Reading Matthew with Missional Eyes

Leviticus 16 detailed the process the redeemed Israelites were to undertake on the day   of atonement. The day of atonement was the one day a year where their collective sin could be dealt with under the covenant they had with God. This included the confession of sin and subsequent washing with water – acts that reminded Israel of when Moses led the people through the Sea on their way to the promised land. It was a national foreshadow of the personal act of baptism, and something that John the Baptist capitalized on in his ministry. 

As one scholar notes, “The readiness with which the multitudes submitted to baptism is explained by the fact that purificatory rites by the application of water were not new nor strange to the Jews.” Indeed, the need for personal application of water in the purification of sins was detailed in Ex 19, Lev 14 and 15, Num 8 and Deut 23. Yet what John was doing was far more meaningful than a periodic ritual. His message powerfully moved people to action, and in his message John had just what was called for  – a baptism in accordance with whole life repentance. 

“Just what did John’s baptism mean? It signified a person’s willingness to turn from his or her sins and from the false belief that being born a Jew automatically put a person in right relationship with God. John announced Israel was in spiritual crisis and about to be judged. When John came with the first prophetic message in four centuries, it was only natural that as people repented, they demonstrated the sincerity of their repentance by submitting to baptism, thus publicly identifying themselves with the faithful among God’s people.”

We’ve already from the previous verses that John’s message of repentance was also consistent with the messages of Isaiah and Ezekiel and basically every other prophet Israel had ever known. The wilderness where John ministered was a further reminder of Israel’s past. Now Matthew tells us what John wore and ate. He wore rough clothes, as Elijah was known for (see 1Ki 1:8), and he ate the uncultivated food God provided, as the poor were instructed to do (see Lev 11:20–23).

 “John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.  People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan.  Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.”  

Though John never performed miracles, his life, clothing and ministry epitomized the whole of the Old Testament message. That is so very fitting and appropriate, as his cousin Jesus likewise epitomized the whole of the New Testament. Both call us into restored relationship with God the Father – the life we were created to live but failed at. Both call us to be His people through repentance and subsequent living as obedient children of God. One could say that in John the Baptist we most clearly see how the Old Testament message and the New Testament message are actually one and the same: We are to be God’s people, with all the privileges and responsibilities that entails!

Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith.

Watchman Nee

APPLICATION: Intentionality

What would you say is the overall message of your life?  Is it consistent with your belonging to God?  Would those around you say the same? Purpose to make  any changes necessary. Purpose to be baptized if you haven’t already. You are God’s child, and all the world should see Him and His message reflected in You!

The New Testament is birthed and steeped in the Old, for both old and new covenants   are with one and the same God.  Matthew has shown us how Jesus arrived in fulfillment of prophesy, and how Jesus’ early days were in fulfillment of prophesy. Now Matthew’s account of Christ’s birth is finished. From Jesus the infant, he jumps immediately to Jesus the man, but not before inserting the account of John the Baptist, for the story of Christ is not complete without the story of John, and this is also in fulfillment of OT prophesy. 

“In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”  This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” 

John is the last Old Testament prophet, and his ministry is the last of the old covenant ministries. That he preached in the desert is an immediate tip-off to all first century readers of that fact, for the whole of the Old Testament law had been given to the Jews in the desert. Moreover, David wrote many of his psalms in the wilderness and many of the prophets had ministered to the people of God in exile. John’s message too harkens back to Old Testament days. He mirrors Isaiah, who said, “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:  “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”  And, ““The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord.”  

Isaiah wasn’t alone in speaking of repentance. Repentance is a key theme for all the prophets. Jeremiah said, “If you repent, I will restore you that you may serve me.” Ezekiel said, “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices!” And, “Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent! Turn away from all your offences; then sin will not be your downfall.  Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!”  Indeed, God’s constant message was and is to turn from sin. The writer of 2Kings summed up His Voice to Israel, “The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways.”

Repentance is a continual theme in the Old Testament because it was a message desperately needed in those days. It is central to John’s message because it was desperately needed in John’s day. For how can anyone meet the coming Lord with gladness if they are not ready to meet with Him?  For this same reason it is a message desperately needed in our day. 

John cried out for repentance because repentance is the only path to readiness as we inevitably come to meet God. And we will come to meet Him – even if we run in the other direction. For He is coming to meet us, and nothing can stop Him from doing so. Repent! 

It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors

AW Pink

APPLICATION: Repentance

Today, purpose to spend some time asking the Spirit to search you that you might put more of your old self to death in repentance and be more like Christ today than you were yesterday. Until that day we are made perfect before Him there is always more to repent of, and always some slight bent we had not noticed prior.

