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We may turn in your Bibles to 
Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2, last week 
we considered the visit of the Magi to the Lord Jesus Christ. We remember how Herod had asked 
the Magi to return to him, to instruct him as to the location 
of Christ. And Herod's lie was that he could 
go, or so that he could go and worship Jesus. But we read on 
and we see that Herod was in fact a king who set himself against 
Christ. So I'll pick up reading in chapter 
2 at verse 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. When he arose, he took the young 
child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt, 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. 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. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, 
saying, 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. Now when Herod was dead, 
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph 
in Egypt, 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. Then he arose, took the young 
child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 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. 
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." Amen. Let us pray. Father, thank you 
for your Word, and we pray that your Spirit would guide us now 
as we look to Scripture. We pray that you would help us 
to hide your Word in our heart, to find encouragement from it, 
and as well to appreciate your sovereignty and the way that 
you have dealt in history. We just pray now that you would 
bless your people here, and we ask through Christ Jesus the 
Lord. Amen. Well, in these first two chapters, 
there's a lot of history, a lot of historical narrative, which 
sets the stage for all that follows in the Gospel according to Matthew. Remember that verse 1 of chapter 
1 sets sort of the covenantal and theological framework. It 
is the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, 
the son of Abraham. And then in his genealogy, Matthew 
takes pains to show us that in fact Jesus did come. He has legal 
access to the throne of David. He defines the specific mission 
of Jesus in Matthew 1. at verse 21. It says, She will 
bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will 
save His people from their sins. So it does not take long for 
the devil to seek to try and destroy Him, to seek to try and 
disrupt the very plan of God. And what we find here specifically 
is King Herod with this murderous desire to rid the world of Jesus 
Christ. So we compare Revelation chapter 
12, we see that it's the devil who is behind the scenes. This 
is spiritual warfare being fleshed out in history. And the passage 
before us is very instructive in terms, again, of Old Testament 
history. Matthew takes a lot of effort 
to show us that this is the fulfillment of what has been written in the 
Old Testament documents. And so the narrative that we've 
read this morning breaks down into three sections. The first 
is God's firstborn being called out of Egypt in verses 13 to 
15. Secondly, we'll notice the murderous 
plan of King Herod in verses 16 to 18. And then thirdly, the 
return to Nazareth in verses 19 to 23. But notice first, in 
verses 13 to 15, there is a similar occurrence of an angel warning 
Joseph in a dream about a specific thing. He tells him, 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. You must note the emphasis in 
the passage before us. Usually, most of us would say, 
I'm going to take my wife and kids and go somewhere. It's the 
exact opposite here. The emphasis and the stress fall 
upon the child. Take the young child and his 
mother. Herod wants to destroy the young 
child. Yes, Mary and Joseph are involved. Yes, they are players in this 
drama. But the focal point is Jesus Christ. Herod's rage is 
what was pictured in Psalm 2. The kings, the rulers, they take 
their stand against the Lord and against His Christ. Men hate 
God, men oppose God, and men want to destroy whatever is of 
God. And so the angel's instruction 
here is to go, flee to Egypt, hang out there for a while, until 
Herod the Great is dead. Egypt is a good place. It was 
nearby. It was a well-ordered Roman province 
outside of Herod's jurisdiction. And according to a writer at 
the time, a man by the name of Philo, there was probably about 
a million Jews living in Egypt at that particular time. But 
as well, I think Matthew wants us to see something here, some 
similarities. What does Herod look like? He 
sort of looks like Pharaoh in the Old Testament. Remember, 
Pharaoh had a murderous intent for the people of God. He wanted 
to destroy all of these babies that were born to Israelites. 
Herod's the same way. I think what Matthew wants us 
to see is that Jesus is a new Moses. Jesus has come to engage 
in another exodus. In fact, when you look at John's 
Gospel, there are three mentions of the Passover feast in John's 
Gospel. I think the theological point 
in these gospel writers is to get us to appreciate the fact 
that Jesus is the one who indeed saves his people from their sins. 
