Preached on the morning of January 15 2017 at
Riverview, 798 Santa Fe Pike, Columbia TN

Matthew 2:13-15 (KJV) And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

The Bible is the Word of God. Though God used men with all their faults to write His Word, God controlled the finished product. The Bible alone is God’s Written Word to us all.

When the Wise Men came to see the young Jesus they were warned of God to avoid King Herod when they departed. The Wise Men said nothing to Mary of Joseph, but God sent an angel to warn Joseph in a dream. The angel told Joseph

Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him

God’s Son was to be hidden in Egypt, protected from the petty Herod. We are told that Jesus ..

was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

Matthew quotes a prophecy from Hosea, which reads:

Hosea 11:1 (KJV) When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Matthew tells us that this quotation from Hosea was a prophecy that had to be fulfilled in the life of the Messiah. When God spoke through Hosea the first time it seems as if He spoke only of Israel. Israel, God’s Chosen people, was a nation that was brought out of Egypt. The Rabbis and Scribes, the Wise Men of Israel never saw Hosea 11:1 as a prophecy of Christ. But God speaking through Matthew says Hosea 11:1 was not just an event in the life of Israel, but also a prophecy of the Coming Messiah

Out of Egypt I have called My Son

Here Scripture interprets Scripture. So let’s look at this statement and see what God can tell us through it.

God Can Use Bad Things To Bring About Good Things

God told Joseph:

Matthew 2:13 (KJV) …. Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word

God sent Joseph, Mary, and Jesus into Egypt. When I was in the military I spent time in Egypt. I walked on its sand dunes, and visited Cairo. I saw the Great Pyramids and the Sphinx. There are beautiful oasis’ in Egypt, but the land is barren, a desert in most places. And Egypt is a place of false gods and goddesses. Egypt is a pagan land, a god filled land where strange creatures are worshiped.

Egypt is not Canaan
Egypt is not the Promised Land

When God called Abraham out of ancient Babylon, telling him to go ….

Genesis 12:1 (KJV) … unto a land that I will shew thee:

The land that God showed Abraham was NOT Egypt, but Canaan. God was going to bring forth a great nation called Israel from Abraham, and Israel was one day going to possess Canaan. But God also told Abraham:

Genesis 15:13-14 (NASB77) … Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve; and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

Israel – God’s people – would be strangers in a strange land. Why? Why would Israel be sent to Egypt before she was ever sent to Canaan. Because the way to blessing is often found when you are forced to look up. God does not start His children in Canaan, but starts them in Egypt. Abraham had one son who had two sons, and the elder served the younger. Out of Isaac came Esau and Jacob. And then Jacob wrestled with God and was named Israel. Israel had twelve children, which is certainly a big family, but it is no nation.

God allowed Joseph, one of Israel’s children, to be cast into a pit and carried away into Egypt. Why? Because God told Abraham “your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs”. Joseph was planted in Egypt by jealous brothers, but Joseph knew that this was the hand of God. Joseph, now Prince of Egypt, told his brothers as they knelt before him:

Genesis 50:19-20 (ESV2011) …. “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

God sent Israel and his twelve sons and their wives to Egypt to protect them from famine, to grow Israel. God can use the evil intentions of others, and even the godlessness of Egypt for His glory and His purpose. Israel was strangers in Egypt for four hundred years. Egypt initially protected Israel, nourished Israel, and grew Israel. But Egypt was never Israel’s home. In time Egypt enslaved Israel and oppressed Israel. But God’s Children do not belong to Egypt. When Joseph prepared to die he gathered his children around him and said:

Genesis 50:24-26 (KJV) … I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26 So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

God used Joseph to bring Israel to Egypt. But Egypt is not the land of God’s Children. God may use Egypt to grow His Children, but He will not leave us in Egypt. As time passed God raised up a man named Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt. Moses went to the King of Egypt and told him:

Exodus 4:22-23 (KJV) … Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: 23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn.

God’s Children are not to stay in Egypt. Israel is God’s Firstborn, the Promise of God to Abraham. Let My Son go that He may serve Me. Israel cannot serve God while bound by Egypt. God may use Egypt to shield His Son, but He will not leave His Son in Egypt.

“Out of Egypt have I called My Son”

Egypt is not the home nor the destination of God’s Son. The Promised Land is. God called Israel out of Egypt. The Bible tells us that when Israel left Egypt …

Exodus 13:19 (NASB77) … Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God shall surely take care of you; and you shall carry my bones from here with you.”

Though the bones of Joseph laid in a tomb in that land for over a hundred years no Child of God belongs to Egypt. Moses took Joseph’s bones, and he and Israel headed toward the Promised Land. Yet that first generation of Israel never got there.

