Matthew 2

Dr. John Mann discusses the anticipation and disappointment of unmet expectations in Matthew chapter 2, highlighting the historical context between the Old and New Testaments. He touches on the challenges faced by the nation of Israel, the promises of a Messiah, and the silence of God for 400 years before the dawn of a new day in Matthew. The focus shifts to the genealogy and imperfect people used by God for His perfect will. The retelling emphasizes the themes of worship, hostility, division, and prophecy fulfillment in Matthew chapter 2, showcasing God's providential protection of His people and plan. Alright, good to see everybody this morning. Hope that you had just a great week. And I always love being able to come and talk about the Word of God. So we're going to look at Matthew chapter 2 today and pick up with where Dr. Terry left off. I was going to say to Eddie, I appreciate him volunteering me to help with the evacuation plan. I've got a bad knee, a bad back, a bad elbow. Matthew chapter 2 is where we're going to pick up today. Have you ever lived with anticipation of something turning out really well, only to discover that when it actually comes you seem somewhat disappointed that it was not what you expected it to be? Let's think for just a moment about the context of the book of Matthew. Remember, as Dr. Terry had shared with us, we've got this intertestamental period between the closing out of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament lasted about 400 years. And that was quite a time of conflict, right? When we had left off with Israel back in the Old Testament, they had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians and by the Babylonians. And then we have the intertestamental period where the Roman government rises to power. The nation of Israel had undergone a great deal of enslavement, a great deal of challenges. In some cases, just a lot of battles. We know that there was, between the Testaments, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, there was what we would refer to as the Machiavellian period, where the Jewish Machiavelli's had sought to overthrow the Roman government that had taken God's people into captivity and had done some wonderful things in providing some degree of liberty. But nonetheless, the people of God continued to live what seemed to be enslaved. And this had really been their primary history, right? We see them in the book of Exodus where they had lived enslaved to the Egyptians. Moses had come along to provide for them some degree of deliverance. And even though they lived for a while in the land that flows with milk and honey, yet because they continued to rebel against the people of God, that celebration of freedom didn't seem to last very long, all things considered. And now God had been promising them a Messiah. He had been promising that for a number of years. I want to jump back to Malachi just for a moment to kind of remind us of how the Old Testament closes out. So I'm going to go back to Malachi chapter 3 and we begin to read here at verse 13 of Malachi chapter 3. One guy said this was the Italian prophet Malachi. Not true. That's fake news. Malachi chapter 3, verse 13. Your words against me are harsh, says the Lord. Now, this is the Lord saying to his own people, your words are harsh. And yet you ask, what have we spoken against you? Well, you have said it is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of armies? So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God in escape. Have you ever had that sense? Like many of the Old Testament prophets, why do the wicked prosper? Why does it seem to be those of us who seek to honor and serve the Lord that seem to live with struggle and live with tension? Verse 16, at that time, those who feared the Lord spoke to one another. The Lord took notice and listened. And so a book of remembrance was written before him for those who feared the Lord and had high regard for his name. They will be mine, says the Lord of armies. Notice the repetition of the Lord of armies right there. That's key. One of the things that the Hebrews did is when they really wanted to get a point across, they would use repetition. And so it wasn't just holy is the Lord, but it was holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Here we see the repetition of God's title, if you will, the Lord of armies. The idea that God goes to battle for his people and for his name. They will be mine, says the Lord of armies, my own possession on the day that I am preparing. I will have compassion on them as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. And so you will see again or you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. Notice the division that God is setting up here. There is going to come a day where you will see the difference between the righteous people and the unrighteous people. Now, that's going to be key for where we pick up in the book of Matthew and in particular in Matthew, chapter two, verse chapter four, for look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace when all the arrogance and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them, says again, the Lord of armies, not leaving them root or branches. Now, you need to take note of that last clause there in verse one of Malachi chapter four, not leaving them root or branches. That's going to become very important when we get to the end of Matthew chapter two. But for you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings and you will go out and playfully jump like calves from the