We are exploring
the birth of Jesus
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in the record
of Book of Matthew.
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We have noticed Mary's response
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and Joseph's response
of faith and obedience.
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Now we are
entering into Chapter 2 and
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we are seeing these,
these Arab philosophers
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from the East who are coming,
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they've come to
Jerusalem, Ranko.
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Why do they go there? And
what are they looking for?
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What's their question
they are seeking after God?
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You know, usually
when Bible readers
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they read this
event, they think that
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we have here a story
that does not fit to reality.
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They've said, you know,
Judea was a small country
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and the birth of
one child that later
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became the leader,
you know Gudhrabai,
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does not fit to reality.
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I just want to read something
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to the readers is, you know,
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Jesus died
somewhere in the year 33,
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up to time you know,
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31 okay. 31, yeah.
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I would like
something we have from
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two Roman historians,
one was Tacitus who lived
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from 60 AD to 120
and another one was
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Suetonius from 75 to 160
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to telling us
something very significant.
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They are Roman historians,
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have nothing to
do with Jewish race.
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They said there
was a firm persuasion
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that at this very
time, the East was to grow
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powerful and the
rulers coming from Judea were
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to acquire universal empire.
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Suetonius, there had spread
over all the Orient an old
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and established belief,
it was faith at that time
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for men coming from
Judaea to rule the world.
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Scripture elsewhere it
says, in the fullness of time,
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that's the right time
there is an expectation.
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Believe me, notice of
the coming of the Messiah
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was not to just
confine to Judea.
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The Romans were very
much familiar, through out
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the Roman Empire they
were very much familiar
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about what the Jewish
people were expecting to come
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to come there and
to happen in Judea.
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There's an
expectancy, there is a hope.
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Yeah, So these
magi, they saw the star,
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but they saw did also
the Hebrew Scriptures.
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May I just pause
there for a moment, because,
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usually we're so
familiar with the Christians,
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Christmas story
because of the pageants we see
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and the shepherds and
the wise men come at about
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the same time. Yeah.
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There's a
difference in time there.
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Actually we must say
that, between verse 25 of
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Chapter 1 and what happens
in Chapter 2 probably weeks,
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it could be even
month that they passed.
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How do you know
that? Probably viewers
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would like to know that.
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Number one is we
read when the magis
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they came there to
Bethlehem, where did they
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find Joseph and
Mary? Not in a stable.
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They found in a house,
but in Gospel of Luke, Jesus
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was not born in a house,
He was born in the stable.
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So evidently by that
time, Joseph and Mary,
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moved to a house
where they lived.
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And they came because
they had seen the star.
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It would take
sometime to come to travel
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Second thing is, in the
conclusion of Chapter 2,
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when Herod found
out from magis about
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the birth of the new
king, he decided to kill
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all children up
to two years of age.
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Why up to two years of
age? He knew that the child was
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born just few days
before or may be week.
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Because it said
everyone week or two
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Or may be that night
that the boy was born.
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Why would he kill
all those children up to
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two years of age?
But second thing is
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in Gospel of Luke, when
Joseph and Mary came there
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to Jerusalem with
Jesus, they were so poor,
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they could not offer a
lamb there as a sacrifice.
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They, you know, as a poor people
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they were two births there.
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If really the magi
they came prior to that,
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they would be very rich
people with those gifts.
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So evidently all
the evidences that
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indicate to us
that the magi came
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may be weeks after that.
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Again we see God's
mercy, Jesus has come,
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the shepherds have responded.
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You'd think the
nation would be responding.
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Do we see a nation
that's so glad their hope
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is finally fulfilled?
The people are curious
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and they are
rushing to learn more.
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So can you imagine
the Messiah was born.
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His people were
waiting for His coming.
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He came to save
them from their sins
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and nobody was waiting for Him.
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Who were those in the
Gospel of Matthew that
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were waiting for him,
actually the Gentiles,
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not only that they waited,
that they were in Jerusalem,
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they have to travel
several weeks from Mesopotamia
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to come there to
welcome the new born king.
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When the seekers come,
they come to Jerusalem,
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who did they see and
what did they find out?
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Yeah, they saw the
Scribes, they saw the people
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but they saw such a
great in difference.
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I want just go back to
what you said last time,
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the people with genealogy.
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They go to those
people with genealogy.
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Yes, He came to save them.
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Now did the Priests
and Rabbis have the facts,
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did they have the truth,
did they have the knowledge?
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Yes, actually
when the question was,
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where will the Messiah be born?
