WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:08.000 And the wise men, being warmed, warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:23.120 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. 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:29.839 And he arose and took the child and mother by night and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:37.679 This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt I called my son. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:48.159 One of the most astonishing things about the person of Jesus Christ is that he has two complete natures. 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:53.119 He is the only person in all of creation to whom this can be said. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.920 Angels have an angel nature. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:00:58.719 God has a divine nature. 00:00:58.960 --> 00:01:01.679 Human beings have a human nature. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:12.799 Nobody, from God to man, from angels to antelope, have more than one nature, except for Jesus Christ. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:17.840 In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in bodily form. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:27.599 Jesus, the man Christ Jesus, born in Bethlehem to Mary, that person has two full natures. 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:30.640 The nature of God and the nature of man. 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.079 Now, of course, speaking of his divinity, his divinity did not begin. 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.079 The person of Jesus did not begin in Bethlehem when he was born. 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:40.879 It did not begin in Mary's womb. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:53.040 Jesus has always been the eternal Son of God, stretching back into eternity past, the image of God, the image of the Father, the Son of God, the eternal, eternally begotten Son of God. 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:59.599 That's Jesus, our Savior, the second person of the Trinity, from eternity past God. 00:02:00.239 --> 00:02:07.200 But at his incarnation, the Son of God takes on a human nature. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:22.479 This is what it means in Philippians when it says though he had equality with God, he did not consider a quality with God something to be grasped or held onto, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a slave, become obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:28.560 When it says there in Philippians 2 that he emptied himself, it's not speaking that he set aside his divine nature. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.479 This is a subtraction by addition. 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:35.199 He didn't set it aside, he added to it a human nature. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:51.680 And so there's certain limitations that go with being human, namely he's in a body, he becomes localized, he will be a baby, he will have all of the human needs and all of the human dependencies and all the human weaknesses, those that are truly human, are his at that point. 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:58.639 And so the fullness of God, in a sense, is veiled behind his human nature. 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:08.080 But the more you think about the two natures of Jesus Christ, the more minds rattling it gets, and that neither one of the two natures cancel out the other. 00:03:08.800 --> 00:03:13.840 Jesus' humanity never pushes out his deity, as if that were possible. 00:03:14.080 --> 00:03:18.800 But more remarkable is that his deity never eclipses his humanity. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:26.159 When you look at Jesus, his humanity is always there in the Gospels. 00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:33.680 And I think the best way to understand this is that Jesus can operate between his human and his divine nature freely. 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:35.919 Picture living on a two-story house. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:40.960 You can go to the second story, or you can go on the ground floor, you can move back and forth between them. 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:45.919 I think that's a helpful way to consider the way Jesus avails himself of his two natures. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:54.560 Sometimes his deity is on display, and sometimes his humanity is on display, but they don't mix his, because if you mix the two, his humanity would evaporate. 00:03:54.719 --> 00:03:57.599 You know, one drop of deity would swallow humanity. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:04:00.159 And so they don't mix. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:06.080 They're united in perfect harmony in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:10.639 God in human flesh, truly God, truly man. 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:17.040 So that when he is tempted, he doesn't rely upon his deity to avoid temptation. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:19.600 He can be fully tempted like we are. 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:26.399 So that when he's rejected by other people and betrayed by his friends, he doesn't fall back on his deity, so to speak. 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:31.199 No, he experiences those rejections and those trials just as we do. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:38.639 When he is hungry, of course, it's within the prerogative of God to create food. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:39.600 This is what God does. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.040 He spoke the universe into existence. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:46.079 He could surely create himself food while he's fasting in the wilderness, but he does not do that. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:51.199 He stays operating in his human nature. