Pruning Me
  • Home
    • Personal Pruning Intro
  • Articles By Title
  • Bible Studies
    • MATTHEW >
      • Matthew 1
      • Matthew 2
      • Matthew 3
      • Matthew 4
      • Matthew 5
      • Matthew 6
      • Matthew 7
      • Matthew 8
      • Matthew 9
      • Matthew 10
      • Matthew 11
      • Matthew 12
      • Matthew 13
      • Matthew 14
      • Matthew 15
      • Matthew 16
      • Matthew 17
      • Matthew 18
      • Matthew 19
      • Matthew 20
      • Matthew 21
      • Matthew 22
      • Matthew 23
      • Matthew 24
      • Matthew 25
      • Matthew 26
      • Matthew 27
      • Matthew 28
    • MARK >
      • Mark 1
      • Mark 2
      • Mark 3
      • Mark 4
      • Mark 5
      • Mark 6
      • Mark 7
      • Mark 8
      • Mark 9
      • Mark 10
      • Mark 11
      • Mark 12
      • Mark 13
      • Mark 14
      • Mark 15
      • Mark 16
    • LUKE >
      • Luke 1
      • Luke 2
      • Luke 3
      • Luke 4
      • Luke 5
      • Luke 6
      • Luke 7
      • Luke 8
      • Luke 9
      • Luke 10
      • Luke 11
      • Luke 12
      • Luke 13
      • Luke 15
      • Luke 16
      • Luke 17
      • Luke 14
      • Luke 18
      • Luke 19
      • Luke 20
      • Luke 21
      • Luke 22
      • Luke 23
      • Luke 24
    • JOHN >
      • John 1
      • John 2
      • John 3
    • ROMANS >
      • Romans 1
      • Romans 2
      • Romans 3
      • Romans 4
      • Romans 5
      • Romans 6
      • Romans 7
      • Romans 8
      • Romans 9
      • Romans 10
      • Romans 11
      • Romans 12
      • Romans 13
      • Romans 14
      • Romans 15
      • Romans 16
    • 1 CORINTHIANS >
      • 1 Corinthians 1
      • 1 Corinthians 2
      • 1 Corinthians 3
      • 1 Corinthians 4
      • 1 Corinthians 5
      • 1 Corinthians 6
      • 1 Corinthians 7
      • 1 Corinthians 8
      • 1 Corinthians 9
      • 1 Corinthians 10
      • 1 Corinthians 11
      • 1 Corinthians 12
      • 1 Corinthians 13
      • 1 Corinthians 14
      • 1 Corinthians 15
      • 1 Corinthians 16
    • 2 CORINTHIANS >
      • 2 Corinthians 1
      • 2 Corinthians 2
      • 2 Corinthians 3
      • 2 Corinthians 4
      • 2 Corinthians 5
      • 2 Corinthians 6
      • 2 Corinthians 7
      • 2 Corinthians 8
      • 2 Corinthians 9
      • 2 Corinthians 10
      • 2 Corinthians 11
      • 2 Corinthians 12
      • 2 Corinthians 13
    • GALATIANS >
      • Galatians 1
      • Galatians 2
      • Galatians 3
      • Galatians 4
      • Galatians 5
      • Galatians 6
    • EPHESIANS >
      • Ephesians 1
      • Ephesians 2
      • Ephesians 3
      • Ephesians 4
      • Ephesians 5
      • Ephesians 6
    • PHILIPPIANS >
      • Philippians 1
      • Philippians 2
      • Philippians 3
      • Philippians 4
    • COLOSSIANS >
      • Colossians 1
      • Colossians 2
      • Colossians 3
      • Colossians 4
    • 1 THESSALONIANS >
      • 1 Thessalonians 1 & 2
      • 1 Thessalonians 3 & 4
      • 1 Thessalonians 5
    • 2 THESSALONIANS >
      • 2 Thessalonians 1
      • 2 Thessalonians 2
      • 2 Thessalonians 3
    • 1 TIMOTHY >
      • 1 Timothy 1
      • 1 Timothy 2
      • 1 Timothy 3
      • 1 Timothy 4
      • 1 Timothy 5
      • 1 Timothy 6
    • 2 TIMOTHY >
      • 2 Timothy 1
      • 2 Timothy 2
      • 2 Timothy 3
      • 2 Timothy 4
    • TITUS >
      • Titus 1
      • Titus 2
      • Titus 3
    • PHILEMON >
      • Philemon 1
    • HEBREWS >
      • Hebrews 1
      • Hebrews 2
      • Hebrews 3
      • Hebrews 4
      • Hebrews 5
      • Hebrews 6
      • Hebrews 7
      • Hebrews 8
      • Hebrews 9
      • Hebrews 10
      • Hebrews 11
      • Hebrews 12
      • Hebrews 13
    • JAMES >
      • James 1
      • James 2
      • James 3
      • James 4
      • James 5
    • 1 PETER >
      • 1 Peter 1
      • 1 Peter 2
      • 1 Peter 3
      • 1 Peter 4
      • 1 Peter 5
    • 2 PETER >
      • 2 Peter 1
      • 2 Peter 2
      • 2 Peter 3
    • 1 JOHN >
      • 1 John 1
      • 1 John 2
      • 1 John 3
      • 1 John 4
      • 1 John 5
    • 2 JOHN >
      • 2 John 1
    • 3 JOHN >
      • 3 John 1
    • JUDE >
      • Jude 1
    • REVELATION >
      • Revelation 1
      • Revelation 2
      • Revelation 3
      • Revelation 4
      • Revelation 5
      • Revelation 6
      • Revelation 7
      • Revelation 8
      • Revelation 9
      • Revelation 10
      • Revelation 11
      • Revelation 12
      • Revelation 13
      • Revelation 14
      • Revelation 15
      • Revelation 16
      • Revelation 17
      • Revelation 18
      • Revelation 19
      • Revelation 20
      • Revelation 21
      • Revelation 22
  • About Me
  • Receiving Christ
  • Contact Me

Prophecy Fulfilled

9/10/2012

0 Comments

 
matthew 2 study
What a story!  Too often we think we know this story so well, that we don't carefully read the text in this chapter.  We are accustomed to the "Sunday School" story of Jesus and yet, it is not reality.   

