Story Arch Fulfillment - Matthew 2:13-23

Introduction

Have you ever looked back on your life and thought about how the different events that have taken place, the people that you have interacted with, and the choices that you have made, have shaped who you are today?

This can be a hard thing to do. There is a part of us that regrets choices that we have made, time wasted, or opportunities missed. Perhaps you have been asked before if you could go back in time and make any changes to your past would you? Maybe you would and maybe you would not. I personally would not because when I look back I see the providence of God working in my life to bring me where I am today. While I have made many mistakes that I deeply regret, they have brought me to where I am today. I can look back and see how each event has pointed toward something in my life today. Can you? Perhaps you can look back at your life and see how the prayers of a specific person worked to bring you to salvation?

As we dig into our passage for today we will see that in a similar way Matthew is looking back through redemptive history, at the things that God has done with his people that have been pointing toward and shaping what the life of our Lord would be like. Much like the events in our lives and the choices that we make, the events redemptive history were purposely planned out by God to show who Christ would be when he would come. Every part of the story of scripture, from creation to Christ, is building and pointing toward the coming savior. As we look at Matthews account of events, we are going to see how three different things find there fulfillment and meaning in Christ. These three events show the depth of God’s planning and promise. They show a magnitude and scale of God’s mind that is difficult for us to grasp at all. But they also remind us of God’s love and grace toward his children.

Lets dive in

Read Matthew 2:13-23

Matthew 2:13–23 ESV

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.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to 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, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Pray

Our passage today has three main sections. These sections can be clearly divided by how each section ends. Each section ends with a reference by Matthew to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The first section, which we will refer to as “The Flight to Egypt” ends with verse 15

Matthew 2:15 ESV

and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

The second section, which we will call “The Tragedy of Bethlehem” ends with verses 17 and 18

Matthew 2:17–18 ESV

Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

And the Third and final section, “The Nazarene,” ends with verse 23

Matthew 2:23 ESV

And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Each section shows how God has been actively working and planning this from the beginning and shows how God will bring the whole plan to fulfillment in the end.

When we come to our first section, “The Flight to Egypt,” we get to see some important things about who God is and how we are are to respond to him. In the first verse of our passage we are reminded of how God is active in the story by the reappearance of that mysterious messenger, The Angel of the Lord. He shows up in another dream of Joseph to warn him of the impending attack of Herod against the town of Bethlehem.

Joseph once again shows his character by obedience. He does not argue back and say, but I am comfortable here, he does not waste time, he wakes up and gets on the road as soon as possible. Verse 14 says

Matthew 2:14 ESV

And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

This means that Joseph got up in the middle of the night, with no hesitation and started a long journey. Google earth puts the straight line distance from Bethlehem to Cairo, Egypt at 260 miles, that is roughly the same distance from Dallas to Galveston. Once again according to google that is at a minimum 83 hrs of walking. That is two full work weeks of walking. I cant imagine that the walk would me made any easier with a toddler, even one who is perfect. But Joseph does not hesitate he Gets up and goes.

Leaves everything, his work, his family, his house, and obeys the Lord.

And as if that was not mind blowing enough, we find out that this whole event has been part of the plan since the beginning.

Matthew clearly ties this trip to Egypt with the time that the Children of Israel spend in Egypt. He does this by quoting from the Prophet Hosea

Hosea 11:1 ESV

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

This is meant to make you think about the history of the people of Israel. Think about how God sent his people in to Egypt and then rescued them by sending them a savior in Moses.

We need to stop for a second and talk about prophecy and its fulfillment. There are different kinds of prophecies and prophetic fulfillment. The one that we are most familiar with is like what happen with the prophet Nathan in 2 Samuel where he comes to King David and tells him that because of his sin, the child that was conceived between David and Bathsheba will die. It is specific prophecy with a specific fulfillment. This is not the kind of prophecy we are talking about here.

What we are talking about here is type fulfillment or story arch fulfillment. See when Hosea writes

Hosea 11:1 ESV

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

He is making a historical reference, we see this when we look at the rest of the passage

Hosea 11:1–4 ESV

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.

Hosea is remembering how God is interacting with his people. But when we come to the New Testament, particularly our passage today we see that the history of Israel is not just history, but a witness to what will come. The time that Israel, sometimes called the child of God, spends in Egypt points to the future when the only begotten son will spend time in Egypt. Jacob, called Israel, goes to Egypt because of famine but Jesus goes to escape the wrath of Herod.

As we come to the second section, “The Tragedy of Bethlehem” we see once again the character of a man who is all about himself. This is a continuation of how Matthew has been contrasting two different types of people. The Citizens of the City of God and the Citizens of the City of man to use Augustine’s language. Joseph is obedient, having right priorities, Herod is angry and self centered, seeking his own gain. He cannot stand the idea that their might be someone who can challenge his place as king. He cares nothing for the sanctity of life, willing to murder every child in his way to get what he wants.