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:05:03.759 When the disciples want to know the hour of his second coming, of course God knows the hour of his second coming, but he does not, in that sense, operate out of his deity to solve the riddle of mankind. 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:13.680 He remains operating in his human nature and says, no one except the Father in heaven knows that, and those whom he's pleased to reveal himself to. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.800 So both of the natures are fully on display in ways that we can barely understand. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:23.839 When he walks on the water, the the wind stills the storm. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:26.319 The wind and the waves know his voice. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:31.439 They submit to God, and then he is asleep on the boat. 00:05:31.759 --> 00:05:34.399 Both of his natures always on full display. 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:41.439 And this is one of those passages this morning in Matthew chapter 2 that displays both of these natures in such a powerful way. 00:05:41.600 --> 00:05:45.759 This is a typical Christmas story here, the flight to Egypt. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:58.879 We acted out in our kids' manger scenes, probably, and we're aware of this story that Joseph is visited by the angel and then told to run with Jesus into Egypt, where he stays until Herod dies. 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:02.720 Jesus was not raised in Egypt. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:06.800 Herod, historians say, likely died around 4 AD. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:12.399 So Jesus could have been in Egypt as much as two years, perhaps, as little as a few months. 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:13.519 We don't know. 00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:18.000 It was a short period of time that he went to Egypt. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:28.639 But in this story, this is a very familiar story, I hope to kind of peel back a couple layers of this and show you how these two natures of God are on full display. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:40.399 And the best way to begin is by seeing how God protects his son, protects Jesus to prove his humanity, how God protects Jesus to prove his humanity. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.560 It begins in verse 12. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:59.360 When the wise men, the kings that had come delivering gifts to Jesus, gold and frankincense and myrrh gold to represent Jesus' kingship, the frankincense to represent his priestly office, the myrrh to represent his humanity, that he would die and be buried. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.199 That's what's represented by those gifts. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:08.639 These magi, these uh wise men or kings, every one of you them, they were in the business of recognizing kings. 00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:11.839 In the ancient Near East, you became a king when they recognized you as king. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:16.319 They had journeyed far, as the song says, to recognize Jesus as king. 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:18.079 They announced that he was king. 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:20.480 They told Herod that he was the rightful king. 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:22.240 Everybody knew what they were doing there. 00:07:22.319 --> 00:07:26.000 They came and they worshipped him and presented Jesus the gifts. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:31.279 And then verse 12, they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:40.399 This is finishing off something that was brought up earlier in chapter 2, verse 7, that Herod had summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them when the star had appeared. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:43.839 And then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Diligently search for their child. 00:07:43.920 --> 00:07:48.399 And when you find him, bring me word so that I also can go worship him. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.399 Never believe a Herod. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:51.839 Never believe a Herod. 00:07:52.160 --> 00:07:56.720 He tells the wise men, Go find Jesus, let me know, because I want to come worship him too, just like you. 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:57.839 Come on. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:06.160 Well, the wise men apparently didn't necessarily see through Herod's ruse and his deception, and so they are visited in a dream. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:11.120 God reveals to them in a dream, do not go back to Herod. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:12.959 Do not let Herod know. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:17.759 And so they departed to their own country by another way. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.560 From Bethlehem, there's not a lot of ways out. 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.199 It's the mountainous region right there. 00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:31.519 You could dodge back out towards the Mediterranean and go towards Egypt that way, or go back up north towards Galilee that way to get away and around Jerusalem. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:33.519 That would have been highly visible. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:35.840 And perhaps the wise men went that way. 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.600 But the wise men had an entourage. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.600 Remember, this was a noticeable arrival. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:44.559 A crew from Persia rolling in to announce the new king of Israel. 00:08:44.639 --> 00:08:46.960 This did not happen subtly somewhere. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:50.000 There's really no way for these guys to sneak out. