Christmas Dreams: Return to Israel

Now 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 to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” (Matthew 2:19-20)

In the previous dream, which directed Joseph to take the baby Jesus and His mother and flee to Egypt, there was the promise of a new word that would come. That angel said, “Stay there until I bring you word, for Herod will see the young Child to destroy Him” (Matthew 2:13). And now here was that new word: “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”

The threat had passed, and the promise of the first dream remained: “You shall call His name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). God had showed Himself faithful to His Word. And He would continue to do so, even as another threat emerged:

Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. (Matthew 2:21-22)

When Herod died, he divided his kingdom among his three remaining sons (the ones he did not already have killed). To the cruelest one, Archelaus, he gave the region of Judea, subject to the approval of Rome. Galilee came under the rule of Herod Antipas, who was much less vicious than his brother.

So Joseph brought Jesus and Mary back to Israel, but not to Judea, which he had originally anticipated. Archelaus posed a new threat, and God was faithful to advise Joseph about it. Joseph and his family returned to Israel, but settled in the region of Galilee and a place called Nazareth.

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.” (Matthew 2:23)

There is no one prophet who makes such a statement in the Old Testament. Matthew is gathering together a few prophetic ideas and bringing them to a conclusion. One such prophetic text might be Isaiah 11:1, which tells of a “branch” (Hebrew netzer) which would grow out from the roots of Jesse (father of King David). This would be a play on words between the Hebrew netzer and the name of the town Nazareth.

It may also have to do with the sullied reputation Nazareth had developed. In the Gospel of John, when Phillip went to his friend, Nathanael, and said, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,” Nathanael answered, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46). This would go along with Isaiah’s prophecy that Messiah would be despised and rejected:

For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
  And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
  And when we see Him,
There is not beauty that we should desire Him.
   He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

(Isaiah 53:2-3)

But none of these things mattered. They could not stop the angelic dream. They could not undo the plan of God and destroy His promise: The little Child named Jesus would grow up and save His people from their sins!

When God gives a dream, the enemy will try every way he can to stop it. But if we will hold onto God and His Word, and always be listening for His voice, He will bring us through to the place of fulfillment.

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Let Earth Receive Her King
Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom of God
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Christmas Dreams: Arise, Flee to Egypt

Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” (Matthew 2:13)

What? Flee to Egypt? How can this be? Was not that which was conceived in Mary indeed of the Holy Spirit? Was not the young Child named Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins? Had the plan of God now fallen apart? Had the purpose of God come undone now because of the anger of Herod?

The Magi, following the Star, came to Jerusalem, to Herod, asking, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2). Now, Herod had been placed by the Romans as king over Jerusalem, but here was news of the rightful king whose coming had long been prophesied. Herod would not yield quietly to that.

Even the Star itself had been prophesied and was an indicator of the time of the Great King (Numbers 24:17). That is why the wise men came from the east — they had seen the Star. In the prophesy, this Great King would have dominion over all the enemies of God’s people, including Edom and Seir (Number 24:18). Herod was of Edom.

So Herod called together the chief priests and scribes and asked where this Messiah was to be born. They knew the prophecies, yet they were as troubled about it as Herod was. They answered that it would be in Bethlehem of Judea, according to Micah 5:2.

Herod met with the wise men again, this time in secret, for he was setting up a ruse. When he learned from them when the Star had first appeared, he sent them on their way, asking them to return when they found the infant King, so he could go and worship, too.

The wise men followed the Star on to Bethlehem, and found Jesus, now a young child, dwelling there in a house, along with His mother. They opened their treasures and presented Him with rich gifts befitting royalty. “Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way” (Matthew 2:12).

It was when they departed that the angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream a second time: “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.” Joseph quickly obeyed.

When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son. (Matthew 2:14-15)

Ah, so this did not catch God by surprise after all. He had even indicated it long before through the prophets. Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Hosea was talking about the exodus, when the children of Israel were delivered from Egyptian bondage. But Matthew sees a parallel here: Just as Israel experienced a time of exile in Egypt, so did Israel’s Messiah. And just as Israel’s bondage in Egypt did not mean the end of God’s plan, neither did Jesus’ exile in Egypt. In fact, it offered Him an important point of identification with the history of God’s people, whom He came to save.