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They said in
Bethlehem. They knew it.
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Actually we have
all the evidences that
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the Jewish people
based from Daniel Chapter 9,
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they knew approximate the time
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when the Messiah would be born.
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Can you ever think but
they were not waiting for Him.
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There is a
warning for us, isn't it?
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Oh yeah. I'm so
many times afraid
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when we started
the Bible, we know
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what the future will bring.
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I'm afraid that
the future can happen,
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but it will not
fit to my expectations.
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How it's important to
study the Bible as it is,
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not study and bring our
ideas and our concepts--
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So we can know the signs
and we can know the prophecies,
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but still miss the Savior. Yes.
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What a tragic experience? Now,
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of course Herod, gets
involved in the process.
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What's his
concern? He is a king,
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what does he care
about a baby being born?
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You know, the
readers who lived there
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in the first
century, when they read all
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these account of Jesus birth,
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they couldn't
escape something, because
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Josephus who was
Jewish historian,
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but he became later Romans.
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Actually he described
that before Moses was born
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that the magi they said
to Pharaoh, you know, that
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a leader will come and
He will take your throne,
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He will be threat
to you and according to
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the Jewish
rendition is Pharaoh wanted to
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kill Moses, because he
was threat to his throne.
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The same situation is here.
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Herod was much more
concerned about his throne.
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Probably few words
should be said about Herod.
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We know that he killed
his wife, his beloved wife,
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that he was
obsessed with her beauty
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and so he killed her.
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He killed his two favorite sons.
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For Herod to kill
several innocent children
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there in Bethlehem
was nothing strange,
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simply to preserve his
rule, his rule on the throne.
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Actually the
history is telling us
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before Herod died, you
know, that he gathered,
00:07:30.11\00:07:33.15
he assembled, all
the Jewish leaders,
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he put them in
jail, put them on side,
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and he said the
moment you hear that I died
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I want to kill everybody there,
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crying in the
country, otherwise people will
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not cry when I die.
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See it fits his
character what he was doing
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there with reference to Jesus.
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I understand,
there's even a saying that
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"It is safer to be his
dog than his family member"
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because if you are a
rival, he will eliminate you.
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So we have here in Chapter 2,
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who is the true king of Israel,
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isn't that the question?
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Yes. Who is the king?
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Is it Herod or does
God have someone else?
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No, actually Herod is here
as upper of God's authority.
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He is the one that Satan is
using to prevent God's plan,
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to accomplish
God's purposes on earth.
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Now, Herod was very
crafty about what he does.
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He doesn't
reveal his motivation.
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He says to the wise men,
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oh I want to worship him too.
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But you know, there is something
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so beautiful here that I
cannot but to mention it,
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so many times when we,
situation in the world,
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we wonder if God
is still in control.
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When we see
here what's going on,
00:08:45.45\00:08:46.96
the Messiah is born and now
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there is a threat
to his life, even had
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to flee there to
Egypt. Where is God?
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But believe me God
is still in charge,
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God is still in control.
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According to
Matthew, even Jesus had to
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flee there to Egypt, it was
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for the
prophecy to be fulfilled.
00:09:06.84\00:09:08.28
Could we spend a moment,
you mentioned earlier about
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the gifts that
these wise men bring
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and we say three kings,
but we don't know the number,
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that's part of our
stories that have developed.
00:09:17.35\00:09:19.52
But they do bring
three gifts, what are they?
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What could they
have been used for?
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How are they helpful?
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Actually they were
very expensive gifts and
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people are trying to make
different theories of gold,
00:09:29.73\00:09:34.27
frankincense and myrrh etc.
00:09:34.30\00:09:36.67
I really don't
want to go with that,
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sometimes it can be
very, very speculative,
00:09:38.67\00:09:41.94
but really those three
gifts can refer to the threefold
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aspect of Jesus
ministry in the office.
00:09:46.18\00:09:48.88
He's the king, He's
the priest and He' a judge.
00:09:48.92\00:09:52.52
And it shows how God
provides because of those
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gifts become the means
for them to escape to Egypt.
00:09:54.69\00:09:57.36
Can you imagine,
not only the Messiah,
00:09:57.39\00:09:59.53
was not waited for in Jerusalem
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by His own people,
but He had to go and flee
00:10:02.83\00:10:06.30
and to find the protection
in the Gentile territory
00:10:06.33\00:10:08.67
which was actually Egypt today.