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:56.240 But they go a different way to at least give Joseph a fighting chance here. 00:08:56.399 --> 00:09:04.720 If they go a different way without going back through Jerusalem, perhaps Herod won't hear that they are breaking their pact with him. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:07.360 Remember, Herod had uh sought assurances from them. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:08.960 They would come let him know when they found Jesus. 00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:18.879 And if he gets the rumor, hey, we saw them, you know, heading up towards Jaffa, we saw them dodging out towards Egypt, Herod would think he was betrayed and would go looking for Jesus himself. 00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:21.279 And so they go a different way. 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.840 But when they had departed, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:27.600 And now Joseph also has a dream. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:32.559 This time it's an angelic revelation, and says, Take your child and flee to Egypt. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:41.200 Again, from Bethlehem, the best way to go to Egypt would be back through Jerusalem and then up towards Jericho or back towards Jerusalem and down towards the Mediterranean. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:42.399 They go a different way. 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.759 Likely over the Engedi Hills there from Bethlehem. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.000 You can get out to the Dead Sea if you go over the hills. 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:49.279 There's no roads that way. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.200 There's no paths that way. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:57.200 You would be going through the desert and the scrub and the brush that is out there. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:58.879 This is not an easily traveled way. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:00.399 There might be shepherds out there. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:02.080 They do it at night. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:14.559 It would likely take eight to twelve hours to go that way and to crest the mountains another three or four hours to get down towards the Dead Sea, and then to follow that down towards Egypt is the way they would have gone. 00:10:14.639 --> 00:10:17.360 They would have not seen anybody that way. 00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.480 And so they escaped off to Egypt. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.559 Now I say this proves his humanity for a couple reasons. 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:34.879 If there's one thing that's true about God, and there's one thing that's true about God, he doesn't need anybody to protect him. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:40.159 If your God needs a security detail, you're worshiping the wrong God. 00:10:40.879 --> 00:10:50.639 You remember Dagon when the idol was put in front of the Ark of the Covenant, and Dagon fell and broke into pieces, and all the king's horses and all the king's men had to duct tape him back together again. 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:52.320 Propped him back up to worship. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:53.360 It should dawn on you. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:11:00.159 If your God requires duct tape and security to make sure the Ark of the Covenant doesn't beat him up, change Gods. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:08.320 Hear Jesus, God clothed in human flesh, needs help. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.039 He needs people to protect him. 00:11:11.519 --> 00:11:13.679 He needs to be rescued. 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:22.080 Jesus certainly in his divinity, possessing omniscience, would know the evil plot that is afoot, would know that Herod is out to murder him. 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:26.240 Certainly, in his divinity, he would have that knowledge even as a child. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:34.559 And yet, as I said, he does not access his divinity in a way that mitigates or eliminates or diminishes his humanity. 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:40.559 And so for the entirety of this, he is a dependent baby. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:47.440 He can't walk, he can't fight, he can't grab a sword and take on Herod himself. 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:49.360 He's a baby. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:54.320 Because he is fully man and truly man. 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:56.080 And so he's dependent. 00:11:56.240 --> 00:12:02.879 Even the Savior in his humanity is dependent upon other people to protect him and to help him. 00:12:03.039 --> 00:12:07.919 He's dependent upon Mary to raise him and feed him. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:14.480 He's dependent upon Joseph to lead them and to have the revelation and say, we've got to get out of here. 00:12:14.720 --> 00:12:20.320 He's dependent upon, in that sense, his parents to watch out for his life, or he will die. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:30.639 And in this case, there is somebody who actually wants to murder him, even as a baby, and so he needs the help of his parents to even live another day. 00:12:31.279 --> 00:12:34.080 This is fully displaying his humanity. 00:12:34.320 --> 00:12:36.240 But I don't want to skip over the angels. 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:42.559 The fact that he is ministered to by angels is another powerful evidence of his humanity. 00:12:42.960 --> 00:12:45.440 God does not need angels to minister to God. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:46.639 Angels worship God. 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:48.559 Angels don't help God. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:51.679 Angels are worshipers. 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:56.240 Now God dispatches angels not to help God. 00:12:56.480 --> 00:12:59.919 God dispatches angels so that angels can help people. 