After telling us about Christ’s birth and the Massacre of the Innocents, Matthew introduces us to John the Baptist in Matthew 3:1; “In those days John the Baptist came.” But when exactly were “those days” and who exactly is John the Baptist? 

Fortunately, one does not have to guess – the Word of God is always the best authority on itself. So Luke writes in his Gospel, “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.” Astonishingly, Luke records six historical time markers we can use to narrow down what Matthew meant by “those days”.  

One does not need to wonder if Matthew telling us about the days immediately after Jesus’ family moved back to Nazareth, or the days of Herod’s death, or if he is speaking about a prophetic time period. The very fact that he gives historical and verifiable periods tells us that this is a historical account, even though the phrase, “in those days” is loaded with prophetic meaning (being used 31 times in the OT). Although there is much scholarly debate as to the exact year, Bible scholars agree Matthew is referring to sometime between AD26 and AD29.  Jesus, having been born between 4 and 2BC, would have been ~30 years old & His cousin John the same (just a few months older). These are the times Matthew speaks of – these are the ‘days’ of John the Baptist.

We call John “the Baptist” because as we all ultimately are, John was defined by his calling. Even the great historian Josephus identified him as, “John, called the Baptizer,” perhaps because Luke adds this descriptor to John, “He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  It was what John did in his day that made him unique from every other man with the same name. Indeed, it is what John did to fulfill his calling that earned him a place in God’s eternal Word. For John was called to be a prophet, and his calling was prophetic ministry. This he did to very great effect. 

We also have a calling – each one of us. And we too have a time appointed for us to fulfill that calling. In the book of Acts, we read, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”  

In His Sovereignty, God determines the place and time of your birth, the religious and political climate you grow up under, and the times and places you live in. Just as He did for Jesus and just as He did for John. And just like John the Baptist, God gives each of us a calling to be exercised in our day and among the people He providentially set alongside us. 

Of course, to find our calling we have to look up and seek Him. For our identity comes from God and our calling comes from God, just as our birthplace was His choice, not ours. That is why Acts tells us we have to “seek him and perhaps reach out for him.”  Thankfully, God put us here with the intention that we would fulfill our calling. So when we do seek Him, we find Him anew and discover our calling at the same time – not only to our very great blessing, but to the blessing of all around us as we subsequently exercise of our calling.

Amen.

God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “who will go for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude.

Oswald Chambers

APPLICATION: Intentionality

If you know your calling, thank God for it. Exercise it.
If you do not yet know your calling, “seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him”. He has already gifted you, and His Spirit is faithful to lead you into all righteousness! 

We are but at the end of chapter 2, and Matthew has made use of much of the Old  Testament prophets. So who is he quoting in 2:23 when he writes, “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene””? It isn’t Isaiah, or Hosea, or Micah or Jeremiah – all of whom he’s quoted before. Nor is it Ezekiel, or Daniel or Zephaniah. Actually, it is none of the known prophets. In fact, if you do a word search, the idea of Nazareth does not come up until this point in the whole of the Scripture preceding it. This fact alone tells us that what Matthew is saying the prophets referred to is not Jesus’ geographic hometown, but an idea associated with the place. 

Well respected Biblical scholar DA Carson puts it this way, “Nazareth was a despised place (John 7:42, 52), even to other Galileans (cf. John 1:46). Here Jesus grew up, not as “Jesus the Bethlehemite,” with its Davidic overtones, but as “Jesus the Nazarene,” with all the opprobrium of the sneer. When Christians were referred to in Acts as the “Nazarene sect” (24:5), the expression was meant to hurt. First-century Christian readers of Matthew, who had tasted their share of scorn, would have quickly caught Matthew’s point. He is not saying that a particular OT prophet foretold that the Messiah would live in Nazareth; he is saying that the OT prophets foretold that the Messiah would be despised.”

We all have our backstory – the place and people we grew up around. For the few, their backstory is a pedigree – it speaks honour into their lives. It is a mark of privilege. For most, it means little or nothing. It is just a fact. It is as much a hindrance as an overcast day. But for some, their backstory is a hinge on which hangs much discrimination and prejudice, a weight around their necks they wish they could let go, but cannot.

God directed Joseph to pick Nazareth as the new home for his young family. In so doing, He purposed that Jesus would grow up on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ so to speak. Such would be His mark of privilege. Jesus would need to overcome inequity and bias right from the get go. 

