Matthew 2:19-23

Matthew 2:19-23 and the Theme of Jesus as King

Good evening, this is Truth in Love. So glad that you could join me. Thank you for watching the video and joining me as we do the video together, as we look at God's word together. Truth in Love, it comes from Ephesians 4, verse 15.

Paul says, but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects, into him who is the head, even Christ. So that's our goal, that's our aim, is to speak truth and love so that we can grow up in all aspects, into him, into Jesus.

He is our savior, he's our Lord, he's our king, he's our prophet, he's our God. And we want to grow up in all aspects, all aspects of scripture. Everything, everything that he has made, we want to learn about how it works and how he's designed everything.

We don't want to leave anything out. And that's a large task, but we want to grow up in all aspects, into him who is the head, even Christ. Thank you for watching. If I can pray for you, all you have to do is let me know and type me.

You don't have to tell me what's going on. You don't have to say what it is. If you, if someone that you know of needs prayer, all you have to do is somehow indicate that briefly, just being very general.

And you can type me if you would like for me to pray for you. I like to pray at the end and pray for folks that need prayer. And I'd love to be able to do that. I'd love for you to join in on the conversation.

I can always stop what I'm doing, and we can chat and we can answer your questions, or you can ask me questions. And, or I can ask you questions and whatever the case may be, I'd love to interact with you.

Let me know that you're watching, say hello, share the videos that we can work together to reach our community. That's the goal to glorify God and be obedient to sharing the gospel, to making disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that he has commanded us.

And so we want to be, we want to be about the business of doing that. And we're so thankful that God has given us this technology that we can, we can spend time together and do this type of ministry together.

And it's wonderful. Tonight, we're going to look at Matthew chapter two, verses 19 through 23. I feel like it's been, I didn't count it. I feel like it's been maybe two weeks since I've been in Matthew.

And I've spent, I've spent that time dwelling and meditating on this passage. And I still do not feel like I have studied it enough. I want to continue to study this passage and learn more about it. And see what, what God is doing, what he has to say about this passage.

There's so much more that I need to study and know about this passage. It's so interesting and it's, and in some ways it's mysterious. So I still want to continue to study it and look into it. I hope you will.

I'm going to present to you and give to you just some of the things that I've gathered so far as I've looked at Matthew chapter two, verses 19 through 23. And the reason we're looking at Matthew is because we understand Matthew to be giving us the theme that Jesus is King.

And the reason that we want to do that and go in that direction is because I've gotten a habit at the end of the video, I like to say that Jesus is King, go live in that victory. We want to live in the victory that Jesus is King.

He's King now, he's reigning now. And that's evident, that's proclaimed in scripture. And so one of the best places to go when you're speaking of Jesus being King and talking about how to live in that victory is the place where the theme is Jesus is King and that's in Matthew.

So I want to continue to go through Matthew, walk through it and see how Matthew describes Jesus as King and how he fulfills prophecy and how we can live in that victory. So thank you for joining me. Please ask questions, make comments, let me know what you're thinking and I'll stop whatever I'm doing and chat with you.

If I can pray for you, let me know that I can do that. All you have to do is type me and I'll pray for you at the end. And if you have any recommendations or criticisms, I'm open to that as well. Love to talk about the things that interest you or the things that you would like to know more about.

So write it in a comment, shoot me a message and let me know what you would like to talk about it, what you would like to hear. So let's dive into Matthew and look into this somewhat mysterious passage.

Joseph’s Return from Egypt and the Warning to Flee to Galilee

So let's read it together. If you have your Bibles and you'd like to look along, that would be great. We're in Matthew chapter two, starting in verse 19. And the Bible says, but when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, arise and take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead.

And he arose and took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archaeus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee and came and resided in a city called Nazareth that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, he shall be called a Nazarene.

Now, first off, I know that I butchered Herod's son's name. So, hey, Tammy, thank you for letting me know that you're watching and everybody else, let me know that you're watching. If you would, if you don't mind, let me know that you're watching.

Share so that we can work together to share Jesus with our community. Have any questions, comments, jump right in the chat room. I'd love to hear from you. But yeah, I butchered his name and sorry about that.

We'll apologize, I didn't work on pronunciation. But mysteries in this passage, the first one that I came to when I was looking at this passage is about Joseph, the dreams from God and him sending Joseph and Mary and Jesus back to Judea, back to Israel.

And then what happened when they first got there? So, we just finished looking at, they went to Egypt to escape Herod because the wise men came, they followed the star and they told Herod about this king that was prophesied and they're looking for the one who star they see.