stall. You will trample the wicked for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I am preparing, says the Lord of armies. Remember the instruction of Moses, my servant, the statutes and the ordinances. I commanded him at Horeb for all of Israel. Look, I'm going to send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise I will come and I will strike the land with a curse. Now, notice everything that Malachi is prophesying. He's prophesying that there is going to come this day where the righteous and the unrighteous are going to be separated. And no longer will it seem like the righteous are living as the oppressed to those who are unrighteous. For God, the Lord of armies, is going to bring his people to reign and to rule with him. And then at the end of Malachi, we get a period. And the voice of God goes silent for 400 years. Have you ever lived in the silence of God? Praying and praying and praying and praying. And yet God seems silent. Sometimes we find ourselves living in that situation where we know the promises of God. That God has adopted us, that he has called us his children, that he has placed his spirit to indwell our hearts. That his son sits at his right hand where he is making intercession for us. That every word in the Bible is true. That God is going to make sure that his people reign and rule with him. And yet we pray and we pray and we pray and we pray. And it seems as if God doesn't respond. Living in the silence. Well, that's what the people here had felt for 400 years. God had given his promises through the prophet Malachi. Malachi finished his prophecy. A period was put at the end of the book. And there was nothing. And now all of a sudden when Matthew chapter 1 begins to be written by God's spirit through Matthew. It seems as if there is a new day that is beginning to dawn. We get this genealogy. And we are reminded of the four teens that Dr. Terry shared with us last week. These generations, right? These generations where we see really some amazing things that begin to occur. Where we see some people that kind of surprise us that are in there. And yet we learn that God works through imperfect people. In imperfect circumstances. To bring about his perfect will. I am grateful for that. Because I am an imperfect people. And I have imperfect circumstances. Sometimes they happen to me. Sometimes they happen by me. And yet God is faithful to continue to use us for the work of his kingdom. And yet when we once again begin to hear the voice of God in the book of Matthew. It seems to resume right where it left off. Where the wicked are the ones who are reigning. In Matthew chapter 2 there is really four scenes that occur. I don't want to combine scene 2 and 3 simply for the sake of time. To try to be able to do a good job with Matthew chapter 2. But we are going to see scene 1. Where the wise men come to visit the king. Verses 1 through 12. I am going to combine scenes 2 and 3. Verses 13 through 15. The flight to Egypt. And then the massacre of the innocents in verses 16 through 18. And then of course our fourth scene. When we talk about how Joseph by God had taken Jesus and Mary back to the land of Nazareth. So what we see in Matthew chapter 2. It really ought to remind us that Christmas is not merely about a baby in a manger. But it is about a king who has come on a mission. And what we are going to see in Matthew chapter 2. Is that there is going to be worship. There is going to be hostility. There is going to be division. There is going to be prophecy fulfilled. And yet in spite of everything that occurs in Matthew chapter 2. What we see is the providential sovereign hand of God. Protecting not only his people. But protecting his plan. And so let's look at the first scene. Beginning in Matthew chapter 2 verse 1. Now don't miss how understated chapter 2 verse 1 is. I mean we have been seeing this build up. These promises of the coming Messiah going all the way back through the Old Testament. Whether it is Isaiah's suffering servant in chapter 53. Or whether it is David's prophetic messianic Psalms. Like in Psalm 22 and Psalm 24 and Psalm 110. We see these messianic Psalms. We have seen over and over and over again. The promises of the coming Messiah. And when the Messiah comes. Matthew's recording is oh yeah he was born. In a manger. Just kind of. There it is. Understated. Nothing magnificent. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea. In the days of King Herod. Wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying. Where is he that has been born King of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising. And we have come to worship him. And when King Herod heard this. He was deeply disturbed. And all Jerusalem with him. And so he assembled all of the chief priests and the scribes of the people. And asked them where the Messiah would be born. In Bethlehem of Judea they told him. Because this is what was written by the prophet. And you Bethlehem in the land of Judah. You are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. And then Herod secretly summoned the wise men. And asked them the exact time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem. And he said go and search carefully for the child. And when you find him report back to me. So that I too can go and worship him. And after hearing the king. They went on their way. And there it was the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came. And stopped above the place where the child was. And when they saw the star. They were overwhelmed with joy. And entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother. And falling to their knees they worshipped him. And then they opened their treasures. They presented him with gifts. