Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More
Text: Matthew 2:19-23
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s calling on the nation of Israel meaning everywhere Israel failed, Jesus Christ succeeded. Here are several things so far:
- Israel like Jesus taken down to Egypt in infancy.
- Pharaoh sought to kill all the male children just as Herod would do.
- One child escapes the slaughter of Pharaoh and one child escapes the slaughter of Herod.
- That child, Moses, becomes the deliverer of the nation. That child Jesus Christ becomes the deliver for the nation and all nations.
- The child – Moses or Jesus – was in Egypt because of a dream given to a man named Joseph.
- Going further, the nation would be taken into the wilderness and tried. Jesus Christ would be taken into the wilderness and tried.
The humanity of God
- Now, let’s consider the circumstances of Jesus Christ being called the Nazarene.
- Matthew 21:11
- Mark 1:24 – devils call him Jesus of Nazareth
- Mark 10:47 – blind man hears his name and recognizes him
- Mark 14:67
- Mark 16:6
- John 19:19
- Acts 22:8
- Jesus of Nazareth is a description of the humanity of God.
Safety in Nazareth
- There was safety in Nazareth. Though Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judah, he would be raised in Nazareth of the tribe of Zebulun, a northern tribe.
- This shows you how God intervenes in lives. He doesn’t kill the wicked, He guides His people. God doesn’t kill the wicked in order to make life easier for His people.
- First of all God is longsuffering and has no desire to put people in hell.
- There is no reason to destroy the wicked when He can simply guide His people out of the way of the wicked. That way He keeps His people out of danger and still allows the wicked an opportunity to repent.
Foreshadowing Gentile salvation
- 2 Kings 15:29 to 2 Kings 17:24 – Assyrians placed different nations in Samaria in Galilee
- The Lord Jesus Christ would grow up around Gentiles
- Matthew 4:15 & Isaiah 9:1-2
- John 7:52, Jonah is from Galilee
Simplicity of Nazareth
- John 1:45-46 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
- 1 Kings 9:12-13 Nazareth was an undesirable place to live.
- The significance of Jesus being a Nazarene is the simplicity of his early life.
- God the Father could have placed Jesus Christ anywhere and He chose a lower class fishing village for his only begotten sons’ formative years.
- He could focus on the development of Jesus Christ’s character beginning as a toddler.
- Luke 1:39-40, 49
