I invite you to turn tonight, continuing where we were this morning in Matthew chapter 2. We're going to conclude this chapter tonight and I'll be reading at verses, I'll be reading verses 13 through 23 tonight of Matthew chapter 2. That's found on page 960 in your Bibles. Beginning at verse 13, this is the word of the Lord. 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 had 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 and 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 in 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 the 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. And there we'll end the reading of God's word. Well tonight we come to a section in the birth narratives here of Matthew's gospel that I have to confess I have avoided for 20 years, almost 20 years of ministry. I have never preached this passage. And at first I thought, oh, do I even want to try? It's a difficult section of the scriptures and I've never quite understood what Matthew's doing here. I've never really appreciated it until I spent the time with it. It seems like it's just one of these obscure sections that would be easier just to pass over than to really give serious reflection. But I should have learned my lesson by now and I should learn that anytime you have some of these more obscure sections, there are remarkable truths that are given and it's healthy to stop and to spend some serious reflection in these particular passages, especially this one tonight as the story of Christ coming to this earth. It helped, I think, this morning that we were able to start with Matthew chapter 2 and look at the first part of this great chapter as he is continuing here with a theme that he developed from these first verses, 1 through 12, of what Jesus has come to do for us. But he's not just giving us tonight interesting details. I think it's easy to read these stories and just think these are nice details that he's giving us. Remember what was captured this morning, which is sort of the center of this chapter, the centerpiece of this, is the wise men worshiping Jesus, bowing down and prostrating themselves before the king, understanding who he is. They're worshiping with understanding, aren't they? That's really important for tonight. You have to understand why Matthew is doing what he is doing. And I think that as I reflected on this, it really does show us that Matthew is very interested in true worshipers knowing why they should worship remember um as said with the wise men they had come to the we looked at this morning come to the morning star who had risen in their hearts and our hearts that that what marks our lives as believers is is to be a worshiping people but i'm not always sure that people have appreciated why what drives worship and why I should worship and what worship should be. And that's the purpose tonight of Matthew. Matthew, if you were to ask Matthew that, he helps us with that, with these very important words where he says three times something in this particular passage that if you were closely looking at, you couldn't miss. This was written to fulfill. Three times. That's remarkable, isn't it? He gives me a classic Reformed three-point sermon right there. Three times this was written to fulfill. Matthew did the work for me. Why was I scared of this text? I have no idea. You'll notice in verses 15, 17, and 23 that it was said of Jesus that something was fulfilled. Very important fulfillment. Out of Egypt I've called my son. Something was fulfilled in that. The second fulfillment there. You'll notice that this fulfills Rachel weeping for her children. That's an interesting one. And then the third fulfillment by the prophets. He would be called a Nazarene. Three specific kinds of things are being said about Jesus that informs worship. And so after this glorious scene of the Magi coming to worship the king, now we enter this text where Matthew is pressing. And if you were to ask him, why are you doing this? because I'm going to help you to understand what makes worship wonderful. You need to understand what Jesus has done for you. And he explains it now. Notice here, it says, 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 arose 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. Herod, this wicked tyrant that we studied this morning, when he realized he had been duped by these wise men, when he finds it out, he is about to be infuriated. His response is going to be, of course, to send soldiers to the home here where Joseph and Mary are to search for the child and to kill the child. And so God sends this angel and tells them with communication to flee to Egypt until Herod is dead. Now, this is an interesting moment in the Gospel of Matthew to further develop just for a minute what we looked at with Herod this morning. And somebody gave me, pointed to an article that I hadn't seen in a major theological journal. And this was really helpful. When I saw it, I spent the afternoon. I was so curious about it. But I want you to notice here something important about Herod. But in light of historical, what we developed this morning about how Herod was viewed and reestablishing the kingdom of Israel and giving them back the glory of the temple and building a beautiful kingdom and actually receiving the worship of the people and ironically, in that, giving the worship back of the Lord by restoring the temple, it's important to say that what developed in this time about Herod, the thought about Herod, was that he was thought to be the Messiah himself. Tertullian. says that the Herodians were teaching this. Epiphanius of Salamis said, they