Salvation Through Sorrow - Matthew 2:13-16
Pastor Dennis Bone
1/6/13
SALVATION THROUGH SORROW 1-6-13
The tragic and senseless killing of innocent children at a school in Connecticut just prior to Christmas reminded me of another tragic and senseless killing of innocent children at the first Christmas. Amidst the celebration of the season and the joy of Christ’s coming we don’t hear much about the grief and sadness of Herod’s slaughter of all the boys in Bethlehem two and under in response to Christ’s coming. For many it doesn’t seem to fit the occasion, but for Matthew it’s a very important event, and one essential to God’s redemptive plan.
People in our culture try to make sense of tragic events in a variety of ways. Some blame God; others deny He exists; while some argue that He doesn’t have full control over sin and evil. Yet many people turn to God for comfort and strength and wisdom to understand such events and work through them. History is full of violent mad men – from lone wolves that no one has ever heard of until they act, to famous dictators and world leaders – all whose actions not only demonstrate the consequences of mankind’s sinful nature, but also clearly document the need for mankind’s salvation.
The biblical story of God’s redemptive plan to save sinners is one of salvation through sorrow. Some today view Christianity as “salvation through prosperity” which makes it difficult to understand suffering; and causes people to ask: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Yet the message of Christmas and the good news of Christianity is one of good things happening to bad people. The account of Herod trying to kill Jesus by slaughtering innocent baby boys, in the midst of angels singing joy to the world and declaring peace on earth, can only make sense if we understand that it’s an essential part of the gospel; and God’s redemptive plan.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 2. You remember that the Magi come to Bethlehem to worship Christ the new born king and to offer Him gifts. As they leave the angel warns the Magi, and then also Joseph, that Herod is out to get this child. Beginning with verse 13 of Matthew 2 we read:
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, “Get up,” he said, “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been tricked by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Why did God allow this to happen? We can only imagine the fear and the sadness experienced by these parents and families. When we see the images on the news from New Town we get a glimpse of what was going on in Bethlehem. Matthew tells us why it happened. One reason is that Herod was a horrible guy, and this kind of violence was not uncommon. But the reason that Matthew gives us is that this event fulfilled prophecy, and it was an essential means to accomplishing God’s redemptive purposes. How much comfort do you think this brought the moms and dads of these dead babies?
The reality of God’s sovereign providential working is not easy to understand, especially if you are experiencing the harsh consequences of it. Who wants to hear that “God works out all things for good according to His purposes” after their child dies? It’s true; and it really is good news, but apart from the context of faith this is hard to grasp or accept. One of the reasons to study a passage like this one is to help us better understand that God’s perspective on sin and suffering is often different than ours, because we see first the present and the temporal and the immediate result, but God sees the future and the eternal and the end result. God calls us to see the “bigger picture” but it’s hard.
The main purpose of Matthew’s gospel is to establish for us the great truth that Christ is King; and to help us understand the nature of His kingdom. Herod believed that the baby born in Bethlehem was the king; and instead of worshipping Him he sought to kill him. The first point to consider is the rage against Christ the King. For many years God had promised to send the Messiah, His Anointed One who would be king. Herod fulfills this threat to human kings, as well as to a sinful world that the Old Testament said He would be, in his rage against Him. Psalm 2 says: “Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.”
Peter applies this passage to Christ in Acts 4, specifically in the context of Herod. Herod typifies anger against Christ and His kingdom. Verse 16 says that when Herod realized he had been tricked by the Magi he was furious. He was threatened by the true king, even though he had no clue as to the nature of His kingdom. I find it ironic that still today many people are angry at Christ yet no little or nothing about Him; and are threatened by Christmas even when they say they don’t believe the message. Irrational anger leads to irrational actions. In this case, young kids become the first casualties of warfare between two kingdoms.
This was not just the arbitrary act of some mentally ill person; it was Satan’s first attempt at eliminating the king. This spiritual warfare continues to be expressed in physical ways through the sin and evil of this world, but God has an answer to this in Christ the King. The response of Psalm 2 says: “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; He rebukes them in His anger saying, ‘I have installed my King . . . You are my Son, today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.’”
God has a greater perspective because He has a greater plan; and it revolves around salvation through sorrow. We see this in a second point: the rejection of Christ the King. This sorrowful event surrounding Christ’s birth reminds us that Christ Himself came to be the man of sorrows. Isaiah reminds us that not only does Christ come as King, but He comes as the suffering servant to establish a kingdom that is not of this world. Herod’s action is the beginning of sorrows for Christ and for Israel. Christ came to bring the joy of salvation to sinners, but His whole life is one of sorrow and rejection, starting with Herod and continuing with the religious leaders, and then finally the very people He came to save. He came unto His own and His own received Him not.
