Archaeologists have excavated Nazareth and dating back to the time of Christ and not one piece of fine glazed pottery has been discovered.
Just ordinary clay. Nazareth was 55 miles from Jerusalem. It was really an out of the way unnoticed insignificant little village of less than 500 people during the days of Christ.
This is not a place you'd go looking for a king. Look at the numbers of the Christmas story and reveal a side that's rarely told. It's not just about gifts, stars, or wise men. It's about blood, sweat, and tears. Joseph and Mary didn't get an easy life. They experienced danger, urgency, and a call to keep moving forward in obedience. Today you'll hear about the raw, intense journey of the Holy Family. One filled with fear, midnight escapes, and moments where faith was the only option.
The original Christmas story was a call to radical loyalty. Several years ago, I had the opportunity to go down into the underground bunker where Churchill and his military staff directed the war effort. It had just been open to the public and you could tour the rooms and narrow hallways, sleeping quarters, everyone's desk. All the paperwork had been left just as it was at the end of the war to serve as a memorial to what they had endured. I was able to see the desk where Churchill worked, the phone where he would call Roosevelt repeatedly asking for help. I saw the maps with the locations of troops and ships marked.
I saw the place where Churchill recorded his famous radio address when it seemed rather hopeless for Great Britain to survive. Churchill delivered these rather well-known words to his people that included these. He said, we shall go on to the end. We shall fight in the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall never surrender. I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.
I have nothing to offer you but blood, sweat, tears. Maybe it's time we re-advertised Christianity along these lines. Maybe it's time that we witnessed to our world that for those of us who follow Christ, we are willing to press on. Our social media platforms, televisions are loaded with false teachers and preachers who promise that the narrow path guarantees an easy path. No wonder today people in America, especially in our country, who decide to give Jesus a little try, maybe add him to their backpack of other things, don't last very long because they expect a catalog from which they can order blessings.
They had no idea they'd get a helmet and a shield and a sword. I believe a large part of the misconception of Christianity goes all the way back to the Christmas scene and the misunderstanding of what it meant for the arrival of God the Son, the conflict of heaven and hell didn't begin at the cross. It began certainly with that first infant cry.
So if you're new to us today, we've been exploring a little deeper, digging a little deeper into this original scene. So let's go back to Matthew 2. We last left the Magi who'd arrived. They are the spiritual descendants of their revered leader, the leading wise man of their kingdom, Daniel. Centuries earlier he had led them to understand the prophecies and they were prepared, they were ready for the coming of the Messiah. And when they arrive, you'll notice verse 2, it says, they asked Herod, where is he who's been born king of the Jews? We've come to worship him.
As I mentioned, no prince could ascend the Persian throne without the Magi's permission. They were called king makers, but they're really not here to make him king, they're here to worship him. They realize this king is divine, deity.
They've journeyed 2,000 miles one way to worship him. Matthew has filled in some of the puzzle pieces for us. It informed us that Joseph and Mary decided to stay in Bethlehem after they paid taxes and Jesus was born.
You can understand why they didn't want to return to the scandal of all the rumors related to immorality related to Mary's pregnancy. They had found a home to live in. It could have been a hut he built with his own hands on borrowed land.
Jewish law would have allowed for that. So when the Magi arrived, verse 11 tells us they went into the house. And when they went into the house, they saw the child, the pideon, the toddler, with Mary as mother. And they fell down and worshiped him, then opening their treasures they offered him gifts. Now, we left off in our last study here, but as we re-enter this scene, the Magi were supposed to return and give Herod the address for this boy. Herod said he'd wanted to go and worship him as well.
Of course, we know he's lying. They didn't until later. Verse 12 tells us that they were warned to not return to Herod. And I mentioned a few things about Herod.
I'll mention a few more to help you understand what's happening. This is the man that had been awarded by the Roman Senate with the title the King of the Jews, and he guarded that. He had been born 40 years before the birth of Christ. So by the time you meet him in Matthew 2, he's an older man. Historians tell us he's suffering from venereal diseases.
For the most part, he's already partially insane. In the last two years of his reign, he'll kill three of his sons, he'll kill one of his wives and her brother, anybody that poses a threat to his throne. In fact, on one occasion, a loyal soldier reported to him that the army hated his cruelty, and officers mocked him, and the soldier thought this would gain him a promotion. Instead, Herod had him tortured until he gave up the names of the traitors, which he did, and then died. Herod then rounded up the accused and executed them while historians say he jumped up and down, livid with rage, screaming at them to die.
The Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, who appointed him to be king over this region, once remarked that he would rather be Herod's swine than Herod's son. So you can imagine the wise men. They arrive.
This is exciting. Where is he? He's born king of the Jews.
