Born King of the Jews (Matthew 1:18-2:23)
October 20, 2019
Last week we started our study of the book of Matthew by looking over the genealogy. We began to see how Matthew emphasizes the Old Testament in his gospel because he wants the Jews to know that the king or Messiah that they have been looking forward to is here. The one whom all the Old Testament has been preparing us for has been born, and his name is Jesus. He is the son of Abraham, fulfilling all the promises made to Abraham. He is the son of David, fulfilling the promises God made to David. He is the Messiah fulfilling all of the promises made during the deportation to Babylon.
This week, we will begin to look at the story of Jesus’ beginning. Many people look at this story around Christmas time, but we can see that Matthew wasn’t writing this to be taken in once a year. He was writing this to build our faith every time we read it. This morning we will see how God has paved the way for Jesus to come in accordance with many Old Testament scriptures. In the section, I want us to see the proof that Matthew lays out for his bold claim. He has stated that Jesus is the Messiah, and now he seeks to prove that is the case. As it turns out, Jesus was not born under normal circumstances. He was born in conditions that allowed God’s word to be fulfilled. It might help us to grasp all of these concepts this morning by doing a broad swipe through the rest of the first and the second chapter.
Summary
If we read through this story, as many of us have on multiple occasions, we will see a lot of information that we probably already know. Jesus was born by the Holy Spirit, creating a child inside the womb of Mary. Joseph was going to divorce her, but the angel revealed that Mary was faithful and that the child was from the Holy Spirit. Joseph listens to the angel, marries Mary, and they name the child Jesus.
Then the story transitions to wise men or magi coming from the East, following a star, to worship the newly born king of the Jews. When their caravan reaches Jerusalem, they ask Herod, the king at that time, where the newly born king of the Jews was. Herod gathered the chief priests who told them that he would be born in Bethlehem. So they went to Bethlehem, worshipped the child, and brought him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
When the wise men left, they were told to go back home and not return to Herod because Herod was hoping to kill the child. God warned Joseph in a dream, and he escaped with his family to Egypt, where he stayed until Herod died. When he returned, he came to live in Nazareth.
Most of us would look at this story and say, “Wow, that is a turbulent start to life.” Actually, there is more to the birth than what is mentioned in Matthew. Luke goes in even greater detail, but his description is much smoother. Why does Matthew choose to include this in his book?
Five Birth Prophesies
As we look a little closer, we recognize that there are some valuable pieces of information that Matthew adds to each part of this story. Matthew gives us five prophesies, and in the midst of the prophesies, he uses wording that an educated Jew would recognize in the Old Testament story. One thing that we have to train ourselves to do as we look at the New Testament is to understand the context of the Old Testament references that are given. The writer expected the reader to know the circumstances surrounding each prophesy because that was their Bible in those days. So I would like for us to get a clearer picture of these Old Testament references to grasp what Matthew is revealing fully.
Immanuel
As we look at the angel revealing that Jesus was from the Holy Spirit and that he would save God’s people from their sins, Matthew brings up Isaiah 7 to say that God was fulfilling what he spoke through Isaiah.
Matthew 1:22--23 (ESV) --- 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
Matthew is referring to a part of Isaiah where the prophet was speaking to King Ahaz and telling him that God would deliver Judah from two enemies, Israel and Syria. God wants Ahaz to ask for a sign, but Ahaz refuses. So God tells him what the sign will be.
Isaiah 7:14--16 (ESV) --- 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.
God fulfilled this sign to Ahaz, but Matthew points out that God was revealing his ultimate plan of salvation. As Mary was pregnant with a child by the Holy Spirit, Matthew sees the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise that his name will be Immanuel (God with us). Jesus will be God living among humanity. This would be a lot for the human mind to take in during the first century. All of the Jews were waiting for God to descend and fill his temple with his glory. This was promised over and over again by the prophets (Hag 2:7; Eze 43:1-5). The Jews may have considered these promises to indicate that God would do what he did for Moses and Solomon, but God had always intended to come in human form and save his people in this way.
King
The next prophecy is part of a dramatic scene where the world recognizes that a king has been born and responds. It is interesting to see the wise men come from the East. They are like Daniel, who was chief of the magicians in Babylon, but they see a star, and that tells them that the king of the Jews has been born. So the travel to Jerusalem thinking that the capital city would be where the child would be born, but he is not there. The chief priests and scribes reveal that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem based on the book of Micah.
Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah. He was a prophet who spent a great deal of time condemning the people for their great sins against God. But, amid his prophecy, he points to the fact that Judah is crying out because they have no king. Judah thought they would always have a king under the succession of David, but Micah foretells the Babylonian captivity that would take place over 100 years later. In Chapter 5, Micah reveals that God will give them a new king who will be from Bethlehem. He will provide the people with the peace and security that they are longing for because he will come in the strength of the Lord to shepherd his people. Jesus fulfilled this prophecy completely. This is the one clear-cut prophecy of the five. It is easily understood to refer to the Messiah.
As Jesus fulfills this prophecy, Matthew wants us to note who recognized him. The wise men will find him in Bethlehem and worship him, bringing gifts to show him honor, while the king of the Jews, Herod the great, plots to kill him. The contrast is meant to represent how the Jews were like the evil, half Jewish, half Edomite king Herod who everyone hated. They were proud and unwilling to submit to the Messiah. What a contrast to these Gentiles who traveled far to find him and pay him honor. Matthew wants us to feel the tension that would have existed in the first century.
