And so was Fullfilled

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3 times Matthew in this short passage delcares that Jesus (both who he is and the events around his birth and life) fulfill the prophets - the OT promises.

Many of us know the story well of course - perhaps so well we miss the significance of what Matthew seems keen to explain.

The magi - came form the east - following a star believed to be the sign from God that a King had been born to the Jews - the Israelites.

They stop on-route at King Herod’s palace - asking about this new baby king.

Herod is concerned for his rule and reign - but doesn’t let on and hopes to find and kill this baby king

- and so sends the magi on to Bethlehem where the promise of the OT predicts his birth.

After finding and worshipping Jesus, The magi are warned in a dream from God not to return to Herod - and so immediate distaster is averted.

But the tiny town of Bethlehem is only 5 miles from Herod’s palace so it wont be long before he realises he’s been tricked and he will come after the baby king.

Matthew 2:13–15 NIV

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Fulfilment 1.

Herod of course is furious and not knowing Jesus has left orders the murder of all boys under 2 years old - Jesus was estimated to have been about 12months old when the magi visited - so to cover his bases he murders all the under 2’s.

A horrific act - the scale of it may have been quite small as Bethlehem was a tiny town - it’s estimated that perhaps only 10-12 boys would have been killed- but imagine the horror and weeping none the less.

And so we get our second fulfilment:

Matthew 2:17–18 NIV

Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

And thirdly - after herod’s death - Jospeh is told again by God that it is safe to return to Israel

- but on route Jospeh is concerned by the next king in Judea being no more friendly.

So in another dream he is warned and they head to Galilee and town called Nathereth.

so our 3rd fulfilment

Matthew 2:23 NIV

and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Now I don’t know about you - but this all raises a load of questions in my head.

Why doesn’t God sort out the problems for Joseph, Mary and Jesus - rather than send them on a wild goose chase?

And aside from that - in what way does Jesus fulfil these things?

Or better still why does he need too?

Some of them seem less like promises - and more like observations from their time that needed no fulfilling!

Some don’t seem relevant, and one doesn’t even appear to be in the OT.

That second question is really the attention of this passage

- how are we to understand the ‘fulfillments’.

But I think it’s helpful to pause briefly on the why such a complicated life for Jesus? Question

Jesus’s early life and even memories - are of being a refugee fleeing persecution.

Travelling thousands of miles - living in foreign lands, fearing death. banished from ‘home’.

And God is sending warnings in dreams rather than sorting out the actual problems!

I wonder if that is part of the point of God who entres our world to save us.

to know that Jesus’ life was like ours - is a great comfort!

He was not miraculously delivered from every trial.

EvRey prayer isn’t answered in the easiest way possible.

It’s hard to believe the Queen of England can relate to our finanical, or social, or relational problems given her privileges.

But Jesus - his family is more like an afgan refugee than the queen.

His circumstances weren’t changed - he and his family had to change!

And so Obedience to God’s direction is clearly demonstatred when life is hard.

And their life was hard and fearful.

Yet they obeyed. - Jesus continues this perfectly of course through out his life.

He knows a hard life - and yet he still obeyed every-time.

He did not command his heavenly armies to smooth the path and change the circumstance.

No - he valued obdicience to God, and empathy with his created people.

Our problems are typically small and light compared to his - he’s a man we can trust when he says - follow me.

He’s from a family that has earnt our attention - we should listen at least to His message.

we should think about what he has come to ‘fulfil’

and So

How does Jesus Fulfil?

The short answer is well - he fulfils in every-way!

So let’s enjoy some of the examples in this passage.

Out of Egypt I called my son is taken from

Hosea 11:1 NIV

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

In Hosea he’s making reference to the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt.

It’s poetic isn’t it.

When Israel was a child - in-other-words small and vulnerable.

Growing from just one family - Jacob and his 12 sons.

God loved him.

Not content to see his own people (his child) in slavery - he called them out of Egypt.

You might recall Moses and the plagues and the crossing of the red sea.

They were saved.

We call it the

exodus - but how does Jesus Fulfil this!?

What does that even mean?

Well to ‘fulfil’ doesn’t just mean - something is promised and then it is fulfilled - achieved. - although it can and often does mean that in the bible - and in life.

But it can also mean to be the full version - or completeness of something,

for example - think of a man who has a great idea for a company - sets it up but isn’t alway very good at running or progressing things.

It ticks along as a company - but it’s not what it could be,

But then his son takes over and the business and he’s got a great business mind and things just take off.

Nothing was promised - but the company finds it’s full or complete fulfilment through the man’s son.

And that’s sort of what’s going on here - and often when we think of Jesus actually.

He is the anti-type of Israel - God’s people.

He is the perfect example of what God desires his people to be.

The fullness of what the Israelites - and we - should be,.

We actually think about this all the time.

He’s the one who lives a perfect life when we could not.

he saves Israel and us from our sins when we could not.

In a visual and real way -

Jesus needed to be ‘called out of Egypt’ like Israel the nation - to fulfill! - what they did not!

to be them but to fullness.

1 - Jesus Fulfils Perfection

- Israel was freed from Egypt - but quickly grumbled and sinned!

Jesus came out of Egypt but did not sin!

everything Israel got wrong Jesus would get right!

Israel was to be the vine that bore fruit for God and bless the nations - but failed -

But Later in Matthew - Jesus describes himself as the true vine - the one who truly bears good fruit and who truly offers hope to the nations!

In chapter 4 of Matthew - Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness being tempted in every way by Satan - echoing the 40 years or wilderness for the Israelites after coming out of Egypt

- the Israelites failing and receiving punishment -

Jesus succeeding and overcoming every trial.