What Moses did in the Old Testament in leading Israel out of the 
house of bondage pictures or typifies or looks forward to 
what Christ is here engaged in. But as well, Jesus is sort of 
like Israel. Again, we'll see this come out 
over and over again in Matthew's Gospel. Remember, it was Jacob 
and his family, according to Genesis 46. that went to Egypt. They went to Egypt as preparation 
for the great events of the Exodus. Same sort of thing is going on 
here. Jesus goes into Egypt. It is out of Egypt that God calls 
his son in order to be that deliverer for his people. So the angel 
highlights this issue. He highlights the specific problem 
that Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And then 
we notice Joseph's response, what we've come to expect from 
him. He just obeys. He doesn't play games. He doesn't 
say, wait a minute, Lord. He just obeys. And he goes at 
a dangerous time. He didn't have a car with headlights. 
He went at night. He understood the urgency of 
the situation. When the king of the region that 
you live in wants to murder your baby, you obey the angel of the 
Lord. You get up and you head out of 
Dodge. You flee, you obey divine instruction, 
you obey the angel's command. So he departs, he goes to Egypt 
as he is instructed. Notice in verse 14, when he arose, 
he took the young child and his mother by night and departed 
for Egypt and was there until the death of Herod. Notice that 
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the 
prophet saying, out of Egypt I called my son. Again, I believe 
that Matthew is linking or paralleling or showing us a relationship 
between Israel of old and the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, 
God referred to Israel in Exodus 4.22 as my firstborn son. Luke calls Jesus that very thing. Matthew refers to Jesus in that 
very same way. As we go on in the Gospel of 
Matthew, we will see further similarities between Israel and 
Jesus. Israel goes into the wilderness 
and is tested for 40 years. Jesus goes into the wilderness 
and is tested for 40 days. where Israel failed and murmured 
and grumbled and complained. Jesus is victorious. Jesus is, 
in fact, Abraham's seed, according to Galatians. He is the covenant 
champion. He is the one that secures the 
promises of God. And Matthew, in a brilliant display 
of scriptural exegesis and typology, is causing us to reflect upon 
this. He quotes the prophet Hosea in 
Hosea chapter 11 at verse 1. It says, Out of Egypt I called 
my son. In the particular context there 
in Hosea, it was a time of judgment by God upon the people. But there 
in chapter 11, he is rehearsing his great love for Israel. There will be a promise, a future 
blessing for Israel. And in order to display his love, 
he says, It was out of Egypt that I called my son. It was 
out of that bondage, it was out of that slavery, it was out of 
that place that I called my son in order to shine as a light 
in the nations around them. And the same thing is going on 
here with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is typology. It is a picture 
in the Old Testament coming to fruition and fulfillment in the 
New Testament. Now notice, secondly, the murderous 
plan of Herod. It's just absolutely wicked what 
this man did. It's wicked in the Old Testament 
when Pharaoh demands the execution of all these babies. This is 
horrible. It's vile, it's ungodly. Notice 
in verse 16, "...then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived 
by the wise man, 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 man." He was angry. Remember we considered last week, 
Herod got really nutty toward the end of his life. In fact, 
Josephus says that at the time of his death, he wanted a wide-scale 
execution of Jewish leaders, so that when the nation mourned 
at his time of death, it would be legit. It wasn't necessarily 
for him, but when they were crying and weeping and wailing, it was 
for a real reason. I mean, the guy was nuts toward 
the end of his life. Thankfully, they didn't obey 
that injunction. Thankfully, they didn't murder 
everybody. Remember, we considered that he murdered one of his favorite 
wives. He murdered two sons in his own 
family that he thought were trying to usurp the throne. He then 
murdered another one. And so this ought not to surprise 
us. I mean, it ought to shock us. 
The wickedness of man ought never to be something that we get desensitized 
to. But at the same token, brethren, 
man hates God. Man will do whatever he can to 
try and oppose and destroy God. Edwards well said, man can't 
get to the throne and throw God off of his throne, so what they'll 
do is kill God's representatives on the earth. And this is precisely 
what we see here. He thought he was deceived by 
the magi, he's extremely angry, and he concocts this wicked plan. C.H. Spurgeon said, and I believe 
well, men say that religion has been the cause of cruelty and 
bloodshed. He says, honesty should compel 
them to admit that not religion, but opposition to religion has 
done this. It's not Christ, it's opposition 
to Christ. It's Herod the king in his rage 
and in his madness that wants to destroy the child. He wants 
to get rid of one he sees as a threat to his throne. And so 
he orders the massacre of these babies. Now, many people don't 
think that this is true because this account isn't in Josephus, 
it isn't in other recorded things. But we need to remember that 
though we in the history of the church have largely estimated 
the numbers, it was probably around 20 babies at the time, 
which doesn't minimize the atrocity. It's a horrible, wicked crime. 
