← Thru the Bible on Oneplace.com
Thru the Bible on Oneplace.com
Matthew 2:12—3:9
00:26:01
Matthew 2 tells us about the fulfillment of four unusual prophecies about the birth of Christ. Each of them seemed to contradict the others when they were given. Dr. J. Vernon McGee explains how they were all literally fulfilled, even in a most...
Loading summary
Transcript19 lines
- [00:00]
A
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord is made for your faith
- [00:13]
B
in his excellent way. In Matthew, chapter two, we see the fulfillment of four unusual prophecies surrounding the birth of Christ. At first, well, maybe they seem to contradict one another. But in this study on through the Bible, Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to show that each one is literally and beautifully fulfilled. I'm Steve Schwetz, and as you grab your seat on the Bible bus, Greg and I have got some time to talk about how God's word is going out this time in India.
- [00:42]
C
And Steve, we're going to talk about a language that I don't think I've even ever had this word cross my lips. The Garo language in India. Now I know I saw these folks because about a year ago I was in India and saw the celebration of the whole 150. They literally imagine that 150 languages in their tribal dress. And you've seen some of this came across the stage. But we're talking about a language group spoken by over 1.1 million people in a variety of Indian states as well as part parts of Bangladesh. But this is so exciting. Yeah, I seriously doubt there's any good Bible teaching in the Gara language.
- [01:19]
B
I was going to say 1.1 million may sound like a big number, but when you push it against, you know, English, where there's, you know, a plus people, Mandarin, 1.1 billion that speak it. This is a micro language really. And, and I, like you said, there's very little Bible teaching. We just know that because it's such a small field. But the responses that we get when we go into people's heart languages, yes, we could do Hindi, yes, we could do English there. But Garo, for 1.1 million people, that's their mother tongue. And that's where the gospel speaks the strongest.
- [01:49]
C
Yeah, we talk about flinging the seed and we talk about the biblical paradigm of fishing. Yeah, I mean, you want to fish where the no one else is fishing. And so we're so thrilled. So let's hear some amazing, wonderful testimonies here.
- [02:02]
B
Yeah, this first one comes from Presh in Tripura, who tells us how God's word brought peace to his family. Starts out, I was addicted to alcohol, smoking and other bad habits. I used to drink and fight with my family members and there was no peace in my life or in my family. Many times I even thought about divorcing my wife. Or one day while attending church, my local pastor encouraged me to form a new home group without fully understanding what it involved. I agreed and later received a media player kit. At first, I didn't know what to do with the kit or what I would be listening to. However, when we began meeting and listening to the program in Garo, I started liking it. As I continued listening, I became deeply interested in God's Word. Earlier, I was addicted to worldly pleasures, but now God has changed me and made me hungry for his word. I truly believe that God is good, loving, and caring. I sincerely thank God and your ministry for providing this program and leading me onto the right path that God desires for my life.
- [03:02]
C
Man, I think we all have times in our lives when we feel like, you know, what am I doing in life? There's a lot of drudgery in life, but all of us, and that includes you. If you're listening, if you're supporting, if you pray for through the Bible, if you share through the Bible with others, you. You're part of this and you were part of reaching this man. And you know what struck me? This guy was in church. Steve.
- [03:21]
B
Yeah.
- [03:22]
C
I mean, he. And you know, again, you don't have to clean up your act to go to church, but this man needed a lot of help, and it was the teaching through the Bible that really helped him break through.
- [03:31]
B
Yeah. And I would say if you maybe think, well, gosh, I could never lead a small group myself. This guy was, as his own admission, addicted to alcohol, smoking, and other bad habits. He clearly had some issues in his life and he wasn't perfect. So you, my friend, are probably in a better position than this guy. And just, you could, you could take a Bible companion in on the book of Matthew, listen to it, and just, just lead a group discussion with other sinners like yourself and see what God does in your life and in the life of those around you.
- [03:57]
C
I love that, Steve. I love that you challenged people to do that. And let. I would encourage. If you're listening to Steve and you say, all right, I'm going to give that a shot. Get, get a Bible companion. Get them for free on our website, ttb.org or you can order them. We basically sell them to you at cost. They're not expensive. And start a group and let us know how it went.