You're not it. Where is he? He had no idea what they just ignited. By the way, don't miss the irony here that evidently the only man in Jerusalem who cared to believe them was Herod.
Nobody else checked it out. Now, what happens next in Matthew 2 is really nothing more than blood, sweat, and tears all over again, and it comes with the fulfillment of three Old Testament prophecies that are, for the most part, overlooked. The first one begins here in verse 13. Now when they, the Bible reads, the Magi, had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Take the child of his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. So once Herod realizes the Magi have tricked him, they've left to travel back home on some other interstate.
They took 40 east instead of I-95 north. Well, he assumed that they had warned Mary and Joseph as well, and they had. So here in the middle of the night, another angel appears then and effectively says, Joseph, get up. Herod's soldiers are about to gallop the five miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. They're going to find Jesus, and they're going to kill him.
Run. Let me tell you, this original Christmas scene is not quite the cozy scene in a peaceful life they would live. From the very moment of her conception, the misunderstanding that it brought, the difficult journey to Bethlehem, childbirth without a midwife in a filthy lean-to, and perhaps a cave birthed into the hands of a calloused carpenter.
They choose to live there for about a year and a half. They don't want to go back to the rumors, the suspicion of the Jewish community. And then this entourage of Magi appear. It's a large entourage.
We need to reshape our thinking along this way. Many Magi, soldiers no doubt mounted to guard the gold and the flocks that would be their provision. I mean, the entire town comes to a halt. The only problem with this is this now identifies Mary and Joseph, who've probably been living sort of in the shadows. Now Herod will find out where they lived.
The text implies that probably within 24 hours, spies have reported back. This address and soldiers are now galloping to Bethlehem. An angel wakes Joseph up in the middle of the night and says, you got to run for your life.
This scene is just a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. Matthew writes in verse 14, And he, Joseph, rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophets. Out of Egypt, I called my son. How in the world do you get Jesus to Egypt? How do you get Joseph and Mary to travel 55 miles away to another country?
Here's how. Herod's not in charge. Heaven is.
God uses this pagan murderer to help fulfill the prophecies of God's word and God's will. But don't miss the challenges that this meant to Joseph and Mary, the difficulty, the change, the confusion, the unanswered questions. Get up in the middle of the night, pack whatever you can grab, whatever you can wear, grab your child and go move to another country and live there for a year or more. You ever gone on a family trip for a year? Two weeks is usually enough. But even for two weeks, how much did you plan? How much did you pack? Especially going to a foreign country.
My wife and I have traveled to a number of foreign countries like Minnesota, Michigan, Australia, England, Switzerland, Germany. Money, got it. Passports, got it.
Don't forget those. Itinerary, got it. Tickets, everything.
Chewing gum to help your ears pop, got that too. Hotel reservations, nailed them down. Got everything.
Contact information, yes. Listen, you know when you travel, when you're leaving, how long you're going to be gone, where you're staying, and when you're coming back. Isn't that the way the will of God works? Shouldn't it?
Even for the parents of God the Son, no. Just slip into this original scene. In fact, verse 13, the word for flee I found interesting in your English Bible. It's from the Greek word fugo, which means to seek safety in flight while running.
In fact, fugo is the word that gives us the transliterated English word fugitive. You're fugitives now. You're wanted by the Roman Empire. Run. Can you imagine the sheer terror of this?
In the middle of the night with a baby, boy. His will for them was blood, sweat, and tears. So they flee. Herod's soldiers arrive, and the killing begins. It's really the kingdom of darkness raging against the kingdom of light.
This is war. The church in the medieval period didn't like this idea, and so they created apocryphal works that smoothed everything out, legends and myths. One legend recorded that Joseph and Mary and the boy Jesus, they arrived at a cave where they decided to seek refuge. It was cold. The ground was covered with frost. A spider recognized Jesus, spun a web covering the opening of the cave. So thick it hung like a curtain, and it became cozy and warm. Another legend says trees bent down to yield their fruit to Joseph.
Water gushed from the roots of another tree. Another legend says they had trouble sleeping one night, so an angel came and played on a violin for them to fall asleep. Well, if they had trouble sleeping, it was because they would have been wondering why.
Well, here's why. The prophets had said that God's Son would come out of Egypt. Jesus is going to become a picture of the greater deliverer, a picture of Israel's calling from that same country. Israel was often spoken in the Old Testament as the Son of the Sons of God.
Hosea 11 is one of them. If you remember, if you're older in the faith and you've read through the word, you know another deliverer came out of Egypt. His name was Moses.
So, similarly, he had ordered the killing of all male Jewish boys. Moses was hidden away until he would grow up to become a deliverer. Both Jesus and Moses come out of Egypt.
