Prophesies of a Perfect Savior

Today is really part 2 of last week since what we read about this week really are the results of what happened last week in the account of Jesus’s birth and early life.

As a reminder, Matthew’s desire in his telling of Jesus’s life, especially in these 2 chapters on His birth, has been to prove that Jesus is the Messiah (the Savior) promised in the OT.

He wants those reading to know that Jesus is worth giving your life to, following, and sharing with everyone.

Thus far, He has walked through Jesus’s lineage from Abraham and David, showing He is the fulfillment of the promise of Abraham to bless and multiply his family; and He is the fulfillment of the promise to David to make his kingdom an everlasting Kingdom.

Then between chapters 1 and 2 he points to 5 OT prophesies about the Messiah to show how Jesus fulfills them and how by fulfilling them He proves He is the one they were all pointing to.

In today’s passage, there are 3 sections to the story, each with a reference to an OT prophesy.

Matthew is charting the movement of Jesus’s family, but is showing us that those movement and the events surrounding them were deeply significant to understanding who Jesus was.

Matthew wants readers to see that Jesus checks every box.

He doesn’t just meet the criteria for the Messiah, He exceeds every expectation, every hope, and every idea anyone could have for the coming Messiah.

Matthew wants everyone to see that Jesus is the PERFECT Messiah.

More than just know it intellectually, but to know it intimately.

To see the wonder and glory of Jesus as the perfect savior that He is.

So we are going to read verse 13-23, digging into how these events and the prophesies referenced reveal Jesus as our Perfect Savior.

Matthew 2:13–23 CSB

13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son. 16 Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 18 A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more. 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, because those who intended to kill the child are dead.” 21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. 23 Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

He wants us to see that:

A) Jesus is our PERFECT SAVIOR.

Just to catch us up with the story this far.

Three wise men from the east had followed a star in that appeared in the sky that they had come to understand must be the one the Jews had said was the “King of the Jews.”

The star led them to Judea to speak Herod the Great who was king in Judea.

Herod was a malicious and suspicious ruler, so the thought of anyone claiming to be king other than him was not going to sit well.

So after finding out where the Messiah was supposed to be born, Herod sent the Wise men to find him and report back.

After finding and worship Jesus, the wise men were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and went home instead.

Now as we just read, this did not sit well with Herod.

He was enraged and decided stronger action was necessary.

He ordered that every boy in Bethlehem and the surrounding area 2 and under be killed in order to take out the one thought to take his place.

With estimates in population, most believe somewhere around 20 families lost their sons due to Herod’s order.

But Jesus’s dad Joseph had been told in a dream to flee Bethlehem and to go to Egypt in order to escape Herod’s anger.

There are all kinds of places Jesus could have been sent, and really all kind of ways God could have chosen to protect Jesus, but He was sent to Egypt.

It made practical sense because there were large populations of Jews left in Egypt from long ago, that would have provided a safe place for Jesus and His family.

But Matthew wants us to see that there was a bigger reason Jesus was sent to Egypt.

Some 1400 years before Jesus, God had brought His people out of slavery in Egypt, through an event we know as The Exodus (think Charleston Heston or the Prince of Egypt).

For more than a thousand years, the Jewish people would have continually been reminded of the Exodus and God’s salvation.

It was a part of their calendar to remember and celebrate God saving them.

And it was regularly pointed back to by the prophets to remind the people of God’s love.

And this is how it was used in Hosea 11:1, referenced here in Matthew.

When Hosea wrote that 700 year before, he didn’t intend on it being a reference to the Messiah, but Matthew understood the significance and wants us to understand it.

Jesus was bringing about a new Exodus, and an even better Exodus.

Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is the perfect Savior because...

1) He offers us FREEDOM from our SLAVERY to SIN.

Just like Moses, he has come to save you.

And though we may not be under physical oppression, the bible tells us that we are dying under the weight of spiritual oppression.

We are sinners—each one of us.

Our sins may look different in each of our lives, but all of us have turned aside from God and His good ways for our life.

We’ve all rebelled against God’s ways, sinning against God, and our sin has separated us from Him.

And outside of Christ, our Immanuel, there is no hope of salvation.

Matthew is writing to Jewish people much like us, who are enslaved by the the constant pursuit of trying to fill a hole in our lives with all kind of things that will never satisfy us and never fix what our sin has broken.

And that’s what makes Jesus the Perfect Savior.

He has come to meet you and me right where we are in our sinfulness.

So that anyone, anywhere, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, can put your trust in Jesus

And you can be saved from the penalty of sin and death, saved from the power of sin in your life, saved to enjoy life with God—God with you.

2) He offers us HOPE in our DEEPEST HURTS.

