Matthew chapter two. We really want to begin our reading in Matthew chapter one. We're going to examine a few verses only tonight because we're dealing with a theology of fulfillment. This is the fourth message on the theology of fulfillment, recognizing that our blessed Lord is the focal point of all the prophetic scriptures. And if I say all the prophetic scriptures, that is exactly what I mean. or any of the prophetic scriptures, whether they deal with the northern hordes that are going to come against the land of Israel, as outlined in Ezekiel thirty-eight and thirty-nine. You've got to remember that their Ezekiel thirty-six and thirty-seven came before thirty-eight and thirty-nine. And in Ezekiel thirty-six, we have God in new covenant grace giving a new heart to men in salvation. And in Ezekiel thirty-seven we see how the new birth works. Dry bones are called the light. And the Spirit of God enters into them a mighty army. And I know that this has reference in a very basically because of the sign of the two sticks that he's given. But God never does anything in the fulfillment of his word apart from the doctrine of redemption. And when we talk about redemption, God is not going to save Israel in the coming day because of Jews. He's going to save Israel in the coming day because it's his will. And he's only going to save Israel when there's genuine repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. So our blessed Lord is the focal point of all the prophetic scriptures. And we've been examining Genesis chapter three and verse fifteen. how it focuses upon the Redeemer, our Lord Jesus, along with other passages from the Old Testament, and they find their culmination in the person of Christ. Now, in Matthew chapter one, we want to begin our reading at verse twenty-two. We should read verse twenty-one. For the angel says to Joseph, and she, speaking of Mary, shall bring forth a son, and I shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord, by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Now chapter two, verse five. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea. This is a wise man getting information from the scribes and the scribes of Israel concerning the star that they had followed. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, For thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah, Art not the least among the princes of Judah, For out of thee shall come forth a governor that shall rule my people Israel. Verse fifteen. And was there. We should read verse fourteen with it. And he arose, that is Joseph, and took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets saying, Out of Egypt. have I called my son? And verses seventeen and eighteen then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying in Ramah 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. And verse twenty three and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. May the Lord bless the reading of his words. Let's pray together. O God our Father, we thank you for your well beloved son. We thank you that he is indeed the focal point of all scripture. The prophetic word speaks of him. And we thank you that we can approach the prophetic word and glean precious truth concerning him and concerning the interpretation that the Spirit of God places upon Old Testament texts. Texts that remain obscure to us but are brought to life when we meditate upon them. They are brought to life and to light by the Spirit of God. All we pray these enable us to grasp this truth. enable us our Father to go away with a deeper appreciation for the Word of God, and for the God of the Word, the Spirit of God who has, by sovereign grace, inspired the Scriptures in order that we may have an authoritative voice from heaven. Meet with us, and bless thy word for Jesus' sake. Amen. As we continue our study tonight in the theology of fulfillment, we can't help but see how the Scriptures find their focal point in the person and work of our Lord Jesus. In Revelation chapter nineteen and verse ten, when the Apostle John was going to worship the angel and the angel said, don't you do it, you worship God, he added something. He said the testimony of Jesus is a spirit of prophecy. And that is a verse that needs to be taken to heart by the children of God. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And the more we understand the word of God, and the more we know about the person of Christ, the more we want to worship him and no one else. He is the focal point of the revelation of God. And The Spirit of God takes in the whole scope of divine revelation here in Revelation chapter nineteen and verse ten and as it does so we find the fulfillment of Genesis three and fifteen which is a seed part of the Bible that God announced to Satan the fallen man he announced to the serpent that he will put enmity between him and the woman between His seed, the seed of Satan, and her seed. It is most interesting when you come to the parables that our Lord gives us in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew. Remember the first one. The first parable is a parable of the sower. A sower went forth the sow, and he sowed seed. It's really not the parable of the sower, it's the parable of the soil. For all the seed is good, but it falls into four different kinds of soil, and only one of those soils is good soil. You see, it shows us that all the word that is proclaimed, and our Lord tells us who the store is, and he tells us what the seed is. The seed is the word of the kingdom. However, the second parable he's most instructed. The second parable is a parable of the wheat and the tares. A man sowed good wheat, good seed, but while the men slept, the enemy sowed tares. Now, the wheat are the children of the kingdom. You and I are wheat. We are children of the kingdom. The tares are children of the enemy, children of the devil. So when we put these side by side, what do we learn? I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed, who's the seed of Christ? Ah, it's the children of the kingdom and her seed, who's the children of the enemy, the tares. You have the story of the wheat