Jesus is King: Royal Protection
Matthew 2:13-23
I. God protects the King; 2:13-15.
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."
Once the Magi escaped safely, the angel of the Lord again appears in a dream to warn Joseph about Herod's scheme. The angel instructs Joseph how he is to care for the child and mother, and Joseph is immediately obedient, escaping to Egypt by night with the child and His mother. Almost anywhere in Egypt the family would have been immediately safe from Herod since it was a Roman province outside of his jurisdiction. Joseph, Mary, and Jesus stayed there until after Herod's death.
Matthew points to the flight and return from Egypt as a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. When Jesus came out of Egypt, a new exodus began where Jesus would fill the role not only of the God sent deliverer but also of God's Son. Just as the Jews needed an exodus from the bondage of Egypt, we who are in bondage to sin need a Savior to be our exodus. King Jesus is our exodus to make our deliverance from sin possible.
II. Jesus as King threatens those who love to be in control; 2:16-18.
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."
When Herod realized that the Magi somehow had discovered his true intentions and fled, he becomes furious. His earlier question to the Magi about the time of the appearing of the star gave him a good idea of the age of the child. So, he ordered all the boys in the Bethlehem vicinity who were born within the two-year period to be killed.
Matthew's second quote is from Jeremiah 31:15. Jeremiah is talking about the time when the people of God were taken into exile. Centuries earlier, Nebuchadnezzar's army had gathered the captives from Judah in the town of Ramah before they were taken into exile to Babylon. Jeremiah depicts Rachel, who is the personification of the mothers of Israel, mourning for her children as they are being carried away. She has no comfort as they are removed from the land, because they are no longer a nation. But even as Jeremiah pictures this dreadful mourning for exiled Israel, he offers a word of comfort from God: There is hope for their future because God will restore Rachel's children to their own land, and messianic joy will come.
There is horrible news of children dying and mothers mourning and weeping, but there is hope in pain. A new King is born. Jesus as King will conquer death. He is a King who will heal our brokenness and will reconcile us to God. We know suffering in our own lives, we see suffering all around us, and we long for an end to grief. Jesus has come to end our exile, to bring hope among suffering, and life among death as a new King with a new relationship with God.
III. King Jesus comes in humility; 2:19-23.
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: "He will be called a Nazarene."
Not long after ordering the murder of the infant boys at Bethlehem, Herod became deathly ill. He died at the age of sixty-nine at his palace in Jericho. After remaking his will at least seven times, Herod had finally settled on dividing the kingdom between three of his remaining sons, Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. Archelaus, a nineteen-year-old son succeeded to his throne over Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. He quickly displayed the same kind of cruelty as his father.
Herod Antipas, the seventeen-year-old younger brother of Archelaus, became tetrarch of Galilee and Perea. He ruled the region of Jesus' primary ministry. He executed John the Baptist and interviewed Jesus prior to His crucifixion.
When Herod the Great dies, the angel appears once again to Joseph in a dream. The angel instructs Joseph to bring the child and mother back to Israel, because the threat from Herod is over. The plural "those who were trying to take the child's life are dead" is probably another reference to the responsibility of the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem.
When they discover that Herod's son Archelaus is ruling over the region of Judea in his father's place, Joseph is warned in another dream not to return to Bethlehem. Therefore, the family goes to Nazareth in the region of Galilee, a region governed by Herod Antipas. Nazareth was not a very well-respected place. Nazarenes were ridiculed and generally despised. Isaiah 53 says of Jesus, "He was despised and rejected by men … and we didn't value Him". The King who has come is going to be rejected by the world. He will be a Nazarene.
The one named Jesus, Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, the one who will save people from their sins, Immanuel, God with us, King of the Jews, and King of all nations is also the one called a Nazarene, one despised and rejected.
The story of Christmas is not simply about what happened two thousand years ago. We are all enslaved to sin, in need of an exodus, and in need of deliverance. We are familiar with pain and brokenness. We know suffering in our own lives, we see suffering all around us, and we long for an end to grief. Yet, in our sin, we are unable to save ourselves. Jesus has come to inaugurate a new exodus and to make our deliverance from sin possible. He has come to end our debilitating exile, to bring hope amid pain and life amid death as a new King with a new relationship that connects us to God. And none of this is based on what we must do for Him, but on what He has done for us. By His grace, He offers to save us.
Christ has come. He has given His life for us, He has shed His blood as a perfect sacrifice, and He has risen from the grave to bring eternal life to all who believe in Him. This is the gospel that brings Christmas joy amid pain and suffering.