And Herod was threatened by this king of the Jews because he was king of the Jews. And then he felt this threat and he wanted to kill the children, but then Herod died. And so Joseph, the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying that he's gone, he no longer lives.

So take the child and his mother back to Israel. And then when he gets to Israel, he says, hey Benjamin, hey Haps, how are you doing? Hope everybody's doing well. So when they get to Israel, they find out that Herod's son is there and reigning in his father's place in Judea.

And so Joseph, it says Joseph was afraid to go there. And then God came to him once again and warned him. And so they departed and went to the regions of Galilee. Now, when I'm teaching, I enjoy being open and honest with my thoughts and where I am and how I approach things.

But I also want to be careful and tiptoe because I don't want to give others a sense of doubt because I don't doubt scripture. I know that there's an answer. But when I approach this passage, and I still don't have the answer to my question yet, but when I approached this passage and I saw that, in the first appearance to Joseph from the Lord, he tells him to take his family back to Israel.

But the Lord knew that Herod's son was now ruling over Judea and that Joseph would be afraid. So why didn't he tell him to just go straight to the regions of Galilee? He waited till they got there. And so those are some questions that come to my mind.

Why did God allow it to happen in this process? Why did he allow it to happen in this way? And we know that it happened. God had a plan and a purpose for it to happen that way. I don't want to speculate.

I don't have the answers. I don't know, but be consistent with our theology of the whole of scripture, with the whole Bible. I do know two things. I know that Joseph was obedient to God and that three things, we see the obedience of Joseph.

We also know that God is compassionate. So when Joseph was obedient to God, when he was afraid, God warned him and they didn't stay in Israel. They went into the regions of Galilee. So we see God's compassion.

And when we're afraid, we know that He loves us and He wants to comfort us and lead us to where we can be safe. So we see God's compassion here when Joseph is afraid. The other thing that I saw here that's consistent with the rest of scripture is that it's not the case every time that God would have us to go through persecution.

In some cases, we don't have to have a martyr complex. You know, if I'm being persecuted or we don't have to be a doormat and let someone walk over us or whatever the case may be. It's not, hey, Emily, mullet man, who is mullet man?

I'm unfamiliar with that reference. You'll have to get back to me on that one. So it's not the case every time that God would have us to go through persecution and we don't have to have a martyr complex and we don't have to feel like we need to be a doormat and let people walk over us.

It's not the case every time. Here, God warned them and before that, he warned them to flee and go to Egypt. So we see that God is preserving them for another purpose and another time. So we know that it's not the case.

We don't have to be a doormat as a Christian. We can escape. We can, if the Lord opens the door, if the Lord allows escape or we don't have to feel like we have to go through persecution and be a doormat.

So those are the quick, brief answers that I have for that question. But I just wanted to share that with you. Questions like that are the ones that come to my mind. Why did God work it in this way through this process?

Why did he send them to Israel and then send them to the regions of Galilee? So maybe you guys have some answers to those questions. I'd love to hear your answers to those questions. But here's the meat of this section.

And there is so much, so much to this next section. Mystery that you have to work out and figure out because it's just not plain in the text. There's things that you have to work out, things that you have to figure out.

And it's like that with a lot of scripture. And let me share this with you. And I hope that you are desiring to be a student of God's word or a greater student of God's word. If you're already reading and studying God's word, I hope that you have that desire.

I know the Holy Spirit gives it to us because we are to obey Christ and to know God and to do that, we've got to be in his word. So the Holy Spirit's going to give us the desire to be students of his word.

And so I hope that you're hearing that from him. I hope that you're yielding to him in that area. And I hope that you're desiring to be a greater student of God's word. And as a student of God's word, when you are curious about a text and its interpretation, especially when the New Testament is using figurative language, and I think I mentioned this in a previous video that it's not always the case, as Matthew does here four different times, such as verse four, he says, for so it has been written by the prophet.

And then it gives a quote from the Old Testament. So it's very obvious that Matthew was quoting from the Old Testament. So we get the context, we can go back and look at the chapter, the verse and chapter and get the context and the message from the Old Testament and understand what Matthew was talking about here in that verse and in this passage in the New Testament.

But not every passage is that specific. But we do know that we can use the Old Testament when we're reading and studying the New Testament, we need to go back to the Old Testament to see what the references are, to see how they would have understood this passage.

What did this mean to them? A lot of times it's so popular and it gets our theology way off. And we get way off track because we try to interpret so many passages in the New Testament, in light of our current circumstances, our lives, our personal lives, or the world around us, how we live today, or basically modern times.

