Finding Hope in the Midst of Pain

Over the last couple of weeks our nation as seen the dark side of human nature.

On the streets of New York City the CEO of a large health insurance company was executed by someone who planned out the attack and waited for him.

In Madison Wisconsin, a 15 year old girl attending a Christian school opens fire in a study hall and kills one student, a teacher, wounds others, and then takes her own life.

Those are just two of the tragic events within our nation…

In this season where there should be peace on earth and good will towards men, we see just the opposite occurring time and time again.

For those searching for answers, all we can offer is the truth that sin completely corrupts the heart of every man, woman, and child.

Even in a time where joy and peace and love for one another should be on full display, we still see a dark side to humanity.

As tragic as those events are, none of them should come as a surprise.

The dark side of humanity was even on display at the time of Jesus’ birth.

With that in mind please turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew 2:13-23.

This year we’ve been focusing on the advent narratives found in Matthew 1-2 and looking at reasons to rejoice in Jesus Our Messiah…

Matthew writes his entire gospel to a Jewish audience to prove Jesus is the Promised King…the Messiah...

Matthew begins with the genealogy of the King…important details.

Pastor Matthew then took us through the details of the miraculous virgin birth of the King…no other king can claim to be born of virgin… no other King is destined to save His people from their sin.

Last week Sam walked us through the narrative of the wise men challenging us all to evaluate our response to the King…

Explain challenge of understanding and teaching through narratives.

This text has proven to be one of the most challenging to teach because there seems to be two themes emerging...

Since I couldn’t decide which one to go with you get a little of both…it’s Christmas, why not, who doesn't like extra gifts!

So strap in, we will be here a while…just kidding, we will be out before the restaurants run out of food.

Some questions we need to ask at this juncture are why did Matthew include this dark side…why did he just not stop the story at the wise men, what’s his purpose in sharing these details?

We will answer those questions in just a few moments.

As we walk through this text, I want to ask you to immerse yourself into the narrative…

to experience first hand what these real people had to experience…

From the viewpoint of the main characters,and the people of Bethlehem, it is a very difficult and painful narrative…yet it is one filled with hope!

There is no doubt in my mind that if you were a character in this narrative, you would need to hear the message Matthew brings.

Matthew is going to take us back into the OT and point us to the promises God makes about the Messiah…and he is going to make a connection between them and Jesus...and the texts he uses are in the context of pain yet are filled with hope!

Out of all the texts he could of used, he chose these...and they are so complex that there is literally no way they could have happened by accident…

So why did Matthew include this dark event in the arrival of the Messiah?…

Matthew wants his readers to see God’s sovereign hand of protection over His Son…

He wants them to see Jesus is the One God spoke of when He promised the Messiah, and God was going to do everything He needed to do to make sure everything He promised about the Messiah would be fulfilled.

There is great hope and joy in Jesus because He alone is the promised King and with Him comes God’s long awaited plan for full redemption.

Read Matthew 2:13-23.

Main Point: Jesus Brings Joy In Spite of Our Pain

We want to answer the question here today “how does Jesus bring joy in spite of our pain?”

Jesus Inaugurates a New Exodus (13 - 15)

Matthew 2:13–15 “Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

God was not going to allow the wickedness of Herod thwart His plans…so He told Joseph to flee to Egypt…

Think about this…the gifts the wise men presented to Jesus were expensive and could very well have been God providing for the expense of their journey and life in Egypt.

Matthew points us back to Hosea 11:1.

Hosea 11:1 (NASB95)

When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

What is the significance of Egypt?

Hosea 11:1...does not seem to be a prophecy in the sense of a prediction.

Hosea was writing of God’s calling Israel out of Egypt in the historical account of the Exodus.

The context of Hosea is a dark context because Hosea is a book about failure, a tragedy of epic proportions.

Hosea was commanded by God to marry a prostitute…even after marriage to Hosea, she still went after every lover she could find…she had children by these lovers, but Hosea loved her deeply and willingly took the abuse…he sought her out after she wound up in a brothel selling her body…

Hosea bought her out of that life and restored her to a place of honor as his wife.

What Gomer was to Hosea, Israel was to God.

Just like Hosea’s heart was broken for Gomer, God’s heart was broken for Israel.

God wants Israel to know how much He loved them…and God wants them to know how much their idolatry hurt him…throughout Israel’s history, they would continue to hurt God…but His love for them, goes all the way back to when Israel was a child…even though they had moments of darkness, God would not give up on them.

Matthew viewed this experience of Jesus being identified with the nation.

There were similarities between the nation and the Son.

Israel was God’s chosen “son” by adoption...Exodus 4:22 ““Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”

Jesus is the Messiah, God’s Son.