and the tares. in Genesis chapter three in verse fifteen. So it all focuses upon our Lord Jesus Christ. It is most interesting to note that when God speaks of Israel and the nation, and he makes predictions concerning them, he always does so in relation to the redemption of the sinner. So when you read the nineteenth chapter of Isaiah, for instance, Will you have the blessing that God holds out for Egypt in a coming day? How's Egypt going to get that blessing? They're going to get that blessing through the gospel. That's why I got so excited the night that Brother Carl, we read the missionary letter in Kermes and he had been to Egypt. and he had ministered in twelve assemblies like this in the city of Cairo. My heart leaped for joy because it leaped for joy because I know what is written in Isaiah chapter nineteen concerning the blessing that comes to Egypt. And any blessing that the word of God might have, and I don't know where it is, for America, that blessing is found in relation to the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. And the blessing that God has for Great Britain or any other nation that happens to be mentioned in the Bible, it is always in relation to redemption. In our country today, the news media and the government is working very hard. The children, the tares, the children of the enemy, they're very busy. in trying to eradicate God from our culture. But when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, before he did, he told one of his servants what he was going to do. His name was Abraham. And Lot was spared because of an interceding uncle by the name of Abraham. And Abraham began, would you destroy if there are fifty righteous? And God said, no, I will not. And he came all the way down to ten. God said, if I find ten righteous in Sodom, Gomorrah, Zaboom, and Adma, I will not destroy those cities. And the one thing that I still enjoy about America, in spite of all our failures and in spite of all our sins, there's still a good remnant in America. I love the Lord. And I'll tell you, In spite of what the news media says, and in spite of how the government acts and reacts, they need us far more than we need them. They need us, and they need our intercessory prayers. And that is what is going to save America. It isn't going to be done in the ballot box. Because the one group is just as bad as the other. But what will save America is salt and light that radiates from the children of the kingdom. Well, having said that, let me just say this. We see how the Old Testament is focused upon our Lord. And the last time I ministered section three on the theology of fulfillment, we looked in a special way at Matthew chapter one. at the genealogy and the way in which the Old Testament scriptures find their focal point in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment and the realization of the long hopes of the godly remnant of Israel. Now two of these fulfillments we have examined. And if you examined and read with me tonight in the various verses that I picked up, you couldn't help but see the word that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled, that it might be fulfilled. And I want to examine not what we read in Matthew chapter one. We dealt with that the last time. That our word Jesus is Emmanuel, according to the fulfillment of Isaiah chapter nine and Isaiah chapter seven. He is Yeshua, Joshua, the one who saves his people. Matthew chapter one and verse twenty one. But I want to notice in a particular way tonight, Matthew chapter two and verse fifteen, where you have the statement out of Egypt, have I called my son? And as we read verse fifteen of Matthew chapter two, It simply says this, and was there until the death of Herod. You remember Herod and the slaughter of the innocent, the innocent children of Bethlehem, the parent of our Lord Jesus, Mary, his mother, and his foster father, Joseph, took the child Jesus and went, fled into Egypt, and the scripture says, he was there till the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled. which was spoken by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt, have I called my son? Now I want you to notice that prophecy from Hosea chapter eleven. Hosea eleven and verse two. Hosea eleven is in the Old Testament. Whenever we come to Hosea, I'm always reminded of the young preacher. He was just out of seminary and his first sermon, he ran out of gas in five minutes. He only could preach five minutes and he had said everything he knew. So the next sermon, he decided he's going to take the Bible for a text. And he started at Genesis chapter one. And after three hours of preaching, he got to Hosea. And he said, now here we are at Hosea. And what are we going to say about him? And one father said from the back seat, he can have my seat. I'm going home. I always think of Hosea in that light. But verse eleven or verse one of chapter eleven. where we read, when Israel is a child, then I rubbed him and called my son out of Egypt. What do we really have there? In Hosea, it is simply a historical statement. That's all you could ever make out of it as you read it. For that's exactly what God did. He called Israel out of Egypt. It was when they were there as a as slaves of the Egyptians that God called them, and it was there that he molded them into a nation. But now, here we have the Spirit of God taking, and taking that which is a simple historical statement from the prophet Hosea, and applying it to whom? Directly to our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to dwell on something. What does this mean? Our Lord's ascent from Egypt and King Herod's fear, along with a slaughter of the innocent, is quite significant. For later, in Matthew's Gospel, he carefully presents Jesus as a new Moses, as a one who's a prophet who is going to come, who is like unto Moses, for our Lord Jesus becomes a new lawgiver. We're not under the old law, the old law covenant on Mount Sinai. He has introduced the new covenant, and before he introduced the new covenant, he gave the new covenant law, Matthew five, six, and seven, known as a sermon on the mountain. He gives a new law