believed that Herod was Christ and thought that the Christ awaited in all the scriptures of the law and the prophets was Herod himself and were proud of Herod because they considered him to be a fulfillment of Genesis 49.10. Interesting. And Jerome says it twice that they believe this about Herod. Others, there's a lot of loaded evidence on this as I was looking at the history of this. How many people thought Herod was the Messiah? So you see why there's a great tension dominating this narrative. It's also a warning, I thought to myself, of our danger in our times of putting trust in princes. It's an important point when the Lord says, don't put your trust in princes. When they are threatened, they will turn on you. They will turn on you. And it almost makes you wonder, as I was reflecting on the history of this, if one of Matthew's great purposes in chapter 2 was to answer this horrendous belief of the Jews. That Herod was the Christ. How do we know, maybe Matthew thought, how could I prove that Jesus is the long-awaited king? and matthew would say well let me tell you a few stories here fulfillment and i'll prove you to you he's the king oh israel and i'll doing it show you to show you what he fulfills and i'm going to show you what herod fulfills and that should stop this nonsense that was my thought working through some of the history today again not just today i did this all week i keep saying that this stuff happens on sunday i got the article today and i did spend some time in that but i want you to know i spent a lot of time in that brand new beautiful study you guys gave me so the statement in bold here is that the whole event of the persecution of herod was done to fulfill something what was it that this event of jesus having to go down to Egypt was not just some circumstantial thing, that it was actually ordained by God to fulfill something great. And what was the fulfillment? Matthew says, out of Egypt I've called my son. Do you know that's one of the most significant of all fulfillments in the Bible? That is one of the most significant, right out of the gates, of all fulfillments in the Bible. We developed this a little bit this morning with the star. That when you read in verse 9 of chapter 2, after listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. That pillar that led them through the wilderness went all the way until they got to their inheritance. Matthew's working with all this. He's grabbing the history of Israel. He's showing fulfillment of what all of that meant. The star comes and it stops over their deliverance. And they give him worship. And this is where this interesting fulfillment here that Matthew raises helps us with his worship. Jesus himself went down to Egypt and the message is that all the bondage that we ever studied about Israel and Egypt, all those years. 430 years of straight bondage. 430 years of injustice. 430 years of oppression and hardship and bricks without straw. All the sufferings of Israel that they experienced in Egypt and then the great power of God to deliver them out. The sole purpose of that we know as we've studied from it was to tell us a greater story of Jesus. That was not just a nice story to keep us interested in the Bible. It was a story of being in bondage to sin. It was a story of being in bondage to tyranny. And with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, he brings them out. And then he brings them to the sea. And he says, I want you to stand still and see the salvation of your God. As the Egyptians are coming to destroy him, he parts the sea and he passes them through. And Paul will grab that in 1 Corinthians 10 and say, oh, guess what? That is a type of your baptism. You were baptized into Christ who is the rock. And they get to the other side and they sing a great song of deliverance and they are led to the promised land. That story is the story of the Old Testament. The story that was celebrated in the Old Testament. The story that the Psalms all talk about. And Matthew grabs here something said out of Hosea 11. 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. But they kept sacrificing to the bales and burning offerings to idols. I think the great encouragement of Matthew in this first fulfillment here is to tell us and announce that in Jesus we are brought out of all of our sin and idolatry. That story of Exodus was all about him. That story of Exodus was all about him. See the beauty of this? He wants us mesmerize and focus on the fact that Jesus himself is Israel. And he goes down to Egypt and he walks the same path. And he comes out and he did all of that to set us free. He sets us free. Think of the tyranny they're experiencing. Think of this unjust, wicked tyrant that's there. Jesus relived the entire exodus for us in fulfillment. And what does that mean? Well, it means something great tonight. It means you're free. Do you know in him you're free? How much does sin trouble us? How much does the bondage we feel and the difficulties that we experience of sin and the sorrows and the hardships of life, it's just so wearisome, isn't it? Doesn't this just get wearisome? It's discouraging. It makes us doubt. We struggle. And Matthew wants to say something up front. Oh, Israel, everything that you've looked for in deliverance for freedom has come in him. He passed through the sea. He defeated sin. It's those words of Jesus in the Gospels when Peter thought he could drink the cup. And Jesus responded back, you can't drink this cup. But I've taken it for you. I've taken it. Remember the last plague in Egypt when death had come to the firstborn of all sons. Remember how awful that would have been? Israel was set free on the death of firstborn son. Think about this. Death came to him to set us free. When we're feeling the burden of sin and living in the sorrow, I want you to remember this great fulfillment. I called him out and in him you're free. That's a great fulfillment of the exodus and the entire story of the Old Testament that celebrates the cross. That's the first fulfillment. Then comes the second. 