Though God Took Israel From Egypt, Israel Kept Egypt In Their Hearts

“Out of Egypt I have called My Son”. Though God saved Israel out of Egypt, Israel’s heart was imprisoned by Egypt. Every time a trial came their way the Israelites looked backward to Egypt. Our Lord Jesus once said:

Luke 9:62 (ESV) … “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Israel came out of Egypt with wealth and power, but kept looking backward at Egypt instead of forward to God. They were saved from Egypt but would never enter the blessed Promise of God.

Luke 12:34 (ESV) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

God put Israel in Egypt because God loved Israel. God put His Child in a strange land and protected that Child because He loved that Child. The Child should have loved God. The Child should have treasured God. But instead each time the Child was tested the Child looked back to Egypt, cursing Moses and saying:

Exodus 16:3 (NIV) … “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

“We were better off in Egypt”. They were enslaved in Egypt, and were certainly not better off. God calls His Son our of Egypt, calls His Child to follow Him. There may be riches in Egypt, but there is little of God in Egypt. The riches of Egypt are not where our blessings are. When God called Jesus out of Egypt where did He send Him? To Jerusalem? To the Palace? To the High Priest’s quarters? No, but the Bible says that Joseph stayed in Egypt until ….

Matthew 2:22-23 (KJV) …. being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23 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.

Scofield tells us that “{this is} probably referring to Isaiah 11:1 where Christ is spoken of as “a netzer (or Rod) out of the stem of Jesse”.

The interesting thing about this prophecy is that there is no one prophecy in the Old Testament that says verbatim “He shall be called a Nazarene”. This is caused a lot of confusion among Bible “Scholars”, but I find no confusion in it. The Bible prophesied that when the Messiah came He would be the Suffering Servant. Isaiah said:

Isaiah 53:1-9 (KJV)1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. 3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. 8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

When Jesus Christ was a baby, having done no evil whatsoever, Herod wanted to kill Him because His very existence threatened Herod’s Throne. So God had Jesus taken to Egypt. But then, as God prophesied, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son”. When Herod died God called His Son out of Egypt, but not back to Jerusalem or to a palace. He sent Jesus to Nazareth. Nazareth was the slum of the ancient world. It was like Harlem. It was like the Projects. It was the least of all places. There was a common saying among the people of that day which was:

“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

God called His Son out of Egypt and sent His Son to Nazareth. Why? Why was Jesus born in a little town called Bethlehem? Why was Jesus born and laid to rest in a manger in a barn, and not in an inn? There was no room for Him at the Inn. Jesus Christ – the Messiah – came to this earth humbling Himself for us.

God became man.
God the Son became the Son of Man.
God came from Heaven to Earth.
God lowered Himself to save us all from sin.

When Jesus came His Herald was simply John the Baptist. John spoke of the Coming Messiah saying:

Matthew 3:11-12 (KJV) I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

When Jesus came to John out of Nazareth to be baptized John did not want to do so. John told Jesus:

Matthew 3:14 (NKJV) …. “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”?

But in His first recorded words in the New Testament Jesus told John:

Matthew 3:15 (NKJV) … “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then {John} allowed Him.

Jesus Christ was sent to Egypt to protect Him from Herod, but God brought His Son out of Egypt to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness. Jesus never sinned. He is completely without sin. He maintained a perfect and sinless life so that He, “as the Lamb of God” could take away our sins. We are told that:

1 Peter 2:21-24 (ESV2011) For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. 24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Jesus lived a perfect life. God called Him out of Egypt, but Egypt never effected Him. Jesus lived sinlessly. And when the time was right this Jesus:

who was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15 – KJV)

went to Calvary and paid for our sins. God poured out on Him every sin we have ever committed and every sin that we will commit. As He died on Calvary our Christ cried out:

“.. it is finished ..” (John 19:30 – KJV)

When sin is finished it brings forth death (James 1:15). Jesus Christ died for us. The sinless Lamb of God paid the penalty of sin for us before God. The Scripture declares:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) For He {God the Father} made Him {God the Son} to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus Died For Us To Bring Us Out Of Egypt
The Bible tells us that the death of Christ had a glorious purpose.
The Son of God became the Son of Man so that Sons of Man can become Sons of God.

The Bible tells us that:

Hebrews 2:9-13 (NKJV) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. 10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 saying: “I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” 13 And again: “I will put My trust in Him.” And again: “Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.”

God Calls His Son Out Of Egypt
And Calls His Sons Out Of Egypt

God tells those whom He has saved:

2 Corinthians 6:17-18 (NKJV) Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” 18 “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

The Child of God by faith in Christ no longer belongs to Egypt. We who are saved by faith in the Son of God are no longer children of this world. God said “Out of Egypt have I called My Son”. If you belong to God and are of His Family then the ways of the world are not your ways. The Apostle commands:

Ephesians 5:8 (NKJV) For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Walk looking upward. Walk praising the Savior. Walk knowing that Egypt is dying, a land of tombstones, but you are life, eternal beings headed to glory. Love. Live. Let His light shine through you. Keep heading toward Canaan, toward Heaven, toward Jesus. God is with you.

Out of Egypt I have called My Son