Mat 2:13-15; God Will Not Abandon His Rebellious Son.
length: 80:20 - taught on Nov, 19 2023
Class Outline:
Sunday November 19, 2023
Theme: God would not abandon His rebellious son, and so He sent His perfect Son to save the prodigal.
Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."
Israel was called a son and rebelled.
After the Red Sea …Mirah (Exo 15); hungry (Exo 16); thirsty (Exo 17); …
Jesus comes out of Egypt as the called Son that the Father desired.
Biblically, Egypt was the place of shelter for Jacob and his sons.
God has purposed every human life to be a magnificent story of goodness, heroism, virtue, righteousness, overcoming evil.
It is not a mistake that Jesus’ life has all the elements of the greatest stories. He has given us His story to live out. And we are surrounded by lies that say that life is a fairy tale dream.
Satan wants us to think that humanity is existence.
Matthew discovers by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that Jesus will come out of Egypt just as Israel did many years prior.
When God called Israel out of Egypt, He made them a nation (kingdom).
Jesus alone will begin a nation. It will not be the failed nation of the past. It will be the nation that will be what the Father always longed for.
In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain. 3 Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: 4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself. 5 'Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel."
They did not become a nation of priests. Legitimate priests know the Lord and worship Him.
And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
Christ saved us from sin and death so that we could live unto Him, our high priest, as His priests. “You are the people of God.”
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. 16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Matthew is going to compile his first extended discourse from Jesus on this very topic - Mat 5-7; who is the disciple of Christ’s kingdom?
So, all of us must see that what Christ was born into this world to create - a nation of priests (of the multifaceted way we can look at His kingdom).
Every Christian must understand that their salvation through faith in Christ as their Savior has made them for the purpose of holiness - to be like Christ, and nothing else.
Of all that God purposed to do with Israel, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of it.
Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."
14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."
The prophet quoted is Hosea.
Hosea was contemporary with Isaiah and Micah.
They accused, warned, and all offered hope.
If God had to punish them for their unfaithfulness, what could He do to fulfill His promise?
Hosea: was commanded to marry a harlot, had three children with her, and when she ran off to be with one of her lovers, Hosea was to go and buy her back. This was all a symbol of God’s relationship with Israel.
“For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil,
And lavished on her silver and gold,
Which they used for Baal.”
“I will punish her for the days of the Baals
When she used to offer sacrifices to them
And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.
And then, right at the start, is the first glimmer of hope.
“It will come about in that day,” declares the Lord,
“That you will call Me Ishi
And will no longer call Me Baali.”
“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the Lord.”
Chapters 4-10 are full of accusations and warnings. We are all guilty of them to some extent [as believers we still sin].
Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel,
For the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is no faithfulness or kindness
Or knowledge of God in the land.
2 There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery.
They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.
The reason is given: they do not know God.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being My priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.
Their harlotry takes away the understanding they do have:
Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.
Do you see His love? Do you see how rebellion and sin only breed a lack of knowledge? You keep yourself pure for the purpose of being able to know Him and love like Him.
The second glimmer of hope is in the poem that is chapter 11.
We could pick any line in chapter 10 and it will show us their unfaithfulness and wickedness.
You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice,
You have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors,
And then:
When Israel was a youth I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
We are to see this as the fully devoted, tender love of a father for His only son. A father who used his mighty strength to free his son from slavery and oppression and took that son to himself, to his bosom, and raised him, taught him, trained him, and gave to him all his blessings.
And, like all children (almost all?) the son rebelled.
The more they called them,
The more they went from them;
They kept sacrificing to the Baals
And burning incense to idols.
3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim [Israel] to walk,
I took them in My arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,
And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;
And I bent down and fed them.
Then the Father states He will discipline them with Assyria.
The father moves quickly from anger to broken heartedness (like any good father).
So My people are bent on turning from Me.
Though they call them to the One on high,
None at all exalts Him.
And then the climax of the poem:
How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zeboiim [both destroyed with S&G]?
My heart is turned over within Me,
All My compassions are kindled [“Let this cup pass from Me”].
9 I will not execute My fierce anger;
I will not destroy Ephraim again.
For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst,
And I will not come in wrath.
10 They will walk after the Lord,
He will roar like a lion;
Indeed He will roar
And His sons will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come trembling like birds from Egypt
And like doves from the land of Assyria;
And I will settle them in their houses, declares the Lord.
Seeing prophecy in context.
When Israel was a youth I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
If God must execute justice upon His rebellious son, how is He then to save His son (Israel) and the world?
The Son from Egypt, the one from whom the Father will build a nation, must be perfectly righteous and faithful, and He must be punished in the place of the others.
In whatever ways God could have made the creatures of time - not made humans at all, made us so that we could not rebel (not have choice), what He did do was an ultimate display of love.
You who are believers in Christ were as sinful and lost and rebellious as they, and He did not give you up. He saved you with the greatest display of love, unimaginable love.
You must love like He does. Not loving those who love you only.
You must be a priest. Knowing the Father and the Son and worshipping Him.
The Lord was made to come from Egypt like the children of Israel, but without rebellion.
And then to give His life for the rebellious.
Do you see His love? Do you see how rebellion and sin only breed a lack of knowledge? You keep yourself pure for the purpose of being able to know Him and love like Him.
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