Do you see his spirit, the spirit of Herod, alive and well today?

We read something like this, how Herod killed every male child under the age of two, and rightfully we are sad and angry. We do not understand how someone could just kill innocent children like that. But then we turn around and don't bat an eye at the murder of the unborn who get in the way of the selfish ambitions of our world today. Herod probably killed around 30 children, but our society in 2019 killed an average of 72 unborn children each hour.

Let that number sink in 72 children were killed every hour in 2019 to satisfy the arrogance and pride of our society. All because these children might get in the way of what we want to do. Because these children challenge our autonomy and kingship over our own lives.

The spirit of Herod is alive and thriving in our world today.

And yet God is not deterred, God is not sitting on the sidelines, He knows everything that is going on.

Once again we see that his has been something that was prophesied in the old testament.

Jeremiah 31:15 ESV

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.”

How do we reconcile this? How do we come to terms with the understanding that God is present and still in control in the face of such evil?

We do this by remembering who we are and who God is. God is a Just, God is Good, God is Righteous, God is sovereign, we are rebellious sinners who have been saved by his grace. Not because of our own works but because God chose us to be his children. Before we attempt to condemn God for allowing these things to happen we must remember that we are only here by God’s grace. I remember the wretch I was before Christ’s amazing grace. I do not know why God does things.

Romans 11:34 ESV

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

God does not come to me and ask how things should be done, and thanks be to him that he does not. Do you trust in the goodness and grace of God to know what he is doing with his creation, even when everything seems so crazy?

As we come to our last section, “The Nazarene” we see that God is not silent. Herod has died. He has died a horrible death. In his Antiquities book 17 Josephus describes how Herod the great died. He writes

“But now Herod’s distemper greatly increased upon him, after a severe manner; and this by God’s judgment upon him for his sins.”

Josephus goes on to talk about how he had convulsions all over his body and burned with a fire from with in and how Herod died painfully and slow.

But for Matthew, the death of Herod is little more than a foot note. It is a passing reference. It is almost like Matthew is saying, he doesn't even matter. Not when compared to Christ.

Matthew continues to focus on the providential care that God shows for Jesus and his family. We once again see the Angel of the Lord come to Joseph in a dream to tell him that “those who sought the child’s life are dead.”

That does not mean that the danger has passed. This is kind of like how we become Christians. We are change by God’s grace and made a new person, but we still struggle with the sins of the past. We are new spiritually but the flesh is still weak.

So we see that there is a new enemy. We see Archelaus is now in charge of Judea. But God continues to protect his own. He sends Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, to Nazareth.

Matthew again makes the point that his has been the plan from the beginning. God is not surprised by the need to go around Judea, but it was God who put the plan into action. But in this fulfillment of prophecy we come to an interesting topic. Unlike the other two sections which directly reference specific scriptures, Matthew does not reference any scripture but simply states this was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets. There are several possible answers to what is meant by this.

1. Some commentators note the close connection between the Messianic title in Isaiah 11:1, “branch” and “Nazarene” (the words have the same root consonants). So perhaps Matthew is deploying a play on words by calling Jesus a Nazarene and referring to Isaiah’s prophecy.

2. Nazareth was regarded as a place of insignificance. Matthew may be connecting the themes of rejection, insignificance, and scorn anticipated in the Messiah (Ps. 22:6; Isa. 49:7, 53:3) with the town where Jesus was brought up. Like the town itself, Nazareth’s most noteworthy son would be humble and despised (John 1:46).

3. Some speculate that Matthew could be alluding to Judges 13:7, especially in the sense that the woman will soon conceive and bear a son. This son would also be dedicated to God by profession and vow.

I think it is a combination of the three. Jesus despised by people. But he is also the fulfillment of Isaiah and is the one who is set apart for the work of redemption.

Conclusion

When we look back over the story as a whole we see that God is the main character. It is God who is acting to bring about the events in the story, both in the immediate sense through the dreams that he sends to Joseph and the Magi, how he warns Joseph when to leave and when to return and even what to avoid. But also in the overall and past sense because each of these events are the fulfillment of the themes and stories of redemptive history. God has been working his plan from the beginning. God has been working all things together for good

Romans 8:28 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Do you know that? Do you rest in that knowledge? Even when you see the evil of this world, do you run to your heavenly Father who is the one who is in control?

Resting in God’s grace and sovereignty does not mean siting idly by and waiting for something to happen, it mean being like Joseph who does not sit around but does the good works that God has called him to do. That is why we have been saved, that we might do the good works that God has prepared for us. So know that God is in control and go forward in boldness to fight the good fight, fight against the evil of this world. Do not be afraid to call sin sin, but do so with genteelness and respect, knowing that it is God who brings the growth. Know and rest in the goodness and grace of God who will bring together all things according to his gracious plan.

Pray.