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:04.320 Angels become ministering servants to people. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:06.559 They serve us. 00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:09.440 And this goes all the way back to creation. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:13.360 God made the massive universe in all of its glory and majesties. 00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:17.039 He made galaxies without numbers, stars without numbers. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:22.399 When you think of the incredible beauty of the created universe, it's staggering and breathtaking. 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:29.279 Not an infinite amount of stars, but apparently an apparent infinite amount of stars. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:32.000 On top of that, countless galaxies. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:53.519 Now God rules them all through his providence and scientific laws that regulate the ongoings of the galaxies that they rotate and gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces combine to create the atomic pressure that makes the universe go round and display the wonderful providence and mercy of God. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:14:02.799 And yet, despite all of that wonder and vastness of the universe, God sets his affection on human beings on earth. 00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.360 This is described in Psalm 8. 00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:06.639 Let me put it on the screen for you. 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:18.879 This is the psalmist saying, When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, and in other words, everything God has made, the moon and the stars, plural, all the practically infinite amount of stars that God has set in place. 00:14:19.039 --> 00:14:23.279 The psalmist has this question: What is man that you are mindful of him? 00:14:24.320 --> 00:14:29.679 Or the Son of Man that you care for him in all the great wonders of the universe. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:35.600 What is it about human beings that God says, I am pleased to focus here? 00:14:37.039 --> 00:14:44.000 God rules the universe through his providence, but he rules our world more particularly than that. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:48.000 He sets his affection upon us. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:54.960 He knows the stars by name, but he knows us in a more intimate way by name. 00:14:55.360 --> 00:15:05.519 He orchestrates all of history to, in a sense, play out on the stage of this earth, not on the stage of the numerous galaxies. 00:15:05.919 --> 00:15:10.720 What is it about mankind that draws God's attention? 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:15.519 Angels and antelopes aren't made in the image of God, but people are. 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:19.279 Why does he care to have his image dwell with us? 00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:20.879 That's the great question. 00:15:21.039 --> 00:15:24.559 And the psalmist is not the first person to ask that question. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:28.559 The first to ask that question were the angels. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:34.960 The angels look at the wonderful universe and look at the beauty of the earth, and the angels want to rule the earth. 00:15:35.120 --> 00:15:38.159 They want to have dominion over the earth, they want authority on the earth. 00:15:38.320 --> 00:15:45.120 And instead of giving the earth to angels, God gives the earth to Adam. 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:48.720 Dirty, literally, he's made from dirt. 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:49.679 Adam. 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:53.840 It's stunning. 00:15:54.799 --> 00:16:02.480 And the psalmist says, You have made him, speaking of Adam and the Son of Man, all of mankind, a little lower than the heavenly beings. 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:05.840 We're less than angels. 00:16:06.720 --> 00:16:09.600 Angels can fly, which is nice. 00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:13.440 Angels don't die, which is nicer. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:16.480 We're just here. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:17.759 And we die. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.000 And yet we get dominion on the earth. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.240 We get to be little gods on the earth. 00:16:24.559 --> 00:16:25.679 The angels wanted that. 00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:26.960 Satan, of course, wanted that. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:28.480 He wanted to be like God. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:29.919 He wanted dominion on the earth. 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:33.919 And when God hands it over to Adam, that was a bridge too far for the devil. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:39.360 And the devil takes out his hostility and his hatred on Adam, and it remains this divide to this day. 00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:49.440 The angels are split now between two-thirds of the angels that remain loyal to God and the third of the angels that rebelled against God and are taking out their hatred of God on mankind. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:53.679 Listen, this is why demons, the fallen angels, hate people. 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.679 They don't just hate Christians, they have a hatred of all people. 00:16:58.080 --> 00:17:02.879 They lie and they murder and they deceive people. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:08.240 They harm people because they hate them, because people were given dominion on the earth. 00:17:08.400 --> 00:17:10.559 They were made in the image of God, they have dominion on the earth. 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:16.559 And so the psalmist says, You've made us lower than the heavenly beings, and yet you've crowned us with glory and honor. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:22.720 So the good angels, those that obey God, express their obedience to God. 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:23.839 Listen carefully. 00:17:24.079 --> 00:17:31.519 The good angels, those that remain obedient to God, express their obedience to God by serving people. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:35.039 They minister to us. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:41.839 That's why people will be judging angels, Paul says. 00:17:42.160 --> 00:17:48.079 When we die, one of our functions in the next life will be to judge angels because angels are supposed to be serving us. 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:50.319 We get to render verdicts on them. 00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:53.440 God has given them over to us. 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:56.799 You have given him mankind dominion over the works of your hands. 00:17:56.960 --> 00:18:00.400 You've put all things under his feet. 00:18:01.039 --> 00:18:05.680 Mankind rules this world now, and angels serve us. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.359 And angels continue to serve us. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:13.359 Paul writes that many of us have been ministered by angels unaware. 00:18:13.599 --> 00:18:16.480 Angels have interacted with us and we don't know. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:18.720 And so let me just help you out here. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:22.559 If you think that an angel has ministered to you, then that wasn't an angel. 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:23.839 Do you know how I know? 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:28.079 Because it says if an angel ministered to you, it did so, and you were unaware of it. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:32.400 So if you became aware of it, then that verse doesn't apply to your situation. 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:33.680 Do you follow? 00:18:34.319 --> 00:18:38.240 It's a it's a it's a logical tight loop there, but it works. 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.640 Angels do serve people, though. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.839 They do minister to people, and you don't even know about it. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:45.440 You don't even know about it. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:55.039 But there are some times when the veil gets pulled back, there are some times when people are made aware of it, and they are specific redemptive events like the giving of the law. 00:18:55.200 --> 00:18:57.759 The angels were attending to the giving of the law to Moses. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:18:59.119 There were angels there. 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:06.799 Jacob, who started the nation, Israel, was wrestling with the angel of the Lord and saw the ladder with the angels moving up and down. 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:10.400 And then in the life of Christ, of course, you're seeing angels all over the place. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:13.119 Angels attend to him at his birth. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:15.759 They attend to him at his birth. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:20.960 It was an angel who told Joseph, Take Mary as your wife, Matthew 1, verse 20. 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:22.960 It was an angel that told Mary she would be pregnant. 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:24.480 That's Luke 1, verse 35. 00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:30.240 It was an angel that told Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth would have a child. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:31.599 That's Luke 1, verse 11. 00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:35.519 It was an angel who made Zechariah mute when he didn't believe it. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:40.640 It was an angel that appeared to the shepherds when Jesus was born in Luke 2, verse 9. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:47.680 And at key moments of his humanity, angels minister to Jesus when he is tempted in the wilderness. 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:53.200 Again, he resists temptation, displaying his humanity, and angels minister to him. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:56.799 He does not create food for himself, and angels minister to him. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:22.480 And in that moment, he is weak, that would be his weakest moment, in the garden, crying out to God and sweating big drops of anguish. 00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:26.240 And it's at that moment, Luke says, an angel ministered to him. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:28.240 Luke 22, verse 43. 00:20:31.119 --> 00:20:39.359 And then at the end of his life, at his resurrection, of course, it's an angel that comes and rolls the stone away from his grave. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:44.640 Not so that Jesus can get out, but so that the ladies can get in. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:54.000 An angels minister to him at his birth, in his temptation, in his despair, and in his resurrection. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:07.119 And so it's fitting at the start of Matthew's gospel in chapter 2 here, as you're introduced to Jesus, who was just born, after Jesus' birth, he's proclared, uh declared to be a king. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:09.440 He's given gifts fitting a king. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:18.480 People are worshiping him, other kings are worshiping him, and then angels are ministering to him in a very obvious way. 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:23.200 This authenticates his humanity. 00:21:23.680 --> 00:21:29.839 It shows that he is in need of not just his parent support, but also angelic support, angelic protection. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.079 There's a very practical application to this. 00:21:32.559 --> 00:21:33.839 I hope you see this. 00:21:34.319 --> 00:21:36.480 God could have protected Jesus in a number of ways. 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:38.319 He could have killed Herod five minutes earlier. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:39.920 That would have done the trick. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:46.480 But God chose not to protect Jesus by removing this trial from him. 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:52.079 God chose to protect Jesus by taking him even into a different trial in a further away trial. 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.319 Listen, Joseph and Mary had didn't get to go back to Nazareth and pack their bags. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:58.880 They didn't go but get to go back up to Galilee. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.039 To keep going. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:02.799 They came from east to west. 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.480 They worked their way to Bethlehem for the birth of Christ in the census. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:08.400 They didn't get to go back and say goodbye to their family. 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:12.720 They had to take off out of Israel and keep on going to Egypt. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:15.440 They would not have received this as a blessing. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:17.839 This was a trial to them. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:22.640 And you can even picture the temptation that would come in with a trial like that. 00:22:22.799 --> 00:22:24.319 Why isn't God answering my prayers? 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.079 Why isn't we didn't sign up for this? 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:26.880 God did this to us. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:32.079 Now we've got to leave our land, leave our province and go to Egypt. 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:41.920 I think it's encouraging to us to remember that sometimes God protects his people through darkness, not from darkness. 00:22:42.079 --> 00:22:49.119 Sometimes God protects his people by leading them through difficulty, not by keeping them from difficulty. 00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:52.160 It doesn't say if Joseph knew that Herod was out to murder him. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:57.119 It doesn't seem like Joseph knew that, because it's not until the death of Herod the angel tells him to come back. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:22:59.920 Joseph didn't really know all that was going on. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:11.279 And yet him being forced to move to Egypt was God's way of protecting him from a different kind of trial, a worse kind of trial. 00:23:11.440 --> 00:23:12.640 I think that's helpful to remember. 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:22.880 I know there's many in our congregation who are military that are get transferred and moved all around and they don't know where they're being moved necessarily, and they didn't exactly sign up for it. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:27.200 You know, you might list four or six places and you get sent to a place that was not on your list. 00:23:27.680 --> 00:23:34.480 Some of you might get sent to some, you know, crazy place like Kansas or something. 00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:36.799 Not all of you can get sent. 00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:38.960 Not all of you can get sent to New Mexico. 00:23:39.039 --> 00:23:42.240 There's only so much blessing and privilege out there. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:48.480 But you get sent to some not New Mexican place and you're wondering, like, why would God send me here? 00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:50.720 This isn't what we signed up for. 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.759 And then you think, why isn't God listening to my prayers? 00:23:53.920 --> 00:23:55.519 I prayed for this not to happen and it's happening. 00:23:55.599 --> 00:23:56.640 Is God not hearing prayers? 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:57.680 Is he forgetting about me? 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:58.559 What is God doing? 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:04.720 You don't even understand that God moving you somewhere is God actually protecting you from something else that you don't even know about. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:14.400 At least that's the case here with Joseph, and it's the case with Joseph and Jesus, and it's particularly the case with Joseph and Jesus displaying his humanity. 00:24:14.480 --> 00:24:16.960 And so I think this is given to us to us to relate to. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:18.880 We relate to him and his humanity. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:23.119 That's fitting for us to do, and so it's fitting for us to take that lesson from that. 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:33.440 It's a great point, I think, that God will protect Jesus and protect us while preserving us through our weaknesses, not from our weaknesses. 00:24:33.680 --> 00:24:36.799 Well, first we see that God protects Jesus to prove his humanity. 00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:40.559 Secondly, we see that God directs Jesus to prove his deity. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:44.559 God directs Jesus to fully display his deity here. 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:53.359 And you see in verse 15 that when Herod dies, again, there's a few years later, so Jesus was likely in Egypt for only a couple of years, maybe as short as a few months. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:57.759 This was all to fulfill what the Lord had spoken of by the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son. 00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:04.480 So the question Matthew is asking is why did Jesus have to get sent to Egypt for only a short period of time? 00:25:04.640 --> 00:25:06.720 Did God mess up the time schedule here? 00:25:06.880 --> 00:25:07.920 I mean, what is going on? 