But in light of the big picture of Herod, it's no wonder that 
Josephus doesn't include this. Possibly as well, Josephus didn't 
even know about this instance. One commentator says, Christian 
tradition has, of course, inflated the number of babies involved 
in the massacre into several thousands. He says, estimates 
of the total population of Bethlehem in the first century are generally 
under a thousand. which would mean that the number 
of male children up to two years old at any one time could hardly 
be more than 20, even allowing for all its district. Terrible 
as such a slaughter would be for the local community, it is 
not on a scale to match the more spectacular assassinations recorded 
by Josephus." So you see that this man was enraged against 
Christ, and he would do anything that he could to try and destroy 
him. We need to understand just how bad human depravity is. Do 
you ever just scratch your head at the modern assessments of 
what's going on in our day? You know, we try to attribute 
all the horrific things that occur. Well, those people had 
a lack of education. They aren't instructed and sort 
of aren't as enlightened as we are here in the West. Or they 
come from a bad economic background. Or they're the products of divorce 
or broken homes or broken families. You know, those are all real 
legitimate things. I'm not here to suggest otherwise. Those are all real things that 
impact real human beings. But something you won't hear 
on CNN. Something you won't even hear on Fox News. You will never 
hear the attribution of sin to the human condition. That's the 
problem with man. That's why there's abortion clinics. 
That's why there is the addiction problems that we see today. That's 
why there is murder. That's why there is rape. That's 
why there is political corruption. That's why there is corruption 
from your house to the White House to Ottawa and to wherever. It is that fundamental problem 
that mankind has. We are at enmity with God Most 
High. And I think it's helpful at times 
for us to come face to face with the evil that exists in this 
world and to see how God defines it. It is sin. It's not because 
Herod had a screw loose, though he most certainly probably did. 
It's because he had a heart in rebellion against the living 
and true God. And it was just not Herod in the pages of Matthew 
2 either. This is your problem as well. 
It's my problem. It's not like this is just confined 
to another day and another time and another geographic region. 
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. What does 
Paul say in Romans chapter 3? There is none righteous, no, 
not one. He cuts you off at the feet. 
When he says there is none righteous, you could say, oh, it's set for 
me. No, not one. What does the prophet Jeremiah 
describe as the real issue in the human condition? He says 
it very clearly, very vividly, and without any difficulty for 
us to understand. The heart is deceitful above 
all things, and desperately wicked. So I suggest the next time you 
hear of some atrocity, or you see some of the barbarity that 
goes on, and you hear the pundits of our age saying, well, it's 
an economic problem, it's a socio-religious problem, it is a sin problem. This is the complex, this is 
the problem, it is TD. It means total depravity, total 
inability. Man is fundamentally bad at his 
core. That's why Jesus was sent into 
this world, so he could save his people from their sin. Not 
their political woes, not their economic problems, not their 
low self-esteem, but Jesus comes to save us from our sins. Look 
at Herod and consider the fact that this man is a wretch. He 
will murder 20 babies without batting an eyelash in order to 
get the Lord Jesus Christ. It's absolutely atrocious. Notice, 
Matthew then says in verse 17, Then was fulfilled what was spoken 
by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Now this reference and the next 
one are quite difficult. Some have wondered or some have 
perhaps thought that Matthew really, you know, he's just kind 
of stretching in his linking to the Old Testament. I don't 
think so. I think Matthew's a genius. I just don't think the rest of 
us are as bright as this brother is. But if we take this particular 
passage that Matthew refers to when he speaks of Rachel weeping, 
It doesn't mean when she was physically alive. And it doesn't 
mean that physically from the grave she was weeping. It's sort 
of a metaphor. It's sort of a picture. If Jacob 
is the father of Israel, humanly speaking, then Rachel is the 