Perhaps the Lord directed Joseph to Nazareth just because it would provide the greatest contrast. For in later years, God would be so obviously upon Jesus that His birthplace would add to the wonder at all He became and did. Like the stories we so often read of ‘the child who overcame the obstacles of their youth,” only far better. That would be so very fitting, because for e ach of us who follow Jesus the day will come in eternity when beings we have never met before will marvel at us, “You were born on earth before the Restoration!” 

A person who wholly follows the Lord is one who believes that the promises of God are trustworthy, that He is with His people, and that they are well able to overcome.

Watchman Nee

APPLICATION: Worship

We are destined to overcome, chosen to overcome, called to overcome, equipped to overcome and blessed with His Spirit to overcome. We shall overcome. Glory to God.

The common things God speaks to all people are forever written down for us. But the individual things God speaks to us – that are just for us – are also part of His Word to our lives. Matthew records this as happening over and over again to Joseph son of Jacob. In 1:20, Joseph has a dream where an angel counsels him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The angel returns in a dream in 2:13, telling him to escape to Egypt. While they are gone, the Massacre of the Innocents takes place, and at some point Herod dies. Now the angel comes again to Joseph, and God speaks to him in a dream once again after that: 

“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 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.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 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, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”  

The angel tells Joseph he should return to Israel. No doubt glad for the end of his personal exile in Egypt, Joseph does return. But there is a problem. Although “the land of Israel” includes the whole, some parts are significantly more dangerous than others. 

Unbeknown to Joseph, Herod’s will had appointed his son Archelaus – a fact disputed by Herod Antipater (Archelaus’ brother). While these matters were in the process of being sorted, Archelaus ordered the army into the temple to quell a minor uprising started in Herod’s last days over the installation of a gold eagle on the temple. History tells us that ~3000 people were killed in the resulting chaos. Caesar Augustus later confirmed Archelaus, although Caesar gave him the title Ethnarch instead of king. This limited his territory and authority, but nevertheless allowed Archelaus to rule the very people he now despised. In God’s very great grace to Joseph, He redirects him from Judea to the north, easing his fears and fulfilling prophesy at the same time. “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”   

Joseph and his young family have had to endure the social stigma of Mary’s pregnancy.  They’ve had to make the difficult journey to Bethlehem. They had to make another traumatic journey to live in exile in Egypt to avoid a massacre. Finally able to return to Israel, they find they will not be able to start a new life in Judea, where no one was aware of the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. They will have to begin in Nazareth, a backwater town in the north.  Although such continuing drama and circumstance is less than ideal, God’s care for Joseph, Mary and Jesus is evident.

If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer – His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.

John Newton

APPLICATION: Worship

Praise God, He cares for you and guides you, even during and through difficult circumstances.

God is our healer, a very present help in times of need. We all know that. Yet  there are  some hurts that are too great to be easily dismissed through the normal spiritual relationship fallen mankind has with creator God. Such a hurt forever marks us. It is carried from day to day as a great wound – like a missing part of our heart. Healing will no doubt come, but we can know that full restoration is a lifetime away. The scar will show all our lives.

Herod’s harsh order to kill all the infant boys in greater Bethlehem has been carried out.  The people have suffered a great loss. Their grief is not limited to the walls of their homes. It echos through the streets and reaches the highest heaven, as though part of their collective soul has been ripped out. Such pain is not inconsequential. Such mourning does not go unnoticed – God in heaven hears their cries. “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “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.”

Read carefully how He notes what He hears, “a voice is heard” – “weeping” – “great mourning”.  God is keenly aware that people have suffered loss. More than that, “Rachel weeping.” The Lord knows the sufferer by name. 

Is it that God has not even tried to comfort them? No. In His quiet way, He has spoken to them, by His Spirit He has affirmed His love to them, yet, Rachel remains “refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” The situation continues. Rachel’s grief is so great, that the still small voice of God cannot be heard over her sobs. 

The next words in Matthew’s account are therefore all the more poignant, “After Herod died.”  

It is not without purpose that the Lord included that phrase just there. Evil – even evil incarnate – has but a season. Though it seems to last a long time, it is eventually brought to an end and dismissed forever to perish in the fires of hell. God’s elect have no such restriction – we were made for eternal relationship with our eternal God. Evil’s time always closes to be sealed forever, but healing and restoration ever await us. This is God’s truth, and we endure our grief only by focusing on God’s truths. Indeed, God’s Word tells us to encourage each other by reminding ourselves of the conclusions He is bringing about, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”

May be  always be so, until that wonderful day we  leave grief and evil behind forever. 

