The Fulfillment of Our King

it was the year 1977 I was a lad a wee little lad was I and my dad brought us

to see Star Wars and my life was changed I loved it Luke Skywalker was awesome I

loved his hair but way back in 1977 I had no idea that this would be one of seven

films no idea none and so 38 years later 2015 I brought my family to see the

latest kind of installment in the Star Wars area last Monday and looking back

through what's what's the what's the movie called what's the latest one the

Force Awakens so looking back through the Force Awakens all the way back to 1977 to

that first Star Wars I realized I had no idea I had no idea that Luke Skywalker

was going to point to Ray I didn't know that spoiler alert sorry no no idea 1977 there

was there was a foreshadowing George Lucas knew this there was there was a

foreshadowing going on of someone who would come and fulfill it later in this

episode 7 in 2015 it really only makes sense when you look back through it and

so this morning we're gonna look at a passage in Matthew chapter 2 verses 13

Matthew 2:13–23

through 23 in which we're gonna look back Matthew's gonna help us look back at

some Old Testament passages and we're gonna see how they point to Jesus they're

gonna show us how they foreshadowed this Jesus the Christ our King and what you're

gonna see is Jesus is the great fulfiller he's the great fulfiller of so many Old

Testament passages and where we're gonna land this plane is not only is Jesus the

great fulfiller of the Old Testament but he's the great fulfiller of your deepest

longing he came for you if you look at Matthew chapter 2 verses 13 what I want to

Matthew 2:13

point you to right out of the gate is the word fulfill it's used three times in this

passage if you notice in verse 15 and they remain there until the death of Herod

this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt I called my

son so note that the word fulfill there and then in verse 17 then was fulfilled

what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah and then if you look at verse 23 and then

and he went and lived in a city called Nazareth that what was spoken by the

prophets might be fulfilled he shall be called a Nazarene and so in this passage we

have three fulfillments pointing to Jesus I want to show you how now this isn't the

first time the word fulfilled was used in Matthew Matthew's already used it a

couple times if you look back in Matthew chapter 1 we see it in verse 22 where

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

Matthew is talking about the the miraculous conception and in Mary and the

birth of this son whose name is Emmanuel and he's saying that fulfilled Isaiah 7 14 and

then we look down at chapter 2 verse 6 verse 5 actually they told him in Bethlehem of

Judea for so it is written fulfilled by the prophet and he points to Micah 5 2 the

Messiah is going to come from Bethlehem fulfillment in these two

fulfillments it's very clear that they're talking about the Messiah and so what we see

early on in Matthew is this kind of God spoke a prophecy about the Messiah and it

very specifically came true in Isaiah 7 14 and Micah 5 2 when we turn to chapter 2

verses 13 through 23 it's not that clear of a fulfillment it's a different kind of

fulfillment that's happening of the Old Testament instead of saying God saying

something specific and specifically pointing to the Messiah in these three

little fulfillments Matthew is saying that Jesus fulfilled Old Testament

scripture in a different kind of way a more general way it's like the Old Testament

sets kind of a trajectory it's a foreshadowing that only looking back through

Christ do we see the fulfillment of it this is classically known as typology

we're not going to quizzy on that don't worry about it but typology is a

legitimate way of understanding fulfillment of the Old Testament in the New Testament

and so just a little bit more on that when we see New Testament writers using

scripture this way what they do is they're showing how Jesus fulfills kind of

general themes general ideas in the Old Testament a classic example would be this

remember the sacrificial system in the Old Testament the ongoing killing of animals in

order to cover over sin well that is a type of sacrifice and it's a foreshadowing of something

that will be fulfilled in Christ's one time sacrifice for all that's the point of Hebrews 10 and so we see

this kind of fulfillment being used by New Testament writers and it's fulfillment of particular people

institutions themes and so when we get to Matthew chapter 2 I want to help you to understand there's a