They both lead the people out of bondage. But in Hebrews 11, we're told that Jesus is the greater Moses, because the type or the illustration of the deliverance of Moses was temporary, but the deliverance of Jesus, the fulfillment, the final deliverer, is eternal. Now, if you go back to verse 16, the second prophecy is about to be fulfilled tragically. We're told, then Herod, when he saw that he'd been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken, here it is, by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children.
She refused to be comforted because they are no more. Rachel's weeping during Israel's exile was a prophetic foreshadowing of the weeping of the mothers in Bethlehem over the death of their sons. So again, there's this unseen war taking place. Herod is really nothing less than a first-century Antichrist. He's in the hands of Satan, who's attempting to destroy the seed of the woman, the virgin-born Messiah. He fails.
He dies. Now we have one more prophecy to fulfill in this original scene. Verse 19, but when Herod died, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead.
And I can't help but think, you know, here we go again. Poor Joseph, in the middle of the night, get up. I wonder if he ever went to sleep wondering if he'd make it through the night without an angel appearing.
Well, the difference here is there's no urgency, there's no panic, there's no need to run. Verse 21, he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there.
You see, this isn't good news. Herod's dead, but Archelaus is just as bad. In fact, he inaugurated his reign by killing 3,000 Jews during Passover. So Joseph doesn't want to move back to Bethlehem. That's only five miles from Jerusalem. Seems to be probably some conversation taking place, and God gives him another dream and tells him to move over into the district of Galilee, verse 22. Now, notice verse 23. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth.
The word city is probably an exaggeration. So that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled that he would be called a Nazarene, dedicated unto God. Nazareth was 55 miles from Jerusalem. It was really an out-of-the-way, unnoticed, insignificant little village of less than 500 people during the days of Christ. In fact, one of the disciples will later say, nothing good has ever come out of Nazareth. This is not a place you'd go looking for a king. Archeologists have excavated Nazareth, and dating back to the time of Christ, and not one piece of jewelry has been found. Not one piece of fine glazed pottery has been discovered, common in this generation.
Just ordinary clay. This reflects for me the character and obedience and surrender of Mary and Joseph. It started with the shattering of their marriage plans.
There will be no wedding, no celebration, just rumors. It leads them to an outdoor shelter, a difficult birthplace, uncertainty in Bethlehem, then told to run, now living as fugitives in Egypt. Months of staying undercover, wondering, looking over their shoulder every day. Will they be found?
Then back to Israel and to a poor, obscure village where they will live for nearly 30 years in total obscurity. What perseverance. One author I read said that as he traveled in England, years ago he saw in a graveyard the tombstone of an old cavalier, an old soldier that had defended King Charles and paid for it with his life in battle.
His tombstone read, He served King Charles with constant, dangerous, and expensive loyalty. That's Joseph and Mary. In the very beginning days of Jesus. And with that, I'll offer three thoughts that come from these original scenes. First, the plans God has for you. Do not eliminate questions or painful seasons in life. The narrow path is not necessarily an easy path. Stop trying to sell Christianity along those lines.
Stop complaining with a culture or a country that's making it more difficult. The narrow path was never intended by God to be an easy path. Secondly, the love God has for you does not eliminate the hatred Satan or the world has for you. Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Do you know what that means? That means the gates of hell will try and keep trying. Finally, the promises God has given you do not eliminate your responsibility or availability to follow him. God didn't whisk, you know, Joseph and Mary away to Bethlehem where friends and family were waiting. He didn't make sure there was a nice room in the inn.
He didn't snap his fingers and they arrived once again in Egypt immediately. He didn't make it a downhill ride into some comfortable place where they would live for the nearly next 30 years. Due to obscurity and even more difficulty, he could have. He could have.
But he didn't. So, Christian, stay the course. Serve your king with constant, dangerous, and expensive loyalty no matter what, be it blood, sweat, toil, or tears. Thank you for giving us, Father, the real account of this original Christmas scene. It not only helps shape our perspective on what it means to follow you, it encourages us to know that no matter what's happening behind the scenes, you are on your throne, moving nations, kingdoms, rulers toward the purposes and plans that you have which will ultimately culminate in that final victory on mitigated joy, unhindered worship, and service. We thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. The story of the first Christmas is a reminder. Following Jesus means sacrifice.
That was Stephen Davey, and this is Wisdom for the Heart. Today's message is called Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Our office is closed today as our staff spends time with their family and friends. We're not able to take your call, but you can interact with us online. Send us a note and more. You'll find our website at wisdomonline.org. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow. We'll have a message for you, so if you're able, please tune in for that. We'll see you then.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-12-24 00:08:25 / 2024-12-24 00:17:00 / 9