00:10:08.70\00:10:10.67
What Jesus' say,
but God made a provision
00:10:10.71\00:10:13.54
with the gifts of
those magi, so that
00:10:13.58\00:10:17.25
Joseph and Mary could
for certain period of time
00:10:17.28\00:10:20.18
live there in
Egypt, in order to survive?
00:10:20.22\00:10:23.92
How God always makes provision.
00:10:23.95\00:10:26.19
I suspected you'll bring
this out in future lessons
00:10:26.22\00:10:29.42
about how Jesus repeats
some of the history of Israel
00:10:29.46\00:10:32.63
and correlation
between those two.
00:10:32.66\00:10:35.43
Actually I would
like to take one minute
00:10:35.46\00:10:37.10
to address it,
because we have it here
00:10:37.13\00:10:40.40
the significance
of the Old Testament
00:10:40.44\00:10:42.30
quotations in Matthew 2.
00:10:42.34\00:10:43.97
Just quickly Matthew
2:15, what do we have at 2:15.
00:10:44.01\00:10:48.98
Yes and there was.
00:10:49.01\00:10:50.75
Out of Egypt I called my son.
00:10:50.78\00:10:54.18
Then we have in
2:6, we have you,
00:10:54.22\00:10:58.65
Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
00:10:58.69\00:11:00.29
who are not the least
among the leaders of Judah,
00:11:00.32\00:11:03.63
For out of you shall come forth
00:11:03.66\00:11:05.59
a ruler who will
shepherd My people Israel.
00:11:05.63\00:11:09.46
And then in verse
2:18, a voice from
00:11:09.50\00:11:12.63
Jeremiah prophecy, A
voice was heard in Ramah,
00:11:12.67\00:11:16.10
weeping and great
mourning, Rachel weeping
00:11:16.14\00:11:18.81
for her children
and she refused to be
00:11:18.84\00:11:21.31
comforted because
they were no more.
00:11:21.34\00:11:23.51
By the way we know that
all these are three quotations
00:11:23.55\00:11:26.88
from the Old
Testament and they refer
00:11:26.92\00:11:29.18
to three greatest
events in history.
00:11:29.22\00:11:33.52
Matthew 2:15 is
quotation from Hosea 11:1
00:11:33.56\00:11:37.59
it refers to Exodus.
00:11:37.63\00:11:38.96
Then we have
Matthew 2:6 from Micah 5:2,
00:11:38.99\00:11:43.47
it refers to the
kingdom of David.
00:11:43.50\00:11:45.57
You know
Bethlehem David was born.
00:11:45.60\00:11:47.17
Then we have
Matthew 2:18 is quotation
00:11:47.20\00:11:50.64
from Jeremiah 31:15
its reference to the Exile.
00:11:50.67\00:11:55.04
So what is the
point that we have here,
00:11:55.08\00:11:57.11
you know, Jesus
came to save His people
00:11:57.15\00:12:00.22
from their sins. How?
00:12:00.25\00:12:01.58
Because he
identifies Himself with them.
00:12:01.62\00:12:06.49
We saw the genealogy,
the history of God's people
00:12:06.52\00:12:10.46
in the past was the
history of constant failure.
00:12:10.49\00:12:13.83
But Jesus, in
order to save them,
00:12:13.86\00:12:15.83
He steps into the
situation where they failed,
00:12:15.86\00:12:19.23
He won the
victory and that's the way
00:12:19.27\00:12:21.97
how He came to save
His people from their sins.
00:12:22.00\00:12:25.54
As we conclude what
should we hold on to
00:12:25.57\00:12:29.11
from this story of
the birth of Jesus?
00:12:29.14\00:12:31.21
What does this say to you
and to me as readers today?
00:12:31.25\00:12:35.42
So today, when we
read the Gospel of Matthew,
00:12:35.45\00:12:40.46
we can learn something yes.
00:12:40.49\00:12:42.09
We saw that the
Gospel of Matthew began
00:12:42.12\00:12:44.53
with rejection of
Jesus by His own people
00:12:44.56\00:12:48.93
that actually He came to save.
00:12:48.96\00:12:52.17
What is that hope for me
00:12:52.20\00:12:54.47
as I read the Gospel of Matthew?
00:12:54.50\00:12:57.17
So many times I feel
in my life I have constant
00:12:57.21\00:12:59.87
rejection of Jesus,
but He still loves me
00:12:59.91\00:13:02.24
and He loves His own people
in the past and He's ready
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to save me from my
own sin. What a Savior.
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