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

different kind of fulfillment of Old Testament going on here typically not what we usually think of

fulfillment of prophecy it's a little broader than that and so I just thought we could just jump right in

this morning and we'll look at these three fulfilleds you ready let's go

fulfilled number one we see this in verse 13 through 15 now when they the magi had departed behold an angel

of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said rise take the child Jesus and his mother Mary and flee to

Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod remember he is a Simonizing politically savvy killer

for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him and Joseph rose it was immediate he is

quite the man he arose and took child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until

the death of Herod this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt I called

my son now what's being quoted there is Hosea chapter 11 verse 1 out of Egypt I called my son in what

Hosea 11:1

the Hosea is talking about out of Egypt he's referencing the Exodus remember Pharaoh let my people go Moses

Exodus Exodus and so what it is is a deliverance from the captivity in Egypt that's what's the backdrop

there that's what's being talked about what I want you to dial in on is those words my son out of Egypt

I called my son and there's two points I want to make here first one is this this is the first time

in Matthew that this phrase my son is being used by God to speak about Jesus and so this is the first time

we Matthew uses a prophet to communicate that that God is saying this is my boy this is my son conceived of

the Holy Spirit and so Jesus this boy fully God fully man in one person

here's the second thing I want you to see out of Egypt I called my son it's a reference to the people of God

my son the Israelites it's a reference to a body of people and so my son is being used in Hosea 11 1 as a

reference to God's people that he's delivering out of captivity from Egypt and the question becomes well how does

Jesus fulfill that well he is the new my son he is the embodiment of God's new people God's new people the

church all who bow the knee to Jesus become Christians they are located in the son

my son my son he's the embodiment of a people delivered not from the captivity of Egypt

but from the captivity of sin

remember

Matthew 1 21

it's in the name Jesus

she shall she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people

from their sins

Jesus

Jesus was sent to Egypt not only to get away from the slaughter of Herod the evil king

but to come out of Egypt

as the my son the embodiment of a new people

and that's how he fulfills

Hosea 11 chapter chapter 11 verse 1 it's

it's this foreshadowing fulfilled in Jesus

the second fulfillment I want you to see

is chapter or chapter 2 verses 16 through 18 this is a really interesting passage

and I I'm telling you I had a lean heart this past week on people far wiser than me and helping understand this

it says then Herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men the magi became furious

remember he was paranoid

and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem in all that region who were two years old and under according to the time that

he had ascertained from all the wise men and that was based upon when the star raised from

we talked about that last week

and then verse 17 he says then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah

a voice was heard in Ramah weeping in loud lamentation Rachel weeping for her children she refused to be comforted

because they are

no

more

verse 18

what's being quoted from Jeremiah is Jeremiah chapter 31 that may ring a bell we'll come back to it chapter

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

Jeremiah 31 verse 15

Jeremiah 31:15

now

could you imagine

being a mother

in Bethlehem

of one of these babies

that was slaughtered

by Herod

could you imagine the pain

could you imagine that

it would have been horrendous

it would have been horrific

deep sorrow

it was a horrible wrong

what I want you to see here is Matthew is very careful to make a distinction for us

and so what's going on here is fulfillment of God's plan right

but look who he blames

verse 16 then Herod

when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became furious and he Herod sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem

Matthew is very clear to be putting the blame on Herod not God for the slaughter of these baby boys

