This morning, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2, we'll read together verses 1 through 18, considering verses 13 through 18, considering a portion of our Lord's history that is a bit after His birth, anywhere probably from a year to two years after Jesus was born. Now last week, Sunday evening, in connection with Lord's Day 49 and the third petition of the Lord's Prayer, Thy will be done, we said that indeed salvation is the will of God, is all of God's will planned by Him. And Matthew, for the Jews, we know that he wrote primarily for the Jews. He really shows that in Matthew chapters 1 and 2 as He shows specifically that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God's plan. He is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Already in chapter 1, verse 23, we read, The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. That is from Isaiah 7, verse 14. In chapter 2, verse 6, which we will read, That comes from Micah 5, verse 2, the prediction of Bethlehem. And then also, really, two episodes that we consider this morning in our Savior's life. His escape to Egypt, and then also the massacre of the baby boys, the young boys in Bethlehem. Matthew also clearly ties those to Old Testament Scriptures to show our Lord's identity with His covenant people. We begin at verse 1 of Matthew chapter 2 as we now give our attention to the Word of God. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. In Bethlehem in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel. Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him. After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 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. 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. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled. A voice is heard in Ramah weeping in great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more. May God be pleased to add His blessing to the reading and consideration of His Word this morning. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, one of the most difficult times in life, if not the most difficult time in life, is when life is going great. Everything is in order. The family is wonderful. Friends are plentiful. Work is fulfilling. Relationships are satisfying. There's nothing to complain about. All is going well. You're thinking by now, what's so difficult about that? Well, the difficulty comes in, you see, when all of a sudden everything seems to come crashing down because of a diagnosis or because of death. Or because of dismissal from employment. Or because of some other sort of devastating situation. In an instant, you see, life goes from happy to frightening. It goes from peaceful to chaos. It goes from hopeful to hopeless. Now, Mary and Joseph must have been beside themselves with joy. Sure, they had a tough beginning. They were poor. They had to lay their child in a manger. They began their married life with a child. But you see, there were the angels, and there were the shepherds, and there were the things, the wonderful things that they had said. And now there were these magi, these wise men from the east, these men who had come all of that way. they traveled all those miles and taken all of that time to come just to find their baby. They worship Him. And the things that they must have said, plus the valuable gifts that they had given fit for a king. Wow! What comfort and what confirmation the Magi alone must have been. What a comfort and confirmation of all of the wonderful things that had been spoken before. All those things that had been spoken by the angel to Joseph, by Gabriel to Mary, the things spoken by Elizabeth to Mary, the things that were said by the shepherds in the manger to Mary and Joseph, and of course the things that Simeon said to them in the temple. Life could not have been better for this young family. But remember, Simeon also said that a sword would pierce Mary's soul. And of course, we know that sword pierced deepest, as it were, as she saw her son, her Savior, hanging upon the cross. But that piercing began with another visit from the angel of the Lord who announces the plot to destroy the true king of the Jews. A plot, first of all, conceived by Herod. Now, who is this Herod? Who was he? What can we say about his identity? In the history books, he is called Herod the Great. He was the king of the Jews, the king over the territory of the Jews at that time. He was king, you see, because he had been appointed by Rome. And therefore, he also had to establish his kingdom with great force because of opposition, not the least of which was the fact that he was an Edomite. He was the descendant of Esau. He was not a descendant of Jacob. But also by this time in Herod's life and his career, he was most likely near the end of his reign, probably within a year or so of the end of his reign and the end of his life. Now, Herod is described as one who was capable, crafty, and cruel. Indeed, he was capable. Militarily, he was capable. He was a great military leader and he accomplished great things with his armies. He was also a great builder. Wonderful buildings. Including what we call the Second Temple in Jerusalem. And he showed his capability at one time in the time of a terrible drought and with his wisdom and his wise thinking, He sent to Egypt for aid