mother of Israel, humanly speaking. In the prophet Jeremiah, chapters 
30 to 33, it's a prophecy of hope. It's a prophecy of restoration. It's a prophecy of joy. Specifically 
in Jeremiah 31, 15, where our text comes from, he recounts 
this, and then the next statement is, don't weep. What I think 
the prophet Jeremiah is recording, and I think Matthew picks up 
on, is this. Rachel is weeping because the 
nation of Israel is going into exile in Jeremiah 31. It's going to begin at Ramah, 
according to Jeremiah 40, verse 1. And so Rachel, symbolically, 
metaphorically, however you want to describe it, is seeing the 
exile of Judah into Babylon. And it causes tears. It causes 
lament. It causes sadness. But then she's 
told, don't we? Later on in Jeremiah 31, there's 
the promise of the new covenant. What is God saying in Jeremiah 
30-33? He is saying that though the 
nation of Judah goes into exile, she will come out. And not only 
will she come out, a deliverer is coming. His name is the Lord 
Our Righteousness. And this deliverer will inaugurate 
the new covenant. This new covenant that won't 
be like the one that God made with the fathers before, which 
they broke. But it's going to be a new covenant 
wherein every participant has the forgiveness of sins, knows 
the Lord God. I think what Matthew is saying 
here with reference to this incident is not so much focusing on the 
Bethlehem mothers lamenting the death of their babies, but rather 
the larger picture. The exile is ending. The time 
of captivity is over. The Deliverer has come. Later 
on in Matthew's Gospel, it will be Jesus who says, This is my 
blood of the new covenant which is shed for many. So the lament 
here is typical, or anti-typical, of the fact that exile is over. One commentator again says, Jeremiah 
31 refers to Israel as God's dear son, and also introduces 
the new covenant. Now I know this is stretching 
your mind a little bit, but we need to understand why Matthew 
appeals to Jeremiah 31 in this particular context. Remember, 
we want to learn what the Old Testament is about, too. We want 
to see how Matthew is expounding it, so that we can understand 
the beauty and the glory of the Gospel. This commentator says, 
the Lord will make with his people. Therefore, the tears associated 
with the exile will end. That's the instruction in Jeremiah 
31. Matthew has already made the 
exile a turning point in his thought, in the genealogy. Remember, 
he structures it that way. the generations before the exile, 
the exile, and then the ones coming out of the exile. You 
see, this is already large in the Apostle's mind. He goes on 
to say, the tears of the exile are now being fulfilled. In other 
words, the tears begun in Jeremiah's day are climaxed and ended by 
the tears of the mothers of Bethlehem. The heir to David's throne has 
come, the exile is over, the true son of God has arrived, 
and he will introduce the new covenant promised by Jeremiah. So yes, the mothers in Bethlehem 
are weeping over their children to be sure, but larger in terms 
of redemptive history, that time of weeping is coming to an end. 
The deliverer has come. The one to save his people from 
his sins is here. Matthew is linking us up with 
Jeremiah to introduce this covenantal theme that Christ has come to 
save his people from their sins. I think it's awesome. You're 
all going, wait a minute, I don't get this whole Jeremiah connection. I don't see the whole connection 
there. Well, then email me or get with me after. The point 
is, the deliverer has come. The emphasis does not fall upon 
those 20 babies slain and our hearts break for those little 
ones. The emphasis is on the fact that the one was spared. The one fled. The One is in Egypt. He will come back from Egypt 
and He will engage in the destruction of men like Herod. He will engage 
in what we sang in Psalter 11. You're probably wondering, why 
are we singing this? Because it celebrates the truth 
that God visits His enemies with destruction. And while we may 
shrug back and shrink back and say, well, that's not a righteous 
Christian opinion. It is what God's Word demands. Salvation entails the destruction 
of all of God's enemies, and that includes our enemies. So, the Deliverer has come. Now, 
notice thirdly and finally, the return to Nazareth. Again, the 
angel instructs Joseph. Verse 19. Now, when Herod was 
dead, Josephus records, it was a bad death. When Herod was dead, 
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph 
in Egypt, 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. Compare that with Exodus 4.19. 
