Why Did Mary and Joseph Flee to Egypt?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew, and we are in Matthew chapter 2, and Dave, I’m going to pick up with verse 12:“And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”Of course this is referring to the wise men.Verse 13:“And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word:for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”Of course this is a dream, and we talked about dreams last week, and this is the way the Lord communicated to Joseph to preserve him, and certainly, Mary and the baby Jesus.

Dave:

Well, it’s interesting that it doesn’t say, baby.You just said, baby Jesus, but Tom, I know what you’re saying, I mean, this is the way we put it.But it doesn’t say, baby Jesus—but the child.So, we don’t know how long after the birth, but we know that they are not living in the stable anymore, and all that influx of people who came there because this is where their birth records were and so forth, they have gone home.Apparently, Mary and Joseph didn’t—they stayed in Bethlehem for some time.

Tom:

It says they were in a house.

Dave:

Yes, it refers to Him as a child, and that is when they are warned to get out of here, head for Egypt, because Herod, of course, he knows that—well, go on and read it, Tom.

Tom:

Verse 15:“And was there until the death of Herod:that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, OUT OF EGYPT HAVE I CALLED MY SON.Dave, we have been speaking about prophecy over and over and over again. Why do we do that? Except that that’s the proof that the Word of God is THE Word of God.

Dave:

Even evangelicals, Tom, or professing evangelicals who say, well, that’s not really what it meant, because Matthew, he kind of picked up on that verse back there, and tried to make something out of it.But there are other ways of verifying this as well, which I don’t think we can take the time to go into.I want to get down here to verse 16.

Tom:

Okay, let me read it.“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.”

Dave:

So he’s a crafty scoundrel and he—

Tom:

Looking out for his own well being?

Dave:

Well, he’s trying to preserve his throne, this is shocking—where is he that born king of the Jews?Wow, we’ve seen his star.Wait a minute!Well, okay, I would like to worship Him, too.When you find Him, it says in Bethlehem, so that’s where you want to go, and when you find Him let me know where He is so I can come and worship Him too.But now the wise men, who should have figured that out, but apparently they didn’t, they were warned of God in a dream to go back another way, and don’t play this wicked king’s game.Now he realizes—Hey, they should have been back here by now, it’s not that far between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.What happened to them?Aha, they are not going to give me the information I wanted.So okay, he sends out his troops, not just to Bethlehem but the whole surrounding area, and—kill every male child two years of age and younger.So, I’m sure, probably Jesus wasn’t two years old at that point, maybe 18 months, and Herod is adding a little extra to make sure.But Tom, it just reminds you of what’s going on in our world today.I was seeing on the internet this woman, wow, breaking her back carrying her husband, who went to work one morning healthy—. This was in Iraq, and a roadside bomb and it took his legs off up above the knees.He doesn’t have any way of getting prosthetics or artificial legs over there, maybe, somehow he will eventually.In the meantime she just has to take care of him like a baby.She can’t even get out of the house, she can’t earn a living, and so forth, and there are people like that in our world today, maybe more than there were then, because not many people had the power then, but their hearts are the same.But Herod certainly showed us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.What’s he preserving?As we mentioned about Richard Dawkins, how long will it last?You know, you had better think about it.Am I going to trade eternity in hell for a few moments?I was thinking of that Tom, the other day in relation to Spitzer, the governor of New York, throws everything away, his career on this earth away for a minutes, a few hours with some prostitutes?What could he have been thinking of?He didn’t weigh the balance.It’s like Pascal’s Wager; Pascal came up with this argument.He said, look, if I’m wrong, I’m a follower of Christ and of God, and if I’m wrong, I’m no worse off than anybody else.So, I was wrong, but it hasn’t cost me anything, maybe a little fun, or whatever in this world, I might have lived a different life.On the other hand I’ve been happy serving the Lord, but you atheist, you say God does not exist, and if you are wrong you are going to reap that for eternity.Pascal said you know it’s not a sensible wager to make; this is a risk too great to take.You ought to bet on the other side, it’s not the matter of betting, but it’s just a way of putting it.

Tom:

Let me take a look at 17, but we’re going to go back to prophecy.“Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”Now again, I think about Paul in the synagogue in Berea, you know, as was his way he would go into the synagogue first, the gospel to the Jew first, and then the Greek, the non Jew, and what was he preaching and teaching?He was going through that Jesus must be the Messiah because of fulfilled prophecy.He could point to this; he could point to the other verse that we mentioned earlier, prophecy after prophecy, this was his explanation that Jesus—historic explanation that Jesus must be the Christ, the Messiah.

Dave:

Tom, I often point it out, and my wife says don’t be holding people to this now, this is not the only way to preach the gospel, but well, this is the way Paul preached it.Acts 17, we just went through Acts, and not long ago we were there, and what does it say?“He went into the synagogue and for three Sabbath days he reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must needs suffer these things and that this Jesus that I preach unto you is the Christ.”How did Paul preach the gospel?First of all he laid a foundation in the Old Testament.Look, here’s what the prophet said, your own prophet—you Jews! And you can see everything was fulfilled in the life that He lived, the birth, the life, the death and the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth exactly as t he prophet said!He is the Messiah!Now that’s the way we need to preach the gospel.It doesn’t mean that everyone will then get saved.Oh well, there it is, you know, well I can’t escape that.No, because the heart is wicked, but we have to give them the facts.

Tom:

And Dave, as you’ve said over and over again, this is irrefutable proof.The probability—you want to be scientific about this, what’s the probability of these very detailed specific prophecies, how many of them?

Dave:

More than a hundred about Christ.

Tom:

Fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus Christ and certainly there are many more related to the second coming.

Dave:

Crucifixion had not been known on this earth for 500 years before.

Tom:

Certainly as a way of countries administering so-called justice, right?

Dave:

This is the foundation—the resurrection is the foundation, Christ isn’t risen yet and you’ve sinned, Paul says.And this is what the atheists go after; this is what the Muslims go after.You’ve got 40 words, one verse in the Qur’an and it says: No, He wasn’t crucified, and of course He didn’t rise from the dead.But we know, and we can prove it by prophecy, and this is the way the apostles preach the gospel.