to spare the lives of the people that He was ruling over. And we think about the temple, for example. We think about sparing their lives that they might survive. These are wonderful things that He did. But we need to understand that He did not do them because He had a love for the people. Everything He did was for selfish gain. Everything He did was selfishly motivated. He was crafty. He knew that the Jews considered Him to be a foreigner. He knew that they opposed Him. he would do whatever he could to try to get them to like him at least just a little bit. At the same time, he plotted to get rid of those that the Jews would rather have rule over them. And to this end, he was also cruel. He was terribly cruel. Anyone that he suspected of conspiring against him to take his throne, to try to take his power, he got rid of them. often doing it in such a way that the murder of whoever it was couldn't be tied back to him. But he got rid of them, including a number of his own sons. It is reported he had ten wives. He even had a couple of them murdered, apparently even the one who was considered to be his favorite wife. And again, a number of his own sons, he had them put to death because he felt threatened because they were conspiring against him to get his throne, he thought. He had a brother-in-law, the brother of his favorite wife, to whom he had given an official position. He had him put to death, and again, he did it in such a way that it couldn't be tied back to him. Even after the massacre of the boys of Bethlehem, one week before Herod himself died, he had another one of his sons put to death because he felt threatened that this son was conspiring against him. And that's just part of it. This man was a man of bloodshed, unashamedly a man of bloodshed. He knew that he was so hated. He knew that when he died, no one would mourn his death, and therefore it is recorded that he ordered that all of the principal men of the Jewish nation, all of the beloved men of the Jewish nation, he ordered them to come to him. When they came, he put them in prison, and he told his wicked sister and her husband that upon his death, to slaughter those guys so that at least there would be mourning at the time of His death, even if it wasn't for His death, that there would be mourning among the Jews. But that didn't happen. That order was not carried out. Beloved, He was a wicked, wicked man. He had a wicked heart. He was wicked in all of life. And therefore, it is no surprise when we consider his reaction to the Magi. You see, news of a newborn king of the Jews was not well received by him. And again, because he was both crafty and because he was cruel, he tries to deceive the Magi after searching the history books. He says, okay, to Bethlehem you are to go. Collect the details for me. Come back to me. I want the details. Why? So that I too may go and worship Him. But his true intention, as the angel says to Joseph, is that he is going to search for the child to kill him. To utterly destroy this child. To remove the threat of this little child. The seed of the serpent, beloved, was on the prowl trying to destroy the seed of the woman. And we can also understand his fury, his anger, when he realized that he had been outwitted, literally tricked, humiliated. He felt like he had been made a laughingstock by the Magi. We might imagine that in Herod's mind, he's thinking of these Magi on their way home having a good laugh at his expanse. You can imagine these Magi saying among themselves, I wish I could have seen that king's face when he realized we weren't coming back. That's the kind of mind he had. In his fury, then, he explodes with his next plan based on a careful investigation with the Magi with regard to the time of the appearance of the star, most likely at least a year before their arrival. And he explodes with his terrible plan. He determines to kill the boys of Bethlehem two years and under, possibly those who had not yet reached their third birthday. Now, Bethlehem was small. It wasn't hundreds of young boys that were put to death. Many of the commentators agree that it was probably anywhere between 12 and 20. Yet a terrible massacre for the families of Bethlehem. While a massacre without shame for Herod. Herod's purpose was to kill only Mary's child. Yet he kills many in order to secure the death of the one who had the rightful claim to the throne. Yet, beloved, for all of Herod's greatness, there is one who is greater than him as his plot in the second place was frustrated by God. Frustrated by God through a warning to Joseph. Indeed, through a warning to the Magi first in a dream. Take the southern route. Take I-8. Go that way. Go home that way. but frustrated by God then through a warning to Joseph. Verse 13, When they, the Magi, 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. Now that warning, that announcement must have been devastating to Mary and Joseph. Devastating. So soon after the Magi leave, Very possibly even the same day, some believe. So soon after the Magi leave and they're on the spiritual high, we might say, the angel of the Lord comes. And with this warning, life must have stopped at a moment. How could this be? Their world was turned upside down in an instant. Yet Joseph, notice, obeys immediately. He trusted the Word of the Lord. That very night in the