God is in Control

Scripture:  Read Matthew 2:13–23 and Matthew 3:1–3

 

Observation:  As we stated in some of the introductory material, the general thrust of the Book of Matthew is to establish, on behalf of the Hebrews or the Jews, that Jesus of Nazareth IS IN FACT the promised Messiah of Old Testament Scripture. There are approximately sixty-eight Old Testament references cited in the Gospel of Matthew.  Three of them are seen here:

 

Matthew 2:15 is from Hosea 11:1.

 

Matthew 2:17 – When Herod murdered the male babies two years old and under in Bethlehem, an unimaginable cry of anguish went up from the hearts of the inhabitants of the region.  Matthew says: “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.” Jeremiah 31:15 was cited.

 

Matthew 2:23 – The words “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene.” is an interesting one because Matthew does not, as before, cite the words of any one prophet by name, but says generally that what he quotes had been spoken by or through the prophets. No such words are actually found in the Old Testament as a direct point of reference.  According to commentators the most likely point of reference is in Isaiah 11:1, “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Netzer (Branch) shall grow out of his roots.”  Nazareth was a despised place.  His very going to dwell at Nazareth, was an occasion of his being despised and rejected by the Jews. Thus, when Philip said to Nathanael, We have found Jesus of Nazareth, of whom Moses spake, Nathanael answered, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?  Lastly, if you are familiar with the Talmud at all this was a frequent phrase used by Jews to quote the Talmud, “to fulfill what is said” is used when Talmudists allege not the very words of Moses, or the prophets, but their sense, which is deduced as a certain axiom from them; and thinks it is applicable to the present case.

John the Baptist comes on the scene in Chapter 3 and another prophetic reference is made in Matthew 3:3 pointing back to Isaiah 40:3

 

There is not much information about Jesus’ early life; it is summed up in three short paragraphs.  What we do know is that Herod wanted to be sure that nobody else could be king.  But, men and women cannot stop God’s plans and even Herod himself would be the one die soon.  So Jesus escaped Herod’s evil plan.  God was protecting and caring for Joseph, Mary and the baby. He can do the same for us too.  Again we note that Joseph obeyed God even though it was not always easy.  But what if he did NOT obey?  Joseph still learned something important – to obey God is the best way.

 

Before we can obey we must repent.  That word in Hebrew is teshuva.  It means to turn yourself around.  It’s not just about being sorry or feeling bad for what you do.  It is about turning away from those things that do not please God and turning to Christ and walking in a new way.  This act of repentance is a road that leads us back to God.  It prepares us for the work He wants to do in our lives.  This is not only something we need to do, but this is a way we can teach our children too.  Our children may say “sorry” many times to us or their siblings, but are they changing their ways?  When you see a change in yourself or in your children then you know true repentance is taking place.  This is an important place to get to in our own lives in as we teach and raise our children.  I know in the past I have found myself saying “sorry” to God for the same things over and over, but it is not until I began to stop doing what I was doing and start doing things His way that I started to see changes in my life.  Then you begin to feel peace (instead of guilt) and see the blessings and protection of following God and obeying Him.

 

Again, the application section contains our questions for consideration.  Please use these questions and your own thoughts to comment on the passage below.

 

Application:  Think about the cruel murders in 2:16. There is so much suffering in our world today.  How can you apply what we learned here today to dealing with all the things going on in the world today?  Is God still working out His plan today?  Is God still in control?  How do you understand the meaning of repentance?  Do you think true repentance should be evident in a person’s life and if so how?

 

Prayer:  Lord God, Father in Heaven, I thank You so very much that You are still in the saving business today.  Your word tells us that the Kingdom of God is near.  You came once as the incarnate Son of God fulfilling the words of the prophets and You will come again.  May we prepare ourselves for this imminent return!  May we seek daily to repent and turn away from the things that we do that do not align with your word.  Lord, change us!  Save us!  Bring us out from the bondages that we have put ourselves under Lord.  Help us to follow You as Joseph did and Lord may we know and recognize Your protection in very real ways as we seek to follow after and obey You.  Thank you so much for loving us and teaching us through Your word.  Through Christ the Promised Messiah I pray.  Amen & Amen.

 

 

Interesting note:  The NT writers used the OT. They saw similar things between the OT story and Jesus’ life and work. Careful study will show this. They felt that Jesus matched with the whole history of the Jews (Israel). He even lived it all again.  One example is just as God brought the Israelites out of Egypt He brought Jesus out of Egypt.  This shows us that Yeshua still brings hope to desperate people.  Egypt is a symbol of sin and bondage.  Yeshua still saves us from the bondage and the power of sin today. This is the hope the world is looking for right now.  I challenge you to share this hope with someone today!  Jesus saves!