Matthew 2:13-23

The Providence of God

Open your Bible to…

Ps. 2:1 Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?

Ps. 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,

Ps. 2:3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.”

Ps. 2:4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The LORD shall hold them in derision.

Ps. 2:5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure:

Ps. 2:6 “Yet I have set My King On My holy hill of Zion.”

Pray

Intro

√ Messiah

Last week Matthew presented to us the response of the people in his day to the News of the King’s birth. Some…

Looked for King

Troubled by the King

Ignored the King

Worshipped the King

This week as we close out chapter 2 of Matthew’s Gospel we get a great look at the Providence of God and how He works in the affairs of Men to accomplish His purposes.

Providence:

1: the capital and largest city of Rhode Island; 2: the guardianship and control exercised by God; "divine providence" 3: a manifestation of God's foresightful care for His creatures.”

In our text this morning we get a close up look at how God takes care of His people…

…in this case, His Son, the new born King!

Ap. The Providence of God

As Christians we can approach life with great confidence because we have the assurance that God is watching over us and that He has our best interest in mind.

We also have the unique privilege of working with God in this world to accomplish His plans…

…if we’ll listen to Him and obey what He tells us to do!

Joseph’s story is a great example of how God’s providential care works out in our life experience.

Fled with the King (vs. 13-15)

Mat. 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

Mat. 2:14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

Mat. 2:15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

√ Fled with the King

The providence of God has been keenly displayed for us from the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel about Jesus Christ the King…

Son of Abraham, David, and God (protected the Messianic line)

Virgin Birth (miracle of Creation)

Bethlehem (moved Augustus to get Mary to Bethlehem)

News of His birth (the Star & the Magi)

All of these events to bring the Messiah into the world were orchestrated by God and brought about by His mighty works!

While all this is certainly clear, God’s providential care of His Son is implicit in the text…

…rather than explicit.

However, in our text this morning we find that God’s providential care of His Son comes to the forefront of the story as He works to protect the life of the newborn King.

√ Take the King to Egypt

The first way in which we see God’s providential care demonstrated is by getting baby Jesus out of Bethlehem so that he won’t be killed by Herod.

To do so God sends an angel to warm Joseph in a dream (vs. 13)…

“Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

Joseph immediately responds and heads off to Egypt with Mary and Jesus, thus fulfilling another prophecy…

“Out of Egypt I called My Son.” – Hosea 11:1

Of interest to us is how it is that God’s providential care works.

Note God’s part

Predicts the events (prophecy)

Directs the events (dream)

Note Man’s part

To speak the Word that God gave (Hosea)

To obey the Word that God spoke (Joseph)

While it is true that God will always get His will done, don’t miss the fact that He chooses to use human vessels to accomplish His will!

Ex. He could have moved Jesus and family Himself!

He really doesn’t need any of us! But, we find that God chooses to use people like you and me to do His will. In so doing we get to participate in God’s plan to redeem Mankind!

Ap. Are you available?

God wants to use us for His glory, but we still have the choice. If we chose not to be involved, God will still get His work done…

…but it will be through another person.

Ex. Queen Esther

She was afraid to get involved and her uncle reminded her…

“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

Esther had a choice, to put aside her fear and be the vessel through which God would save His people…

…or, allow fear to rule her heart and turn from what God wanted to do in her life.

God will always get His will done, it’s up to us as to whether or not we are going to participate.

In our text this morning we find that Joseph was a man of faith demonstrated by his quick response to obey the direction of the Lord…

…as he fled with the King.

Tried to kill the King (vs. 16-18)

Mat. 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Mat. 2:17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

Mat. 2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.”

√ Tried to kill the King

Just as God has warned Joseph, Herod sends his troops to Bethlehem to kill all the baby boys who might be a threat to his throne.

Once again Matthew points out that this is all in fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies…

…this one spoken by Jeremiah (Jer. 31:15)

You might wonder how Jeremiah’s prophecy ties to Bethlehem since the village isn’t mentioned by name.