Christ was rejected in anger because He was a threat, not just to Herod but to the Pharisees as well. He was a king, the king, but the kingdom He preached about required repentance; His kingdom called for inward change; and His kingdom was not political but spiritual and demanded faith and obedience to Him. He was a threat. Herod tried to kill him by killing babies; the Pharisees sought to kill him by turning the people against Him. And so we see another ruler, Pilate, complete what Herod started. The entire discussion with Pilate confirms and validates the theme of Matthew’s gospel: Christ is King. Jesus agrees with Pilate about being a king saying: “This is why I was born” but He says that my kingdom is not of this world, and that is why I will die.
Our passage points out the rage against Christ as King and the rejection of Christ as King, and then the key point of the passage: the realization that Christ is King. These events happened because Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Herod’s horrific action fulfilled what the prophets Hosea and Jeremiah said about the coming of Christ. Jesus’ exodus to Egypt, verse 14, which serves to protect him from a cruel king (the opposite of Israel’s exodus from Egypt to protect them from Pharaoh), is what then enables Him “to come out of Egypt” – verse 15 – as God’s Son and Redeemer of His people, in fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. The imagery of the Exodus is one of God turning the sorrow of captivity into the joy of redemption; and this is what Christ, the greater Moses and final deliverer has come to do in His birth.
The sorrow of sin and death will be trumped by Christ the King; and Herod’s killing of kids is a signal or a sign that the King is here – Christ has come – as prophesied by the lamentations of Ramah, and the weeping of Rachel. This is why Matthew quotes from Jeremiah 31:15 in verse 18: “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’” Do you have any idea why Matthew quotes this verse?
Ramah was located on the border between the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah and was the place where foreign rulers assembled God’s people for captivity after defeating them. Rachel figuratively represents the mother of the twelve tribes, both Judah and Israel, and is weeping over their deportation and loss. In Jeremiah’s prophecy this verse refers to the tragic event of the captivity, but this time it’s not Assyria or Babylon that causes sorrow, it’s Herod. Matthew quotes this verse because of the hope promised through the coming Messiah and the new covenant. He would wipe their tears away by bringing comfort and joy.
One day Rachel would weep no more for her children; and in the birth of Christ this day had come. The Messiah has now come; and through the sorrow of sin and suffering He will bring the joy of salvation. And so the fourth point to consider: the rejoicing that Christ is the King. This is the good news of Christmas: Christ is the comfort of all the nations. Even when the kings rage and the mad men kill and the Son of God is rejected and crucified, Christ is the King.
Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her king. The call of the gospel is to rejoice. And this is what Jeremiah tells us will happen, as he continues in chapter 31, when God makes a new covenant with His people. This day in Bethlehem was very sad for many parents, even as it was sad for many in Jeremiah’s day, but God is bringing the hope of redemption and the joy of salvation. Jesus is the “branch of righteousness” that Jeremiah speaks of in chapter 33, who will execute righteousness and justice and make all things new. Psalm 2 ends by warning the kings of this earth to be wise and kiss the Son, lest He become angry with you. For blessed are all those who find refuge in Him.
This is why we rejoice as Christians. Christ is our sure hope; our comfort and our peace; and it’s not because He has taken away all of our pain and sorrow and suffering, but it’s because He will, for He is the King. The promise of the gospel is that in Christ we are new creations; the old has passed away and all things will become new. But the truth of the gospel is that He brings salvation through sorrow. This is why Matthew writes this passage in the gospel, pointing the early church – and probably some who experienced this very tragedy in Bethlehem – to Christ as King. This is why the apostles Paul and John tell the early Christians who are experiencing the sorrow of persecution and suffering at the hands of the Romans and the Jews, Christ is King.
This is why the only answer to senseless tragedies like New Town Connecticut, and mass murders in Hitler’s Germany or Assad’s Syria, is the truth that Christ is King. The powerful, profound and potent truth of God’s Holy Scripture is that the way of His salvation is through sorrow. It’s because Jesus Christ is King – now and forever – that He, and He alone, can turn the sorrow of sin, captivity, judgment and death, into joy, redemption, forgiveness and life.
Sorrow is never a result of bad things happening to good people; it’s a result of people experiencing the consequences of sin, yet having the wonderful opportunity of having good things happen to them because Christ is the King; and Savior of all who believe and trust in Him.