        So, Jesus was born to a virgin, Mary in Bethlehem.  After he was born, a star appeared- a star that was foretold in Numbers 24:17- that guided wise men to where Jesus was.  Kind of odd.  The thing is, this star was profound, supernatural, divine.  Whether it was a comet,  an guiding angel, a magnificent and unusual star... God was using it to direct the Magi.  Since it was so profound, and prophecies made in the Old Testament, including one from Balaam in Numbers 24:17 and one from the prophet Micah in Micah 5- there was great belief that this child born in Bethlehem was the Messiah.   Herod the king knew it as well.  This displeased him because if this was truly the Messiah, the baby would be more important than him.  So Herod sent the wise men ahead to look for this child.  By this time Jesus was about two years old.   Notice that Herod "summoned the wise men secretly".  Herod didn't want to make a big deal about this baby born of a virgin.  The wise men who practiced in pagan activities, were probably not completely informed about Jesus' divine nature.  The term "wise" does not refer specifically to godly wisdom.  However, when they came into the presence of Jesus as a two year old, they "fell down and worshiped"!    I love that.  I also love seeing the unbelieving become on fire believers.  Never had they been in the presence of Jesus, but when God creates the opportunity- they fall down and worship!  Jesus captivates them, and radically calls them to repentance!  Anyway, Herod sent the wise men, telling them, "Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him."  But the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.  During this time,  God warned Joseph via an angel to leave Egypt because of Herod's plan to kill Jesus. The king became outraged since his plan had also been learned by the wise men.  So, he took a step further and ordered that all the boys who were two years old and younger in the region of Bethlehem to be killed.  Let's think about this a minute.  Herod was obviously serious about getting rid of this baby who was believed to be the Messiah!  He not only ordered boys who were two to be killed, which was about how old Jesus was- but just in case, killed any boy under the age of two!  The region of Bethlehem could have had 10-30 boys under the age of two, according to my ESV study notes- all of them being murdered by the king!  Can you imagine how devastating this would have been?  This isn't a picture you'd paint for a children's Sunday School class!  Imagine some of the hatred some of these families may have had for the young Messiah, even then- since it was his birth that resulted in their sons' death!  

    Herod the Great died sometime after he tried to wipe out the True King.  After he died, his son took his throne, who was like him in character.  Through a dream Joseph was told to go to Nazareth, a town of Galilee.  What great faith Joseph had!  First he's told that his fiancee whom he had no sexual relations with, was pregnant and her son was put there by God and He would be the Savior of the world!  Instead of leaving her and letting her undergo persecution on her own, he loved her, made her his wife and experienced the persecution together.  Can you imagine what kind of ridicule they received?  They were saying that God put a baby in her young womb, who would be the Messiah- the One to fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies! Then, Joseph listened to an angel when he said to depart to Egypt to protect the family from Herod who was out to kill their son.  After that, when Herod died, he obeyed again, the direction from an angel who told them to go to Egypt, and then more specifically, Nazareth.  That's faith!  Because of his obedience to God, who spoke to him through dreams and angels, Jesus was protected.  What would have happened if Joseph stayed in Bethlehem when Herod's soldiers came marching in to slay all the young boys?  What would have happened if he didn't trust God and went back to Bethlehem when Herod's son, Archelaus was king?  First of all, the Old Testament prophecies wouldn't have been fulfilled, and God's Word wouldn't be truth.  Things would have happened some other way.  That's why the prophecies were so great!  They were the foretellings of God's plan.  God knew at the time the prophets spoke or wrote hundreds of years before, that Joseph would obey.  If the prophecies hadn't been spoken, then this story would have seemed just like a matter of events.  But they weren't just a matter of events- it was God's plan.  The prophecies prove that.  Prophecies were given to honorable men, by God.  The word from God wasn't just for that prophet- they were meant to be shared!  What good would the prophecy had been if nobody knew about it?  There would have been no importance in the abnormal star.  Herod would have not wanted to kill Jesus.  There wouldn't be so much weight on the fact that Joseph ended up in Nazareth!  What's so amazing, is the Old Testament is filled with prophecies about Jesus.  It's not like He just "happened".  It was foretold.  It was known before He even was born.  He is the purpose of everything and the reason all things exist. 

~Leanne~
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Enter your Email

    Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz
    Picture
    Lover of Jesus, wife to a great husband, mother of 3 young children. I love to write, cook, and make greeting cards! Read more about me and my family here.

    RSS Feed


    articles by title


    Archives

    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    January 2011

    Books of the Bible

    All
    1 Corinthians
    1 John
    1 Peter
    1 Thessalonians
    1 Timothy
    2 Corinthians
    2 John
    2 Peter
    2 Thessalonians
    2 Timothy
    3 John
    Colossians
    Ephesians
    Galatians
    Hebrews
    James
    John
    Jude
    Luke
    Mark
    Matthew
    Philemon
    Philippians
    Revelation
    Romans
    Titus

      Email me with Questions or Comments:

    Submit
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.