We try to interpret the New Testament based on things that we're related to. But we're not supposed to interpret the New Testament in that way. If we want to understand the New Testament and its references, and what it means when it uses figurative language, what did the fig tree represent?

What did this animal represent? We go back to the Old Testament and understand the references and what it meant, and it will help us to understand and interpret the New Testament. That's the pattern of Jesus.

That's the pattern that he used when he was on the road to Emmaus. He taught them from the Old Testament where it spoke of him. And of course we know that's all throughout the Old Testament. So that's the pattern of Jesus.

That's the pattern of the authors of the New Testament. They referenced, they quoted the Old Testament and the figurative language, and there's so many other things referenced and understood through the Old Testament.

So I just wanted to share that with you as students of God's word. I hope you will take that to heart and remember that as you're studying. But here's the next mystery in this passage. Verse 23 is the big one.

And came and resided in the city of Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarene. Now in the title, when I promoted this video last night, I put in there that the Christ and his kingdom both grow in obscurity.

So we want to tackle that first. And then there are so many other things, so many other rabbit trails that we can take. And I hope to look at some of them if we don't run out of time as we dig into this passage.

But I want to focus first on the Christ and his kingdom grow in obscurity. Both do. And we get that from this passage. And it's one of the many things that we get from this passage. So where's the mystery come in?

Where's the mystery come in? Well, in chapter two, Matthew gives us quotes of four different quotes, four different references back to the Old Testament. The first one is, our reference is a second ago, verse four and five and six, where he says the prophet being written by the prophet.

And he was speaking of Bethlehem. And then in verse 15, the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying out of Egypt. So we have a second reference to the Old Testament, and he says the prophet, and we have two different places.

The third one, verse 17, then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled saying a voice was heard in Ramah. So we have a third quote, and he mentions Jeremiah specifically this time.

So we have the prophet, the prophet, and then the prophet Jeremiah, and a third place Ramah. Here's the fourth one. And we have a fourth place. And we also have something different as well, where he says the prophet, the prophet, the prophet Jeremiah, here he says the prophets.

He's not giving us specific prophet, he's giving us the prophets. And so it was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarene. Here's a big mystery. In the first three, you can go find the book and the chapter and the verses that he quotes.

In verse 23, you can't do that. You may think, did you know that Nazareth is not mentioned in the Old Testament? You would think that it is because Matthew in chapter two, verse 23 here says, spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled.

So you would think that somewhere in the Old Testament, the Old Testament speaks of Nazareth and the coming Messiah coming from Nazareth, living in Nazareth, being born or something, something from Nazareth so that he can be called a Nazarene.

But nowhere in the Old Testament does it reference the city of Nazareth. And as I was studying, a lot of the common commentators like to point out that not only does the Old Testament not reference or not speak of Nazareth, but the historian Josephus doesn't mention the city Nazareth either.

So where does it come from? Why does Matthew say this was spoken through the prophets? Well, I don't think that Jesus lived in Nazareth so that he could be called a Nazarene. This is gonna be confusing.

And I've got to think about how to say this correctly so that it's not confusing. I don't think that Jesus, so that he could be called a Nazarene, he was from Nazareth. I think that he was from Nazareth so that he could be called a Nazarene.

And super confusing right now, I know. But let me try to explain it. He lived in Nazareth so that he could be called a Nazarene. Now, unless this is referenced in the Old Testament, what do we have to say about Matthew?

I guess we would have to say that he's a liar and God's word is not true. And we know that's not acceptable. That's not true. That's not the case. That would not be consistent with the rest of scripture.

So we know that this is there somewhere, right? It has to be there somewhere. So what is Matthew referencing in the Old Testament? No, no, no, no. Well, the word Nazareth and Nazarene in Hebrew means sprout or shoot.

And so Jesus, I think Jesus needed to live and be from Nazareth so that he could be called a Nazarene. A shoot or sprout. So why did he need to be from Nazareth so that he could be understood as a shoot or sprout?

Why did he need that? How does that fulfill the prophets? It comes from Isaiah chapter 11, verse one. And Isaiah the prophet chapter 11, verse one says, and then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

And this is the word in Hebrew that's translated here, Nazareth and Nazarene. It's the Hebrew word for sprout or root. Branch or yeah, stem or branch or spout. It's what, you know, the seedling will fall from a tree and then you'll start have seedlings pop up from the tree and you can sometimes dig them up and replant them.

That's what it's referring to here. A sprout, a seedling that has fallen from the tree and started to grow. And so that's what the Messiah would be from the root of Jesse, from the stem of Jesse, from his roots, a branch will bear fruit.

