Significant Place

We all have certain countries, cities or towns that are important to us. I was born in Barre, Vermont, lived in New Hampshire, graduated from High School at Newfound Memorial in Bristol, served in the military in Texas, California, Washington St, and Athens, Greece. I met my wife in Rockport, Me, was married in Weymouth, Massachusetts and have preached in Unity and Palermo Maine with a short stint as a teacher in North Whitefield. I have been to Boston to see both a Red Sox and Celtics game and to Foxboro to see a Patriots game.

You have your own list of significant places that carry special memories, both good and bad, for you.

Egypt is one of those double significant places. Egypt is known as a place of refuge, a place of slavery and a place of redemption.

Because this is a Christmas message, I want to connect with the significance of Egypt to Jesus.

Egypt- A place of refuge

Egypt saved Jesus’ life. Egypt became a significant place of refuge for Jesus.

The wise men or Magi are a popular part of the Christmas story. They come looking for the who was born king of the Jews. They come to Jerusalem to find him. King Herod tells them that his scribes identify the birthplace of the Messiah in Bethlehem, about eight miles away. He sends them on their way, asking them to let them know when they find the Messiah so he can worship him as well.

This was a lie. Herod wanted to make sure that no messiah came to challenge his rule. The Magi were warned about this in a dream and left Bethlehem without letting Herod know.

Herod was very angry and ordered every baby two and under to be killed.

Benjamin Foreman, writing in the Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels, estimated that the population of Bethlehem was from 300 to 1000 people. With that population, there may have been about 20 male babies under the age of two.

We have no independent confirmation of this killing of the babies from those who wrote about Herod’s life.

Let me give you a reason why this might be true. Whereas today the slaughter of twenty young children would be national news, this was not the way it was in the first century. If this had been the only evil he had done, someone might have made mention of this.

However, this wasn’t the only murder and killing that Herod did. He had killed on of his wives.

Benjamin Foreman writes,

“According to Josephus, Herod was deathly ill at this point and extremely paranoid of conspiracies to seize his throne (e.g., Ant. 17.167–168). ”

“A short while earlier he had killed his sons Alexander and Aristobulus after suspecting them of plotting his assassination, and in the final days of his life he executed his son Antipater, outliving him by only five days (War 1.664–5). “

“After executing his son, he changed his will for the seventh time and named Archelaus, Philip, and Antipas as his successors. In short, talk of a newly-born king of the Jews could not have come at a worse time.”

It’s no wonder that God did Mary and Joseph a huge favor in warning them in a dream that Herod was after their baby!

Where do you go if you are in trouble? If you knew someone placed a death warrant on you and your family, where would you go? Very few of us have ever had to answer that question. We are blessed in that many in Sudan, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan have had to answer that question and their option have been even more limited than the ones Mary and Joseph had.

They could have gone north, however, every northern route brought them closer to either Jerusalem where Herod was or to Jericho, where Herod had a large garrison. Even returning to Nazareth would be dangerous as they were still in his territory.

So they did as the angel commanded and went to Egypt.

Matthew 2:13 ESV

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

They were not the first to do so. Abraham went to Egypt because of a famine in Israel. Jacob ended up moving to Egypt for the same reason as his son, Joseph, had risen to an important position in Egypt. Jeroboam fled to Egypt when he and his father, Solomon didn’t see eye to eye. In Jeremiah’s time, many of the Jewish people fled to Egypt to escape the Babylonians and Assyrian armies. Historically, most of Israel’s wars with other countries were wars that came north to south. Egypt did not often come north to conquer.

When Alexander the Great conquered Egypt he encouraged the Jewish people to settle in Alexandria and gave them equal rights with the Greeks. Jewish people continued to migrate south. Philo estimated that there were over one million Jews in Egypt at the time of Jesus.

We don’t know where the family went. If they went by the Way of Shur, the main road from Israel to Egypt, then Alexandria was about 350 miles away. That might have taken about 45 days for them to arrive. There were a couple of closer cities such as Pelusium or Avaris that would be about 200 or so miles away, still a month’s travel.

However, in Egypt they would be safe from Herod. Herod had no power in Egypt. Egypt was outside his control.

I am sure that years later, Mary and Joseph would remember Egypt as a significant place. Egypt would be significant because it was a place of refuge, a place of safety.

Significance: Something important happens in that place

What makes a place significant? In order for a place to be significant, something has to happen at that place.

What happened in Egypt? Jacob moved his twelve sons there. Moses liberated his people from slavery. Jesus went there to escape Herod.

Jesus not only went to Egypt, he came to Palermo. Jesus has been here in this place. There are many who would point to their time in Palermo as a spiritually significant place in their spiritual journey. There is nothing special about Palermo, per se. Others have found Jesus in other places as well. But for many of you, you received Jesus here. You were baptized here. You came back to Jesus here. You dedicated your life to Jesus here. It is here that Jesus saved your marriage, helped you in a time of need, gave you a blessing that fills you with joy.

Something has happened in your relationship to God in this place and it makes this place a significant place.

Many of us have other spiritually significant places. I was born again in West Topsham, Vermont. I was baptized in Danbury, NH. I rededicated my life to Christ in Monterey, California. I grew as a Christian in Athens, Greece. I spent most of my life ministering here in Palermo, Maine. Each place is significant in what God has done for me in each locale.

Where are your significant places? Where did you come to trust Jesus? Where did you grow spiritually? Where did you rededicate your life or serve God in a meaningful way?

As Egypt was a place of safety and security when facing Herod’s anger for Jesus and his family, our prayer is that this place may be a place of safety and refuge from the storms of life.

There is an even deeper place. We sing a song, “There is a place of quiet rest. Near to the heart of God.” It is what is in our hearts that makes any place significant.

Where are you in your relationship to Jesus? Do you trust him? Are you following him? Is your relationship hot or cold?