Day 4

Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone. Welcome back to day four of our forty day Lint series of podcasts. ⁓ we've been going through the book of Matthew ⁓ with Pastor Sam, and today we're ⁓ in chapter two of Matthew, starting in verse thirteen, and we titled this one The Massacre. So you're about to see why. ⁓ so picking up in verse thirteen, it reads, 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 a the child to kill him. St direct to the point. Yeah. Like a lot of urgency in the dream. Like get up. Like not even allowed to finish sleeping. Yeah. Like right now. Go. And again Yeah, and again this angel is coming to Joseph and I mean that's Yeah. That's some big words of to kill him. Yes. Yeah. So And this is obviously like as we talked about last ⁓ yesterday, our last one, that was ⁓ because You know, he wanted to find the child to worship him and then he like flies into you know he he's just so angry because these men went back a separate way because they were warned that Herod is dangerous. Yeah. We'll talk about that more in a second about what kind of man, what kind of king Herod was. Yeah. So picking up in verse fourteen it says so he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod's death. So that was was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled out of Egypt I called my son. There again we see the bold letters. Yep. So what prophet is that coming from? ⁓ this one comes to us from Hosea, ⁓ Hosea chapter eleven, where the prophet who is ⁓ similar to the time period of the last two we've talked about, Micah and Isaiah, he's a little bit before them, but he is again still. Reminding the people of Israel that God called them out of slavery, which was in Egypt, calls them out, but doesn't just call them out of slavery, he calls them into being a son, into being a daughter. That ⁓ the prophet was reminding the people of Israel seven hundred years before Jesus' birth, there's gonna be an my own son I'll call out of Egypt, but like all who follow him will also come out of their own slavery, as we've talked about ⁓ That you know, Jesus was like the new Joshua, now he's like a new Moses also leading people out of slavery. So God is calling his son out of Egypt, out of slavery. Well, this is where we go with it. Yep. This is the heavy part. Yeah. And maybe give a little ⁓ background of of this passage we're about to read before I read it. Okay. ⁓ so that way, because this one can get a little tricky. So Herod, ⁓ so Herod who's looking for the child. We have ⁓ stays in Egypt until Herod's death, spoken by the Lord to fulfill the prophecy. Then it almost like rewinds a little bit and says, So before Herod dies, here's what he does. Yeah. Here's how he reacts to realizing that Jesus, the King of the Jews, has slipped between his fingers. Here's here's like how he reacts. Yeah. Starting verse sixteen, it says, 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. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, a voice was heard and Rama weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be consoled because they are more. Yeah, so Herod realizes these wise men show up looking for the king of the Jews. Yeah. And he wants to find him. He's in Bethlehem, is what they think. So the wise men don't come back. He flies into a rage 'cause he realizes he's been tricked, so he says, Kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who are about two years old and under. And keeping, you know, because again, that's the only information he has going on. This also shows the timeline you talked about last episode as well. Yes, like he he's he's still going off of that Jesus is in Bethlehem. Yeah. So he's like, just kill everyone in Bethlehem. And and maybe that's what the angel was warning him about was like he he's just gonna keep searching. Yeah. So it's it's horrible. And again, it echoes of Egypt because in the Exodus story when Pharaoh, the king, equivalent to a King Herod, is growing in fear of insurrection or a revolt or an uprising among the Egyptians or among the Israelites. He not only enslaves them, but ⁓ kills all of the boys under a certain age, and I believe it is at this age, like that two or three year old age, but there is a one son who's delivered through the massacre in Egypt. Who grows up to be the deliverer, which is Moses. Yeah. Here we have another child who survives a massacre by a ruler, by an authority, and he survives, grows up to be a deliverer. Again, it's trying to show that history is like repeating itself. There's a greater deliverer here. And it but it's a horrible, horrible scene. And you have this ⁓ talking about again in the bold letters. Rachel weeping for her children. The Rachel they're talking about is Rachel back in Genesis, who ⁓ was married to Jacob. If ⁓ those of you who've maybe heard the story, ⁓ there is a ⁓ passage in Genesis, there's several chapters where Jacob, who gets renamed to be Israel, that's where Israel gets its name, is from Jacob, Abraham's grandson, he marries two sisters, Leah and Rachel. And he loves Rachel more, but he has more children with Leah. But both of them are seen as the mothers of the nation. Rachel is weeping over her children because these are like her descendants. These are the people who've been slaughtered. just as any mother would. So it's not only their biological mothers, but their mother in the faith. Like this is this act is so atrocious. That ⁓ it's like this is a