©You’re welcome to recycle these resources for your church free of charge. However, if you find them useful, please consider making a donation to the ministry of GCC
Pastor Dennis Bone
1/6/13
SALVATION THROUGH SORROW 1-6-13
The tragic and senseless killing of innocent children at a school in Connecticut just prior to Christmas reminded me of another tragic and senseless killing of innocent children at the first Christmas. Amidst the celebration of the season and the joy of Christ’s coming we don’t hear much about the grief and sadness of Herod’s slaughter of all the boys in Bethlehem two and under in response to Christ’s coming. For many it doesn’t seem to fit the occasion, but for Matthew it’s a very important event, and one essential to God’s redemptive plan.
People in our culture try to make sense of tragic events in a variety of ways. Some blame God; others deny He exists; while some argue that He doesn’t have full control over sin and evil. Yet many people turn to God for comfort and strength and wisdom to understand such events and work through them. History is full of violent mad men – from lone wolves that no one has ever heard of until they act, to famous dictators and world leaders – all whose actions not only demonstrate the consequences of mankind’s sinful nature, but also clearly document the need for mankind’s salvation.
The biblical story of God’s redemptive plan to save sinners is one of salvation through sorrow. Some today view Christianity as “salvation through prosperity” which makes it difficult to understand suffering; and causes people to ask: “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Yet the message of Christmas and the good news of Christianity is one of good things happening to bad people. The account of Herod trying to kill Jesus by slaughtering innocent baby boys, in the midst of angels singing joy to the world and declaring peace on earth, can only make sense if we understand that it’s an essential part of the gospel; and God’s redemptive plan.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter 2. You remember that the Magi come to Bethlehem to worship Christ the new born king and to offer Him gifts. As they leave the angel warns the Magi, and then also Joseph, that Herod is out to get this child. Beginning with verse 13 of Matthew 2 we read:
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, “Get up,” he said, “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been tricked by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Why did God allow this to happen? We can only imagine the fear and the sadness experienced by these parents and families. When we see the images on the news from New Town we get a glimpse of what was going on in Bethlehem. Matthew tells us why it happened. One reason is that Herod was a horrible guy, and this kind of violence was not uncommon. But the reason that Matthew gives us is that this event fulfilled prophecy, and it was an essential means to accomplishing God’s redemptive purposes. How much comfort do you think this brought the moms and dads of these dead babies?
The reality of God’s sovereign providential working is not easy to understand, especially if you are experiencing the harsh consequences of it. Who wants to hear that “God works out all things for good according to His purposes” after their child dies? It’s true; and it really is good news, but apart from the context of faith this is hard to grasp or accept. One of the reasons to study a passage like this one is to help us better understand that God’s perspective on sin and suffering is often different than ours, because we see first the present and the temporal and the immediate result, but God sees the future and the eternal and the end result. God calls us to see the “bigger picture” but it’s hard.
The main purpose of Matthew’s gospel is to establish for us the great truth that Christ is King; and to help us understand the nature of His kingdom. Herod believed that the baby born in Bethlehem was the king; and instead of worshipping Him he sought to kill him. The first point to consider is the rage against Christ the King. For many years God had promised to send the Messiah, His Anointed One who would be king. Herod fulfills this threat to human kings, as well as to a sinful world that the Old Testament said He would be, in his rage against Him. Psalm 2 says: “Why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One.”
Peter applies this passage to Christ in Acts 4, specifically in the context of Herod. Herod typifies anger against Christ and His kingdom. Verse 16 says that when Herod realized he had been tricked by the Magi he was furious. He was threatened by the true king, even though he had no clue as to the nature of His kingdom. I find it ironic that still today many people are angry at Christ yet no little or nothing about Him; and are threatened by Christmas even when they say they don’t believe the message. Irrational anger leads to irrational actions. In this case, young kids become the first casualties of warfare between two kingdoms.
This was not just the arbitrary act of some mentally ill person; it was Satan’s first attempt at eliminating the king. This spiritual warfare continues to be expressed in physical ways through the sin and evil of this world, but God has an answer to this in Christ the King. The response of Psalm 2 says: “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; He rebukes them in His anger saying, ‘I have installed my King . . . You are my Son, today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.’”
God has a greater perspective because He has a greater plan; and it revolves around salvation through sorrow. We see this in a second point: the rejection of Christ the King. This sorrowful event surrounding Christ’s birth reminds us that Christ Himself came to be the man of sorrows. Isaiah reminds us that not only does Christ come as King, but He comes as the suffering servant to establish a kingdom that is not of this world. Herod’s action is the beginning of sorrows for Christ and for Israel. Christ came to bring the joy of salvation to sinners, but His whole life is one of sorrow and rejection, starting with Herod and continuing with the religious leaders, and then finally the very people He came to save. He came unto His own and His own received Him not.