Rescuer
Now, as the story continues, we find Matthew pointing to several unique events to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. Joseph has a dream, escaped to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. Matthew says, “This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” This is a quote from the prophet Hosea, another contemporary of Isaiah and Micah. Hosea is a book about how Israel was like an unfaithful spouse. Hosea is commanded to illustrate God’s feelings by marrying a woman who would be a prostitute. God lets his prophet go through the emotional pain of being betrayed by the one he loves most to show us what he is going through. Israel’s idolatry was breaking God’s heart. The first ten chapters describe Hosea’s situation and how that relates to God’s situation. Then, in Chapter 11, we have a change of tone. Mixed in with the condemnation of Israel for treating God this way, we find a song of rescue and salvation.
Hosea 11:1--4 (ESV) --- 1 When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. 2 The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols. 3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. 4 I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.
God recalls how he cared for Israel and saved them from Egypt. He goes on to say in the song that he will not completely abandon his people. How could he when he loves them still? He promises to give them an even greater Exodus.
Hosea 13:14 (ESV) --- 14 I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting?
God will let Israel die, but he will bring them back to life. Going to captivity and coming back out is illustrated as a resurrection from the dead. Why does Matthew use this text? Matthew is saying that when Jesus was a child, he experienced the exile of God’s people in Egypt. He points to Hosea to show that Jesus is the one who has come to bring the new Exodus, an Exodus from death to life.
Comforter
The next section outlines Herod killing the children two years old and under. The imagery here is also more profound than it seems. He says that this was to fulfill what was spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was writing during the time of the Babylonian captivity. King Nebuchadnezzar repeatedly terrorized those in Jerusalem for their sins. Jeremiah is constantly condemning the people and calling them out for their idolatry and hard-heartedness. Jeremiah is a book full of reasons for weeping and wailing. God’s people have rebelled, and the perpetual slaughter of the Babylonians is punishing them. Three times they are carried off into captivity, and the captives were gathered in Ramah to be killed or carried away. The words of Jeremiah 31:15 that Matthew quotes represent their pain and suffering. But right before these words are spoken, Jeremiah tells the people that God will turn their mourning to joy (31:14). Also, after this verse, he says, “Keep your voices from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy” (31:16). Chapters 30-33 offer a glimmer of hope. A king is coming to save and lead God’s people back to him (30:21, 33:15-17).
This is a representation of God’s people at the time of Matthew. The oppression and suffering are likened to the time of Jeremiah, with the king carried off to exile while the people suffer. But the king will return as Jeremiah prophesied. The weeping will soon be over, and sorrow will be turned into joy.
Humble
The last prophecy is said to be fulfilled by Joseph taking Jesus to Nazareth so that he would be called a Nazarene. According to Matthew, many prophets told that this would happen, but oddly enough, not one prophet mentions Nazareth or a Nazarene. Some have supposed that Nazarene sounds like Nazarite, but Jesus was not a Nazarite. He was accused of being a winebibber and a glutton. The word Nazarite has no relation to the word Nazarene in the original language. The closer relationship would be to the word branch or shoot, which was called neśer. The Messiah is a branch or a shoot from the stump of Jesse, David’s father, has popped up multiple times by many prophets. However, the most likely cause for Matthew to say that prophets called Jesus a Nazarene is understood by knowing a little about the town of Nazareth. Nazareth was a very tiny village. It is only estimated to have around 500 people in it. The prophets never mentioned it because it probably didn’t exist for very long before Joseph moved there. In the New Testament, we get the impression that no one liked it or thought much of it. Nathaniel said, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth” (John 1:46). But it was common knowledge that the Messiah would be from nowhere significant.
John 7:27 (ESV) --- 27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”
They all understood that the Messiah would come from nowhere. He would be despised and rejected (Isaiah 53:2-3, 49:7; Psalm 69). He would be humble and lowly (Zech 9:9-10). Coming from Nazareth made Jesus a nobody. How could a Galilean be the Messiah? The best Jews were in Jerusalem. Matthew recognized that God was a fan of taking the lowly and making them extraordinary. That’s why he was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth.
What Is The Point?
The events that Matthew described were all selected for a reason. They reveal a king who is God living among us. He has come to be glorified by those who are truly wise and hated by those who are powerful. He will lead his people through a greater Exodus, turn sorrow into joy, and show the people God’s love for the humble. As we read through the New Testament, we may be tempted to read past all of the Old Testament references. But as we have seen in this chapter, the writers expect their readers to know the context of every passage selected and understand how it relates to the point they are trying to make. There are things here that are way beyond what we would have seen when we skim through the story of Jesus. Why did he do all of that? To open our eyes to how vital Jesus is and to help us see the value of all of God’s word from beginning to end. Jesus is not just a prominent figure because of the story we read about him in the New Testament. He is the central figure of all the Bible. When we open our Bibles into the Old Testament, we are learning about God, Jesus, and ourselves. Don’t think that Bible class is a repetition of things we already know. This is our opportunity to develop a greater understanding of our creator who fashioned Israel in such a way that it would represent what Jesus would one day come to do, or it would represent the opposite of what Jesus would go and do.
Application
Matthew’s gospel shows us that Jesus is God, but also that he has come down to earth to be human. He chooses a lowly life out in the middle of nowhere and he becomes a nobody. Why did he go through all of that? In our society, everyone is trying so hard to be somebody important. Everyone wants to be known and looked up to. Here we see that the all knowing, all powerful creator of the universe chooses to be a nobody from nowhere. That is the life that he wants to experience. He doesn’t show up and go into Jerusalem, expecting to be the best religious leader that men can create. He doesn’t expect to be crowned king from birth and live his life with servants waiting on him. He becomes a simple man from a simple family so that he can understand and sympathize with the basic needs of all mankind. He did all of that because he loved us. He was humble and lowly even though he was the greatest of all mankind.