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DECEMBER 30, 2007
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 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 or 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 and 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 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, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Matthew 2:13-23, ESV
After the birth of Jesus, things quickly returned to normal in Bethlehem. Outside of the holy couple, the shepherds, the prophet Simeon, the prophetess Anna, and the wise men, only a few knew about the momentous event when “the Word became flesh.”1 Thus, we see that God hides the great deed of the incarnation from the rich and powerful and reveals it to poor and humble. To all outward appearances Mary and Joseph were just an ordinary couple raising an ordinary infant in Bethlehem.
Thus, we see that God doesn’t’ attend the greatest event of history, the incarnation, with pep rallies, fireworks, or even spectacular miracles. No, God, here, teaches us that the greatest gift is not the one that is wrapped in gold and glitter, but the one whose only wrapping is human flesh. This gift is to be treasured inwardly, in the heart, and not treasured outwardly for its monetary or entertainment value. To human nature, this is a disappointment, for we rather prefer things that have obvious value or confer immediate status. To make the matter even more perplexing, how do you share a baby that belongs to the whole world? You can’t cut him up and put a piece of him under each tree!
It’s hard for the human heart to treasure such a gift, especially one that came so long ago and one whom our eyes have not seen. And sometimes we wonder if it is all really true. But let us not forget that there were many eyewitnesses to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of this one born so long ago. And these eyewitnesses have as much value for evidence as if our own eyes had seen them.2
There was one, however, who never doubted the reality or the truth -of this Christmas gift. As an invisible spectator he saw it all. Yes, Satan heard the Christmas angel say to the shepherds, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”3 This child had come to destroy him and his works. But Satan was a tough, never-say-die opponent, one who was bent on destroying our salvation by killing Jesus and taking with him the grand prize, our souls. So while the angels were rejoicing, the devil was plotting. He was planning to kill this holy child. How would he do it? He would do it by means of an earthly king, Herod the Great.
Herod could have doubled for Satan. He acted just like you would expect Satan to act. He wanted no rival “King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2). So he planned for the death of Jesus under the pretense that he wanted to worship him. At least that’s what he told the wise men from the East. When Herod's cunning plans were thwarted, he went ballistic. The calculating tyrant became an enraged butcher. He commanded the execution of all male babies in Bethlehem under the age of two. Thus, with Herod as his agent, Satan assured himself that he would emerge victorious.
But God, who reads the hearts of men and knows their thoughts from afar, was not deceived by Herod's duplicity and evil intentions.
God would now rouse Mary and Joseph out of their post-Christmas normalcy. The Lord dispatches an angel. In a dream the angel warns Joseph of Herod’s murderous plans. To Joseph, the angel says, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt and remain there until I tell you.”4 Joseph takes his young family to Egypt. Later, when Herod died, the angel once again appears to Joseph and tells him that it is now safe to return to Israel.
In these events we see that Satan is no match for God. But there is more, here, than meets the eye. When the infant-Savior returned to Israel, this was the precise fulfillment of Hosea's 700-year-old prophecy that said, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.”5 Thus, we see that the flight to and the return from Egypt had been planned by the Lord centuries earlier.
Amazing, indeed, are the ways of God. Satan is a wily opponent who believes he can win. He believes that when the going gets tough, he gets going. But the truth is that when the going gets tough, it is God who really gets going! And he gets going on our behalf, for, in all the universe, we are the grand prize!6
When they returned to Judea, the holy family was still not safe. Though Herod had died, his son Archelaus now ruled. Archelaus, like his father before him, was a bloody tyrant. In a dream, God warned Joseph to escape to Galilee. So he took Mary and Jesus to Nazareth. And this, our text notes, was a fulfillment of another ancient prophecy, the prophecy that Jesus was to be called a Nazarene.
Once again, God is in control. He keeps his promises, no matter what! He is triumphant over every attempt to stop Jesus short of accomplishing his divinely appointed mission, that of earning forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation for all humanity. At every turn, then, we see that Satan is defeated and God moves history in such a way as to fulfill the ancient prophecies. God is, therefore, faithful to his Word. Indeed, he binds himself to his Word. So, when he promises, “I will never leave you or forsake you”7 we know he will keep his promise. When he says, “All things work together for good to them that love God,”8 we know we can stand on that promise!