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 and under according to the time that had been ascertained from the wise men. Is that unfamiliar to you? Herod is actually the fulfillment of something terrible, isn't he? You ever think about this for a minute? Find it interesting that he's killing babies here? What was the first thing Pharaoh did when they were in bondage in Egypt? When he saw them grow and he saw God's blessing on them? When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if you see a son, notice here, all the male sons in Matthew 2, if you see a son, You shall kill him, but if it's a daughter, she shall live. The fulfillment of all the vicious attacks on the womb throughout history to bring forth the Messiah, right here is fulfilled in Herod. Jesus himself faced it. You know, we live in a world of death and misery. Another weary sorrow that we constantly face. I am just sick of death. Really, the only good thing about it is when you preach a funeral, you get to curse death. Did you know that? That's one blessing of a pastor. You get to curse at it and say, Jesus beat this. We live in a world that immerses itself with evil and wickedness. We've come to expect it. Herod in chapter 2 the one they were calling the Messiah is killing infants males ruthless political figure isn't he? a ruthless political figure you know that before Herod died he made a mandate that upon his death the soldiers were to go and kill 2,000 Jewish leaders by crucifixion the purpose was so that the nation would mourn after he died what kind of guy is this this was their king see all of this captures the story of the scriptures of revelation chapter 12 that the dragon satan throughout history has been standing over the child as soon as it was born to devour him it's the cosmic battle of history come to a head right here. I think one of the things that has troubled me most throughout history when you consider death and injustice and wicked rulers and all the blood that has been shed unjustly throughout history, the millions of people who've been slaughtered by unjust tyrants. I can't process it. I really can't. I can't think too much of Hitler and the Nazis. I can't think of it too much. I can't think of Stalin and 20 million people he wiped out. You know, it's almost 20 million. How much blood by unjust war? Here we are in America slaughtering still the womb. How sick does it make you that we live in a brutal assault in this country on babies in the womb? Every year, there are estimated 40 million abortions. About 125,000 a day. You know, I still think to this day that what the attack on the womb is, since Jesus has already come, is Satan's last-ditch effort to wipe out any of the seed that's left. In rage, Revelation 12, he comes at us. If there's any of God's people in there, I'll kill them all. Now, in the slaughter of the Bethlehem infants, there's a fulfillment. Of what? This was fulfilled. What was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah weeping in loud lamentation. Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more. She's symbolic of Israel's oppression. Now, when you read that, it seems like the worst kind of fulfillment. What's being said to us? This is why I avoided the passage. I didn't get that. It just seems so negative. Do you know where it's taken from? It sits in the heart of Jeremiah 31. That was taken from the most important passage in the Old Testament about the restoration of Israel. And I just want to read it for a minute. I want you to hear it as a whole. I want you to see where it sits so you understand the fulfillment. You can follow if you want. I want you to notice in Jeremiah 31 what's said. Here's what brackets it. Thus says the Lord. Sing aloud, it's verse 7, with gladness for Jacob. And raise shouts for the chief of the nations. Proclaim, give praise, and say, O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel. Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth. Among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman, And she who is in labor, together a great company, and they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back. I will make them walk by brooks of water, and a straight path in which they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away. Say, he who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock. For the Lord has ransomed Jacob and he's redeemed him from hands too strong for him. They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, the oil, over the young flock and the herd. Their life shall be like a watered garden. They shall languish no more. Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. I will feast the soul of the priests with abundance, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord. Thus says the Lord, here it is, in the middle of this. 