Pastor Slaughter
Christmas-1
January 1, 2022
The Son of God, the Promised Savior
Text: Matthew 2:12-23
When you think of Christmas, what does your mind think of? Do you think of the time with friends and family? Opening presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? The food? The travel? When you think about the Bible passages that talk about Christmas, what do think of? The angel coming to Mary telling her she will have a child? The angel telling Joseph that he is to name this child Jesus? Do you think of the Shepherds in the field or Jesus in a manger? You might think of the wise men visiting Jesus.
But how often do we think of when Joseph had to take Jesus and flee to Egypt. How often when we think about Christmas do we think about how King Herod killed the boys in Bethlehem in order to try to kill Jesus. In the Gospel today we see, the Son of God, the Promised Savior.
After studying this text, it just became apparent to me how the evil of this world was out to get Jesus even when he was a baby and to try to stop God’s plan of salvation. Remember when the wise men came and inquired of King Herod saying, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?” From that moment on Jesus became a threat to King Herod. Herod had in his heart to kill Jesus.
King Herod was a wicked king. He killed his first born son because he wanted his fathers throne. He was suffering terribly toward the end of his life. Before he died, the king realized how intensely he was hated by the Jews. So he had ordered leaders of the Jewish nation to be imprisoned and when he had died, they be put to death so that there would be mourning, if not for, at least at, his death. This execution was never carried out but this shows how evil this man was.
Being warned in a dream, the Wise Men never returned to Herod. Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Wise Men, and he was furious. It was not enough that Herod kill the boys in Bethlehem but his paranoia led him to kill the boys in the region around Bethlehem. Not only did he do that but he wanted to make sure he killed all the boys 2 years and under!
Herod perceived a real threat to his own authority when he committed his crime. He thought it would be reasonable to sacrifice 15-20 children to prevent an uprising. Don’t we see a similar thing today? Many people murder their unborn children as a matter of convenience or rationalize it by saying it would be kinder and more considerate to have an abortion and not to allow the birth of an unborn child. When we look around, isn’t obvious how desperately we need a savior? Whether it is in the time of Herod or today or whatever tomorrow brings, we needed that Savior to fulfill his mission. We needed the savior to save us from our sins whether it is an abortion or hatred or lust, we need the Son of God, the promised Savior.
Evil forces of this world would not be able to prevent the Promised Savior from completing his mission. God the father was going to protect his Son. The Lord appears to Joseph in a dream and warned him, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod will search for the child in order to kill him.”
Can you imagine how that must of been for Joseph and Mary? Here you have Jesus who is probably wound 6 month to a year but we can’t say for certain. They are told to get up and leave during the night. Uprooting their lives. Leaving the place that they were familiar with. To go to Egypt and live there until it was safe to return. Not only were their lives uprooted but they had heard the shepherds praise Jesus. The words of encouragement from Simeon and Anna. They had received comfort from the Wise men who came and offered Jesus gifts and worshiped him. So you have the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one everyone should be bowing down and worshiping has to flee for his life? Those questions that we all have thought before…Why God are you allowing this? Why does this have to happen to us? What is your plan and purpose in all of this?
We have all thought those things at some point before right? At the death of someone we know where it was unexpected or the loss of a job. Having to uproot our lives and move somewhere new and different. A tragic event in our lives. At the time we wonder, “Why God did you allow this? Why is this happening to me? What’s the purpose?” After sometime has passed we can look back and see why God led us down that path or allowed that us to go through that particular suffering or hardship. We might not be able to see that in every case, but there are times were we look back and I say “I see what you did there God.”
Looking back, why did they have to flee to Egypt? Matthew tells us, “This happened to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This had to take place because God is a faithful God who keeps his promises. After Herod died, the an angel of the Lord told them to go back and when joshed heard that Archelaus, Herod’s son who was just as wicked as his father, was ruler in Judea. He was warned in a dream and settled in Nazareth. So what was spoken through the preheats was fulfilled; “He will be called a Nazarene.”
When God speaks and says something will happen, guess what? It is going to happen. The Holy Family fleeing to Egypt, Jesus being called a Nazarene, from a worldly perspective Jesus doesn’t seem like much of a Savior. Having to run from King Herod and being from Nazareth wasn’t something to boast of. But those things were a further testimony that he was the promised Savior.
Jesus came to be the true Son of God. God gave his promise to his unfaithful people, and he kept that promise for unfaithful people of every race. Nothing was going to stop that promise from being fulfilled. Not Herod, nor his son Achelaus. No evil from this sin filled world nor the evil of sin inside of our hearts could stop him from carrying out that plan of salvation, because God promised it. Even death and the grave could not hold Jesus.
Even though Jesus may not have looked like the savior, even though we may not understand the events surrounding our lives, even though at times we may wonder “why” we can trust in God. Why? Because he fulfilled all the promises spoken about himself. If he has done that, then why would he now change that he doesn’t keep his promise? Because he is a God who does not change, because he is a God that keeps his promises. We can trust that he is going to do what he says. We trust that he is going to keep his promise. We trust that when he says that he paid for our sins, they are truly forgiven. We trust that he says he will work things out for our eternal good. We trust that he has prepared a place for us in heaven.
My family in Christ, this is a tough lesson to hear. When we think of Christmas, we may not want to think about Herod and the flight to Egypt, Herod killing the boys and trying to kill Jesus, but I think it is important for us to be reminded of it. Because we see that God protected Jesus and fulfilled the things spoken about Jesus, so that he could ultimately keep his promise by going to a cross and dying in our place. Nothing was going to stop him from being our Savior. Trust in God’s promises because nothing will stop God from keeping them. The Son of God, the promised Savior.