A shoot will spring up from the stem of Jesse. So that's where this is fulfilled. And why does he say the prophets? Well, you can find it in other places as well. Not just Isaiah 11, but Isaiah 53, verse two, a tender root, a parched ground.

This is the messianic. This is the suffering servant passage that's speaking of the Messiah. He will be a tender root out of parched ground. He will have no stately form or majesty, no appearance to be attractive.

Despised and forsaken, Isaiah 53 says. And then Jeremiah 23, five says, I will raise up for David a righteous branch. And he says something very similar in Jeremiah 33, 15. I will cause a righteous branch from David.

So here is the references from the prophets that God would raise up a branch, a stem, not a stem, but a sprout, a seedling from the root, from the stem of Jesse. And here's where this is fulfilled. Matthew's saying this is fulfilled here that he would be called, he is from Nazareth, and he would be called a Nazarene, a sprout, a seedling.

And when they heard that, they knew the language, they knew the references. They would have understood that. They would have heard sprout or stem. And so that's where it's spoken of. So don't let anybody persuade you that it's not in the Old Testament.

So something's wrong with the Bible. It's in the Old Testament. You have to look at the language and you have to look and find out where it's found in the Old Testament. One of the most, I'm not gonna say most, but one popular interpretation, one that I've heard before that we need to stay away from is that Jesus, he shall be called a Nazarene.

And they relate it to the Nazarite vow. And the most famous person that took that Nazarite vow, of course, was Samson. And then they try to make comparisons between Samson and Jesus through this Nazarite vow.

But we need to stay away from that, number one, because the two words in Hebrew are nothing alike. I think they're put together because they sound similar in English, but not in Hebrew. And then of course, Jesus broke every one of the Nazarite vows.

And so therefore, you can't make that comparison. And that's not what Matthew 2, verse 23 is speaking of here. He's not speaking of a Nazarite vow. He's speaking of Nazareth, a Nazarene, a stem or a sprout or a branch, a seedling coming from the stem of Jesse.

And that's where it's fulfilled. Now, how do we get from that to the Christ and his kingdom grow in obscurity? Well, first of all, when they heard Nazareth, Nazarene, not only did they hear seedling, sprout, but they also thought of something else.

And we see that referenced in John chapter one. And I'm sure many of you are familiar with this passage. John chapter one, Jesus is beginning his ministry and he's calling his apostles or his disciples to follow him.

And here, starting in verse 43, this is John chapter one, verse 43. The next day, he purposed to go forth into Galilee and he found Philip and Jesus said to him, follow me. Now, Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth, the stem or the sprout, the son of Joseph. Verse 46 says, and Nathanael said to him, can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

Philip said to him, come and see. So this was the thought, the mindset of the people, even from the people in the same area, the same area where Jesus lived, they had this mindset of Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

And this was also coming from fishermen who themselves were on the economic bottom of the totem pole and from their stance in society, still saw the people from Nazareth in this light. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

So Jesus lived and grew up and came from a place that was looked down upon, that was a nobody, a nothing. He was a nobody in a know nothing town and Nathanael has the heart and the mind of everybody here in this area.

Even the lowly fishermen, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And they would think, no, nothing good can come out of Nazareth. That was their mindset of these people from Nazareth. So Jesus grew up in this obscurity of Nazareth and to further make that point, so Nathanael goes in verse 47, Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said to him, behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile.

And Nathanael said to him, how do you know me? Nathanael said, how do you know me? In that area, the population I've heard was anywhere between 300 or 400, maybe even 500, but it was really, really small.

And at no point, we're not even given references in scripture of Jesus's childhood and growing up. We have a record of his birth. We have an account of when he was 12 years old, when he went to the temple, but in between those times and in between the temple and here when he begins his ministry, we have nothing in scripture that tells us what he was doing, what he did, other than he grew in stature, wisdom and stature.

And so he was not making himself known. He was not making himself out to be somebody. In fact, Nathanael says, how do you know me? I don't know you, how do you know me? He's confused that Jesus knew who he was because Jesus has kept himself under the radar.

For 30 years, he's kept himself under the radar. He is growing up in obscurity, keeping himself under the radar. And so that's a little bit about Nazareth. That's a little bit about the people's thoughts of Nazareth and how Jesus grew up.

He grew up underneath the radar. And it wasn't just the fact that he didn't make himself known and popularize himself, but the place from where he was from was a despised place and people looked down upon it and thought nothing good could come out of Nazareth.