Remember Moses had to get out of town for a while? God instructs 
him, go back, because those who sought your life are dead. Jesus 
is a new Moses, come to deliver His people in a new exodus. Jesus is the true Israel, who 
comes to ratify the covenant of God and deliver His people. 
Matthew wants to keep that before your mind and eye. He doesn't 
want you to forget it. He wants you to see that in Jesus, 
all the promises of God are yea and amen. So the angel instructs 
him, go back, go back to Israel. Verse 21, Then he arose, took 
the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 
Same thing. Joseph obeys. Joseph just does 
what he's told. It's refreshing to read about 
Joseph in Matthew chapter 1 and 2. You know, you meet a lot of 
Christians. They know what they're supposed 
to do, but they don't want to. They know what they're supposed to 
do, but they're not going to do it. They know what they're supposed 
to do, but that's going to be hard. You know what, brethren? Picking up your family and leaving 
at night is hard. Picking up your family and leaving 
when the angel tells you is hard. Why do we think our obedience 
is hard, but no one else's is? Why do we think our obedience 
is difficult and no one else's is? Why do we whine and cry and 
say, you don't know what it's like for me? You don't know what 
it's like for Joseph. I mean, I like to sleep and not 
be woken up in the night. He's getting woken up all the 
time by angels saying, get the child, get your wife to go. I 
mean, if Joseph was us, he'd be like, can't I just sleep, 
Lord? Can I do this in the morning, please? Can we just stay in one 
place for a while? You know, we moved all these 
times. He doesn't complain. He just does what he's supposed 
to do. He certainly is consistent with 
what we read in Matthew chapter one. He is just. He obeys God. He is lawful. When the Lord commands, 
he doesn't argue. When the Lord commands, he doesn't 
try to wrestle with it. When the Lord commands, he just 
goes and does what he's told. He loves the young child. He 
loves his wife. He wants to provide safety, security, 
and happiness for them. And so whatever the angel commands, 
Joseph is there to do it. God prepared a good man with 
this Joseph. So he goes to the land of Israel. But notice, he hears that Archelaus 
is ruling in Judea. And he's not happy about this. 
We see later that God says, you shouldn't be happy about this. 
Go to the north. After Herod died, the kingdom 
was broken up into three sections. Archelaus was a chip off the 
old block. Archelaus was like his daddy. 
In fact, when Archelaus took command, he had a massive assassination 
of a lot of people, just to sort of establish himself as the new 
king in town. So Archelaus ruled Judea, Samaria, 
and Edomia. Herod Antipas ruled in Galilee 
and Perea, that was another son, and Philip, a half-brother, ruled 
in the regions east and north of the Sea of Galilee. So Archelaus 
was not a good guy. When Joseph heard that Archelaus 
was at the helm, Joseph said, I don't want to go into Judea. You know what Matthew's doing 
here in his brilliance? He is showing us that the son 
who came from Nazareth is really the Messiah born in Bethlehem. This will all be disputed later 
in Jesus' career. Didn't he come from Nazareth? 
Well, yes, he did. This is how he got there. He 
was born in Bethlehem. born in the house of David, born 
in the city of David. Everything is in place. Matthew 
is an apologist. That means he's defending the 
Christian faith. So when people say, oh, he wasn't 
really from Bethlehem as Micah 5 prophesied. Oh, yes, he was. 
He was born in Bethlehem. Because Herod wanted to destroy 
him, the family had to move to Egypt. After Egypt, they come 
back and Archelaus the wretch is ruling over Judea. So Joseph 
says, I don't want to go there. God says, go north. Go to Galilee. 
It's all right here for a very specific reason, so that there's 
no holes in the plan. He is linking together these 
things so that we'll appreciate and understand that the man or 
the Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the Messiah from Bethlehem. Archelaus ushered in his reign 
with a wide-scale massacre and persisted until his brutality 
became intolerable. Finally, his subjects went to 
the Roman Senate and said, can you please get rid of this guy? 
He was deposed in 6 AD, or AD 6. So he reigned the shortest 
of the three. But now notice, they go to Galilee. 
And what happens? They go to Nazareth. Matthew 
says, so that what the prophet said could be fulfilled, that 
he was a Nazarene. We'll get to that in just a moment. 
But in Luke's account, he tells us that Joseph and Mary were 
from Nazareth. It was their hometown. They go 
back to Nazareth. Now look at verse 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." 