- [04:17]
B
Yeah, we'd love to hear your story. Greg, why don't you pray for us as we begin?
- [04:21]
C
Well, Father, we do pray that someone listening, or many people listening, would just take your word and share it with people through the ministry and through the Bible. We thank you that you've given us this opportunity to Fling the seed of your word all over the world to remote places like India, and even to our own neighborhoods. And we PRAY now, as Dr. McGee teaches us, that you will take transform our hearts and minds as we study your word in Jesus name.
- [04:45]
A
Amen.
- [04:48]
B
Let's open to Matthew 2 as Dr. J. Vernon McGee takes us through the Bible.
- [04:53]
A
We come to the second chapter of Matthew. If you have your Bible and we'll turn there, we'll put in at verse 12. Now you'll recall that we mentioned that chapter two shows the fulfillment of four prophecies that geographically seem very difficult of ever being fulfilled. He's to be born in Bethlehem. We saw that took place. And that he used to be called out of Egypt. We're yet to see that. And there was weeping in rhema and Ramah's north of Jerusalem and called a Nazarene. And how could all of these be fulfilled? Well, they were literally fulfilled in the life of our Lord. Now, the wise men who went to Bethlehem to see him after they had presented their gifts and had worshipped him. And I'd call attention to that in verse 11 it says, they fell down and worshipped him, not them. And they presented unto him gifts. And the gold, as we said, speaks of who he is, his birth. And frankincense speaks of his life, the fragrance of his life down here. And myrrh speaks of his death. And we called attention to Isaiah 66, where it says, when he comes the second time, again wise men are coming with gifts, this time gold and frankincense. Because when he comes the next time, he comes to reign and not to die. Now verse 12 says, and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country and another way. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise, 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. Now, the wise men assumed that Herod was sincere when he said he wanted to know about the child and he'd come down and worship him. Well, if he came down, he would slay the child. Of course, had not the angel of the Lord warned them, the wise men would have gone back by Jerusalem and given the good news to Herod. And believe me, he would have killed the child. Now we find that they are alerted and they go another direction to their own country. They could continue south down to Hebron and then cross over the south of The Dead Sea, they'd be out of the range of Herod altogether. Now the angel of the Lord also appeared to Joseph and told him, it's time now to get out of Bethlehem, because Herod is going to attempt to kill the child. And now Joseph, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. And he 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. And that's Hosea 11:1. And that's a marvelous prophecy because it has a historical basis. Out of Egypt the son was called, which was the nation. And out of Egypt the son was called, who is a person. And this person here, and this is the prophecy, he went down there and stayed, Joseph did, and took the young child and the mother. Now we read verse 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which. Which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Part of what I am going to say now is supposition, but part, of course, is based upon good solid fact. Here we have made the statement before that the wise men did not arrive at the same time that the shepherds did. The wise men came later. Now, I know in a church pageant that down one aisle the shepherds come, and down the other aisle, while the wise men come, they didn't get that close together, and they didn't come at the same time the wise men arrived. And we found out last time, verse 11, when they were coming to the house, they had moved into the house by then. Now, when Herod had inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared, and I suppose that they said, well, it was about a year ago, because you see, these wise men came from all quarters of the east. And I think they met in a certain place and then made their trek across the desert and came to Jerusalem. And that would consume a great deal of time in that day. They didn't travel, but jet, they traveled by camel. And some camels have one hump and some have two humps, and at best, you see, it would be either one cylinder or two cylinder jobs. So they didn't get there until quite a bit afterward. Now, Herod had asked when they saw the star, but when he slays all the children in that area from 2 years old and under, I would say this, and this is the part that supposition. Herod is so angry and he's actually mad by the way, that the wise men didn't come back and tell him. And he sees that he's been taken in for the wise men, that they were not cleverer than he thought they were. But they had a message from the Lord because they would have gone by and told him. But now in his anger I think just doubled. He said, well, if they said it was a year ago they saw the star, we'll just double it and make it two years and kill all the children under two years. And now we are told in verse 17, then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying in rhema, was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not. Now this is an unusual prophecy. Also Jeremiah didn't say in Bethlehem, when was there a voice heard. Now, was there a voice heard in Bethlehem? I think so. But you see, Jeremiah had said in rhema and that was up in his country, by the way. And rhema is just about as far north of Jerusalem as Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem. And again, I rather think that when the soldier said, or the captain said to Herod, well, where bouts do you want me to begin? And what about slaying these children? What area? And I think old Herod said we'll just draw a circle around Jerusalem and make the radius of it as far south as Bethlehem and go north as far. And it included Rhema in the north. And Rhema wasn't even involved in it. So you see that Herod slew a great many children. And you can imagine the weeping and the Jerusalem area all the way from Bethlehem to Ramah. And that would be a radius of about 10, 12 miles. And it would be 20 to 25 miles across that area. So it must have been a time of great weeping on the part of these people when they lost their little ones. Now this prophecy, you see, was literally fulfilled. Now we are told, but when Herod was dead. This is verse 19. