The Gospel of the Kingdom - Matthew - The Escape Route for the Child Jesus Part 1

 

TEXT: MATTHEW 2:13-15 – “After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son. 

We have looked at Joseph’s Distress, His Decision, and His Dream. We continued our study in Matthew by seeing the Wise Men’s Journey and the Wise Men’s Joy.

We can see that Matthew works at showing that Jesus fulfills the many Old Testament prophecies. So, the question comes up – “How many did He fulfill?”

The easy answer is “All of them.” But seriously, there are over 400 prophecies in the Old Testament that pertain to the coming Messiah, and He fulfilled all of them. The fulfillment of prophecy is vital to believing that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, our Savior.

Now, let us see the account of Joseph taking Mary and the young Jesus to Egypt. We will begin with the reason for the trip.

It was necessary to flee the wrath of Herod. We are told that Joseph is warned in a dream to flee the wrath of Herod. Herod had started planning on killing this “King of the Jews” upon his first hearing of it. He just needed the location.

Probably the same angel (Gabriel?) who spoke to him concerning Mary came and delivered this message. Many believe that this may have been the same night that the Magi left. Notice the use of the word “child.” It is the Greek word for a child used here, not an infant, thus signifying that Jesus was not a little baby at this point in time.

Joseph wasted no time in doing what he was instructed by the Angel. This was done to fulfill the words of Hosea. This Old Testament prophet foretold the trip to Egypt in Hosea 11:1 – ““When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.”

Prophecies often were couched in terms that portrayed a double meaning. Israel nationally was called a son of God in the Old Testament. But, the second and greater meaning of this prophecy was that the greater Son – Jesus – was yet to come.

We can actually see the parallel to the Old Testament account of how God preserved His people in Egypt. Consider the account of Joseph in Genesis. Joseph was sent ahead (sold as a slave to the Midianites). Later, during the famine, the family moves there to survive. And finally under Moses in the Exodus, Israel was called out to the Promises.

This takes us from the reason for the trip, to the retaliation during the trip tomorrow.

Muse today over how God watched over His Son at this time, and that He does the same for you and me.