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:14.960 Couldn't, if God shifted into Bethlehem to fulfill one prophecy, couldn't he have shifted him back to Nazareth without the whole Egypt part? 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:26.160 And the answer is no, God is doing something by sending him to Egypt, namely God is fulfilling prophecy, fulfilling what was spoken of by Hosea chapter 11, verse 1. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:31.279 And this word fulfill is such a critical word that it was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken. 00:25:31.519 --> 00:25:34.400 The word fulfill means to fill up from the inside. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:41.440 It means to, I think the best way, the best image I've heard of this is that, you know, you know the connect the dot thing that kids will do. 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:48.480 They, you know, connect the dot and they draw a shape, and even when the dots are connected, you're like, hmm, elephants, maybe? 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:51.599 No, Dad, that's the United States. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:53.359 Okay, look like an elephant. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:56.240 That's the Old Testament in this sense. 00:25:56.400 --> 00:26:04.640 The Old Testament lays out the series of dots, and Jesus in the New Testament fills them in, colors them in. 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:12.480 When the kids graduate from Connect the Dot, to they're actually doing the coloring pages, and you get a bright, vibrant picture, you're like, that's a herd of elephants. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:13.680 That's great. 00:26:14.240 --> 00:26:15.519 This is what's happening here. 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:24.799 The Old Testament gives you the outline, and the New Testament fills it in, and it fills it in in a way that displays the deity of Jesus Christ. 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:30.079 Now there's a I read a book this week on typology. 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.000 That's what theologians often call this typology by a guy named Roy Zuck. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:40.720 He was a professor of Bible exposition at Dallas Seminary, a very powerful author and godly man, a firm grasp of the scriptures. 00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:46.880 And Zuck lists 19 different types in the New Testament, 19 different types of things that are laid out in the Old Testament. 00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.720 So the dots are in the Old Testament, and the color is filled in in the New Testament. 00:26:50.799 --> 00:26:53.599 He comes up with 19 of them, and I think they're all powerful. 00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:58.640 The most obvious one, just to help you relate to this, um, I think is the Passover lamb. 00:26:58.799 --> 00:27:04.319 You get the dots in the Old Testament that that God's people are going to uh need deliverance. 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:14.880 They are going to have, they deserve death, and the angel of death is coming to them and will pour out death on them, but instead they can put forward a lamb, a holy, innocent lamb. 00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:21.119 The lamb is a substitute, the family lays hands on the lamb, their sin and their guilt is transferred to the lamb. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:25.440 The lamb has his throat slit, the blood is placed on the doorpost. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:35.519 The angel of the Lord passes over the household that is sheltered by the blood of the Passover lamb and pours his wrath out on others instead. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:37.519 This is a type of Christ, of course. 00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:42.640 He is our substitute, he is sinless, he did not commit our sin, yet our sin is given to him. 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:50.480 The wrath of God is owed for us, it is instead poured out on Jesus Christ as he fulfills the type of the Passover Lamb. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:58.640 He is the true and better Passover Lamb, and all the sacrificial system stops when it comes to Jesus Christ because he fulfilled it. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:00.160 And that's something we're familiar with. 00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:02.559 Jesus is called the type of Adam in the book of Romans. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:05.440 He is, you know, he's the true Son of God in that sense. 00:28:05.519 --> 00:28:07.119 There's 19 of them, like I said. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:14.799 In this passage, this passage reveals Jesus as fulfilling the type of Israel, that he fulfills the type of Israel. 00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:20.319 He's the true and better Israel, he's the true and eternal Son of God, namely, he is God in human flesh. 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:31.759 And I want to show you how this passage does this by going one level, I think, further back in time to understand how why God said, Out of Egypt I called my son. 00:28:32.319 --> 00:28:36.319 Israel has had a long and unique relationship with Egypt. 00:28:36.559 --> 00:28:41.119 There's been no other nation like that in terms of a partnership with Israel. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:43.519 This goes all the way back to the book of Genesis. 00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:46.079 In fact, this is not an obscure teaching of Scripture. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:48.720 This is the main point of the second half of the book of Genesis. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:54.799 And so I just want to try to help you get your mind around the book of Genesis so you see how significant this is. 00:28:55.119 --> 00:28:56.960 Genesis is the book of beginnings. 