to hearing this argument we have spent two months talking about END TIMES and we learned that YES, God allows some “bad” things to happen for the time being. He allowed the serpent to trick Eve. He allowed Satan to do bad things to Job. He allowed King Herod to kill the innocent children. He allowed the Jews and the Romans to crucify Christ. He allowed the 911 bombings. He allowed the Las Vegas shooting. And in the future, He will allow the GREAT TRIBULATION to happen here on Earth. But in the end of days, we know that GOD will finally put an end to evil. WHY? Because the God we worship is all-powerful and an all-loving God!
He has a plan. A plan bigger than all of us. Beyond our understanding. And we caught a glimpse of that plan in the book of Revelation.
It says there that “One day!” Say it to the person beside you “One day!” God will wipe every tear from your eyes and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
3. We need to patiently wait for God´s perfect timing in order to fully respond to His calling.
Just like the family of Joseph, God may just be protecting us from danger during this period of wait. He may just be preparing us or equipping us for our calling. The Bible did not say how long did Jesus stay in Egypt but again we can make some calculated guess that He lasted there for several months. It took thirty years for Jesus to start His ministry. That´s a long wait. If Jesus waited that long and even His first public appearance at age thirty was an act of humility being baptized by John the Baptist, why can´t we be the same.
Sometimes we are too over-eager to join the ministry. We want to serve. We want to feel good. We want people to see us. Sometimes we join the ministry for the wrong reasons. But a lot of times, God wants us to wait. So if I ask someone here to join the ministry, and you told me you are waiting for God´s timing, I will respect that. Just make sure you are indeed trying to listen from God.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS.
God called Israel “out of Egypt” which represents bondage.
He called Jesus “out of Egypt” in order to fulfill His calling.
For the nation of Israel, Egypt represents bondage. It represents slavery. Egypt was the centre of the world at that time. Anything worldly, you can find in that place. Egypt at the time represents anything the world has to offer. God took His children away from that place. He allowed them to cross the Red Sea and brought them to the Promised Land.
In the same way, He called JESUS out of Egypt in order to start fulfilling His calling.
Is God calling you out of your own “Egypt?” He wants you out of your bondage. He wants you to go out and fulfill your calling.
What´s your response? Are you prepared to take the call even if it means the enemy may have to put a mark on you and start pestering you head on? Israel responded to God´s love by worshiping a Golden Calf and it disappointed God. What about you? Will you disappoint Him?
Are you ready to get out of bondage and fulfill your calling?
Christmas is a good time to ponder upon these things. God did not come to this Earth so that we can have a party each year, have lots of food and sing Karaoke. Christmas is more than just giving of gifts, or going on shopping, or having fancy dinners and even holding family reunions. God has a better plan in mind. It´s called his Redemption Plan and He wants us to be part of that plan.
I admire our passion and excitement when its Christmas season.
I hope and pray that this passion and excitement will not only be present during Christmas time but will continue throughout the year. That our concern in fulfilling the Great Commission in reaching for the lost will have the same passion and excitement – not only during Christmas time but consistently throughout the whole year.
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Maple Ridge during its Sunday service on December 17, 2017
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors. I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
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