Matthew 2:13-23

2:13-15

And angel warns Joseph in a dream to take child & His mother to Egypt because Herod was seeking to kill him.

God knows what Herod’s plans are, this is the second time God has interviewed plan’s to kill Jesus.

God’s will was for Jesus to be born and not die till decades later. God’s plans will be done, even when man has other plans.

There is no power, no authority, no human who can ruin God’s plan.

Not even Satan can ruin God’s plan. As we will see in chapter 4.

What hope does this give us?

When does the enemy come in and tell us we ruined God’s plan?

When we mess up.

Its a lie from the enemy when he get us to believe our mess ups ruin God’s plan He has for us.

This is a lie from the enemy when he makes him self or the evil in this world equal or more powerful than God’s power.

God is in the business of fixing our mistakes with mercy and grace.

This is why He did not allow Herod to kill Jesus as a baby. When Jesus was going to be killed it was going to be as a sacrifice to save the world.

Do you notice any similarities of Jesus being taken to Egypt?

This is a typology when the Jews came out of Egypt when the first covenant is being initiated. So also Jesus comes out of Egypt when the new covenant is being initiated.

We will see a few examples of this throughout Matthew.

When Jesus is tempted by Satan

And Jesus with the last supper/passover.

2:16-18

Herod was so angry the wise men tricked him and did not come tell him where Jesus was.

To be sure he would keep his power and rule he sent people under him to kill all the male children in Bethlehem who were two years and under.

His lust for power and to rule sent him in such an anger that he had the male children in Bethlehem killed.

Why would God allow this to happen?

God did not cause this to happen as the phrasing at the end of verse 17 “then was fulfilled” instead of “So it was fulfilled”

God has given humanity free will, and in that free will is choice. There is choice to do the wrong thing and what is evil, or the right thing and what is good.

This is why sin is so devastating, sin will never just effect the person who sinned.

2:19-23

Matthew tells the story of Jesus going to Egypt and then going to live in Nazareth to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the one they have been waiting for.

God was working in orchestrating, the fulfillments of His work in the prophesies to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior of the world. From Jesus coming from the line of David from the tribe of Judah, being born of a virgin, to being born in Bethlehem, to being called out of Egypt, to living in Nazareth.