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall. But you, O God, will bring down the wicked into the pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days. But as for me, I trust in you.

King David (Psalm 55:22-23)

PPLICATION: Thankfulness, intentionality

Meditate on our end with the Lord. Your suffering is not unnoticed – you are God’s elect.  Praise Him for His faithfulness to us, His planned restoration for us, and His judgment of the wicked. Rejoice in His promises to us, even in spite of your circumstances. Let God triumph over grief, uncertainty and fear. 

Herod purposed to manipulate the Magi into showing him where the new  King of the Jews would be born. Now he hears they have outwitted him. He rushes to order the death of every male toddler/baby in the greater Bethlehem area. 

At this point we come to Matthew 2:17-18. To date, Matthew has quoted Isaiah (1:23), Micah (2:6) and Hosea (2:14).  Now he quotes Jeremiah: “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “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.”” 

Surely it is a tremendous understatement to say that there is no doubt that many families were greatly distraught at the outcome of Herod’s order. For what could be more upsetting than soldiers barging through your doors and killing an innocent child?  Especially your innocent child? Your son – on whom you had the greatest of hopes? Your own son, who was in all likelihood born in an answer to prayer? And now, in a moment, he is lifeless. A soldier’s sword having been plunged through his helpless body while you were held back. What mother would not have been hysterical? What father would not be heartbroken? What family would not have wondered where their God was at that moment? Indeed, where was God while this horror was being carried out?

Matthew quoted Jeremiah – a prophet who lived and ministered and spoke this Word of God ~600BC. That means that for 600 years, God was aware this day would come. What Herod decided in an instant of anger was known by God Most High, generations prior. More than that, it means that for 600 years God was cognizant of this day’s emotional damage to His people. 

In our most tragic moments, God is not far off or unaware. 

He knew the day would come, He knew the pain you would feel. He has been thinking about that pain for a very long time. Your suffering is part of the reason Jesus died on the cross. In fact, it could be said that it was in consideration of your pain that Jesus was sent to the cross. For apart from the cross, there is no freedom from such pain, only more and more grief, suffering and even more pain to be endured. All of it – like Rachel’s weeping – is part of His story, the story of overcoming His enemy, the same who whispered such a wicked thought into Herod’s ear in the first place. 

But now we rejoice instead of weep. For on account of the work of Jesus Christ the day is coming when our crying shall cease, and all grief shall be but a dull and distant memory.  “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

APPLICATION: Prayer

There is a time for everything under the sun. Even time for weeping. Pour your heart out to God.

God is always kind and always gracious. But Scripture reveals that there are also times   when God gets angry.  Numbers 22:22 speaks of how God was angry at Balaam for pursuing Balak’s promise of wealth. 1Kings 11:9 notes that God was angry at Solomon for disobeying the Lord’s command to avoid idolatry. Psalm 78:56-64 talks about how the Lord was angry at Israel for rejecting Him after He brought them into the promised land. Jeremiah 10:10 says, “When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.” Notice that it does not say if God gets angry, but when He gets angry. From these passages and more, we can know that anger can be a holy emotion. For God gets angry and yet is holy – so much so that the four living creatures closest to Him constantly watch Him with eyes all over their bodies and, “Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”” Holiness is so much part of His character that even in His most severe anger He cannot sin. 

But for fallen humankind to be angry and at at the same time avoid sin is quite unnatural. To this end, His Word specifically counsels us not to sin in our anger, “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” The wise and the godly heed that, and give space for their anger to subside before making key decisions. The foolish and the unwise do not heed God’s counsel. In their anger, they immediately take regretful action. Matthew tells us of one such case after the Magi leave Mary and Joseph:

Herod had told the Magi to return to him when they found the King of the Jews. But God warned them in a dream not to return, so they went another route home after worshipping the Christ-child. “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.” There is no doubt Herod had ordered the Magi to return so he could destroy the Christ-child where He lay. Frustrated and angry that his evil order was disobeyed, he unleashes the full perversion of his sin in a vengeful and horrific edict. In so doing he causes irreparable harm to the very people he is charged with governing.  

It is a very sad outcome. Over his lifetime and in spite of his anger issues, Herod had actually done much. He had rebuilt the Jewish temple, he had commissioned many large projects and provided employment for many. If there is any metric by which we judge our leaders, surely this is it – a leader must benefit the population they are governing. If they do so, the population grows and is enriched.  This ultimately benefits the leader too, as a larger and better off population is more able to bring blessing to the king (in the form of taxes and labor) and better able to defend the land – to the betterment of both king and population. Herod’s hasty decision does the opposite, to his people’s great anguish. It might even be said that this single foolish act undoes all his accomplishments, for this pivotal and obviously evil command is not just noted in the government records, but forever marked in Scripture. King Herod will forever be known as a failure – the king who exterminated infants. 