If you have a New King James Bible, you'll notice that the 
words there are not in italics. Probably if you have any translation, 
you'll notice that they're not set off like an Old Testament 
quotation, because you'll search long and far and not find that 
statement in the Old Testament. He shall be called a Nazarene. 
Nazareth didn't exist when the Old Testament prophets wrote. 
It was a very small town. How could Matthew say that it 
would be fulfilled what was spoken by the prophets, he shall be 
called a Nazarene? Well, there's various speculations. 
Calvin favorably quoting Butzer said that it meant that he was 
like the Nazarite Samson. Remember that Nazarite vow that 
men took? Well, later on when you get into 
Matthew's account, Jesus is accused of being a wine-bibber and a 
glutton. He couldn't have been a Nazirite. Nazirites didn't 
drink anything that came from the fruit of the vine. He certainly 
couldn't have been a wine-bibber and a glutton if he was a Nazirite. 
So that doesn't really fit the context. Some have linked it 
with Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1. The Hebrew word sounds like 
Nazarene, and it means branch. Remember, the branch came from 
the stump. the stump of Judah just about 
gone and dead, and up comes this branch from Judah. Others have 
said, and this is the position that I favor, that the prophets 
as a whole anticipated an insignificant man being the Messiah. To say that you were from Nazarene, 
or Nazareth, would have been akin to saying, oh, he's from 
the States. I don't want to pick on any cities 
or provinces in Canada, but we all have those places that we 
pick on people. Oh, he's from this. He's from 
the sticks. Remember when Nathanael was introduced 
to Jesus? What did Nathanael say? Can anything 
good come from Nazareth? No, Nathanael was a fellow Galilean. So within the region of Galilee, 
they looked at Nazareth as being sort of this in-the-sticks place. 
Can anything good come from Nazareth? I think Matthew's point is that 
the prophets prophesied a very insignificant man to be the champion, 
to be the deliverer. You say, oh, that's almost blasphemy 
to say he's insignificant. No, what does Isaiah describe 
a man? He's a man of sorrows. and acquainted with grief. He 
has no form or calmness or appearance that we should look upon him. 
There's no beauty or attraction. He didn't stand like Saul, head 
and shoulders above the crowd. He didn't have that halo sort 
of glowing about him. He didn't have the long flowing 
robes and the appearance that everybody would just say, ooh, 
look at that man. He was insignificant. He hails 
from Nazareth. The prophets were right. He's 
not going to come dropping out of heaven with guns blazing and 
bandoleros in a tank and he's going to wage war on his enemies. 
He's going to be born in a lowly condition. He's going to be reared 
in a lowly condition. He's going to be insignificant 
as far as men go. Don't you remember what they 
said? Is this not the carpenter's son? You mean to tell us that 
this is the Messiah? You mean to tell us that this 
is the Savior? Nazareth was like, who comes 
from Nazareth? Probably 450 people live there. It was nothing. It was little. It was small. So Matthew could 
be artfully showing us that the prophets who testified, Zechariah 
as well, talks about this one who is lowly. He comes into Jerusalem 
not on a big stallion, not with his sword brandished. He comes 
on a donkey. He comes lowly. He's humble. He's despised. He's forsaken. 
He's rejected. That's the emphasis in the passage. 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. A term of derision. A term of 
contempt. Can anything good come out of 
Nazareth? It's just a little podunk backwards 
place. Nothing good comes out of Nazareth. 
except the champion of Israel, the mediator of the new covenant, 
the one whom the prophets foretold. They were looking for this king 
to come and subject their Roman government and subject all their 
earthly foes. They missed the point. He will 
save his people from their sins. Brethren, in conclusion, we learn 
a few things. First, we've already covered 
the typology in the passage. Moses and the new Moses, the 
exodus of God's people, Pharaoh, Herod, destruction of male children, 
Moses in hiding, Jesus in hiding, Moses as deliverer, Jesus as 
deliverer. What does Jewish Matthew, Jewish 
Christian Matthew want his audience to see? That the true deliverer 
has come. And Moses pointed to this one. 
That you ought not to worship Moses. You ought not to keep 
following Moses. There is the Lord Jesus now. 