from the mountain, Matthew five, six, and seven. But I want you to notice a verse. Why did our Lord bring our compact out of Egypt? It simply says that when they are dead, that sought the young child's life is reminiscent of Exodus chapter four in verse nineteen. In Exodus chapter four in verse nineteen, God is dealing with Moses at the backside of the desert to get him to go to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel. Notice what God says in Exodus chapter four in verse nineteen. This is a most interesting verse. And the Lord said unto Moses and Midian, Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead, which sought thy life. Here is a prophet greater than Moses or Jesus Christ. Out of Egypt have I called my son. And that blessed one who was born in Bethlehem. And this verse is read at Christmas time relative to the birth of Christ and his coming out of Egypt after the death of Herod the Great. You see, this one who is born in Bethlehem who was brought out of Egypt is the one likened to Moses, whom Moses said would come. How wonderful of the Spirit of God to show us how the prophecy of Hosea, eleven verse one, focuses upon our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you see the theology of fulfillment in the Word of God? Now we come to the next one. Verses sixteen to eighteen of chapter two. Here is a quote from Jeremiah chapter thirty-one and verse fifteen. And we want to read that verse. Jeremiah thirty-one. And Jeremiah thirty-one should stand out in your mind before you ever look at it. As to what it contains. Jeremiah thirty-one is a great Old Testament prophecy. of the new covenant. The new covenant. So in Jeremiah chapter thirty-one and verse fifteen we read, For thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, Houses and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. That's not the verse I wanted. Where am I here? My typewriter sometimes writes the wrong thing down. But here's a quote from Jeremiah. Oh, excuse me. It might be chapter... Well, anyway, I'm going to move on. The verse says, Rachel is regarded. Rachel weeping for her children. In Lema there was great... or Rema. There was great lamentation. Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not. And what is the relationship between this verse and our Lord Jesus? You see, Rachel is regarded as the mother of the nation. Where was she buried? Do you remember? She died with the birth of Benjamin. Yeah. Verse one. Oh, I was in the thirty-second chapter. Oh, not only did my typewriter make mistakes, but my eyes do as well. Jeremiah thirty, I should have recognized it by my own marking. Verse fifteen. Thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children because they were not. Rachel, as she was about to give birth to Benoni is what she called him. Jacob changed his name to Benjamin, not the son of my sorrow, Benoni, but Benjamin, the son of my right hand. Rachel weeping for her children, because they are not. Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, is regarded as a mother of the nation of Israel, and she was buried outside of Bethlehem. on the way as Jacob is coming up to Bethel. Here we see as Rachel weeping for the children of Israel who are no more. What's the thought in Jeremiah chapter thirty-one? Israel is carried off into captivity and they don't have a king anymore. Israel is not a king. The sentence of judgment is upon the line of David because of the sin of Jechonah. What help do they have? There isn't any. There is no hope. Their king is dethroned. They're being carried off into exile. But in Jeremiah thirty-one, it's a great chapter of the New Covenant. Now they find their real answer. Where? In the birth of him who's going to usher in the New Covenant, who is the only heir because of his virgin birth that there could be. to David's throne. There isn't another heir. He's the only one. And he is Emmanuel, God with us. And he's the one who's bringing in the new covenant. And the cry goes forth now that he's born. The exile is over. We have a king. More than that, the true son of David has arrived. We have a king. And he's the one who's going to bring real blessing to Israel. If you read Jeremiah thirty-one, it's a place that Hebrews eight is quoted from in Hebrews chapter ten. A new covenant will I make with the house of Israel after those days. I will put my law in their minds and write it in their heart, and they shall not say to his neighbor, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. Oh, you talk about a blessing. Rachel's no longer written. Because her children are no more. Rachel is rejoicing. The king of David, of David's line has been born. Their blessings are unending. Jeremiah, that's quoted in this passage, which Matthew ends with words of comfort. God will establish a new covenant, which ensures the greatest blessings that Israel will ever have. and that blessing they're going to spill over to the Gentiles. It's interesting to note, and I'm just going to quote this from Genesis chapter forty-nine. In Genesis forty-nine you have Jacob signed blessing to his various sons who make up the tribes of Israel. In Genesis forty-nine verse ten he says, The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet till Shalom comes. And our Lord sprang from Judah. That's kingship. But the Word of God says he's the firstborn among many brethren in Romans chapter eight. The firstborn of David's son was Joseph. He really wasn't the firstborn, but he got the firstborn portion. Because Reuben, who was the firstborn, was disinherited because of his sins. And it is written of Joseph. Joseph is a fruitful vine whose branches run over the wall. You think of that. Our Lord said, I am the true vine, and my father is a husbandman. And you think of being a Gentile. Aren't you glad that he's a fruitful vine whose branches have run over the walls? They've run over the walls of Israel. And they embrace all every tribe, every kindred, every tongue, every nation. I tell you, they're going to use the blessings that God has. There's no more reaping in Ramah. Rachel needs to eat no more. Why? They have a knowledge of the Lord. The Son