4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be
born.
5 And they said unto
him, In Bethlehem of Judæa: for thus
it is written by the prophet,
6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the
princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my
people Israel. (Matthew 2:4-6, emphasis added)
And
was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out
of Egypt have I called my son. (Matthew 2:15, emphasis added)
And
he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called
a Nazarene. (Matthew 2:23, emphasis added)
In these verses are recorded three
different prophecies about where Christ was to come from: born in Bethlehem, called
out of Egypt, called a Nazarene. If we
didn’t know the circumstances of Christ’s birth and youngest years, we might be
inclined to say these were seriously contradictory and mutually exclusive. But
Matthew’s record shows how all of them were fulfilled in their way: by
movements because of universal taxation, by threat requiring flight, and by
strategic settlement ostensibly out of reach of a different danger.
This shows us that the Lord knows the
unusual circumstances that will occur, even hundreds of years in the future. (I
wonder if the Lord decided to give those prophecies in such a way as to make
them sound mutually exclusive so that He could underline His ability to carry
His plans out.)
This is another one of those things
that shows we can trust the Lord will do His own work and fulfill His
covenants.
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