December 29 - Langham Parr
Matthew 2:13-23
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
If there is anything to look at in this set of verses more than Jesus’ life as a baby, it’s the number of times the word “fulfilled” pops up. It didn’t jump out to me until the second or third time I read through it, but it’s definitely there for a reason. It’s there to remind us that everything that happened wasn’t simply a random roll of the dice but was all part of a plan God had already set in motion long before Jesus’ birth. Not only that, but I believe it’s there to help us trust that whatever promises or plans we find in God’s word can and will happen and that we can rest easy knowing that everything God promises for us will be fulfilled.
Father, thank you for your Word. It remains unchanged and will never fail me. When I need to hear Your voice, speak to me through your scripture. Help me to look to Your Word whenever I’m in doubt and learn how to hear Your voice. In Jesus’ name, Amen.