Note the clues that Jeremiah gives us…

“Ramah”; simply means “height” and is used of a number of different villages, and cities, in ancient Israel.

“Rachel weeping for her children”; identifies which Ramah Jeremiah is talking about.

Check Genesis 35:16-19…

Gen. 35:16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. And when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel labored in childbirth, and she had hard labor.

Gen. 35:17 Now it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, “Do not fear; you will have this son also.”

Gen. 35:18 And so it was, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-Oni; but his father called him Benjamin.

Gen. 35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

Rachel is thought of by the Jewish people as the “mother” of the nation, even as Jacob is the “father”. So, in the place where she died in childbirth…

…she is seen prophetically representing the weeping of the people over the babies killed by Herod in Bethlehem.

√ Murdering king

Some critics of the Bible will point out that this event is not recorded in any other historical document, therefore, they suggest it never happened.

But, as we mentioned last week this behavior is totally consistent with his reputation of killing anyone he thought might be a threat to his rule.

He killed a least one of his wives, and two of his sons!

So, a Roman historian would most likely not be interested in the slaughter of poor Hebrew children.

Further more we find that not only Herod the Great, but also his sons and grandsons made a habit of killing people they thought were a threat.

Ex. Herod

Herod Antipas had John the Baptist killed and mocked Jesus

Herod Agrippa I had James the Apostle killed

No less than 8 “Herod’s” mentioned in the New Testament! But, for all their violence and effort to stop the work of God…

…in the end God gets His will done!

Ap. Surrender or suffer

The testimony of scripture is that no one fights with God and wins!

Satan

Haman

Herod

Man can resist God, fight against God, and try to legislate God out of our lives…

…but God always wins!

As we wait for Jesus to return to establish His Kingdom the Bible tells us that Mankind under the direction and power of Satan will raise the greatest rebellion ever.

But, God has already told us how it’s going to play out in the Valley of Armageddon.

God wins.

So, we all have a choice when it comes to the Providence of God. We can surrender to His will and be blessed…

…or we can try to kill the King and suffer His wrath.

Returned with the King (vs. 19-23)

Mat. 2:19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

Mat. 2:20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”

Mat. 2:21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

Mat. 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee.

Mat. 2:23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

√ Returned with the King

Once again Matthew tells us how God worked directly in the lives of Joseph, Mary and Jesus, to protect them from harm.

Once Herod the Great is dead, God speaks to Joe in a dream and tells him to go home.

Joseph sets off back to Bethlehem, but God wants His Son in Nazareth, so he speaks to him in another dream and sends him north.

Note – the last of 4 dreams through which God directs Joseph.

Ap. Wouldn’t that be great! Any time that you need direction in life you just take a nap!

So, Jesus is kept safely out of the hands of Herod and spends 20 or so years in the safety of Nazareth.

√ Why Nazareth?

First of all to fulfill prophecy, God said that His Son would be called a Nazarene…

…so Jesus has to grow up there.

Second, it was the perfect place to hide the King of the Jews!

Nazareth, along with the whole region of the Galilee, had a bad reputation with the Jewish people.

Filled with lots of Gentiles, most conservative Jews wouldn’t go there.

Had a reputation as a rough place, not the place where the elite of society like Herod would want to be.

Ex. Nathanial’s reaction to Philip’s invitation to come and see the King…

“And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” – John 1:46

So, Jesus was able to grow up and mature into the ministry to which He was called without catching the attention of anyone who might want to kill the real King of the Jews.

Close

√ The Providence of God

Our text this morning reminds us that God is very active in our world…

…and that He uses human vessels through which He accomplishes His plans.

We’ve seen how He protected Jesus from those who sought to kill Him by moving Him safely to Egypt, and then back to Nazareth.

God is still active today! For those who love Him we can then be confident that He is watching over us, and that He will use us to accomplish His plans if we’ll listen and obey.

Also, we need to recognize that God has a plan for each of our lives…

…a venture of faith.

He wants to use you to accomplish His will as He used Joseph in Jesus’ live.

Surrender your life to Him, seek to know His will, and do it!