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God's Plan Fulfilled – Matthew 2
God's Plan Fulfilled – Matthew 2
God purposed, planned, orchestrated, and fulfilled the means of saving us from our sins. This is abundantly displayed in the coming of Jesus the Son of God as recorded in the second chapter of Matthew.
God caused the star to appear that guided the magi from the East to the very house where Jesus lay as a baby. Along the way, God let men like Herod ‘do their own thing’. This is not a free pass for Herod (and all of us) will be brought to judgment for the things that we do.
God’s purpose was not to be undone by the likes of Herod. God warned the magi concerning Herod’s real intent. God warned Joseph of the coming slaughter of the babies so that Jesus escaped. God provided a place of protection in Egypt for Jesus. God instructs Joseph to return but then further instructs him to take Jesus to the district of Galilee.
God’s plan can be seen in Matthew with the various episodes of Israel and God in the Old Testament. The story of the mothers of Israel bewailing the death and enslavement of their children during Jeremiah’s day is itself a recapitulation of Israel’s history. Rachel’s original story was contained in the book of Genesis. Now Matthew picks up Jeremiah’s use and applies it yet again to depict the trouble of Jewish mothers.
As God took Israel into Egypt in order to protect, nourish, and bring them to be a nation of people, so now God takes the Savior of Israel into Egypt and brings Him back safely.
As Matthew concludes this chapter, he shows that the choice of returning to Nazareth was also a matter of God’s purpose and plan. Some explain this as a play on Hebrew words where the Hebrew word ‘Nezer’ [meaning branch] shows that Jesus is the promised branch of the ‘tree of David’. This would then connect with the storyline of being the offspring of David in chapter one.
Another understanding of this was proposed clear back in the early centuries of the church when it was explained that to be called a ‘Nazarene’ was a first-century figure of speech about equivalent to our calling someone a ‘hick’ or ‘backwoodsman’. Nazareth was one of the lowly villages in the northern area of Galilee. It was about as far from Jerusalem both physically and culturally as a Jew could live.
What we see in this chapter is that God is in control even when things appear that would argue otherwise. There are evil deeds, evil men, and tough times for people living in this world. Through all of these, God is bringing about His plan of saving men from their sins. I stand in amazement at God’s ability to allow men their freedom of choice [including the choice to do evil] and yet to use those very choices to fulfill HIS purpose. I stand in awe of God’s knowledge that He could foretell such fulfilling of His purpose centuries before the events come to pass.
Let those of us who suffer according to God’s will learn to entrust our souls to our faithful Creator, while we continue to do that which is good and right [cp. 1Peter 4:19].
Hugh DeLong