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. And being worn in a dream. And about to go back to Herod. They returned to their own country. By another route. You know for believers who have walked with Christ for many decades. This chapter is going to call you and me to a steady faith. That we continue to believe God. Even when it seems like things that are occurring. Are not going the way that we would expect or want them to go. God continues to summon us to faithfulness. Even when the circumstances seem to be at their most challenging. And so here in this first scene. We see where Jesus this prophesied king is born. And he is born here in Bethlehem. Jack told us this last week. But that word Bethlehem. Literally it means when translated from the Hebrew. It literally means the house of bread. And so where Jesus is born is the house of bread. Bethlehem is mentioned five times in Matthew. But only twice in the book of Luke. Other than that we don't really see it mentioned in the New Testament. It's prophesied that that's where he's going to be born. As we see. But that's really all that we see of the town of Bethlehem. The Old Testament goes to great lengths to show us God's protection of the nation of Israel at large. And the lineage of the Messiah in particular. Think about as we read through the Old Testament. Think about all of the things that we read about conflict that comes to threaten. The messianic lineage. After Cain and Abel have their brotherly conflict. Seth is born. We read about the conflict that occurs between Abraham. And this face-off that he has with Pharaoh where he lies. And it seems as if the lineage of the Christ is going to be challenged once again. We read previous to that about Noah and Ham and Shem and Japheth. And how the threatened destruction of all of creation occurs with the flood. And yet God preserves the messianic lineage through Shem. We have Isaac and Ishmael. The sons of Abraham. We have Jacob and Esau. We have Joseph and his brothers. All of these seasons of conflict that begin to occur. And now in the New Testament we see not merely the lineage being threatened. But we see the very promise of God Himself. His Son. His promised Messiah being threatened. We read here where the one that is the king over the area of Bethlehem and Judea. Is King Herod. Now Herod is an interesting character. He is interesting for a number of different reasons. First of all, he was actually a half Jew. I don't know if you knew that or not. But Herod was half Jew. He was Jewish on one side. And he was Idumean on the other side. Anybody know where the Idumeans came from? They were the lineage of Edom. Of Esau. And so we have Jacob and Esau. We have the conflict that occurred between them. And now that takes us all the way up to King Herod. And King Herod is half Jew and half Idumean. He is half Jacob and he is half Esau. He is a walking prophecy, if you will, of the conflict that would occur. He is a perfect representative of the Jew and the Gentile to show us how the world is going to act with the Messiah. He was appointed king over the area in the year 40 B.C. Okay? 40 B.C. So he had been around for quite a while by the time Jesus is born. He gained complete control of the kingdom in 37 B.C. And he would reign until 4 B.C. Now, something that we need to take note of here, many times or sometimes we might have the idea in mind, when was Jesus born? Well, he was born in 0. He was born not in 1 B.C. or in 1 A.D., but in 0. Well, historically, Herod died in 4 B.C., which means Jesus was born in at least by 4 B.C. All right? So that doesn't mean anything, but it's kind of cool. It just means that the calendar was off a little bit when they created the calendar. And so you can wow your friends with that information when you're playing Trivial Pursuit or something at some point. I say things like that when I really want to impress Sandy. I'm like, let me tell you what. You think Jesus was born in 1 A.D. He was born in 4 B.C., and it works every time. She's thoroughly impressed. At least when I tell the story, she's thoroughly impressed. That's the way I try to flirt with her on Valentine's Day. We see a second group, right? We see King Herod. And then we see the second group that comes. Verse 2, it says, or rather, King Herod, wise men from the east, at the end of verse 1, wise men from the east, they arrived in Jerusalem, and they're asking this question. Where is this one who has been born King of the Jews? I said that about flirting, and now I'm sweating. Put the shovel down. Yeah, quit digging. Why would I do anything different than what I've ever done? Wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem. In verse 2, they're asking this question. Where is he that has been born King of the Jews? For we saw a star at its rising, and have come to worship him. Now, here's what's interesting about this. The wise men, what we might refer to as the magi, they were scholars. They were astronomers that had come from the east. They were Gentiles. And so the Bible, Matthew is setting up for us here, an interesting picture where we have King Herod, part Jew and part Gentile. And now we have some scholars and some astronomers from the very far east beginning to make their way to Jerusalem. What's interesting is if you read through the Bible, going all the way back to the book of Genesis, the further and further and further people get away