I just want to make sure you see that distinction

but what Matthew is saying is that this this weeping this deep sorrow going on

this is fulfillment of something

this is God

God brought this in a way

in a sovereignty and human responsibility that we don't get

but God is sovereign over this

their weeping

points to something

Jeremiah 31 15

pictures Rachel

sister of Leah

who apparently some believe died in Ramah

they

Jeremiah 31 pictures her as kind of the matriarch of the children of Israel

and she's weeping for them

why is she weeping for them

she's weeping for them because God's people are being

exiled

Jeremiah 31 is speaking of the

exile of God's people from the land

Jerusalem's been sacked

and God's people are now being deported

and Ramah was a staging point

for the deportation of God's people to the nations

to Babylon

and so what we see going on here in Jeremiah

in this section is not the exodus

being called out of Egypt

it's the exile

and so why

Rachel

as a representative is weeping so much

is because

it looks like her people are seemingly no more

and more significantly

and more significantly

perhaps

is that

it looks like

the kingly

line of David

has now

come to an end

has ceased

and so if you flip over to

Matthew back to the genealogy

Matthew's already hinted at this

in chapter 1 verses 11 and 12

and Josiah the father of Jeconiah

and his brothers

at the time of the deportation to Babylon

that's what we're talking about right here

and after the deportation of Babylon

Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel

and the point that we're seeing here

is that

there is great weeping going on

in Ramah

because God's people are being

sent out

and there's no more good king

David on the throne

in fact

there's an evil king on the throne

Nebuchadnezzar

back in Jeremiah

and here

the evil king of course

is Herod

so the parallels

between what's going on in Jeremiah

and what's going on in Matthew 2 are

we've got moms weeping for the children

suffering under the reign

of a foreign king

because a good King David

is no longer on the throne

it's a fulfillment

of pain and longing

it's pointing to something deep

it's not avoiding pain

it's addressing pain

and pointing to hope

D.A. Carson

help me out

he's

prof down at Trinity

and to summarize what he said

is

the weeping that started with Rachel

in this exile

climaxed

in the weeping

of these Bethlehemite mothers

it was the fulfillment

of hardship of life

under a foreign king

it anticipates

Messiah's reign

coming to an end

of life under exile

the coming of a

Davidic king

out of Egypt

so what I want you to

be thinking about here is

there's real pain here

and pain is part of God's plan

but pain is not the final word

Jesus is the final word on pain

stepping back from Jeremiah 31 15

I want to remind you of Jeremiah 31

Jeremiah 31 is a chapter of hope

again and again

God is saying to his people

going into exile

you're my kids

you're my family

you're my peeps

I'm going to bring you back

I'm going to regather you someday

there's a future hope for you

it's all around it

verse 9

17

20

there's a future hope

for God's people

even with them going into exile

and do you know where he ends up

pointing to

and this is where Jeremiah 31

might have rung a bell in your head

Jeremiah 31 is home

of the new covenant promise

and so Jeremiah 31 talks about

33 talks about God establishing

a new covenant one day

with his people

in which he will write

his law on their hearts

it's a new way of God

relating to his people

he's going to bring them back

and he's going to relate

with them in a new way

now this is where

I want to aim you at Jesus

the night before Jesus was crucified

he was in an opera room

having a meal with his disciples

do you remember what he did?

he broke bread

he poured out wine

he said of the bread

this is my body

given for you

take and eat

do you remember that?

