Flight to Egypt

+/- 2 years ago you believe the Lord’s angel and accept that your fiance is still a virgin…but pregnant! Anger, sadness, betrayal, excitement (the Messiah?!!!).

They obviously stayed in Bethlehem instead of going back to Nazareth to face the humiliation of returning with a son when they had only been married a few months. So their lives are just getting to “normal”

Then the wise men show up! (Vs. 11) Imagine the shock and awe that they felt when they opened the gifts!

ทองคำ Gold

Gold is a symbol of deity and glory; it speaks of the shining perfection of His divine Person.

กำยาน Frankencense

Frankincense is an ointment or perfume; it suggests the fragrance of the life of sinless perfection.

มดยอบ (ยางไม้หอมเมอร์) Myrrh

Myrrh is a bitter herb; it pictures the sufferings He would endure in bearing the sins of the world.

yrrh is a bitter herb; it presages the sufferings He would endure in bearing the sins of the world.

II. ความหวาดกลัวในเบธเลเฮม Terror In Bethlehem Vs. 16-18

I cannot imagine the feeling of terror that would have been going through the minds of the people of Bethlehem when the soldiers of their king, king Herod, began killing all the baby boys under 2 years of age!

A. ความภาคภูมิใจของเฮโรด ยากอบ 4:6 The Pride of Herod - James 4:6

ยากอบ 4:6 แต่พระองค์ได้ทรงประทานพระคุณเพิ่มขึ้นอีก เหตุฉะนั้นพระองค์จึงตรัสว่า `พระเจ้าทรงต่อสู้ผู้ที่หยิ่งจองหอง แต่ทรงประทานพระคุณแก่คนที่ใจถ่อม'

6 แต่พระองค์ได้ทรงประทานพระคุณเพิ่มขึ้นอีก เหตุฉะนั้นพระองค์จึงตรัสว่า `พระเจ้าทรงต่อสู้ผู้ที่หยิ่งจองหอง แต่ทรงประทานพระคุณแก่คนที่ใจถ่อม'

ยากอบ 4:6

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

B. คำพยากรณ์ถุกสำเร็จแล้ว Prophecy Fulfilled

เยเรมีย์ 31:15 พระเยโฮวาห์ตรัสดังนี้ว่า "ได้ยินเสียงในรามา เป็นเสียงโอดครวญและร่ำไห้ ราเชลร้องไห้คร่ำครวญเพราะบุตรทั้งหลายของตน นางไม่รับคำเล้าโลมในเรื่องบุตรทั้งหลายของตน เพราะว่าบุตรทั้งหลายนั้นไม่มีแล้ว"

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

Rachel is the symbolic mother of the 10 tribes that formed the Northern kingdom of Israel after the kingdom was split in 1 พงศ์กษัตริย์ 12 .

These were the first tribes to turn from God and follow idols. There is not one king of Israel that is called a godly king! There is a judgment that comes from not following God’s Word. They completely rejected the word of Jeremiah.

1พงศ์กษัตริย์ 12 .

15 พระเยโฮวาห์ตรัสดังนี้ว่า "ได้ยินเสียงในรามา เป็นเสียงโอดครวญและร่ำไห้ ราเชลร้องไห้คร่ำครวญเพราะบุตรทั้งหลายของตน นางไม่รับคำเล้าโลมในเรื่องบุตรทั้งหลายของตน เพราะว่าบุตรทั้งหลายนั้นไม่มีแล้ว"

III. การทรงจัดเตรียมของพระเจ้า God’s Providence

Minimum Divine Intervention

Why didn’t God just stop Herod from killing all those innocent babies?

Theologically, we would call this providence. But Providence is not just the providing for something, “God has providentially given us our food,” but it is the การเห็นล่วงหน้า forethought or foreseeing the end of something; “A future end, a goal, and a definite purpose and plan for attaining that end.”

With millions of people in the world at the time of Abraham, we only see God’s working in Abraham’s life to bring about God’s purpose of redemption through Israel. We do not see God ordering everything that was done in Israel, but we see, at times, the Hand of God moving and working to accomplish that plan!

Personally, I believe that God seeks to leave us as free moral agents as much as possible. God’s interference with mankind is minimal so as to allow the laws of sowing and reaping to be realized.

God could have given many commands to Adam and Eve, but He gave the smallest one He could when He told them not to eat of one tree!

At the same time, sometimes God intervenes to bring about the fruit of our actions!

The nation of Egypt oppressed the people of Israel for all of the 80 years of Moses’ life before he was sent to lead them out. In Pharaoh commands the nation of Israel to work harder as a punishment because Moses told him to release them. In we see Pharaoh’s heart will be hardened by God as a means of judgment against Pharaoh.

There is a similar situation in Bethlehem. The nation of Israel had rejected God and NO ONE followed Jeremiah’s warnings before he issues the prophecies mentioned here.

This is a situation where we see the terrible condition of mankind and yet, the goodness of God in working despite mankind!

Jeremiah 31:15 KJV 1900

Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children Refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

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