morning, the neighbors had no clue where this young family had gone. Herod's plot was frustrated by God through a warning to Joseph for the protection of this child. Divine protection. If God was to hide them, no one, not even Herod the Great, would be able to find them. Divine protection by the child's father in heaven. God sent His Son, beloved, into the world not to be consumed by man, not to be destroyed by Satan, but as Paul says in Galatians 4, verse 4, to redeem those under law. He sent Him, as John says in John 3, verse 16, that whoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life. This announcement, though devastating on the one hand to Mary and Joseph, must have also been comforting to Mary and Joseph. They are instructed to go to Egypt with the implication, don't stop until you get there. And then notice what the angel says, stay there until I tell you. Do you get it? Did you catch it? What a promise in those words. A comforting promise. Stay there until I tell you. God would be watching over them. God would be caring for them the whole time. God had promised to speak to them again. In these words is the promise that Herod's plot would fail. God Himself frustrates the plot wickedly conceived by Herod, and He uses this difficult circumstance of fleeing to Egypt, as well as the terrible tragedy of the murder of the Bethlehem boys, He uses it in the third place in identifying the Savior. In making clear the identity of this child. Again, Matthew we know wrote primarily for a Jewish audience and therefore it makes sense that he would tie these events to the Old Testament, to the nation, to prophecy. And he does so with both the fleeing to Egypt and the murder of the Bethlehem boys. And we must understand that in a sense of both of these prophecies, neither of them were necessarily spoken with the Messiah in mind. With regard to fleeing to Egypt, Matthew quotes Hosea 11, verse 1. Out of Egypt I called my son. Hosea there is looking back at Israel's history of deliverance from slavery in Egypt and there's really no prediction there necessarily of something in the future that was going to be realized in the future. And in Jeremiah 31, verse 15, which Matthew quotes in connection with the massacre of the boys, Jeremiah is looking at what had to come for Israel some hundred years before and what was going to come for Judah concerning captivity. Yet, Matthew sees a connection. Matthew sees Jesus and His hiding in Egypt and he sees the murder of these boys as the truest, as the fullest expression of Hosea and Jeremiah's words. And in both of these situations, in both of these events, The Jews were to see history being repeated in this child. And they were to see Jesus as the hope of Israel. They were to see Him as the One for whom they had waited. They were to see Him as the true King of the Jews, the Savior. They were to see Him as the fulfillment of God's promise. They were to see that in His fleeing to Egypt. Verse 15 says again, And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet out of Egypt I called my son. Now, Egypt made sense. It made sense for them to go to Egypt. Interestingly, we know that throughout Israel's history, Egypt was an enemy, yet God provided refuge for His people. For Abraham in a time of famine. For the Israelites, of course. Now, for his own son. But it made sense to go to Egypt. It was not too far away, maybe 70 miles to the border. There were many Jews there, possibly upwards of a million. They would find a friendly welcome there. Work would be found. Possibly family members were living there. They would find protection and safety because Herod had absolutely no jurisdiction there. All those practical things. Not to mention the obvious. The connection with Israel. In Exodus 4, verse 22, Moses was told to say to Pharaoh from the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son. God had adopted Israel. He loved Israel. He claimed them. Even though they were in slavery to a wicked king, He used Egypt as a kind of incubator to protect, to preserve, to grow His child. He would deliver. He delivered them from bondage. And in doing so, He delivered the Messiah who was to come from Israel. He preserved the line leading to the Messiah. And now the Christ child Himself would find shelter and preservation in Egypt, this true Son of God, the true Israel. This One who is identified with His people, identified with them in their bondage and also in their deliverance. Both Israel and Jesus had to escape danger in the Holy Land. Israel because of famine. Jesus because of Herod. They had to escape danger in the Holy Land. And when they did, all of the Messianic hopes that were connected with them seemed to be utterly lost. Yet, beloved, the hand of God was behind these hopes as He called them both out. And the return of both was important to the nation's providential history. Again, when Israel was delivered, the Messiah to come from her was delivered. When the Messiah Himself was delivered, all who would believe in Him, it includes their deliverance as well. And the Jews were to see these same things with regard to the massacre of the Bethlehem boys. This one gives us more trouble, doesn't it? Because we can't even begin to imagine that kind of a situation. Matthew says in verses 17 and 18, Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled, saying