Working Out God’s Purpose
Opening Prayer
Lord, thank You for communicating with Your people.
Read MATTHEW 2:13–23
13 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.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 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.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “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.”
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Lord, help us to keep trusting you when we can’t see why (Luke 1:38; Rom. 8:28).
Being in God’s will is often not an easy place to find oneself—or to understand. Yet God provides refuge for his children. His purposes won’t be thwarted. Again, as you read these verses, notice Matthew’s scriptural references, which are addressed to his Jewish audience.
The self-obsessed, power-mad Herod, well-known for cruelty, has no qualms about killing anybody, even young children who might threaten his status. God is aware of the danger to his Son (13). So Joseph, obedient servant of God, escapes with toddler and mother under cover of night (14). As other Israelites have done before, they find refuge in Egypt. The parallels with God’s children being called out of Egypt would have been clear to the early believers too (15; Hos. 11:1). The grief of the mothers of Bethlehem recalls another time of tears, as the exiles were led away from the surrounding villages into exile (18).
God is ever-vigilant for his Son (20,22). There are history-changing plans yet to be fulfilled for the man Jesus. Nazareth of Galilee is Joseph’s home town, but Jesus the “Nazarene” (23; Luke 2:4,39) has puzzled commentators—there is no specific mention of this messianic title in the Old Testament. What was Matthew seeing in the prophets (23)? Perhaps it was a play on words—netzer, translated “branch” in Isaiah’s prophecy (Isa 53:3) about the Messiah, sounds similar to “Nazarene.” Certainly in Jesus’ time Nazarenes are despised. Whatever Matthew intends, it’s clear that Jesus, the Branch, would become the “despised and rejected” one of whom Isaiah writes (Isa. 11:1–3). With Jesus now in Galilee, the Gospel story is set to unroll. God’s purposes are being
worked out.
Apply
Aside from the busyness of festivities, reflect on where you see God at work on his purposes for your life. Thank him, knowing you are safe in his care.
Closing prayer
Lord, amidst all the trouble created for believers by unbelievers, be ever vigilant to protect Your people as You did Your Son.
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