Napoleon Bonaparte, the great French General once said,
“I marvel that whereas the ambitious dreams of myself, Caesar, and Alexander should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant, Jesus, should be able to stretch his hands across the centuries and control the destinies of men and nations.”9
What enabled Jesus to stretch his hands across the centuries was that he first stretched out his hands upon the cross. When those nails were driven through his hands and feet, when he cried out in the agonies of hell, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”10 and when he finally bowed his head in death, Satan was delirious with joy. “Yes, finally,” he said to himself and his demons, “I have killed the Messiah and defeated God!”
But nothing could have been further from the truth. Little did Satan know that Christ's death meant his utter ruination. As the apostle John says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.”11 Indeed, when on the Cross, the Savior cried out, “It is finished!”12 He meant that mankind's salvation was, at that moment, an accomplished fact. Once done, hence forever done. By his perfect life and substitutionary death, he had done what only he could do, namely, to defeat sin, death, and the power of the devil, and, thus, secure our eternal redemption.
We can only marvel at the intricate chain of events, orchestrated by the hand of God, that brought our salvation to pass. And just think: All of this has come into being despite the raging fury of Satan, indeed, despite all the fury of hell itself. In view of this, can there be any doubt that God controls all? If you want proof that God is victorious over the forces of evil, look at Easter. Behold, Christ has shattered the death barrier, just as he said he would!13 Yes, when the going get tough, God gets going! He is working, even now, to preserve you in the faith until you join the faithful in heaven.
So what does this all mean for us today? Just this:
. . . do you suppose that he will now forget you, or abandon you, or not care for you or about you while you are here on earth? Never! The very idea is unthinkable! Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ!
I say it again: God keeps his promises, no matter what!!!
From our text, we know that Satan tried to destroy Jesus soon after his birth. But he failed. So he now focuses his energy on us. He is intent on getting us to renounce our faith. And so he says to us right after the celebration of Christmas, “As long as you are putting the ornaments away, now’s a good time to put Christ away too. Now’s a good time to stop being faithful. After all, you’ve got to get back to normal.”
Yes, the devil tries to get us to do what is easy and not what is right. When we get the after-Christmas blues, we can let the Christ of Christmas fade into the past. We can let our desire for Divine Service go out with the lights. We can let our joy get thrown away with the tinsel.
But there is a better way. Several days ago, I heard a radio commercial advertising the perfect Christmas gift. The sponsor was the “International Star Registry.” For a sum of money, you could have an unnamed star named after someone you love. Said the advertiser, “It’s the perfect gift of love. Put your loved one’s name in the cosmos.”14 I’d like to say two things in response: First, the perfect gift of love has already been given. His name is Jesus. And second, why settle for putting you name in the cosmos when you can have it written in the “book of life”15 entitling you to free admission into the kingdom of heaven.
So just remember: In all of life’s adversities, when the going gets tough, God always keeps his promises. No matter what!
. . . In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Endnotes
1 See John 1:14a.
2 See Bernard Ramm, Protestant Christian Evidences (Chicago: Moody Press, 1953), p. 140. He rightly says, “If miracles are capable of sensory presentation, they can be made matters of testimony. If they are adequately testified to, then the recorded testimony has the same validity for evidence as the experience of beholding the events.” Also see Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict, rev. ed,Vol 1(San Bernadino: Here’s Life Publishers, 1979), p. 125.
3 See Luke 2:11.
4 See Matthew 2:13.
5 See Hosea 11:1.
6 We are the grand prize. This especially needs to be emphasized today when so many are engrossed in the search for other intelligent life in the universe. It is telling that the Fall (on earth) affected the entire universe (Romans 8:19-22). The atonement and redemption also occurred on earth (the cross). When Christ returns to earth again, all the cosmos will be liberated from the “bondage of decay” (Romans 8).
7 See Hebrews 13:5b.
8 See Romans 8:28.
9 See second bullet in http://everything2.com/index.pl?node=Napoleon%20Bonaparte and http://europa.spaceports.com/~fishbake/fp/fq.htm.
10 See Matthew 27:46.
11 See 1 John 3:8.
12 See John 19:30.
13 In Matthew 20:17-19 we read, “As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”
15 See Revelation 20:15.
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