Isn't this the whole emphasis and the whole point in the book 
of Hebrews? Don't go backwards. Don't go back to Moses. Don't 
go back to temple. Don't go back to tabernacle. 
Don't go back to earthly sacrifice. This Jesus who sacrificed himself 
is once for all. We look to him. And as well, 
there is that analogy or that typology between Israel and the 
true Israel. What Israel did in terms of failure, 
Christ does in terms of success. You need to appreciate that about 
it. Secondly, we need to appreciate the sovereignty of God in this 
passage. Notice how the Bible doesn't 
have to say, oh, here's a picture of God's sovereignty. Okay, all 
you Arminians and Pelagians, you need to really pay attention 
here, because here's where we show you that God is sovereign. 
The Bible doesn't have to do that. The Bible always assumes 
His sovereignty. While the nations rage and the 
peoples plot of vain things, while they raise their fists 
against Jehovah and against His Christ, what does God do? He 
holds them in derision. He will distress them in His 
wrath. And notice the display of sovereignty. Again, he doesn't open up the 
heavens and drop hailstones down upon Herod. He could do that. 
He did that in the Exodus, or prior to the Exodus in Egypt. 
He does it subtly. He does it ordinary. He does 
it normal. And that's one of the things 
that I think just challenges our whole conception of the whole 
birth narrative. We have it idolized. Not idol 
like an idol, but idyllic. We have created this scene. It makes for good television. 
It makes for good movies. It makes for good storybooks. 
But when you go to the Scriptures themselves, it's quite ordinary. 
It's quite normal. And what it is is a display of 
God's sovereignty in the mundane. God's displaying His mighty right 
arm through a young child, through an obedient father, through a 
mother, through a flight to Egypt. I mean, what a brilliant scheme. 
Parents seeking to kill you. What do we do, Lord? dig foxholes, 
get the grenades, drop some M60s down low, and we'll take care 
of these folks. Just go to Egypt. Hang out there for a little while. 
That's pretty anticlimactic, isn't it? I mean, we want to 
rumble. We want to roll. We want to throw 
down. Let's just go hang out in Egypt for a while. Once Herod's 
dead, I'll tell you, you come back. You come back, Archelaus 
is in charge, yeah, you're right. You don't want to go back there, 
that guy's a madman too. Why don't you go to Galilee? 
Why don't you go back home, Joseph and Mary? Go back to your family, 
go back to your friends and raise Jesus or rear Jesus in that environment. He'll be a regular, normal, ordinary 
man up until about his 30th birthday. And then he's going to be this 
extraordinary Savior. He's always that, but he's going 
to be manifested publicly and he's going to do wondrous things. 
He's ultimately going to die and rise again. God works sovereignly 
through what we might consider our very ordinary ways. It is truly, truly impressive. He overrules, I love this word, 
don't get to use it much, the machinations of Satan. Remember 
Revelation 12 fills in for us what's going on behind the scenes. 
We see Herod, we see a madman. We see a guy who wants to protect 
his throne. Revelation 12 tells us it's the devil trying to destroy 
Jesus. Revelation 12 says that Herod 
is a pawn in the devil's hand. But Revelation 12 tells us four 
times that Satan fails, Satan fails, Satan fails, Satan fails. God overrules the wickedness 
of Satan. God overrules the wickedness 
of Herod. We see as well the man of sorrows 
in this particular passage. J.C. Ryle said this, and I believe 
it's beautiful. He says, The waves of humiliation 
began to beat over him even when he was a sucking child. The Lord 
Jesus is just the Savior that the suffering and sorrowful need. He knows well what we mean when 
we tell Him in prayer of our troubles. He can sympathize with 
us when we cry to Him under cruel persecution. Let us keep back 
nothing from Him. Let us make Him our bosom friend. Let us pour our hearts before 
Him. He has had great experience of 
affliction. It began from the womb. It began when He entered into 
this world. How does John introduce Him in 
John chapter 1? He came to His own and His own 
received Him not. His own tried to destroy him. 
His own ultimately were successful under the providence of God. 