Joseph’s second angelic dream did not signal that the first dream had failed. It had succeeded wonderfully, just as God said. It was so successful, in fact, that it had aroused the anger of the enemy.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet saying:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refused to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”

(Matthew 2:16-18)

Matthew finds a parallel between Herod’s “slaughter of the innocents” and an earlier time in Israel’s history, a time of exile and destruction. We find the prophet’s words in Jeremiah 31:15. Ramah was a territory apportioned to the tribe of Benjamin; Rachel was the mother of Benjamin who died giving him birth and was buried in Bethlehem. So Jeremiah uses the tears of Rachel as a symbol of the inconsolable weeping heard in the desolate land when Israel was carried off into Babylonian captivity. But there was also an expectation of hope, found in the next verse:

Refrain your voice from weeping,
And your eyes from tears;
For your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD,
And they shall come back from the land of the enemy,
There is hope in your future, says the LORD,
That your children shall come back to their own border.

(Jeremiahs 31:16)

In the same way, the rage of Herod, which had destroyed the future of so many Hebrew children and sent the young Messiah into exile, could not undo the plan of God. The message of Joseph’s second angelic dream, “Flee to Egypt,” was not a capitulation to the enemy. It did not signal the failure of the first dream, but the protection of it. And it bore this important expectation: “Stay there until I bring you word.”

Exile does not mean the end of divine dreams and callings. It is often where they are protected, and even shaped.

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Let Earth Receive Her King
Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom of God
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Christmas Dreams: Do Not Be Afraid

Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:20)

Matthew’s Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. It may seem like just a list of “begats,” but it tells an important story, tracing the kingly lineage, and the right of Messiah to rule and reign. But before it leads us to Jesus, it first introduces us to Joseph:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

Joseph begins this story with a dream, not the one with the angel, but the one that had already filled his heart with anticipation. He was pledged to be married, and his mind was busily preparing plans for their new life together.

But his dream was suddenly shattered, and his plans broken, when he discovered that Mary was pregnant, and he knew he was not the father. Now it appeared that Mary had been unfaithful and he had been betrayed. So he reluctantly filled his mind with different plans, and his joy was displaced by bitterness.

He had every right, under the law, to break his pledge and set Mary aside — if she had indeed been unfaithful to him. He might even have put her to public shame, except that he still cared for her, even though his heart ached. No, he would still put her away — his own honor demanded that — but he would do it quietly.

Joseph did not act hastily, but passionately pondered these things, his heart and his head debating whether to follow through with this intention. He was almost hardened to what he must do, when something unexpected happened:

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:18-21)

“Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.” Before Matthew’s Christmas narrative is through, we will see this same declaration three times, at key moments.

It is easy to overlook the word “behold,” as if it was nothing more than a simple connective. But Matthew uses it very purposefully, drawing our attention to something important, something we are likely to miss if we understand things only in the natural. It is an indicator concerning something that was happening in the spiritual realm.

“Behold!” But what are we to give special attention to? “An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.” A messenger from God, for that is what an angel really is, was sent to Joseph in a dream. Dreams were often recorded in the Old Testament as a means by which God revealed His plans to His people. Now Joseph was having just such a dream. Not only that, but an angel of the Lord appeared to him in it.

It was a startling thing, a burst of brightness. The Greek word for “appear” means that this angel was radiant with light; and he came to shine in the shadows of Joseph’s troubled understanding.

The angel addressed him: “Joseph, son of David.” Here is the important connection to the royal lineage with which Matthew began his account. Joseph was legal heir to the throne which God promised would continue in David’s family line forever.

“Do not be afraid.” No doubt, Joseph was intimidated by this glorious appearance. Who wouldn’t be? But in the midst of the despair that had enveloped his heart, these words also brought a glimmer of hope: “Don’t be afraid—all is not lost!”

“Do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife.” Here was the directive, and the anticipation that there was a future for Joseph and his beloved after all. And now came the understanding Joseph had been lacking and for which he was unprepared: “For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

So this was not about Mary after all, but about God. Mary had not been unfaithful to Joseph; God was showing Himself strong, and faithful to an ancient promise, for this was about Messiah: “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for he will save his people from their sins” (his name means “The LORD saves”).

Joseph’s former plans would be set aside, and he would grieve for them no longer; God had now revealed a greater plan. Joseph would still have his Mary, but now he would step into destiny.

Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS. (Matthew 1:24-25)

The dream of Christmas is that God steps into hopeless situations, shines the brightness of His glory and fulfills the promise of redemption in unexpected ways.

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Let Earth Receive Her King
Advent, Christmas and the Kingdom of God
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.