It is said that every decision is an emotional decision. The decisions we take either move us closer to God (wise decisions) or further away (poor decisions). But nothing moves us further away from Him than a poor decision fueled by unchecked anger.

Anger is simply passion in search of an appropriate focus.

Mike Murdock

APPLICATION: Intentionality

Look back at the last major life decision you made. Was it made in love?

What decision are you facing today?  How will that decision differ if you make it in love and compassion instead of anger or bitterness?

An angel had appeared to Joseph to tell him to go ahead and marry his virgin yet pregnant bride. As a result, and with Herod’s command to return to the city of his birth, Joseph and Mary had arrived in Bethlehem, where Mary has now given birth. Matthew made it clear that this was to fulfill the prophetic Word of God in Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” 

Now another angel has appeared to Joseph. This one tells him to “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.”  Joseph was faithful to obey God’s instruction through the angel before, and if anything, he is all the quicker to obey now, “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.”” 

Whereas Matthew quoted Micah before, here he quotes Hosea 11:1. Micah spoke to the southern kingdom of Judah, but Hosea prophesied largely to the northern kingdom of divided Israel. Like Micah, Hosea’s a message was one of indictment and judgment mixed with hope and instruction. The two prophets were contemporaries, ministering some 700 years prior to Matthew and well over a hundred years before the exile. This particular verse from Hosea was given in the context of God’s remembrance of His original call to Israel, in a stanza dripping with melancholy, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more I called Israel, the further they went from me.” 

Although the original context speaks of Jacob’s descendants in the Exodus from Egypt hundreds of years before Hosea, Matthew correctly applies the prophesy here to Christ, hundreds of years after Hosea. 

God’s Word is true, whether heard in its entirety by the original hearer, or as single fact of prophesy addressed to a reader hundreds or even thousands of years later. This is an unavoidable truth of our timeless God: Originally fulfilled prophesy still has application in the life of a believer, no matter the timeline. 

What is even more, He uses the actions of simple ordinary believers – sometimes as unlikely a man as Joseph, sometimes as unlikely a woman as Mary – to fulfill that same word – sometimes in a greater manner than when it was originally given! So great are His promises! Truly it is written, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

I believe the promises of God enough to venture an eternity on them.

Isaac Watts

APPLICATION: Thankfulness

What has God asked of you? What has He promised you?  Thank God that He would use you to fulfill His promise to bring the blessing of Himself to all peoples.

Leaving Mary and Joseph’s residence in Bethlehem, the Magi had been personally  instructed by Herod to return to him and report. But Matthew records their next action, “…having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” 

The language does appear to indicate that they had a common dream, but the content of that dream we are not told. We are however bluntly told the content of another dream – in the next verse; ”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.”  

God warns the Magi about Herod, and then (and it is a separate occasion, at least one day apart) warns Joseph about Herod. Both Gentile and Hebrew are given specific instructions through a dream to avoid crossing paths with Herod. That is something worth thinking about. 

Quite aside from the significant missiological implication discussed in the previous study, there is a huge theological implication – for what we are reading is that omnipresent, omniscient and omnipowerful God is supernaturally warning His followers that Herod is bent toward wickedness – even to the degree that God wants His followers (or at least these particular followers) to avoid him. One might even say that God is aware that Herod is destined to shed blood, that He does not intend to stop him, and that God is likewise determined to also save these few out of all who will suffer. 

That is a lot to take in, and how it all fits in alongside God’s compassionate nature and His expressed mercy is a mystery. Certainly is head-scratching to us, who do not think as He thinks. But it is no more a mystery than the reality that He has saved and is saving some, but not all. As Paul wrote in Romans, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?”

That which God does, does not always make sense to us. Perhaps it should not, because we who are limited could not possibly figure Him or His plans out. As Isaiah wrote, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  What we do know is that in light of all He has revealed and all He has done and all He is doing – our ways are to consider and to worship, to take heed and obey. We certainly cannot second-guess Him, for to us has been given a greater salvation than rescue from Herod. Indeed, the Word says to us, “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  And for us, that is enough.

Amen.

Once a man has truly experienced the mercy of God in his life he will henceforth aspire only to serve.

Charles Spurgeon

APPLICATION: Mercy

Meditate on the great and wonderful mercy God has shown you. How are you showing mercy to others?