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The Gospel of Matthew

Jesus Fulfills What the Prophets Said about Israel’s Exodus, Exile, and Despised Messiah

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September 29, 2024
Matthew 2:13-23
Andy Naselli
professor

The Birth of Christ (Advent)

The Bible

The Person of Christ

Transcript

0:16Let's pray together. Yes. Father, would you please enlighten our minds and soften our hearts as we consider your words to us in Matthew two, and we ask in Jesus' name, amen. What do the following two events have in common? One, an acorn grows into an oak tree and two, a fertilized egg inside a woman's womb grows into a man. What do those have in common? On both events, God brings something to its God designed end. So God designed an acorn to become an oak tree. In a sense the oak tree fulfills the acorn. God designed a fertilized egg inside a woman's womb to grow into a man or grow into a woman.

1:26So in a sense, a man fulfills That fertilized egg in the womb. So in in that sense to fulfill is to bring something to its God designed end. Sometimes an author of a story does this. An author may take something and bring it to its author designed end in the story. CS Lewis does this brilliantly. In the last battle. That's the last of the seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia series Dig degree explains to Lucy, when Alan said you could never go back into Narnia, he meant the Narnia you were thinking of. But that was not the real Narnia that had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or a copy of the real Narnia, which has always been here and always will be here just as our own world.

2:19England and all is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan's world, real world. You need not mourn over Narnia. Lucy, all of the old Narnia that mattered, all the dear creatures have been drawn into the real Narnia through the door. And of course it's different, as different as a real thing is from a shadow or as waking life is from a dream. So the the real Narnia fulfills the Narnia that we read about in the seven Narnia books. I love that. And it reminds me of how God designed the story of the Bible. I love tracing this design in the gospel according to Matthew. When I teach a course called New Testament background and message to our seminary students, I require them to read each book of the New Testament in one sitting and then summarize the message of that book in one sentence.

3:18And then when we come together for class, I put each student's sentence on the screen and we analyze it. And that laboratory helps students learn to communicate more clearly and accurately. It's really hard to summarize the theological message of a three hour book like Matthew in one sentence. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna let you scrutinize my sentence here. Uh oh. Right here. Jesus the Messiah climatically fulfills the Old Testament. Now I don't have time to unpack all that here now, but I'll, I'll, I'll focus on this. Action word, fulfill the action word fulfill translates a Greek word that does not always refer to direct fulfillment.

4:08We hear that word fulfill and we might think that it's like Micah five two. So Micah five, two predicts that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and then you get to Matthew and he's born in Bethlehem. That fulfills what Micah said. So that seems like, alright, that's what fulfillment is, prediction fulfillment. But the, the Greek word translated fulfill is broader than direct fulfillment like we see in Micah five two. So what the word means is to bring to a designed end. The New Testament authors use the word fulfill to describe how Jesus relates to the Old Testament. Jesus fulfills the Old Testament.

4:56How? What does that mean? So fulfill describes how Jesus, the Messiah fills up the Old Testament. How Jesus brings the Old Testament as a whole to its God designed end. And Matthew brilliantly shows that Jesus the Messiah, climatically, fulfills the Old Testament over and over and over of the many fulfillments in the gospel according to Matthew three feature prominently in our sermon text Matthew two 13 to 23, let me show them to you in verse 15. At the end and so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet out of Egypt, I called my son. And then in verse 17 then was said, then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled.

5:50And then end of verse 23, so was fulfilled what was said through the prophets that he would be called a nazarene. Fulfilled, fulfilled, fulfilled. That's what this passage is about. So I'd like to preach to you from Matthew two 13 to 23 on this subject. Jesus fulfills what the prophets said about Israel's exodus exile and despised Messiah. I'm probably breaking all the rules for sermon titles. It's too long, but you'll see it's what the text says. Alright, so let's see how in this passage, Jesus brings the Old Testament to its God designed end in three ways, three fulfillments. The first fulfillment I describe this way, Jesus fulfills what the prophet Hosea said about Israel's exodus from Egypt.

6:51When Jesus flees to Egypt and remain there remains there until Herod dies. Lemme show this to you. Let's start by reading verses 13 to 15. 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, escape to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him, to kill him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remain there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt.

7:36I called my son. The previous story that Pastor Steven Lee preached on last week in Matthew two, one to 12 explains what happens when the wise men tell King Herod that they came to worship the newborn king of the Jews. That's chapter two verse two. And this troubled Herod. So King Herod is notorious for being paranoid that others would try to steal his throne. And he's also notorious for being cruel and merciless to anyone he suspected was trying to steal his throne. In this case, Herod tries to kill this newborn king of the Jews. He's afraid that baby Jesus will steal his throne if only Herod knew that Jesus is king of the universe.