Jesus is the perfect man of God

And becasue Jesus is perfect - he earns the love that Isreal could not.

In hosea - Israel are called out of Egypt becasue God loves them - but they quicly reject his love.

They refuse God’s love.

Hosea speaks of judgement from God - yet God often relents and has mercy and patience -

Hosea 11:10–11 NIV

They will follow the Lord; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west. They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle them in their homes,” declares the Lord.

The image is clear - they are undeserving of God’s love - and yet he desires to show it.

But complete and perfect love still requires justice.

YOu can’t force love upon someone if they reject it as the ISralelits do and as we do.

Rejecting God cannot be ignored eternally.

But now another Israel has arisen - a perfect man of God,

Who is worthy of that love without fault or rejection.

One who is then able to become a refuge for all God’s people.

Gods people can come trembling to the lion becasue he is also the lamb.

The lion of protection and eternal perfect love.

and the lamb of sacrifice - shedding his blood in our place.

Paying the price of our rebelion - and earning us righteousness - becasue he is the Perfect man.

Jesus has to be the fulfilment of what the first Israel was not.

He came out of Egypt to fulfil what they were not.

To become what we today are not.

The perfect man - who earns the love God so keenly desires to give.

What a Jesus we can know.

2 - Jesus Fulfils Hope

The second fulfilment refers to the weeping of mothers due to the slaughter of their children.

And it’s a very different type of fulfilment in view.

This time it is a fulfilment of hope.

Matthew quotes

Jeremiah 31:15 NIV

This is what the Lord says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”

how does this slaughter of children because of the birth of Jesus fulfil such a gut wrenching OT prophesy.

Bethlehem is not Raman - so this has to be symbolic in some way -

but the real

clue is in the context of Jer 31.

Jeremiah is a long time after the exodus - and the Israelites have established themselves as a great nation in Israel.

But again due to their sin God hands them over to an enemy -this time the Babylonians.

Give or take, the majority are exiled to Babylon away from Jerusalem.

And that quoted verse, 15, depicts the wailing of the nation as they are removed from the promised land.

What we miss - but Matthew’s origional readers would have known well

is that that every other verse in Jer 31 is a promise that the exile will eventually come to an end.

for example

Jeremiah 31:3–4 NIV

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your timbrels and go out to dance with the joyful.

or

Jeremiah 31:16–17 NIV

This is what the Lord says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,” declares the Lord. “They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your descendants,” declares the Lord. “Your children will return to their own land.

The wailing comes with a promise of hope.

So how does the events around Jesus fulfil all that?

Well it fulfills it in a full and complete way in that it signals that the eternal rescue and return of God’s people has begun.

Just as the exile wailing signalled that a return would come,

so the wailing in Bethlehem signals that the eternal rescue of himanity has begun!

The perfect man of God - the earner of eternal love - has come,

and look - he has escaped the slaughter that brought about the wailing!

Hear the wailing and know hope is on the way - not just a return from exile hope -

but a full eternal God relationship Hope.

Jesus fulfills hope.

Whatever life looks like or brings about,

however bad our sin and our deserved punishment and judgement from God,

Hope has arrived - the end is signalled - the fulfilment of hope is here.

And finally,

What do we make of the final fulfilment that Jesus was a Nazarene.

3 - Jesus fulfils the expected unexpected

This one if tricky without knowing a little context.

First of all - notice that there is no specific OT quote here - unlike the other 2 fulfilment quotes which have speech marks to help us in the English version.

This has to mean that Matthew is making a general point, or principle statement about Jesus fulfilling something general in the OT.

Which makes sense as there is no OT prophesy that the Messiah would come from Nazereth.

But the then readers of Matthew would have known exactly what he was getting at.

A Nazarene was used as a derogatory term - in fact the whole region was considered a bit backwards.

for example

John 1:46 NIV

“Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

or

John 7:52 NIV

They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

There is no way - God would plan to bring a Messiah - a saviour - a perfect man out of there!

Oh - but he would - Come and see,

Nazarenes were despised, rejected, ridiculed, ignored and badly treated..

And well now, the OT has plenty to say about how the coming messiah would be despised and rejected - ridiculed and scorned!

He would truly be a Nazerene!

Psalm 22:6–8 NIV

But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

Psalm 69:8 NIV

I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children;

Isaiah 53:3 NIV

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Jesus fulfils the expected unexpected

Our world is so often blind to Jesus because we dismiss his humble and chaotic beginnings and life.

Quiet towns, poor, despised, ancient history,

rejected, murdered, unimpressive by any worldly standard.

But there is to be no mistake -

we are not to seek after worldly things but Godly things.

The OT is full of anticipation for the fulfilment of life with God through a despised servant - and yet it’s so unexpected to us!

But Jesus fulfils!

Don Carson puts it like this

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 8: Matthew, Mark, Luke F. The Return to Nazareth (2:19–23)

Jesus the Messiah, Matthew is telling us, did not introduce his kingdom with outward show or present himself with the pomp of an earthly monarch. In accord with prophecy he came as the despised Servant of the Lord.

Stop looking at circumstances, the world, jobs, pomp, self worth, family comforts, health - none of that fulfils anything!

Perhaps that’s precisely why Jesus had so little of any of that.

But he does fulfil all that is required - and he does it for us.

He was perfect in our place,

Earned the love of God we could not,

fulfils hope where there should be none

and fulfils the unexpected,

He is our only hope in life.

Come and see - and invite others to come and see with you This year.

Jesus is fulfilment.

He gives us salvation And new life.

Come and see

Pray