of God has come. Furthermore, their sins are forgiven. Their forgiveness of sins. a genuine thing found with him. Third, their blessings are now real and permanent. Or in Jeremiah thirty-one it says, I will not make a covenant with them like unto the covenant I made when they came out of the land of Egypt, which covenant they break. You see, that was a covenant of works. But this is a covenant of grace. They can't break it. Oh, Rachel's weeping is over. Well, there's one more. Verse twenty-three. The last verse here. And he came and dwelt in the city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet. Notice, in the portal, prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. Now, there's a real difficulty with this passage. I don't know where to find it in the prophet. You can't find it. Now the big question is, is the Bible wrong? Is the Bible wrong? Well, how are we going to answer it? Well, it seems to be a play on words. Remember when we looked at Isaiah chapter eleven, in Isaiah eleven it says there is a root out of the stem of Jesse. A root shall come forth out of the stem of Jesse, and it speaks of none other than our blessed Lord, and he's going to reign. And he is called there the branch of the Lord. Four times over the Old Testament, our Lord is referred to as the branch. In other words, there's a play on words here that Nazarene seems to come from the word Nazar. the word for branch, and it is found in more than one of the prophets. It is found in Zechariah six, it is found in Jeremiah, and it is found in Isaiah. You see, that word Nazarene was a term of contempt. John one in verse forty-six, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Acts chapter twenty-four and verse five, you have the same truth. And the prophets made it plain that Jehovah's servant the branch would be despised and rejected a man, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. So that when we sing, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene. The despised and the rejected one of Israel is none other than than the focal point of all the prophecies of the Old Testament. He's a fulfillment of Genesis three-fifteen. He's a fulfillment of Jeremiah, of Hosea, Isaiah, Daniel, and all the prophecies. You see, David's son and the branch of Jehovah would be the king, but not with outward pomp and show. but with obscure and humble beginnings and with derision. And they couldn't have come or been riddered in a more humble place than Nazareth. He shall be called the branch of the Lord. He shall be called a Nazarene. Well, we need to apply this truth. When we talk about the theology of fulfillment, when you take these obscure passages, which I had never done before, and dig into them, and you find there's joy and rejoicing in the study of the Word of God. I have three applications, number one. Since God, the Holy Spirit, has gone to such means, to establish our Lord Jesus Christ as David's son and David's Lord. It should give you and me a much deeper appreciation for the Holy Scriptures and study them than more diligent. How we should appreciate the Word of God and give our attendance to read it. and the study that the word of God might be indeed our necessary food. The blessed man of Psalm one is a man who meditates day and night in the law of the Lord. And I'll tell you, it's a great thing to get awake in the middle of the night and have your thoughts directed to him who sits upon the throne who is indeed the one we talk about a lot at Christmas time, and to see how the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and applies it to that person. That one who was born in Bethlehem was born of a virgin, and he is a fulfillment of Holy Scripture. In First Peter chapter one, we read concerning our great salvation that angels desire to look into it. Angels desire to look into the Holy Scriptures. You have a guardian angel, I'm pretty sure. Do you ever let him read over your shoulder? Or does the word of God remain closed? Reminds me of the man in Scotland. Mr. McNeil told me the story of the policeman who got saved. And he was so excited about being saved, he was standing under a street light. And he was reading his new testimony. He carried one in his pocket. And as he was reading it, he was rejoicing in it. Satan whispered in his ear, he said, you're not saved. He says the word of God says so, and if you don't believe it, read it for yourself. He held up his New Testament for him to read. He said, if you don't believe it, read it for yourself. I tell you, angels desire to look into it. Application number one, a deep appreciation for the Holy Scriptures. Application number two, you and I should follow the example of the wise men and not the example of the scribes. The scribes knew where the Lord Jesus was going to be born, and they could tell the wise men, but they never searched for him. The wise men did. And when they found him, they worshipped him. And when they worshipped him, they gave something to him. How did that poor family, who journeyed all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem, to be tapped, to be registered? How could they turn and... Take a journey into Egypt. Ever think of it? Why, because of what the wise men gave them. They gave them gold and frankincense and mirth. In the fulfillment of the word of God that says, Before a call, I will answer. Don't be like the scribes. Be like the wise men. The third application is this. We as a people of God should have real assurance in this matter of salvation. The more you see who our Lord Jesus is and what he has accomplished for us by being who he is, our Savior meets all the credentials of the Old Testament. They all are found in him. He is David's son. He is David's Lord. He is the King who brings salvation. Let's pray. Father, we thank you tonight for the infinite riches of divine grace. What a revelation we have. What a Savior is all. What joy and peace abound for those who love you. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for that assurance that it gives us, and we rejoice together tonight as one who finds great spoil in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.