from God, you know what direction they move? To the east. To the east. Go back and read in Genesis, the fall in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve had sinned against God. They moved to the east and God set a guard at the east side of the garden. And further and further and further they moved. And now, at the birth of the Christ, we see them beginning to move back from the east. These magi, these scholars, these astronomers, they are Gentiles that are coming to see the Messiah. Well, it's significant that the Gentiles sought the Messiah while the Jews ignored Him. Well, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Luke tells us there was no room for Joseph and Mary. And yet the magi come all the way from the east. They see this particular star that had captured their attention because they were astronomers. That's been speculation about what this star is. Some have said that it was some historical comet. Some have said it was a supernova. But what we do know is that it was prophesied that this star was going to point the way to the birth of Christ. As a matter of fact, it was Balaam. Remember the talking donkey? Alright? So we've got Balaam in Numbers 24, 17 that prophesied that this star was going to point the way to the Christ. Excuse me. And then we have Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 60, verse 3, it says, nations are going to come to your light, and kings to your shining brightness. Now we see this conflict. We see this contrast between Herod and the magi. Herod is filled with rage. The magi are filled with wonder. They are awestruck. Their philosophical inquiries led them to search out the Christ. They apparently knew the prophecies of Micah. It had made their way to them. Herod calls in the scribes and a chief priest, and he asks them, where is the Messiah to be born? And they tell him, he's going to be born in Bethlehem. Well, as Herod seeks to create this violent eradication of the king sent by God, out of his own self-protection, the magi come and they worship him. Anyway, it shows us that there are three gifts that are given, right? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Now, this is every bit as interesting as the time when Christ was born. It's like, who cares, right? He was born. It doesn't matter when our calendars say it. The Bible also doesn't tell us that there were three wise men. It tells us there were three gifts. Now, don't go change the church play and all of that. Let the little children have three wise men. We're okay. But it's three gifts. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The gold indicates the worthiness of Jesus as a king. The frankincense is something that reminds us of his priestly function. Frankincense was taken from a particular tree in Arabia, and it was a thick, white, pasty substance. Myrrh was something that seemed to symbolize that there was a coming season of suffering. My mom's side of the family was from far east Tennessee, and one of the things that we would always do when I was a child is when we would go see our family in far east Tennessee is we would go and pick blackberries. Anybody ever pick blackberries? They're thorny, aren't they? You don't reach in with short-sleeved shirts and pick a coffee can full of blackberries. You wear long-sleeved shirts and gloves or something like that because they cut up your arms. Well, myrrh doesn't come from a tree like frankincense did. It comes from a thorn bush. And so myrrh was very expensive because you went to great pains to harvest it. And it was used symbolically of a season of suffering. And so when the magi come, the three kings come. The three kings. I just said it myself. When they come, they bring gold to show that he's a king. They bring frankincense to show that he is a priest. And they bring myrrh to show that there is going to be a season of suffering. Where the magi worshipped him, King Herod was threatened by him and sought to have him put to death. And so he told them, Let's go back and tell me where they are. Let's pick up at verse 13. After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying, Get up. Take the child and his mother. Flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him. Notice once again, God intervening to protect his child. In a dream. This is a third dream that we see in the book of Matthew. The first was Joseph's dream where an angel of the Lord told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The second was the dream of the magi warning him not to return to King Herod. And now we have this dream where God is telling Joseph to flee to Egypt. Notice the prominent place that God's intervention in the protection of his promise is emphasized. Because here's what we see. Whenever God's promises, whenever God's will seems to be threatened by those who are wicked, God divinely and sovereignly protects His plan. Now, I want to say something about dreams if I could for just a moment. We see in the book of Matthew, and we're going to see some more, and we see it in the book of Acts, where God uses dreams. I want to caution us about relying too much on something like that. Because what we see that's occurring here is that God is using dreams to guide His people until we have the completion of the Bible. Now, I believe God can still speak however God wants to speak. But I do have to ask myself a question. Should we rely upon dreams more than we rely upon the Word of God? When we have the very Word of God at our disposal, let's rely upon the Word of God. Because that's God's gift to us to know His