8:30So God thwarts Herod's plan to murder Jesus by telling Joseph in a dream to take Jesus and Mary and escape to Egypt temporarily. Follow a Jewish philosopher and Old Testament interpreter from the first century says that the Jewish community in Egypt at this time numbered about 1 million Jews. So here's a map of the area that just gives you an idea of the places involved in the story. This is from the Crossway ESV Bible Atlas. So here's Bethlehem right there, and here's Egypt. And then we got the, the journey down to Egypt. Now all that's, that's straightforward, that challenging bit in this passage is the final sentence in verse 15.

9:15This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son. Do you know why that's challenging? It's challenging because Matthew is quoting Hosea 11 one. And if you look at the literary context of Hosea 11 one, my son refers to the nation of Israel when God through Moses delivered Israel from Egypt in the Exodus and Hosea 11 one, my son does not refer to Jesus the Messiah. It refers to the nation Israel. So what's going on in Matthew two 15?

10:04I'm going to switch into professor mode for just a moment, but don't tune out. I'll try to make this easy to understand And here's my, my carrot for you. If you understand what I'm about to show you, I think it will help you understand and enjoy God and his word even more. So stay with me here. Bible interpreters don't agree on how the New Testament uses the Old Testament. I don't have time to get into all the various views here. I'll get right to the point and state my view. New Testament authors like Matthew consistently interpret Old Testament passages like Hosea 11, one in their literary contexts.

10:51And Old Testament passages may have an expanded meaning that the divine author intended, but that the human author did not consciously intend. There are three related components here that distinguish this approach. The what is an expanded meaning, the why is a whole Bible or canonical approach. And then the how is typology, lemme explain. Each of those three components start with an expanded meaning, meaning an Old Testament passage I believe may have an expanded meaning that its human author like Hosea did not consciously intend, but that the passages divine author did intend. And it's that divine intention that New Testament authors occasionally refer to when they discern an expanded meaning in an Old Testament passage.

11:49So that term expanded meaning does not mean that an Old Testament passages meaning changes. No, no, no. It means in retrospect, looking back you might recognize an expanded meaning that the Old Testament human author did not consciously intend, but that God the divine author intended from the beginning. So this progress from an Old Testament passage to a New Testament passage like out of Egypt. I called my son in Hosea 11, one to Matthew two 15. This progress is like an acorn developing into an oak tree. It's an organic connection with real continuity and progression. It's not like an acorn developing into a grapevine.

12:36There's no organic connection there. So for out of Egypt, I called my son that line in Hosea 11, one regarding Israel foreshadows Matthew two 15 regarding Jesus. Lemme show, show how this is connected out of Egypt. I called my son, my son that sonship language. Hosea didn't invent that he's actually referring back to previous Old Testament revelation way back to Exodus 4 22 and 23. The Lord tells Moses what to say to Pharaoh, thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son. And I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me. So God called his son Israel out of Egypt to inaugurate the old covenant.

13:40And God called his son Jesus out of Egypt to inaugurate the new covenant. Jesus brings the first event to its God designed end. He fills up that event. Jesus fulfills that event. Matthew repeatedly shows how disobedient Israel foreshadows the obedient Messiah. So where Israel failed Jesus retraces Israel's steps and accomplishes God's mission. For example, here are some parallels between Israel and Jesus at the beginning of the gospel of Matthew. So you have two columns here. On the left is Israel in the Old Testament, and on the right is Jesus in Matthew. So let's look at this one. This is what we're talking about specifically in two 15.

14:32In, in the Old Testament, God called his son Israel out of Egypt in two 15, God called his son Jesus out of Egypt. Then we'll go to Matthew two 16. But first let's go back to the Old Testament. Moses was the miracle baby whom God protected so that Moses would deliver God's people from bondage. In the Exodus, Jesus is the ultimate miracle baby whom God protects so that Jesus would deliver his people from their sins in the ultimate exodus. So, so Egypt symbolizes a place in which wicked rulers, the wicked ruler Pharaoh, is trying to murder babies, to exterminate God's people. Pharaoh does this with the male babies in Exodus one, Herod does it again in Matthew two 16, Satan, the devouring dragon is behind the murderous actions of both Pharaoh in Exodus one and Herod in Matthew two.