In both cases the Exodus out of Egypt and the Exodus into Egypt were to escape danger.

The return of Israel was important to the nation’s providential history.

In the Exodus out of Egypt, God made it perfectly clear that Israel belongs to Him and He alone has the power to deliver them...

What Matthew does here is he employs what is known as typology…

A literary hermeneutical device in which a person, event, or institution in the Old Testament is understood to correspond with a person, event, or institution in the New Testament.

Matthew sees Jesus going to Egypt and then coming out of Egypt as something bigger going on here than just Mary and Joseph fleeing from King Herod because they were afraid...

Matthew is cluing us into the fact that God is not just protecting Jesus from a murderous king…God is going to use Jesus going to and coming out of Egypt to fulfill a greater plan.

Matthew uses this to show the connection between Jesus and the nation of Israel.

When you think Exodus…think deliverance.

God shows His grace and mercy through the exodus of Israel.

God saves His people by bringing miraculous deliverance from Egypt…this is God’s claim on Israel.

From generation to generation they were to recount the story of the Exodus and the institution of the Passover…God in his mercy protected Israel from a murderous king, redeemed them, and brought them out of slavery…all part of God’s plan to make them His own.

And in that way God’s mercy in the exodus to deliver them from Egypt, and the establishment of the Passover all points to the greater plan!

Jesus shows us grace and mercy by providing a “Better Exodus” delivering us all from sin.

By linking Jesus to Hosea, Matthew views Jesus as the King who delivers His people…

Jesus ushered in a new and greater deliverance that reaches beyond the physical slavery…Jesus delivers from the slavery of sin...

Keep your finger here and turn with me to Romans 6:9-19…this is a beautiful text that speaks of our spiritual exodus.

The second way Jesus brings joy out of pain is

Jesus Ends the Mournful Exile (16-18)

Matthew 2:16–18 “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she refused to be comforted, Because they were no more.””

Because Herod felt he was tricked by the wise men, he went out of his mind in rage…that’s what the word means here…

he wants to make sure there is no other king than him, so he orders all the boys two years old and under killed…

so you can imagine the scene in the streets as the soldiers carry out their orders to murder…

chasing down fleeing mothers and fathers clutching their boys close to their hearts and then being ripped out of their arms and slain in front of them.

This is not an event of 1000’s being killed…it is more like around 20…but still painful.

Matthew links this event to what happened in Jeremiah 31.

Jeremiah is the prophet of doom…Israel was a dying nation...a prophecy about the day when God’s people were taken into exile…it was inevitable…Israel was already under captivity by the Assyrians…Judah was next

God judges the wickedness of his people by bringing in the ruthless Babylonians.

This is a quote from Jeremiah 31:15

Jeremiah 31:15 (NASB95)

Thus says the Lord, “A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.”

Ramah…Ramah was the place where the Northern and Southern Kingdoms met…right on the border…1 Kings 15:17…about 5 miles north of Jerusalem.

Now Ramah was the place where foreign conquerors ordered the defeated multitude to be assembled for deportation.

Ramah was always associated with weeping, because of the deportation...

Rachel

Rachel, was Jacob’s most cherished wife, she gave birth to Joseph, and Joseph was the father of Ephraim and Manasseh, representing the Northern Kingdom, in fact the Northern Kingdom is often called Ephraim.

She also bore Benjamin, who went to the South, and is identified with the Southern Kingdom.

So in Rachel we have both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms

And so what you see in Jeremiah is that he sees it as if Rachel is alive, and he sees her standing at Ramah, weeping as her children are taken into captivity and even slaughtered.

But even in the midst of a message of doom, God gives them a message of hope.

Jeremiah 31:16 (NASB95)

Thus says the Lord, “Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord, “And they will return from the land of the enemy.

Jeremiah 31:17 (NASB95)

“There is hope for your future,” declares the Lord, “And your children will return to their own territory.

By linking to Jeremiah 31 and Rachel’s tears, Matthew points to Rachel’s tears having reached their climax in the tears of the mothers of Bethlehem.

Jesus is linked to significant key moments in Israel’s history…Bethlehem, Egypt, the Exile.

He places the massacre in Bethlehem in the broader context of hope in the midst of suffering!

Why would God tell his people to refrain from crying under such dark circumstances?

Because God’s people finally “shall come back from the land of the enemy” and they shall “serve the LORD their God and [the ultimate] David their king” (30:9).

The exile is over. The reign of a new king under a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:33, 34) is at hand.

Matthew is saying that with the coming of Jesus, the time of the exile is coming to a close!

The tears shed by the mothers in Bethlehem inaugurate the reign of the one who will shed tears of blood for the forgiveness of sin and who will eventually, in the restoration of all things, wipe every tear away (Revelation 21:4).