Christ was rejected in anger because He was a threat, not just to Herod but to the Pharisees as well. He was a king, the king, but the kingdom He preached about required repentance; His kingdom called for inward change; and His kingdom was not political but spiritual and demanded faith and obedience to Him. He was a threat. Herod tried to kill him by killing babies; the Pharisees sought to kill him by turning the people against Him. And so we see another ruler, Pilate, complete what Herod started. The entire discussion with Pilate confirms and validates the theme of Matthew’s gospel: Christ is King. Jesus agrees with Pilate about being a king saying: “This is why I was born” but He says that my kingdom is not of this world, and that is why I will die.
Our passage points out the rage against Christ as King and the rejection of Christ as King, and then the key point of the passage: the realization that Christ is King. These events happened because Christ is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. Herod’s horrific action fulfilled what the prophets Hosea and Jeremiah said about the coming of Christ. Jesus’ exodus to Egypt, verse 14, which serves to protect him from a cruel king (the opposite of Israel’s exodus from Egypt to protect them from Pharaoh), is what then enables Him “to come out of Egypt” – verse 15 – as God’s Son and Redeemer of His people, in fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. The imagery of the Exodus is one of God turning the sorrow of captivity into the joy of redemption; and this is what Christ, the greater Moses and final deliverer has come to do in His birth.
The sorrow of sin and death will be trumped by Christ the King; and Herod’s killing of kids is a signal or a sign that the King is here – Christ has come – as prophesied by the lamentations of Ramah, and the weeping of Rachel. This is why Matthew quotes from Jeremiah 31:15 in verse 18: “Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’” Do you have any idea why Matthew quotes this verse?
Ramah was located on the border between the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah and was the place where foreign rulers assembled God’s people for captivity after defeating them. Rachel figuratively represents the mother of the twelve tribes, both Judah and Israel, and is weeping over their deportation and loss. In Jeremiah’s prophecy this verse refers to the tragic event of the captivity, but this time it’s not Assyria or Babylon that causes sorrow, it’s Herod. Matthew quotes this verse because of the hope promised through the coming Messiah and the new covenant. He would wipe their tears away by bringing comfort and joy.
One day Rachel would weep no more for her children; and in the birth of Christ this day had come. The Messiah has now come; and through the sorrow of sin and suffering He will bring the joy of salvation. And so the fourth point to consider: the rejoicing that Christ is the King. This is the good news of Christmas: Christ is the comfort of all the nations. Even when the kings rage and the mad men kill and the Son of God is rejected and crucified, Christ is the King.
Joy to the world the Lord is come, let earth receive her king. The call of the gospel is to rejoice. And this is what Jeremiah tells us will happen, as he continues in chapter 31, when God makes a new covenant with His people. This day in Bethlehem was very sad for many parents, even as it was sad for many in Jeremiah’s day, but God is bringing the hope of redemption and the joy of salvation. Jesus is the “branch of righteousness” that Jeremiah speaks of in chapter 33, who will execute righteousness and justice and make all things new. Psalm 2 ends by warning the kings of this earth to be wise and kiss the Son, lest He become angry with you. For blessed are all those who find refuge in Him.
This is why we rejoice as Christians. Christ is our sure hope; our comfort and our peace; and it’s not because He has taken away all of our pain and sorrow and suffering, but it’s because He will, for He is the King. The promise of the gospel is that in Christ we are new creations; the old has passed away and all things will become new. But the truth of the gospel is that He brings salvation through sorrow. This is why Matthew writes this passage in the gospel, pointing the early church – and probably some who experienced this very tragedy in Bethlehem – to Christ as King. This is why the apostles Paul and John tell the early Christians who are experiencing the sorrow of persecution and suffering at the hands of the Romans and the Jews, Christ is King.
This is why the only answer to senseless tragedies like New Town Connecticut, and mass murders in Hitler’s Germany or Assad’s Syria, is the truth that Christ is King. The powerful, profound and potent truth of God’s Holy Scripture is that the way of His salvation is through sorrow. It’s because Jesus Christ is King – now and forever – that He, and He alone, can turn the sorrow of sin, captivity, judgment and death, into joy, redemption, forgiveness and life.
Sorrow is never a result of bad things happening to good people; it’s a result of people experiencing the consequences of sin, yet having the wonderful opportunity of having good things happen to them because Christ is the King; and Savior of all who believe and trust in Him.
©You’re welcome to recycle these resources for your church free of charge. However, if you find them useful, please consider making a donation to the ministry of GCC