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. Thus says the Lord, keep your voice from weeping, your eyes from tears, for there's a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. Listen to this. There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country. Here's what's being said in the death of the Bethlehem infants. In the coming of Jesus and coming to him, there's an end of Israel's sorrow. Jesus has come not to bring death like Herod. Jesus has come to reverse death with life. Jesus has come to reverse death with life. The death of the infants was the end. In other words, Jesus has not come to bring death but life. With the arrival of Jesus, it's overcome. That's what the resurrection's all about. That's what the resurrection's all about. That's why he would go to death and rise, so that we'll rise with him. When you were singing that Isaiah song, did you notice in the new heavens and the new earth what is going to be there? The hope of the future? How much death have we experienced? What has Jesus done? Overcome it. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory in Christ Jesus. You know, I know for some of you this is a really hard time of year. Especially with the death of loved ones. Why is Christmas so hard? Why are the holidays such a pain? You remember all of your celebrations. You remember the life that you enjoyed. You remember the memories. You remember good things. And all of it was robbed by death. Do you hear the message? Jesus went down to death for us and rose victorious to bring an end to death's sorrow. That's the fulfillment of what he's grabbing. That's what we're celebrating right now. Your loved ones who died are not sad. What should we be? Death's real. Death brings tears. But the news is he's reversed death with life. That's the fulfillment. This is the end. This is the end of Israel's sorrow. It's fulfilled. And I want to say to you who mourn right now, let this truth guide this season. Let this truth guide this season. The devil wants you overcome with death. And Jesus is saying, I beat it and I took it for you and your loved ones and your children. I'm reversing all this. I'm fixing all this. That's the promise. I kind of want to stay there for a while. It's so beautiful, isn't it? I beat it for you. And you can live in that enjoyment. There's one more fulfillment. When Herod had 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 the 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. You know, there's no real direct passage in the Old Testament that's taken from, I think Matthew looked at the collective teaching of the prophets. Nazareth was a place of obscurity. God had so ordered the events that Nazareth would be known as his hometown. 480 people. he would be known as a hick from the sticks. He'd be ridiculed his entire life for it. Did you know that? Everywhere he went, no one would respect him. The king. His whole life, he would be rejected and despised of men, fulfilling Isaiah. And yet, the root chosen here, directly tied to Isaiah's prophecy, That the Messiah would rise from the stump of Jesse, despised. Why is that so important? I don't think it's that hard. This should be the greatest encouragement to us. What's everyone looking for right now in our world? Identity. Identity. It's the key thing everyone's looking for and fighting for. he became nothing. The king of heaven and earth became nothing to identify with you in all of your lowliness and in all of your weakness and in all of your brokenness so that you would have hope. Mary's song sang it. She said it. How he has shown strength with his arm. He's scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He's brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He's filled the hungry with good things and the rich he sent away empty. He's helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. This is the story of our lives. God chose not the great ones of the earth, but those who are despised in the earth, those who are not great in this world. but our identity is found in the one who became a Nazarene, a nobody for us because he loved us that much. Ponder that. Why are you searching for any other identity? Say that to our young people. Why are you doing that? This matters the most for a people looking for identity. You have the identity that matters in this life. you don't have to be great. You don't have to establish yourself. You're free. You don't have to come here and show yourself together. You're not. You have the identity that matters. See the story. He delivered you from bondage, set you free from your sins. He saved you from death, and he gave you a new identity in him. That leads to a lot of worship, beloved. Think about that tonight. He saved you from bondage, delivering you from your sin. He rescued you from death and he gave you a brand new identity in him. And so to know that that identity matters, he took on your lowly human nature to become one of us, to deliver us from all of these sorrows. That's the greatest privilege we have, to worship the King of kings and Lord of lords. And who did that? the God of heaven and earth. What a sad state of affairs that they're calling Herod the Messiah. You belong to Jesus in body and in soul. And nothing can separate that. Nothing. Walk in the freedom that He's won for you. This is your king. This is your king. Worship him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word to us today. Thank you for showing us our Savior. Thank you for delivering us from this misery in this world of sin, death, and darkness and for lighting it all up with the presence of God himself. May we see as we should see and may it lead us to the feet of our King to worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. Thank You for loving us. Thank You for delivering us. Thank You for conquering death. And thank You for giving us a new identity, the identity that matters. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.