15:40And I think Revelation 12, four to six is depicting this. Here's another example in the Old Testament, Israel passed through the Red Sea. Now Paul describes that event in one Corinthians 10, one and two. He describes it as Israel being baptized in the sea. And in Mark, excuse me, in Matthew three, Jesus was baptized then, uh, well I'm just tracing this through Matthew, Matthew four, back in the Old Testament here, Israel was tempted in the wilderness for 40 years. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days. Israel, after the Exodus received the mosaic law from a mountain. And after Jesus was tempted in the, in the wilderness for 40 days, he preaches the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew five to seven.

16:33If you're this is happening, it gets better. But I, I get to get back to our text. The book of Matthew is awesome. Uh, so this, this concept of an expanded meaning makes sense with a whole Bible approach and typology. So back to these three elements here, that was an expanded meaning. Let's talk about a whole Bible approach. So the basis of recognizing and expanded meaning that the divine author intended but that the Old Testament human author didn't consciously intend is a whole Bible approach. This approach views the whole Bible as the ultimate literary context for interpreting any passage like one in the Old Testament.

17:18The whole Bible has unity because it has one divine author, God wrote the Bible, all of it, every word Old Testament human authors may have suspected what they wrote was pregnant with meanings they didn't fully comprehend. And even if they didn't have such an inkling, old Testament authors would not object to how New Testament authors use the Old Testament to Hosea Wouldn't if, if he could after he wrote his book, if he could read Matthew, he wouldn't read Matthew two 15 and then go, what in the world is Matthew doing out of Egypt? I called my son when I wrote that sentence, I was referring to the Israelites, not Jesus.

18:03He twisted my words outta context. You think Hosea the prophet would, would think that no, no, the divine author does not intend a meaning contrary to what the Old Testament human authors intended to communicate through their words. Here's a a way I like to put it. God may intend more but not less than what the human authors intended. So whole bible approach builds on the salvation historical story of the Bible that unfolds through the covenants and climaxes in Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament. And this approach follows the pattern of how the Old Testament uses the Old Testament, like how Hosea is using sonship language and the Exodus theme in Hosea 11 one.

18:52And then the third component here is typology. What I like to call picture prophecy. The means the way you recognize an expanded meaning that the divine author intended, but that the Old Testament human author may not have consciously intended is typology. Typology analyzes how new testament persons events and institutions we call those anti types, how they fulfill Old Testament persons events and institutions. We call those types. And this is sometimes confusing for people. I think the term comes from like if you had a hammer and you hit there, it leaves a mark. So that's, that's the type the hammer's, the anti type, that's the real thing.

19:43That's the copy. That's, that's the idea. So here's, here's another way to put it, um, uh, you can illustrate it this way. A type could be a person like Adam Joseph or King David. A type can be an event like the exodus and the type can be an institution like the sacrificial system under the old covenant. So the fulfillment happens by repeating the Old Testament situation at a deeper climactic level. In the story of salvation typology is picture prophecy in which God designs a picture, a person, an event, or an institution. He, he designs a picture to prophesy the fulfillment. A type foreshadows an anti type.

20:36In other words the the New Testament anti type fulfills the type Jesus fulfills. The Old Testament sacrificial system for example is back to Hosea and Matthew. How might the prophet Hosea respond when he learned how Matthew cites out of Egypt? I called my son. If Hosea were able to look forward in time and see what Matthew does, he would interpret, uh, how how Matthew interprets Jesus in light of what the Old Testament human author wrote. I think Hosea might say something like this and you can check when you get to the new heavens and new earth, ask him, I, I'm guessing he'd say something like this.

21:24That's beautiful. I didn't fully understand what everything I wrote implies I wasn't fully conscious of how what I wrote was part of this typological trajectory that climaxes in the Messiah whose name is Jesus. But now I see that what I wrote is wonderfully consistent with what Matthew wrote. Praise God for masterfully designing it that way. I'm guessing that's what he thinks. So typology shows how the Old Testament points to Jesus climaxes in Jesus. Now I shared all that with you to try to help you make sense of Matthew two 15. I think he's brilliantly citing Hosea 11 one sometimes significant connections between promise and fulfillment involved typology.

22:16And this is usually the, usually the case when Matthew says that particular events fulfill Old Testament passages. We'll see it again and again in Matthew. Thus ends the professor's little lesson. So I want to go right to here for a second. Now that was fulfillment one. Jesus fulfills what the prophet said about Israel's exodus from Egypt when Jesus flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod dies. Fulfillment two is verses 16 to 18. And somehow these got outta order. Here we go right here. Jesus fulfills what the prophet Jeremiah said about Israel's tragic exile when Herod murders the male children in Bethlehem.