and then he said of the wine

this is my blood

of the covenant

the new covenant

which is poured out

for many

for the forgiveness

of sins

Jesus

is the fulfillment

of the new covenant

he's the hope

even in the face

of great pain

he's the hope

new way in which

God relates

with a new people

Matthew is saying

that the weeping

of these mothers

in Bethlehem

is the fulfillment

of the misery

of God's people

living in exile

under the reign

of a non-David king

and ultimately

the longing

we see in these moms

the longing we see

in Rachel

is our longing

longing to come

under the life-giving

reign of Jesus

to know him

and trust him

and experience

the goodness

of his ways

and so what we see

happening in this

little section

it's like this dark

backdrop

on a stage

it's very dark

but

in comes

the spotlight

on Jesus

the fulfillment

of this

experience

anticipates

King Jesus

one last fulfilled

the return

to Nazareth

chapter 2

verses 9

through 23

but when Herod died

behold an angel

of the Lord

appeared in a dream

to Joseph

in Egypt

saying rise

take the children

and his mother

and go to the land

of Israel

for those who sought

the child's life

are dead

now so

the holy family

is in Egypt now

an angel of the Lord

appears to them

in a dream

says okay

it's time to go back

go back to Israel

Herod's dead now

and so

Joseph again

immediately obeys

he rose

took the child

Jesus

and his mother

Mary

and they went

back to the land

of Israel

presumably

seeking to get

back to Bethlehem

but when he heard

that Archelaus

was reigning

over Judea

Archelaus

was one of

Herod the Great's

jerky sons

he was awful

terrible

and he was

in this position

of authority

for like two years

and then he got canned

he was so bad

but when he heard

that Archelaus

was reigning

over Judea

in the place

of his father

Herod

Joseph was afraid

to go there

and being warned

in a dream

God intervenes

he withdrew

to the district

of Galilee

so they're going

to go back

to Bethlehem

in southern

Israel

but God intervenes

and they go

up to Galilee

which is in northern

Israel

and in the district

of Galilee

is this little town

called

Nazareth

and he went

and lived in a city

called Nazareth

more like a town

that what

that what was

spoken by the

prophets

plural

might be

fulfilled

he shall be

called

a Nazarene

so I want you

to see that

it's prophets

plural

so there's more

than one prophet

that is apparently

spoken of Jesus

being from Nazareth

and whatever

the fulfillment is

it's got something

to do with Nazareth

the challenge is

that if you

search through

your Old Testament

there is no

specific quote

he shall be

called a Nazarene

stated like that

in your Old Testament

it poses quite a

challenge

and so we got

to ask the question

well what's being

said here

and what I want

to help you to see

is that there is

a trajectory

a foreshadowing

in the Old Testament

that points to

Nazareth

and Jesus being

a Nazarene

fulfillment of it

there are

two really good

explanations

for this

and

they

don't have to be

one or the other

so let me

give you the

explanation for

this he shall

be called

a Nazarene

if it's not

explicitly stated

in the Old Testament

that word

Nazareth

sounds like

a Hebrew word

Nazer

which means

branch

and if you

flip back

in your Bibles

to Isaiah

Isaiah 11:1

chapter 11

verse 1

Isaiah

uses

this

unique word

Nazer

to describe

the Messiah

there shall

come forth

a shoot

from the

stump

of Jesse

talking about

the David's

line

and a branch

a Nazer

from his roots

shall bear fruit

and the spirit

of the Lord

shall rest upon

him

the spirit

of wisdom

and understanding

the spirit

of counsel

and might

the spirit

of knowledge

and the fear

of the Lord

and he

in his delight

shall be the fear

of the Lord

I just love that

speaking of the Messiah

and so what

Matthew appears

to be doing

and he can

because he's an

inspired writer

of scripture

he's saying that

there's a word

play going on

here

and Nazareth

should make you

think

branch

which makes

you think

Messiah

which helps

you to see

that Jesus

he's the Messiah

and his ending

up in Nazareth

was part of

God's plan

there's another

passage

another passage

in Jeremiah

another prophet

that speaks of

doesn't use

Nazareth language

but uses

the word

branch

to speak

of

the Messiah

it's

Jeremiah 23

5-8

Samir pointed

this out to me

this past week

I'm so grateful

for him

but what it

points to

is the Davidic

Messiah

will come

back

and he will

set up shop

let me just

read it

behold the days

are coming

declares the

Lord

when I will

raise up

for David

a righteous

branch

and he shall

reign as

king

and deal

wisely

and shall

execute

justice

and righteousness

in the land

in his days

Judah will be

saved

and Israel

will dwell

securely

in this

is the name

