Today’s Reading: Matthew 2:13-23
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.” – Matthew 2:13
There are times when we receive a message from the Lord or a warning from the Holy Spirit to flee. We get a sense of danger or even hear words that warn us that we need to change action or remove ourselves from a situation. Aren’t you thankful for the protective nature of our God? Aren’t you thankful that He sends angels in our path? Aren’t you grateful for God’s hedge of protection around us? Jesus would have been in danger if they had stayed in Bethlehem, so Joseph was given clear directions on what to do and where to go.
STAY THERE UNTIL I TELL YOU
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.” – Matthew 2:14-15
At times, we find ourselves wondering what we are supposed to do next. Some of the best advice I have ever received was to wait on the Lord for my next move. Go back to the last thing the Lord told you to do and rest in that information until He tells you to do something different. I am thankful this morning that we serve the God who directs our paths and gives us wisdom when we have difficult decisions to make.
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. 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.” – Matthew 2:16-18
A VOICE CAN BE HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING…
These verses are hard to read. King Herod was so wicked that he was willing to order the death of thousands of infants and toddlers in an attempt to secure his place of authority. To put ourselves in the place of these parents is to grieve a loss that is unimaginable.
My friends, this is a pattern throughout scripture and it continues to be a pattern today. Pharoah ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill every baby boy that was born. When they refused to do so, he ordered that every newborn Hebrew boy be thrown into the Nile river (Exodus 1). The worship of false gods throughout the history of mankind has involved the sacrifice of babies and children on altars of worship (2 Kings 16:3, 21:6 and 23:10, Jeremiah 7:31 and 32:35, Deuteronomy 18:10), a practice that only Satan himself would be evil enough to contrive.
“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?” – Ezekiel 16:20-21
Satan continues to lead nations in the practice of child sacrifice. His methods are different but the end result is the same — babies are being sacrificed for the sake of convenience, all in the name of women’s rights and cultural progress. Politicians are compromising their values for votes, and those who stand up for the protection of the unborn are deemed as radical and small-minded.
A VOICE CAN BE HEARD IN AMERICA, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING…
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. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene. – Matthew 2:19-23
Once more, Joseph had an encounter with God through a dream. He was warned about the danger of those who would find and kill Jesus, and so he gathered together his little family and moved to Nazareth. This would be the home where Jesus grew up; this would be the town that Jesus of Nazareth called home.
Sometimes negative circumstances place us somewhere we never would have ended up on our own. But God uses our situation to write a beautiful story of grace in the midst of our sorrows. Perhaps you have experienced persecution or ridicule for your faith; perhaps you have had to remove yourself from a relationship or situation that had become unhealthy or unsafe. Maybe you have heard a warning from the Holy Spirit to flee from sin or from the schemes of the evil one. Perhaps you are mourning the loss of a little one who fell victim to the culture of death in our society.
No matter what your situation, I hope you can find hope in the story of Jesus’ birth. I pray you can see God’s hand as present in your story as it was in Joseph and Mary’s. May our Father God wrap you in His loving arms and may his angel army protect us from the attempts of the enemy to disarm or discourage us. May God bless you and your family as you respond to His leading and follow His direction. May He use us to promote a culture of life, hope and love to those around us.