23:20Let's read verses 16 to 18 and then look at this second fulfillment. Verse 16 then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked outwitted by the wise men became furious and he sent soldiers and killed or gave orders to massacre all the male children in Bethlehem. All the boys in that region, in all that region who are two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained learned from the wise men then was fulfilled What was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah that his Herod's brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, a voice was heard in rama weeping and loud lamentation, loud wailing Rachel weeping for her children.

24:11She refused to be comforted because they're no more, they're gone, they're dead. Now, as I said earlier, king Herod is notorious for being paranoid that others would try to steal his throne. And he is also notorious for being cruel and merciless to anyone he suspected was trying to do that. Herod followed the Jewish custom of not eating pork and he allegedly led Augustus the emperor of Rome to quip it's better to be Herod's pig than his son. He had killed so many of his sons that he suspected were trying to steal his throne. And at the end of Herod's life when he was most paranoid and unstable and unwell bad health, he learned about someone who had been born king of the Jews.

25:07So here in Matthew two 16, Herod is so furious that he sends Roman soldiers to massacre all the male boys in Bethlehem. Two years old and under. So I'll show you the map again to remind you where Bethlehem is. So I'm looking right here. Bethlehem is that dot. And right next to Jerusalem, Bethlehem was a small village. Some New Testament scholars estimate that there may have been only 10 to 20 boys in Bethlehem ages two and under doesn't take away how horrific this is. So this this grief filled event Fulfills what the prophet Jeremiah spoke in Jeremiah 31 15 in Jeremiah 31 15. The literary context is about the mass exile of Israelites to Babylon.

26:04So, so thus says the Lord. A voice is heard in rama lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for his chil for her children because they are no more. So Rachel who was buried near Bethlehem is the mother of the nation of Israel. Rachel's weeping personifies the people of Israel weeping at that time. Jeremiah's recording. So their deep grief when a foreign power nearly wiped out God's people prophetically pictures the deep grief in Bethlehem in Matthew two 16 when a foreign power tries to wipe out the Messiah. Now the context of Jeremiah 31 15 is hope.

26:57Despite tragic exile hope that the Jews would return to their land. The very next two sentences after verse 15 say, this, Lord says the Lord keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears for there's a reward for your work declares the Lord and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future declares the Lord and your children shall come back to their own country. Just a little bit later in this passage, it's a is a a quotation. You probably know Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34, which announces a new covenant that God will establish with his people. Hebrews eight quotes it so in the future the exile will be over.

27:49And here in Matthew two 16 and 17 is the ultimate hope. Jesus escapes the massacre. Jesus is the ultimate son of David who returns to Israel's land to end Israel's exile and establish the new covenant. It's just brilliant what Matthew's doing in putting the connections here and that God designed when he breathe out his words through Jeremiah. So that's the second fulfillment in our passage. Uh, Jesus fulfills what the prophet Jeremiah said about Israel's tragic exile when Herod murders the male children in Bethlehem. Now let's look at the third fulfillment. Jesus fulfills what the prophets said about Israel's despised Messiah when Jesus grows up in Nazareth.

28:48Let's read verses 19 through 23. But when Herod died, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, rise, get up. Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life, those who intended to kill him are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that ar 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. So that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene King.

29:43Herod died in four bc. His three sons received different parts of his kingdom. That is his three sons who are still alive. His son Aus ruled over Judea, which is where Bethlehem is. So here's a map from the Holman Bible atlas. The red area signifies what Aus ruled over a purple area signifies what onus ruled over Bethlehem. And Judea is in the red area, Nazareth and Galilee is in the purple area. Joseph feared to live in the red area because ais was cruel like his father. Herod Nazareth in the purple area was a relatively tiny obscure village may have consisted of consisted of about 500 people total.

30:39So now let's get to the the harder part of the passage, the end of verse 23. Bible translations handle that last phrase in verse 23 in two basic ways. Some translate it as a direct quotation with quotation marks. So quote, he will be called a Nazarene end quote. The New American standard Bible has it that way. Others like the ESV that we're using does not have quotation marks. It's an indirect statement that he would be called a Nazarene and the the Greek text could go either way. The Greek text doesn't include quotation marks, at least not the way we do in English. I think it's correct not to include the quotation marks here.