by which

he will be

called

the Lord

is our

righteousness

he's going to

deliver God's

people out of

captivity to sin

and so

one way of

understanding

this Nazareth

quote is that

it's actually

pointing to

branch language

the other way

to explain it

is by

understanding

what Nazareth

represents

Nazareth

was a

despised

place

and

despised

places

produce

despised

people

generally

speaking

and so

what

Matthew

according to

this

understanding

explanation

is

what

Matthew

is doing

is

talking

about

the

reputation

of the

Messiah

that he

would be

despised

do you

remember

back in

John 1

Philip

he runs

to his

brother

Nathaniel

and he

says

Nathaniel

we

found the

one

that the

law of

Moses

was speaking

of

Jesus

of

Nazareth

and then

in

146

do you

remember

what

Nathaniel

said

does

anything

good

come out

of

Nazareth

it was

a backwater

town

didn't have

a good

reputation

at all

and so

the idea

here is

that

Matthew

by saying

that

Jesus

is a

Nazarene

actually

is a

fulfillment

of the

passages

in the

Old

Testament

that talk

about the

Messiah

as being

despised

Psalm 22

Psalm 69

and of course

the great

one

Isaiah 53

2-3

for he grew

up before

him like

a young

plant

like a

root

out of

dry

ground

he had

no

form

or

majesty

that

we

should

look

at

him

and

no

beauty

that

we

should

desire

him

he

was

despised

and

rejected

by

men

a

man

of

sorrows

and

acquainted

with

grief

and

as

one

from

whom

men

hide

their

faces

he

was

despised

and

we

I love

this

explanation

I like

the

Nazar

explanation

too

they both

are very

helpful

but the

fulfillment

would be

this

Nazareth

represents

the reputation

of

Jesus

he's a

Nazarene

and I

just want

to remind

you

this

Isaiah 53

it's

messianic

it's

it's a

prophecy

of the

coming

suffering

servant

he

would

be

despised

he

would

suffer

he

would

be

shamed

by

people

but in

verse 5

and 6

of

Isaiah

53

but he

was

wounded

for our

transgressions

he was

crushed

for our

iniquities

upon him

this

despised

one

was the

chastisement

that brought

us peace

and with

his stripes

we're

healed

all we

like

sheep

have gone

astray

we have

turned

everyone

to his

own

way

and the

Lord

has laid

on him

the

iniquity

of us

all

this

despised

one

is our

savior

substitute

who died

in our

place

these

are

two

options

of

explaining

this

he

will

be

called

a

Nazarene

he brought about by the shedding of his blood.

And so the point of all this,

and I thank you so much for hanging in there.

I know this was kind of heavy lifting mentally.

The point of it all is that

what was written long ago

in a country far, far away,

what Matthew is saying about Jesus

is that he fulfilled God's eternal plan

for the salvation of sinners like you and me.

Jesus is the great fulfiller.

He is the focal point of God's plan of salvation.

He's the great king from David's line

whose kingship brings eternal life and joy

to those who know pain

and suffering and heartache

and the consequences of sins.

He fulfills our greatest longing.

And so this morning I want to walk away

with three things on your mind.

In light of Matthew 2, 13 through 23,

we can walk out of here knowing that God is sovereign.

Sovereign over it all.

Fulfill, fulfill, fulfill.

He reigns over it.

It's his plan being carried out.

But what I want to just put in your head in there is

pain is part of his plan.

But it's not the final word.

It's not the final word.

Jesus is the final word.

We sang it already.

Revelation 21.

When Jesus comes back,

he's going to take his finger

and wipe away every tear from our face.

He's the final word on pain.

He knows pain.

God is sovereign.

God is loving.

This plan that we see being fulfilled here

in Matthew 2,

this plan is a loving plan of fulfillment.

It's aimed.

It's a glorious plan for our greatest good

to rescue sinners from their sins.

That's what it's all about.

And God's doing it out of love for us.

So God is sovereign.

God is loving.

And Jesus is worth it all.

He's the fulfillment of God's plan

for the ages

and the fulfillment of your deepest longing.

It's all about Jesus.

He's the great fulfiller of Scripture.

And He's the great fulfiller of sinners' hearts.

Let's turn to Him in prayer.

Lord Jesus, we are so grateful

we feel the limits of our brains

when we read passages like this, God.

But we're so glad that You're sovereign,

that You're loving,

and we see that Jesus is worth it all.

God, we're so grateful

that You sent Jesus for us.

We're so grateful

that You don't bypass our pain.

We know that You can use it for good.

Lord Jesus, we recognize You

as the great fulfiller,

and we are looking forward

to seeing how You fulfill

the law and the prophets

that all would be accomplished

in Matthew 5.

Thank You, Jesus, for this time.

Amen.