will and to understand His will. Yet, God intervened right here. And He did so by telling Joseph, get up, take the child, take his mother, and flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you. For Herod's about to search for the child and he wants to kill him. And so, Joseph got up, he took the child, he took his mother during the night, and they escaped to Egypt. And he stayed there until Herod's death so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, out of Egypt I have called my son. You know, it's interesting that he went to Egypt. Why did he go to Egypt? Because what God is doing is God is taking Jesus and He is showing us how Jesus is the perfect leader of the Exodus. Moses was not the perfect leader. Right? Remember how Moses left Egypt the first time around? He saw a fight going on. He killed somebody. He fled and hid on the backside of his father-in-law's mountain tending sheep for about 40 years until he saw a burning bush. And the burning bush said, hey Moses, go back and get my people. And he said, okay, but... And God said, no, I want you to go back. And Moses said, okay, but... And Moses' life was filled with okay buts. And so God sends him back. He goes back. We have the ten plagues. He leads them out. And then Moses gets them out into the wilderness and then Moses loses his temper. The people are complaining. Moses loses his temper. Strikes the rock the second time out of anger and God says, you're not going to be able to go into the promised land. And God used Moses magnificently though Moses was an imperfect servant. And when God sends his son back into Egypt it seems as if God is symbolically saying to his people this is the perfect leader of the Exodus. And he's not come to free you from the Egyptians. He's come to free you from your sin. And he is going to lead you perfectly. And if we read through Matthew chapter 2 what we see on through Matthew what we see are these beautiful interwoven threads of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. For the bread of life was born in the house of bread. And the leader of the Exodus returned to Egypt to lead us out perfectly. And on these prophecies go. It's also interesting to note that historically Egypt and in particular Alexandria housed was the home of about a million Jews during this time who had fled. Or who had escaped or who had been scattered from all of the persecutions that have occurred from the Assyrians to the Babylonians to the Romans. And so there were about a million Jews that lived in Alexandria at the time escaping all the tyranny that occurred there. And now we have Herod that wants to put Jesus to death. By the way, I want you to notice this paragraph here on chapter 3. I jumped over it a little bit too quickly here. But read what we see about Herod. Such violent behavior was not out of character for Herod. He slaughtered the last remnants of the Hasmonean dynasty of Jewish high priestly kings who had ruled before him. He executed more than half of the Sanhedrin. Now that's interesting because he executed more than half of the Sanhedrin and yet when he was threatened with the birth of the king of Jews, who was it that he called? The chief priests and the scribes. Some of whom made up the Sanhedrin. Isn't it funny how he didn't want their advice until he didn't know what else to do? He killed 300 court officials. He executed his own wife and her mother. He executed his sons Aristobulus , Alexander, and Antipater. And finally, as he lay dying, he arranged for all of the notable men of Jerusalem to be assembled into the Hippodrome. You know what the Hippodrome? The Hippodrome was a huge coliseum that would seat about 40,000 spectators. And what he wanted to do is that upon the announcement of his own death, he wanted to have the last word over the hated Jews by having men of Jerusalem killed. Very violent man that is attacking the Son of God. But what he failed to understand was that King Herod was no match for King Jesus. Because there was a divine providential hand in heaven that was guiding the events of history. And Herod could create his plans, but God could complete his plans. Out of Egypt, I called my son. Verse 16, and Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, he flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all of the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. And then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. A voice was heard in Ramah weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be consoled because they are no more. Notice the continued fulfillment of the prophecy. But here's what's interesting. Look at scene four. After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. So we have another dream. In this dream, Joseph was told, get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel because those who intended to kill the child are dead. And so Joseph got up, he took the child and his mother and he entered the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, so this is one of the sons that wasn't killed, in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And so being warned in another dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee and then he went and he settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets so that he would be called a Nazarene. Now if we look at the language here very closely, it's that final clause there in verse 23 that there seems to be an emphasis on it. It's almost like in the Greek language, there is a highlighter. Don't miss this. He was called a Nazarene. Now what's interesting