00:28:57.039 --> 00:28:59.759 It shows you where everything important came from. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.839 Think of something important in life, and it Genesis explains how it came into the world. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:09.680 Genesis tells you why God created the world. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:12.720 Genesis tells you about creation, it tells you about marriage. 00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:33.599 Genesis teaches about children, it teaches about animals, where they came from, where the devil comes from, where sin comes from, where death comes from, where worship comes from, where sacrifices come from, where rain comes from, and the rainbow, of course, where languages come from, where cultures come from, why we have different food in the world and why it's so tasty, described in Genesis. 00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:44.799 Where nations come from, where governments come from, where Israel comes from, where the covenant of salvation is revealed to Abraham, and it will be his descendant that will be the seed, the savior. 00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:47.920 We're talking big things, languages described. 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:50.960 I mean, big things in the world. 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:53.680 Genesis is about where we got them from. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:55.680 It's a pretty big deal. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:58.319 At least the first half of the book. 00:29:58.640 --> 00:30:07.359 And then the second half of the book is a bit of a story about where Isaac gets his wife, and it was a long walk. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.240 And where Jacob gets his wife, which is an entertaining story, granted. 00:30:12.640 --> 00:30:16.799 I mean, remember he married the wrong person first and then has to work another seven years to get the right person in. 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:18.319 So it's funny, right? 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:22.559 If you can't read that story and laugh at Jacob marrying the wrong person, I can't help you. 00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:24.559 It's a funny story. 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:31.680 And then his twelve sons, and he wrestles with the angel and gets named Israel, and his sons grow up, and Joseph sold into slavery. 00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:34.000 I mean, that's the second half of the book. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:40.079 That doesn't sound nearly as significant as where marriage comes from or worship. 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:54.960 But the significance of God directing the second half of the book of Genesis this way is to show you how God got Israel, the nation, to grow into a recognizable nation by placing them in Egypt. 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.359 That's the pattern that is being drawn here. 00:30:57.599 --> 00:31:14.400 God is drawing a pattern, he's laying out the dots for you, so that when the Savior, the real true Son of God, the eternal Son of God, God in human flesh, comes to earth, you will see, you'll be able to verify who he is because he fills in these dots that are being drawn. 00:31:14.880 --> 00:31:20.400 So if you remember, Jacob, son of Isaac, himself had twelve sons. 00:31:20.480 --> 00:31:22.799 Remember the two wives, they have multiple sons each. 00:31:22.880 --> 00:31:26.720 He has a total of twelve sons who will become the nation Israel. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:28.799 Jacob's name is renamed to Israel. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:34.240 He becomes named Israel because his sons will be Israel. 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:44.000 He has a favored son, Joseph, who has dreams about his greatness and his prominence. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:48.960 And the other sons are kind of over Joseph's dreams and decide they're gonna murder him. 00:31:49.200 --> 00:31:50.240 That's the plan. 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:52.240 We can't stand this dreamer. 00:31:52.400 --> 00:31:53.599 Let's kill him. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:00.400 God spares Joseph's life by having him instead sold into slavery. 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:03.279 Then he is carted off to Egypt. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:12.160 Through his time in Egypt, he has the miraculous ability to receive revelation through dreams, not even his dreams, other people's dreams. 00:32:12.400 --> 00:32:14.480 That elevates him to a position of power. 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:20.000 He then uses his position of power with the Pharaoh to draw Israel into Egypt. 00:32:20.160 --> 00:32:24.640 Remember, they come to him looking for food without even knowing that it's him. 00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:35.039 Israel is drawn, really magnetized, like a gravitational pull by Joseph in his dream into Egypt, where they then prosper. 00:32:35.359 --> 00:32:39.680 They receive blessing and they receive protection and they grow while they are there. 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:46.880 However, what was meant to be a place of rescue for them becomes a place of bondage for them. 00:32:47.279 --> 00:32:55.519 They were sent to Egypt to have their life spared, but when time goes on, they become enslaved. 00:32:56.240 --> 00:33:02.240 And so God rescues him, and this is at this point where the scripture starts referring to Israel as God's son. 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:18.880 God rescues his son Israel from Egypt by the Red Sea crossing, by bringing him out to the death of the firstborn through the waters into the wilderness where they are tempted for 40 years and purified and then planted into the promised land. 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:28.720 Now, when you're in the book of Genesis, it's worth asking the question: why did God do all of that if the story ends with them brought back into Israel anyway? 00:33:29.519 --> 00:33:32.240