that after the atrocity that Herod carried out, 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. Again, a quote from Jeremiah 31, verse 15. And we can well imagine, at least in part, the weeping, the crying, the unconsolable mourning that was taking place when the massacre occurred. What about the connection with Israel? In Jeremiah 31, Rachel there is figurative for the nation. Rachel, of course, had been gone for many hundreds of years. Ramah was on the border between Israel and Judah and it was in Ramah where foreign conquerors like Babylon would assemble the defeated multitudes to get them ready for deportation, to get them ready to take them away into captivity, to march them off. It was there, as it were, in Jeremiah 31, that Rachel, who had longed for children, who said to Jacob, give me children or I will die. And she finally receives children. There she is pictured figuratively as weeping because her children now are being carried off into captivity. Jeremiah 31 is about captivity, being carried off into captivity. It's the Christ child who is carried off into captivity, as it were. The mothers of Bethlehem were indeed weeping because of the massacre. And that weeping brings to Matthew's mind Jeremiah 31 and the weeping of Rachel. Yet the context of Jeremiah 31 verse 15 is a context of hope. It's a context of comfort. Jeremiah 31 is about the entire remnant. Rachel, you see, Ramah on the border. Rachel, you see, is considered to be the mother of the entire kingdom of Israel. The northern and the southern kingdom. Joseph was her son. Israel was referred to by way of Ephraim at times. And Benjamin was associated with Judah, the southern kingdom. Jeremiah 31 is about the entire remnant. And there, Jeremiah says that remnant was loved with an everlasting love, verse 3. There, Jeremiah says that those whom the Lord had scattered would be regathered and be kept safe in the fold of God. verse 10 there Jeremiah says that remnant is a dear son a darling child verse 20 there he says there would be a new covenant with this remnant verse 31 and he says in verse 34 they would be forgiven why? not just to return them physically to their land not just to build buildings again but as Jeremiah 33 verses 14 and 15 says to bring forth the branch of righteousness, the one who would be called out of Egypt. And therefore, in Jeremiah 31, verse 16, right after verse 15, where Jeremiah talks about Rachel's weeping, in verse 16, he says, Stop weeping. Weep no longer. Weep no more. Why? Because the remnant would return. There is comfort. While the mothers of Bethlehem wept, Matthew is saying there is hope even in the midst of this hopeless situation. Why? Because the Christ child, the true King of the Jews, was not among Herod's victims. The Christ child was safe. The Christ child had escaped Herod's wrath. This Christ child would return to his own homeland from Egypt he would carry out, he would fulfill the task for which he had come. He would save his people. God used, we know that God could have done anything to stop Herod. And we don't understand exactly why he allowed these things to happen. God used the wicked actions of Herod to cause Mary and Joseph and the baby to flee to Egypt. Indeed, to show his identity with his people. And he used the wicked actions of Herod in that massacre to demonstrate the power of God and to demonstrate Herod's, Satan's, true powerlessness against God. He could not stop God's plan of salvation. Beloved, Herod is a picture of sin. He is a picture of the sin for which Jesus came to die. He is a picture of that sin that hated God. He is a picture of that sin that desired to destroy Him, to be rid of Him, to get Him out of my way. He is a picture of our sin apart from Jesus Christ. But instead, this child, this child would take from His people our bondage of sin. He would destroy the power of Satan and sin. He would restore His own to Himself. He has done it as the cross of Jesus is proof. And above His head is said, The King of the Jews, the King of true Israel, He is the King of those who enjoy the circumcision of the heart by faith. This is the blessing. This is the truth of those who by faith eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Deliverance from the bondage of sin. Freedom in Christ. Those who oppose Him like Herod, they will be frustrated. They will be destroyed forever. As we partake by faith of these elements, the bread and the cup, which are set apart for a holy use, we have confidence. We are to have confidence of union and communion, beloved, with His one and only Jesus Christ. He has delivered us from the dominion of Satan. He has delivered us from the power of sin. And we are joined with Him by faith. Herod's plot failed because Satan's plan has failed. Satan would destroy you and me. Jesus Christ was saved by His Father. Delivered by His Father that He might deliver you and me. Jesus Christ is victorious. And beloved, those who believe in Him, all who believe in Him by faith, by the grace of God, our tears are wiped away forever. No more mourning. No more weeping. And God's people are given eternal life, a life that will never, ever come crashing down. But instead, it will be a life of unbroken fellowship with the true King of His people who says, come, taste and see. that the Lord is good. Amen.