Matthews second reason Jesus is the perfect Savior comes in one of the most gruesome and awful events recorded in the Bible.

It is called “The Slaughter of the Innocent”. Herod, in his jealous rage, orders the murder of innocent boys in and around Bethlehem.

Matthew is writing this many years after it happened, but there would still be a stinging reality to this event. 20 or so families dealing with the brutal murders of their young boys.

So why does Matthew reference what seems like a mournful passage from Jeremiah 31?

As odd as it might sound, Matthew isn’t pointing out the pain in this verse, but rather a promise.

Matthew is using this as a metaphor for the suffering of Israel.

He is connecting the situation in the exile with the state of Israel in the time of Christ.

But there is reason for hope.

Prophesies stated like this would often have assumed context, meaning Matthew wasn’t just referencing Jeremiah 31:15 here, but the surrounding context of the verse.

In the Jeremiah passage, God is speaking about the mothers of the children separated from their families by the exile in Babylon.

Sons and daughters would have been taken from the parents, and brought into Babylon never to see their families again.

Matthew is pointing to the similar circumstances happening in Bethlehem and then point to the next verses.

Jeremiah 31:15–17 CSB

15 This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping— Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more. 16 This is what the Lord says: Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return from the enemy’s land. 17 There is hope for your future— this is the Lord’s declaration— and your children will return to their own territory.

Though it might seem like your world is hopeless and your hurt and pain will never end, God has a plan.

Jesus brings with him hope into the hopeless and healing to our greatest hurts.

There is an acknowledgement of the pain and the evil, but there is a promise that shines brighter.

Some of you need to hear this: There is hope for you future.

It might not look like you thought it would.

There will be scares that you carry with you from the pain you have walked through.

But if you are in Christ, if you know Him, your future is filled with Hope.

There God has purpose and intention behind the things you are walking through, then there is hope.

Through Christ, He will wipe away our tears and heal our deepest hurts.

And this promise is the foundation of the joy we have in Christ

A joy that shines through even the hardest and most painful situations and season of life.

3) He offers us VICTORY as our HUMBLE KING.

The final reason Jesus is our perfect Savior is by far the most obscure in Matthews recording.

After Joseph receives news that Herod has died and Israel is safe for he and his family, they begin the journey home.

It seems at first that their destination is Bethlehem, but after finding out that Herod’s son, Archelaus, is now king, they choose to return to Nazareth instead.

And though it might seem like an insignificant thing, Matthew wants us to see the significance.

He doesn’t reference a specific passage, but refer generally to “the prophets”, that Jesus would be called “a Nazarene”.

Nazareth is a small, insignificant town in Galilee that was not well thought of by most (remember Nathaniel’s words in John 1:46).

But the name “Nazareth” has some significant roots.

The Hebrew word ‘neser’ is used in Isaiah 11:1 and is translated as “branch”, in reference the Messiah coming from the “branch of Jesse” or the lineage of David.

He will be King in the line of David.

It is believed the name Nazareth came from this word “branch.”

This lowly, backwoods, meaningless town in Galilee was the hometown of the one who fulfilled it’s name.

For Jesus to be called a Nazarene was a reason for shame and a reason for bowing one’s knee in honor and allegiance.

Matthew communicates in a name a incredible truth about Jesus.

The King of Glory, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the Promised one, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, the very branch of Jesse, came into this world as a humble servant, not a mighty king.

He came not to be served, but to serve, to seek and saved the lost, to heal the broken and bind up the wounded.

He offers victory to all who would follow Him as their humble king.

B) Jesus DEMANDS a CLEAR and RADICAL RESPONSE.

Matthew wants us to face those three reasons for believing Jesus is our Perfect Messiah and he wants us to do so as we face the same decision as Herod and the others in the account.

Like Herod, everyone of us is going to have to decide what we are going to do with this Jesus.

Though Herod’s response to Jesus was wrong, the intensity and clarity of his response is not.

Herod had wrongly decided to treat Jesus as a threat that must be eliminated, but he did not try and remain indifferent to Jesus.

Matthew is going to place these moments of decision in front of us throughout his gospel, but it seems through Herod here he is making the point that: Jesus demands a clear and radical response from everyone that comes in contact with Him.

There is no room for half-heartedness or indifference.

You either crown Him as King or kill Him as a crazy man.

“If you read the bible you’ll see that nobody who ever met Jesus Christ ever had a moderate reaction to him. There are only three reactions to Jesus: they either hated him and wanted to kill him, they were afraid of him and wanted to run away, or they were absolutely smitten with him and they tried to give their whole lives to him…We must realize that the only possible way to respond to Jesus is “extremely”- John Stott

Related Media

Related Sermons