generational, horrible like you just can't have enough words for doing this. Just the slaughtering of blood. And ⁓ one more thing about Herod is he was known for his brutality. Again, ⁓ he was not only would kill his political enemies, which is very common at the time, but ⁓ he would kill his own family members who he saw as political enemies. Including his sons, that if if his sons were getting to an age where they're like, Yeah, I might challenge the throne a little bit, at least thinking about it, but you know, they're just getting older, he'd kill them just because they're getting older. And Caesar Augustus, who had put this man in charge, has a famous quote where he says, It's better to be Herod's pig than his son because you're actually less likely to be killed if you're his pig than his son. So if this man didn't spare his own sons from taking his power, yeah. He's not gonna spare your son. He's not gonna spare someone else's son. He's not gonna care. So he he he this is a cold, heartless this is a horrible ruler and ⁓ and God is still at work in this and he's he's weeping over the death and the brokenness of the world and so Jesus' story, I think right from the bat we can say is not nice and tidy and clean. And it's already causing disruption. Goes back to his lineage. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Disruptive. Exactly. And now this, I mean, to think of a a two year old. Yes. Boy just getting slaughtered. And then just going to the next house and doing the same thing again in the next house. Until the whole city hasn't like it it's it's it's horrible to think about, but like if we really dwell on it there's no there's no boys in those grades. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like that's a forever mark on a community. Forever. And this is the world Jesus bore was born into. This is how God shows up to not only stop this, but to change the hearts of Herod's. Mm-hmm To look at power differently, to look at people differently. Yeah. 'Cause and then so it kinda r repeats again, ⁓ s Starting in verse nineteen. Yeah. It it basically flashes forward after that, like back to where verse thirteen left off. Yeah, where it reads, and we'll still read it, ⁓ after Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 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. So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel. Yep. But when he hurts it we'll pause it right there for a hot second because again, ⁓ some people may be wondering, and I I've wondered this too, like so how long did they wait? Like a week? Like is this a month? ⁓ most because again, Herod's a famous figure. We have his birth and his date of death. So by most historical accounts, as you bring in when the Census was taken by Caesar when you take in the death of Herod and you line that timeline up. ⁓ and these angels seem to be pretty prompt on their timeline, so it seems like they're operating in real time. ⁓ most scholars speculate Jesus is about eight. Eight years old. Eight years old. So that's why Herod said kill all the two year olds. Mm-hmm. Because they're thinking he's about two at that time. So this is about six years later. So he's about eight years old and he's being called out of Egypt. Okay. Yeah. And ⁓ Picking up in ⁓ verse twenty two. But when he heard that I think it's about Joseph, like when Joseph heard. When he heard when Joseph heard. Okay. And that name is Archelaus. Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Haran, he was afraid to go there. I want to stop there 'cause I've always had a question. Yeah. Why was he afraid to go there? Yeah, 'cause it's like, wait, I thought we were gonna go back. Yeah. so We have ⁓ Herod, called Herod the Great, this great builder, builds the temple, but a horrible tyrant. Archelaus is his son, so somehow he grew old enough to not be killed by his dad. ⁓ so he though probably was proved by his dad because Archelaus is known as having even more brutality than Herod did. ⁓ he didn't build on the same level that Herod did. ⁓ he was no more known for his violence, ⁓ where ⁓ there's a f a passage ⁓ in the historians write about that during one Passover, so the day, you know, in Egypt when the Spirit of God passes over the Israelites to take all the firstborn sons of Egypt. ⁓ that day when they were celebrating it, Archelaus rounds up three thousand people who were basically challenging him and he kills them on Passover, but not just anywhere. He kills them in the temple, in the house of God. Like he's he kills three thousand people in the house of God on the most like holy day that you remember that God spared your life. He kills three thousand people in God's house. So like this guy is like Father like son. Yeah, but like more more. And so I mean 'cause you look at like Herod killing, you know, children and then you got this guy in one day killing three thousand in a temple. Yes, because like where Herod the Great, his father killed ⁓ this and ⁓ I might be misquoting it, but like Bethlehem again is small. It's a small town. So there have been some that have speculated what the like population was, and then you do the math of like two year olds and they're like, it's probably between thirty and forty kids. Which is still horrible, of course. Like but it's not three thousand. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like it's a strategy it's a strategic killing. It's not a bloodlust. This is almost bloodlust, what Archelaus is known for. Like and so when news like that breaks out, this is why Joseph's like, We are not going anywhere near this guy. Like, 'cause he's gonna if if his dad was crazy about killing Jesus, his son's gonna be worse. Even worse. Like the father's desires grow And the son. And I think he didn't last that long ⁓ as a ruler because he the the people hated him so much that they appealed directly to Caesar over in Rome, and Caesar actually listened to the people and removed Archelaus and put him in Gaul, which is France. So he was like, You're gonna go live in France now. Like you can still stay in the kingdom and rule because you have some political power, but like That's how bad he is. Like he doesn't have thirty years of reigning. He's like just a little bit is so bad, everyone's like, Nope, get out of here. You're done. You're done. You're done. Yep. Because again, it goes into ⁓ Joseph and being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. So I want to stop there because now, you know, there's been a lot of places that we have named out and stuff. And you know, if you're reading this for the first time or just need a fresh reminder, kind of where is Galilee? Yeah. 'Cause I as growing up I thought all these places, you know, were many ⁓ many like it was kind of like states, white right? Like Gallery was over here, it took so long to get there. But if you really look at the map, they're actually kind of close to the That's exactly what I was doing. Yep. Yeah. They're just like Yeah, it's not a large area, like I mean it's large. But you could walk it. People walked everywhere. But ⁓ Galilee is more ⁓ it's not Jerusalem, it's not the center, it's it's more up north, it's very lush, it's very green, ⁓ it's a fishing community, ⁓ but it's a backwater town. So it's again of no importance to anybody ⁓ in Galilee. And I think did you finish that? Verse, or are we on to the next one? Because it kind of ties in. Yeah, let's go to 23 that finish yourself. It says, 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. Yep. So Nazareth is a part of Galilee. Galilee, you could think of it as like the state, yeah. ⁓ Nazareth is a small town there, so he's in the backwoods of the backwoods. Backwoods. Actually a really good place if you think about hiding. Yeah, if you're happy. An important child. Yeah, like you don't want to hide in maybe New York City. Yeah. You want to hide, you know, somewhere out that like who? Where? Yeah. What? Like never heard of that. Why would anyone even look there? Yeah, like no one vacations to Nazareth. Yes. Exactly. Like that's Nazareth. And so ⁓ but to be called like by the Nazarene. We called a Nazarene is again an old testament prophecy where it again it's clear, like God is saying he's gonna be born in Bethlehem, but he's gonna be a Nazarene. So it's like he spells it out. Yeah. But no one could have predicted these were the circumstances. But anyone who was really tracking which we are, which we can do because we have the benefit of history and of time and looking back, we can be like, ⁓ okay, that's how that gets fulfilled. But the main takeaway about him being a Nazarene is that it's not important, it's a forgotten place, it's an irrelevant place, it's a poor place, and that's where God lives for the majority of his life. Yeah. Like he he comes to public ministry at like thirty, yeah. ⁓ and lives till about thirty three. Yeah. So like three years of public ministry. So for thirty years under Or about eight to thirty, so twenty two years, he spends his life, two thirds of his life, in a backwaters town with a few hundred people. Mm-hmm. Just yeah, like and like that's it, but again it shows that God comes in unexpected ways, obscure places, hidden places, that you don't have to be in the center of society, the center of importance for God. To be present and dwell among you. Again, it's Manuel, God with us. And it all and it also speaks I go I keep going back to the lineage because it's important. It is. Of like what sets up whole story. Because now you're seeing it of all these people who some of them were nobodies or anything. Yes. David was a nobody where God is dwelling with the nobodies. And it's like almost a perfect cover because no one would ever expect no. Someone coming from Nazareth to do something incredible. I think let alone God Himself coming from Nazareth. I think it's Nathaniel during the early calling of the disciples. I think it's Nathaniel that says, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Like he's almost like he's like making a riff. Like it's like a joke in Israel, be Nazareth, like nothing good comes out of Nazareth. And then they're like, We think the Messiah's here, and they're like, Well, he's a Nazarenes. Yeah, he's a Nazarene. But they're like, No, this is him. Like this again, is not who they expect. It's not who they were looking for, but it's that's who he is. And so, yeah. And it's incredible. And you know, as we close out, ⁓ this time coming up is when we're really gonna get in to the ministry. Yep. and to a yep special person. ⁓ John the Baptist. Who looks a little bit more like you than he looks like me. Yeah, I've been compared look wise to John the Baptist, which I think has great compliment. So have you eaten any like bugs or honey or anything like that? All over my beard all the time. Have Megan like brush it out. ⁓ so next time we're gonna be getting into that in Matthew ⁓ three. So thanks for tuning in and we'll see ya tomorrow.