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. And I must call attention to this. We are told that the angel of the Lord appeared to Jacob at Peniel and now it's an angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is the pre incarnate Christ. But you see, he's gone down now to Egypt. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Saying, arise, take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead, which sought the young child's life. Now it's essential to get him out of the land of Egypt, back up into that land. The most important reason is that he has been born under the law and he is to live under the Mosaic Law. He is the only one who really ever kept it. And we find that he is to come back, therefore, and get out from under the influence of Egypt, because again, he is not to be raised down there as Moses had been raised and as the children of Israel had become a nation down there. Now he is told saying, arise, take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead, which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel. And when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea, in the room of his father Herod, and by the way, Archelaus, another Herod, very brutal, he was afraid to go thither, notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream. And he turned aside into the parts of Galilee. 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. Now you find that is a fulfillment. And actually here the netzer, or the branch, or the root, as it were, is Isaiah 11:1, Isaiah 53:2, or Psalm 22:6. All of that while you have in this term Nazarene. But you see, he's given the term not only because he's a root out of the stem of Jesse, but he's brought up in Nazareth. And he's called a Nazarene, which fulfills the prophecy. Now all of these four scriptural locations are fulfilled. It's as it were, that he touched the base in all of these places. And. And what seemed a rather strange prophecy becomes now a reality, a very sane reality. And it was fulfilled in a very normal way. Now that brings us, friends, to the third chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. And now we are introduced to John the Baptist, forerunner of the king, announces the kingdom and baptizes Jesus the king. Now we have, therefore a very remarkable chapter here. And the kingdom of heaven will come before us again. I want to turn now and read verse one, chapter three of Matthew. And I'm reading now. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now all of a sudden, on the page of Scripture walks John the Baptist. And if we only had Matthew's gospel, why, we'd ask the question, where did he come from? What's his background? Matthew gives us none of that. And the reason is obvious. To begin with, he was to be announced. Malachi had said that the messenger would come ahead to tell about the coming of the king. He says, I send my messenger. And this messenger was John the Baptist. And a messenger is not one that you need to know about his background at all. John the Baptist was a messenger. When the Western Union boy brings a message to your door, do you say to him, young man, did your ancestors come over on the Mayflower? What is your background? You're not interested in that. You're interested in his message. The message is all important, and that's what you want. And you thank the boy, probably give him a tip and dismiss him. You're through with him. And John the Baptist makes it very clear that he was just the messenger. And Matthew's making that clear too. And therefore he just walks out on the page of Scripture, comes preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, and this is his message, Repent ye. It's a message of repentance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, I think probably that we ought to deal with these two expressions that are very important. Repent ye and the kingdom of heaven. And I think probably is at hand. These are all very important. Repent is an expression that's always been given to God's people to turn around. Repent means it's metanoia. It means change your mind. Means you go in one direction, turn around, go another direction. Now, I think it's primarily for saved people, that is, for God's people in any age, repentance. They are the ones that if they're going to have revival and they're cold and indifferent, they've got to turn. That was the message to the seven churches in Asia, as we saw some time ago, and it was the message of the Lord Jesus. Now somebody says, well, isn't the unsaved supposed to repent? Not the way you think of it. He's told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul said to the Philippian jailer. And that old rascal needed to do some repenting. But you see, in faith there is repentance. You see, faith means you turn to Christ. Now, when you turn to Christ, you turn from something. And if you don't turn from something, you don't turn to Him. You see? And so repentance is in the word believe