So that was his childhood, that was growing up. That's how people saw him as a Nazarene from Nazareth. But the scripture says it was fulfilled that he would be called a Nazarene, the sprout, the seedling from the stem of Jesse.

So that's how Jesus grew up. The Christ grows in obscurity and his kingdom grows in obscurity. So we want to look at that next. So as our savior, he is also our king and a part of his kingdom. We don't want to maneuver in his kingdom differently than how he wants us to live and move and work within his kingdom.

We should submit to his kingdom ways, his kingdom boundaries, how he wants to run and rule his kingdom. This is his kingdom. And from scripture, we learned that as people of his kingdom and his kingdom as a whole, it grows in obscurity as well.

So we see how we are to live. Look at Matthew chapter six. This is very interesting to look at Matthew chapter six. And this is Jesus teaching about how we should live as members of his kingdom. Verse one, starting in verse one, it says, beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.

Otherwise you have no reward with your father who is in heaven. When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets that they may be honored by men.

Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. And your alms may be in secret and your father who sees in secret will repay you.

And when you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

But you, when you pray, go into your inner room. And when you have shut your door, pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.

Therefore do not be like them for your father knows what you need before you ask him. And then he shares the example prayer. And then in verse 16, he says, and whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men.

Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will repay you.

So kingdom life, this is kingdom life. We don't have to desire to attain some popular status to be seen by men. God desires that what we do when we give the good works that we do, when we study, when we pray, it is to be unnoticed by men.

Don't practice your righteousness before men. We should strive to live and grow in obscurity. So that we are not being boastful and presenting ourselves as someone we're not. Jesus is teaching us how to live in his kingdom.

And then as we move on from how we are to live individually as members of his kingdom, you may ask yourself, and let me make this comment too. I didn't want to miss making this comment. We have folks that have the limelight in Christianity today, they have the limelight, they have the stage, they have the crusades, the television programs, the mega churches, whatever it may be.

We need to understand that no matter what our role is, our role is important in the kingdom. And in my opinion, and in many, many others' opinion, there's no higher calling, no greater role than the role of a mother who is teaching their children to love God, to honor Christ and to love their father.

No higher calling, no higher position in God's economy than a mother teaching her children to obey Christ, to glorify God and to love their father. And sometimes we think no one notices me, no one cares.

The things that my daily routine is boring and mundane and I'm unnoticed and I'm not useful to the kingdom. That is the most useful position in the kingdom that there is, to be a mother, to train your children in the ways of the Lord and to build them up and to send them off, to go serve the Lord and to start their home, to honor God, to love their spouse and to teach their children to follow Jesus, no higher calling than that.

And we don't have to be noticed by men, no matter what position we're in, we don't have to be noticed by men. God has us where he has us and he wants us to live in this way and he will use us as we live this way in his kingdom, in his economy, he will use us to grow his kingdom the way he wants to grow it.

The Kingdom Grows Like a Mustard Seed and Leaven

And how does he grow it? Going on from individuals to the kingdom. We see in Luke, Luke chapter 13, this is what Jesus says about his kingdom. Luke chapter 13, starting in verse 18, he says, therefore, he was saying, what is the kingdom of God like?

And to what shall I compare it? Jesus says, it is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden and it grew and became a tree and the birds of the air nested in its branches. The mustard seed is compared to one of the smallest seeds that there are and yet it grew into this large tree, it starts out small and it grows really, really big, enough to where that birds can come and nest, give protection and rest and raise their families.

And then Jesus says, and again, he said in verse 20, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God? He said, it is like leaven, which a woman took and hid, notice that word hid in three pecks of meal or three measures of flour until it was all leavened.

And we learn from scripture as well that it takes a little leaven to leaven the whole lump. And that's what happens here, starts out with a little and slowly it permeates throughout the whole lump to make it rise.

It's a slow process, but eventually it permeates and makes its way through the whole lump, through the whole flour, the whole meal, eventually it makes its way there. And then it rises. So it's small and then it grows into a big tree.

It's small, but it permeates and slowly grows and it fills the whole lump. And that's the kingdom. We're the leaven and God has hidden us here in this world. And we should live as Jesus says in Matthew chapter six, that are not to live with our righteousness before me and not to give that it may be seen before me and not to fast that it may be noticed by me and not to pray that it may be noticed by me and that we may boast, but we do these things in secret and the Lord, our father who sees in secret will repay.

And we live in this kingdom way and God will grow his kingdom and we'll start off small. It may not look like anything. It may look like a nobody from a nowhere called Nazareth and grow into the largest religion in the world.