Jesus Fulfills Prophecy

One of the main themes in Matthew is that Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies about the coming Messiah in the OT.

There are around 320 prophecies in the OT about the messiah and Jesus fulfilled everyone.

One cannot understand the prophecies if they don’t understand who wrote them and why in the first place.

The story of Jesus coming to earth is the great meeting between the realm of Glory and the realm of Earth.

Here in the last half of chapter 2 we see three more that came true to show who Jesus was.

Matthew wanted to leave no doubt about who Jesus was from His Royal right to rule from the blood line of His adopted father, to His physical blood line from Mary, and also the prophecies that He and He alone made possible.

When given all the evidence Matthew wanted it to be impossible not to know who Jesus was and what His mission here on Earth was about.

The Escape to Egypt (vv 13-15)

Just as an angel had warned the Magi not to go back to Herod an Angel comes to Joseph and tells him to take the baby and His mother to Egypt and to wait there until the death of Herod.

Joseph got up and immediately left for Egypt.

To decrease the chance of being noticed, Joseph took the precaution of leaving at night probably telling no one of his plans.

(show slide) The distance from the Bethlehem to the Egyptian border was about 75 miles, then it was about 100 miles to get to Alexandria where they most likely stayed.

Alexandria was a cultural melting pot in its day and housed about 100,000 Jews that did not return when they were allowed to go back and start rebuilding Jerusalem.

By AD 40 just a few years after the death of Christ it is reported that there was most likely around 1 million jews living in Alexandria by that time.

Also around 300 BC a group of Jewish scholars in this city produced the Septuagint which was a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek.

The Septuagint was used by much of the early chruch, and it was from that version of the Old Testament that many of the New Testament writers quote.

It is likely that the stay in Egypt was only for a few months.

The flight to Egypt was one more piece of divine evidence that Jesus was Gods Son, the promised Messiah.

Them going to Egypt was for their safety but also for the fulfillment of the Prophecy.

The Slaughter at Ramah (vv 16-18)

As we talked about last week Herod was a jealous, vindictive, and insecure ruler who had been appointed by Rome over the jews and Judea.

He killed 2 of his sins just months before this and would kill anyone that was a threat to him.

He knew full well who this child was we see this in Matt 2:4

Matthew 2:4 ESV

4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

The wisemen were basically King makers, they would lead and guide the young of their country to be great and mighty kings.

When they showed up and worshiped a child not from their own country this was a major concern for Herod.

He knew this child was more than just a physical king.

Herod thought that by killing Gods son that he could stop Gods will and he could keep his throne.

To leave no chance of missing the child Herod ordered all males 2 and under be killed.

He was so mad that the Magi did not return that the greek for his rage means uncontrollable rage.

He probably knew that the Magi had told Jesus’s parents that Herod was looking for the child and knew that the parents had already fled to somewhere else.

But he shed these babies innocent blood anyway.

When it talks about Rachel weeping in Ramah she was considered the mother of Isreal because she was the wife of Jacob which would have his name changed to Isreal.

Their 12 sons would become the 12 tribes of Isreal.

Ramah was the point of demarcation for the Jews when they were conquered and taken into slavery by Babylon.

This action by Herod is the first on many rejections of Jesus from His people.

Jesus preached for three and half years and His people still rejected Him.

Just 2 generations after the death of Herod the Jews would be completely whipped out by Titus and his troops killing over 1 million of the people in Judea.

To put a final touch on Herod his death was recorded by Josephus in his book “Antiquities” it says “Herod died of this; ulcerated entrails, putrified and maggot-filled organs, constant convulsions, foul breath, and neither physicians nor warm baths led to recovery”.

The thought behind this is not to reject Jesus as Lord and savior.

The Return to Nazareth (vv 19-23)

The fourth prophecy that was fulfilled was that Jesus would come from Nazareth.

Nazareth was not thought of as a great town.

It was often thought of that people who came from here were low income trashy people and did nothing to improve society.

Jesus was rejected later on in life as the Messiah because he came from Nazareth, not because he came from there.

Even Nathanael one of Jesus’s disciples said “can any good thing come out of Nazareth? John 1:46

John 1:46 ESV

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

This exchange was significant because Nathanael was said to be John 1:47

John 1:47 ESV

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”

People judged Jesus based on where he came from and instantly thought he could not have been the messiah.

Even though being from Nazareth should have told people He was the messiah.

They were blinded by their view of Him not what the OT said he was going to be.