today. And I think that's the primary message that should be given to the lost today, is to believe. Now, a great many people like to do something. They like to put up their hand. They like to come forward in a meeting. They like to do something. And we've encouraged that, by the way. But to me, the most impressive thing is to stay right there in your seat, right where you are. And if you've made a decision, record it by writing it. But even signing a card doesn't save you. The important thing is to trust Christ as your Savior. And if you've really done it, if you've turned to him, you've turned from something. Now, the expression kingdom of heaven, we talked about that before. That's the rule of the heavens over the earth. And the Lord Jesus is the king. And you can't have a kingdom without a king. And you can't have a king without a kingdom. What the king was, it says, my kingdom for a horse. If he traded in his kingdom for a horse, he's not a king. All he is is a man, horseback. You have to have a king to have the kingdom. Now, what do you mean? The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of heaven is present in the person of the king, and that is it. Now somebody says, isn't there a present reality of the kingdom of heaven? Yes. Those who come to him as savior and acknowledge him are translated into the kingdom of his dear son. They belong to him now, but they have a more intimate relationship than a subject of the king. They are now part of the bride. Somebody says, well, they are to carry out his commands. They are more than that. May I say to you, they are to do it because they love him. He says, if you love me, keep my commandments. So that the kingdom of heaven is the rule of the heaven over the earth. That's not in existence today. Any man that makes that kind of a statement must be something wrong with his thinking. He must be totally ignorant of the world we live in. He's not reigning today in any form, shape or fashion. Only in the heart of those who accept him. They're the only ones. Now, he's coming someday to establish his kingdom on the earth. When he does, he'll put down the rebellion. And believe me, he's going to put it down. Now, the kingdom of heaven was present in the person of the king. And that was the only way it was. Now he says, for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, that is Isaiah, and you'll find it in Isaiah 43. You see how Matthew keeps telling us Everything that he's recording is in fulfillment of prophecy, saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. That's all that John the Baptist claimed for himself. He was a voice crying in the wilderness. Now he says, and the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leathern girdle about his loins. And his meat was locust and wild honey. He's a strange individual, isn't he? Talk about one following a diet and one dressing. Very unusual. I hate to say this, but I want to tell you, John would probably qualify in his looks as a hippie. Just look at this. The same John had his raiment of camel's hair. His leathern girdle was about his loins. His meat was locust and wild honey. And we're told he never shaved long hair. This is the man. Unusual man, friends, and a man with a mission. He's an Old Testament character. Walks out of the Old Testament onto the page of the New Testament. He's the last of the Old Testament prophets. Now we're going to see something about him as we go through. Then went out to him, Jerusalem and all Judea, in all the region round about Jordan, they went out to him. He did not rent a stadium or an auditorium or a church. And there was no committee that invited him. He didn't come to town at all. You wanted to hear John. You went out to where he was. I tell you, the spirit of God is on this man. And they were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. In other words, all of this denoted a change in the lives of these people. The very fact of the baptism was there, leaving the old life and now turning to a new one. All of this was there. Now, notice something else. Verse 7. And when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism and notice who was coming, he said unto them, now this is no way to greet these dignified visitors. Listen to him, O generation of vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come. Suppose your preacher got up next Sunday morning and said, o generation of vipers. The deacons would be looking for another preacher, I imagine. May I say, this is really strong language. And he's talking to the dignified Pharisees and Sadducees. He cries out to them, bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance. In other words. You've got to demonstrate this. You just don't go through the act of baptism. You have to present fruit in your life now, he says. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our Father. For I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. That, my friend, was a strong statement he made there. You can understand why he was not elected the most popular man of the year in Judea. We're going to have to leave off right there today. And so until next time, may the Lord richly bless you, my beloved.
- [25:05]
B
Go deeper in your personal study of God's word by checking out the resources in our app or@ttb.org or call 1-865-Bible. If we can help you find something specific. Well, our journey through the New Testament Book of Matthew continues. So hop aboard the Bible bus next time.
- [25:22]
A
Jesus made it home. All to be my home.
- [25:31]
B
Sin had left a crimson saved. Our story on the Bible Bus today is just one step in a five year journey through the entire Word of God. Come along for the ride and you'll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God's great redemption story. Is this your story too.