This King is born and a New Covenant is beginning.

The arrival of Jesus means the time for of a mournful exile is over!

Jesus brings hope out of the most unlikely places (19-23).

Matthew 2:19–23 “But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.””

After Herod died …

God again works sovereignly to accomplish his plan and tells Joseph to return.

Joseph obediently followed the Lord’s instruction and was planning to return to the land of Israel, perhaps to Bethlehem.

However, a son of Herod, Archelaus, was ruling over the region.

Archelaus was just as bad as Herod.

Something to note here is that God used the very wicked character of Herod and Archelaus to bring about His plan…even when it appeared hopeless and dark, God still worked His plan to perfection....regardless of what man tries to do, God’s plan will not be stopped!

God’s warning to Joseph was not to return to Bethlehem, but instead to move back to the northern district of Galilee to the town of Nazareth.

The fact they now live in Nazareth is said to be a fulfillment of prophecy.

If you’ve done any study of the OT at all you won’t find a specific passage of Scripture that says He will be called a Nazarene although several prophecies come close to this expression.

Isaiah said the Messiah would be “from [Jesse’s] roots” like “a Branch” (Isa. 11:1).

“Branch” is the Hebrew word neṣer, which has consonants like those in the word “Nazarene”

the concept of a branch carries the idea of having an insignificant beginning....

By using the plural prophets, I think his idea was not based on a specific prophecy but on the idea that appeared in a number of prophecies concerning Messiah’s despised character.

So because Joseph and his family settled in Nazareth, Jesus the Messiah would grow up there, he was later despised and considered contemptible in the eyes of many in Israel.

That is why Nathanael reacts the way he does when he heard Jesus was from Nazareth (John 1:46): “Can anything good come from there?”

This concept fit several Old Testament prophecies that speak of the lowly character of the Messiah (e.g., Isa. 42:1–4).

Even though the King was born in Bethlehem, he grew up in the despised city of Nazareth, contrasting with the expectations of a Davidic lineage from Bethlehem.

This reflects the idea that the Messiah would be scorned and emerge from humble origins.

Matthew wanted his readers to see Jesus even fulfills the idea the Messiah would be the despised Servant of the Lord.

No one expected a King to come out of a place that everyone despised!

Out of a place where you would not find hope, the King arises…living among people who were despised.

Proof that Jesus brings hope out of the most unexpected places.

When life turns dark and we cannot find hope, Jesus comes in and says look to me… I lived and died for you…to redeem you from the curse of sin…to deliver you from darkness and to transform you into a child of light.

There is no darkness too dark to keep us hidden from God…there is no heart too far gone that Jesus’ grace and mercy cannot change...

When things seem desperate we need to remember the gracious ways of God toward His own.

Jesus often provides hope from unlikely sources, in situations that seem hopeless...He brings about events that exactly meet the needs of His children.

Lesson for Life — Trust God with His Plan for Your Life

Matthew shows us how God ties many things together in order to bring about His will.

Looking back through Matthews account we see Matthew proving over and over again that Jesus is the Promised King…the Messiah.

The fact that God orchestrated every detail of Jesus birth and life to fulfill his prophetic plan in the greatest details points to truth that God can take every moment of your life and bring about His plan in you…

God is not an absent God Who started it all only to go off to do His own thing.

God not only superintends His creation, but also guides His story His way for His purposes.

With a God like that, none of us should despair or doubt.

We need to expect and look for God’s providential workings in our life.

As we conclude this advent season, finding joy in Jesus as our Messiah brings us to a place of decisions...

Unbeliever — What is your response going to be?

Hatred, indifference, or worship

Believers...

We need to humbly make ourselves available and ready to be used by God, We need to allow him to accomplish his purposes through us.

Serve the Lord with joy, even during the dark and difficult hours.

Learn to place your trust in God’s protective care and timing.

Matthew was personally touched and changed forever by Jesus, the Messiah.

Matthew was so impacted by what he saw and heard that he wanted his fellow Jews to be impacted also.

He wanted them to meet Jesus, to follow him, and to have their lives radically changed by the Messiah-King.

Like Matthew, we have met and responded to Jesus.

Our life has been touched and changed.

Like Matthew, we have family and friends who would benefit from hearing how Jesus has radically changed our life.

Every year we celebrate the coming of the Messiah and his kingdom and if we are not careful to think through the implications of that, Christmas will easily lose its significance.

Since Jesus is the Promised Messiah King those who follow Him are fellow heirs with Him and will reign with him in his kingdom.

So I leave us with this question...

Are we living a life of righteousness befitting of a fellow heir?