And this was his plan to save his people from their sins. Do 
you hear what Ryle is saying? Here's your man of sorrows. Here's 
one acquainted with grief. You can't ever go to your prayer 
closet and say, Lord, you just don't understand. Oh, yes, he 
does. The book of Hebrews, he tells us that he is a sympathetic 
Savior. He has been tempted in all points 
like us, yet without sin. Some people hear that and say, 
well, he doesn't really know. Oh yes, he knows temptation more 
than you and I will ever know, because we break. We give in. We snap. We don't know how bad 
temptation can actually be, because we throw in our lot and sin. 
He was pressed to the uttermost and did not sin. He is able to 
sympathize. He is able to hear us. Even down 
to the place where he was reared in Nazareth. He's a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with grief. From all of this historical narrative, 
please take home today that your Jesus knows your troubles and 
wants to hear you pray to him, wants you to pour out your heart 
to him, wants you to go to him. As Ryle says, let us make him 
our bosom friend. Let us pour our hearts before 
Him. He has had great experience of 
affliction, and He bids us to pray. He bids us to commune. He bids us to walk with Him. 
And for those of you who are here this morning that have not 
believed the gospel, look at what has gone in to the saving 
of sinners. You ever see something, might 
be a building, might be a car, might be a whatever, and you 
meet the builder, you meet the one who put it all together. 
You just see the finished product. You say, wow, that's impressive. 
Well, the guy says, do you know how many sleepless nights that 
took me? Do you know what I had to go 
through to get it to that place? Do you know how much pain was 
involved in getting from point A to point B? You just see the 
finished product and you marvel at it. If you see and appreciate 
all the details, hopefully you go, wow, I had no idea. We see Matthew gives us a play-by-play. He doesn't just start at the 
Passion. He doesn't just start at the 
Cross. He shows us the details along 
the way, so that when we get to the Cross, all we can do is 
stand there in awe. All we can do is stand and worship 
when we see the great extent to which our Savior loves us. 
I mean, each step of the way, it is Christ communicating His 
love for His people. This little child having to flee 
to Egypt like he's a criminal. This little child having to be 
protected every step of the way. Why? Because of Herod and the 
devil seeking to destroy him. If you are not a believer today, 
I invite you to examine this passage of Scripture and see 
what it took the Son of God to save His people from their sins. 
He is great. He is wondrous. He is glorious. He is majestic. He is beautiful. He is a man of sorrows and acquainted 
with grief for us. For us. It pleased the Lord, 
the prophet says in Isaiah 53.11. It should just shock us into 
worship and into awe. It pleased the Lord, it says. 
Jehovah, Yahweh, to crush Him. Speaking about Jesus. Yeah, it 
was the crowds, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Yeah, 
it was those wretched high priests. Yeah, it was Pontius Pilate. 
Yeah, it was Herod. Yeah, it was all these ones saying, 
away with him, away with him, crucify him. But the prophet 
says it pleased Yahweh to crush him, putting him to grief. You 
see, all of those details are all a part of God's plan to save 
His people from their sins. If you have not believed on Jesus 
Christ, it is a great privilege to invite you today to believe 
on this one, displayed in our text as a young child, played 
out through the remainder of Matthew's gospel as the champion, 
the deliverer, the redeemer, the savior, the one who will 
die, the one who will rise again, and the one who sits even now 
at the right hand of his father where he has promised that all 
those who come to him, he will certainly not cast out. Believe 
and you will be saved. Let us pray. Father, we thank 
you for your Word and we thank you for this account concerning 
the Lord Jesus. We thank you for all that has 
gone into salvation. We just praise you and we worship 
you and we glorify you that the prophets who foretold this man 
of sorrows is depicted here in Matthew's Gospel in all of his 
blazing glory. Sinners to save. I pray that 
today many would come to you Many would believe the Gospel. 
Many would continue to worship and praise and glorify you as 
a result of your wondrous work in the salvation of souls. Go 
with us now, Lord God Most High. We pray for safety. We pray for 
those who have to drive a distance. God, just watch over us. Grant 
us traveling mercies. Cause us to reflect on the beauty 
of the snow and how the Scripture says that you cleanse sinners 
and you make them whiter than snow. May these things be fresh 
in our minds and in our hearts, and may we seek, by your grace, 
to sanctify this day and to bring glory and honor unto you. And 
we ask through Christ the Lord. Amen.