31:28The reason the ESV and other translations don't put quotation marks around that phrase, he would be called a Nazarene, is that no Old Testament passage says that phrase. I'm not aware of any literature that uses that phrase before Matthew does. So what's the connection to the Old Testament? How is this a fulfillment? And there are three main views on how Matthew 2 23 fulfills the Old Testament. One view is that Jesus is the Nazarite of judges 13 five in judges 13 five. The angel of the Lord says this to a couple who would become the parents of Samson. Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son.

32:22No razor shall come upon his head. For the child shall be a nazarite to God from the womb and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines. So according to this first view, Jesus fulfills Samson as the ultimate Nazarite judge and deliverer. A second view is Jesus is the branch of Isaiah 11, one. So according to this view, Matthew intentionally uses the word Nazarene because it sounds like the Hebrew word for branch, which is nr. And that word nr describes the Messiah in Isaiah 11, one, listen to Isaiah 11, one, there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a nr and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit the Hebrew word for branches nr.

33:25The Jews likely named Nazareth after that word, the town of Nazar F. If that's the case, then Nazareth meant branch town, Nazarene meant branch person. Other Old Testament passages also speak of the Messiah as a branch though with a different Hebrew word. And a third view is Jesus is the despised Messiah. And according to this view, Matthew is referring to a theme in the Old Testament prophets that people would despise the Messiah. For example, Isaiah 53, 3 says He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And it's one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him.

34:24Not similar to that passage is Psalm 22, 6 to eight in Isaiah 49, 7. In a similar way, people at the time of Jesus despised people from the town of Nazareth. Nazareth was obscure, insignificant, backwards. That's why Nathaniel asks in John 1 46, can anything good come from Nazareth? So to call someone a Nazarene was an insult. Kind of like calling someone today a redneck or a hick. So Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth. People called him the Nazarene as a way to scorn him. Mark 1467.

35:18I'm not certain which one of these three views is right. I would not take a bullet for it. But I find view three most persuasive, maybe even a combination of views two and three. One of the reasons is the wording in Matthew 2 23. It says, what was spoken by the prophets plural with an S. The previous two was prophet singular. Here it's plural, not a single prophet like Hosea or Jeremiah. So I don't think Matthew is pointing back to a single text in the Old Testament and quoting it like, like in judges. Rather, Matthew is referring to a theme in the Old Testament. I'm not convinced Matthew intends to connect Jesus to Samson the Nazarite in Judges 13 because of various theological and and electrical or word links that don't seem strong to me.

36:16I could be wrong about that. So here's, here's my conclusion of what the three fulfillments are in this passage. So first is Jesus fulfills what the prophet Hosea said about Israel's exodus from Egypt when Jesus flees to Egypt and remains there until Herod dies. The second Jesus fulfills what the prophet Jeremiah said about Israel's tragic exile when Herod murders the male children in Bethlehem. And then third, Jesus fulfills what the prophet's plural, especially Isaiah and Psalms said about Israel's despise Messiah. When Jesus grows up in Nazareth, Jesus fulfills what the prophet said about Israel's exodus exile and despise Messiah.

37:02Now, how should we respond to that? Here is what I think is the main way we should respond to a passage like this that gives us fulfillment, fulfillment, fulfillment. Worship Jesus the Messiah. That's it. Worship Jesus the Messiah. Praise God that Jesus the Messiah brings the Old Testament to its God designed end. So praise God for each of these three fulfillments. First, Jesus is the ultimate miracle baby whom God protects like Moses, so that Jesus would deliver his people from their sins. In the ultimate exodus when he redeems you, God called his son Jesus out of Egypt to inaugurate the new covenant.

37:56That's a reason to worship Jesus the Messiah. Second, Jesus is the ultimate son of David who returns to Israel's land to end Israel's exile and establish the new covenant. That's another reason to worship Jesus the Messiah. And third, Jesus was the despised Messiah, rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. That's yet another reason to worship Jesus the Messiah. So worship Jesus the Messiah who fulfills the Old Testament, who brings the Old Testament to its God designed end. Trust him as your deliverer. Follow him as your master. Don't reject King Jesus. Give them your soul, your life, your all.

38:58Give your full allegiance to Christ the king. Let's pray. Thank you, father, that Jesus the Messiah fulfills the Old Testament. Specifically thank you that Jesus fulfills what the prophet Hosea said about Israel's exodus from Egypt. Thank you that Jesus fulfills what the prophet Jeremiah said about Israel's tragic exile. And thank you that Jesus fulfills what the prophet's said about Israel's despise Messiah. Amen. Amen.

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Matthew 2:13-23

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