about this is that as Joseph has taken Mary and Jesus back up into Israel, well, the direction they have to go coming from Egypt is that as they travel north, they come first of all to Judea. The very southern part. And then from Judea, they go through Samaria and then they make their way all the way up north to the Galilean area. Now in the very southern part of Galilee was a small overlooked village. It was made up of about 500 people. Anybody know where Pelican Bay is? Parker County, Pelican Bay. You don't even know what's there unless you get a flat tire or something. That's the way Nazareth was. 500 people. Nobody took Nazareth seriously. That's why we read in John 1, verse 46 where Nathanael says, can anything good come out of Nazareth? I mean, what's the purpose of Nazareth? Let me show you something. Jump back to Malachi for just a moment. And I want to remind you what I pointed out to you there in chapter 4, verse 1. For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and everyone who commits wickedness will become stubble. The coming day will consume them, says the Lord of armies, not leaving them root or branches. So tuck that away and think about the words in chapter 11, verse 1 of Isaiah. You remember the messianic promises of Isaiah. Isaiah wrote in chapter 11, verse 1, Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse. Whose father was Jesse? David's. A shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. Isaiah chapter 11, verse 1. A branch. Malachi chapter 4, verse 1. Not leaving them root or branches. You know what the Hebrew word for branch is? Nazareth. Where we get our word Nazareth. And so God had been prophesying that whoever this Messiah is, he's going to have some connection to what seems to be virtually insignificant. A little town, very few people had heard of, called Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? You see, if Nazareth were a person, Nazareth would look like Mary. Seemingly insignificant. No reason for God to choose them at all. Because what Matthew is showing us is that God overthrows the most significant, according to the world's eyes, with that which seems to be so insignificant. And so we never know what significant thing God is doing in the insignificant circumstances of our lives. You never know who you've encouraged by simply saying a kind word. You never know who you have helped stand up and continue to serve the Lord by a little postcard, or a text message, or a kind word in the hallway. The most insignificant of events can accomplish significant things when God's hand is on it. And by the way, the most insignificant of people can accomplish great things when we are yielded to God's Spirit and faithful to Him. So if you feel insignificant today, remember the words of Paul. It's when I am weak that I am strong. It reminds me as I was reading through this preparing of a great, great hymn by Charles Wesley. And I'll show you why. As I read it, not sing it. "And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused his pain? For me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, would die for me? Amazing love! how can it be that Thou, my God, would die for me? 'Tis mystery all, the immortal dies. Who can explore His strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine. 'Tis mercy all, let earth adore. Let angel minds inquire no more. He left His fathers throne above. So free, so infinite His grace. He emptied Himself of all but love and bled for Adam's helpless race. 'Tis mercy all, immense and free. For, O my God, it found out me. Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin in nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray. I awoke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chain fell off, my heart was free. I arose, went forth, and followed Thee. No condemnation now I dread. Jesus and all in Him is mine. Alive in Him, my living head, and clothed in righteousness divine. Bold I approach the eternal throne and claim the crown through Christ my own. Amazing love, how can it be that Thou, my God, should die for me?" The people had long awaited the fulfillment of God's promises. And what for a moment seemed like a glittering light, still had a season of suffering ahead. Praise God for those moments of glittering light. But even when that light is only for a small, short season, don't quit serving Him. Because one day, the glittering light will shine with the glory of the sun. Look for those Nazareth moments. Seemingly insignificant, but we never know whose life they may impact for all of eternity. Amen? Father, we are so grateful that we who are imperfect, maybe, sometimes, often, seem insignificant. And yet, God, You use us in magnificent ways as we are faithful to Your kingdom. So Lord, as we may find ourselves in seasons of discouragement, we pray for just a moment of light to remind us, to encourage us, to carry us. And yet, Lord, help us also to be aware of those who are around us, that they themselves may be struggling with some season of discouragement. Father, help us to be a voice that seeks to uplift them. Lord, there's enough discouragement in this world. Let us not be voices of discouragement. And Lord, we pray that we would never overlook those Nazareth moments, but that we would always try to use them so that You would be glorified and so that Your people will be edified and so that the lost might be brought to faith in You. God, we praise Your name and we thank You for Your Son. In His name we pray. Amen. Alright, good to see you today. Yes, sir. Thank you. Chapter 4 next week.