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So you're there in Matthew chapter 2. We're obviously continuing our Matthew Bible study. And so Matthew chapter 2, I already preached a whole sermon about the wise men. And so if you want to really get more in detail about that, I would suggest you listen to that sermon again. So I'm going to kind of not be talking about them in particular as much in this sermon. But that is how this chapter starts off. And so in verse 1 there, it says, now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. And the thing that I want you to notice here is what they say about Jesus, who they're coming to seek. It says, where is he that is born king of the Jews? And what's interesting about this is the fact that he's called king of the Jews when he's born. And what was the accusation that was written about him when he was crucified? And I want you to go to John chapter 18, because what's interesting is that he's born, when he comes into the world, he's born king of the Jews. And what's the big accusation is that he is the king of the Jews. And it's interesting, this discourse that Pilate has with Jesus and how he comes full circle back to this is why he came into the world. And so that phrase, where is he that is born king of the Jews, that's not really mentioned, like king of the Jews, until he's being accused and being crucified. But it was mentioned from the very beginning that he was the king of the Jews. And it also shows you that he's king from his birth. And that's what we see with the wise men is that they're bowing down to him. He's Lord at his birth. You know, we kind of sing that in the Christmas songs, right? You know, Lord at his birth. But it's true. I mean, he is the Lord Jesus Christ from his birth. It's not like we don't believe in this, you know, he wasn't God until he was baptized by the Holy Ghost thing. No, he was the Lord from his birth. And so, but in John chapter 18 and verse 33, I just kind of want to show you this discourse that he has with Pilate in this phrase, king of the Jews keeps being brought up. But I think it's almost pointing back to Matthew chapter two where, you know, when he came into this world, he was born king of the Jews. But in verse 33, it says, then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called Jesus and said unto him, art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus answered him, sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered, am I a Jew? Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done? Jesus answered, my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from hence. Pilate therefore said unto him, art thou a king then? Jesus answered, thou sayest that I am a king. Notice this, what he says right here. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. So notice that he's saying to this end, obviously to the what end? To the cross, to him dying on the cross for our sins, but also for this cause came into the world to what? Bear witness of the truth. And so from the very beginning, this is why he came into the world. This is why he was born of the Virgin Mary. This is why the wise men came and offered gifts unto him and bowed down to him because he was the Christ. He's the one that they come into the world to save us from our sins. And in chapter one, his name is called Jesus. Why? For he shall save his people from their sins. That's why he came into the world. Now in verse 38 there, it says, Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all, but ye have a custom that I should release unto you one of at the pastor. Will you therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews? Then cry they all again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber. So we see that obviously he's from the beginning saying, art thou King of the Jews? And then at the end, after all this whole conversation, he's like, you know, should I release unto you the King of the Jews? So he's still saying like, you know, he's asking him if he is, but then he's basically saying, you know, this is the King of the Jews. And later on in chapter 19 in verse 19. So John 19, 19, notice what it says. It says, and Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. That's the superscription. Remember the Jews are like, don't say, don't write that he's the King of Jews, write that I said I was King of the Jews. And then he said, what I've written, I've written. Basically he's telling the Jews to go pound salt. That's what he's telling them to do. He's like, so because the accusation is, but it's a true accusation. You know what that shows you is that they crucified him for something that was true. You know, he was the King of the Jews. And, but what's interesting about Matthew chapter two is both the fact that he's the King of the Jews and that he's Jesus of Nazareth is both mentioned in this chapter. Because how does the chapter start off? Where is he that's born King of the Jews and how does the chapter end? He shall be called a Nazarene. And so that superscription, you know, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, goes all the way back to, you know, where he was born or where he grew up, right? But also the fact that he was born King of the Jews. And so I just thought that was interesting on just how that terminology, and sometimes when you only see a phrase mentioned like once or twice, there's probably some significance to that. But it shows you that it wasn't just the fact that he was King of the Jews right there or that they were just accusing him of being King of the Jews. No, he was the Christ. And when you look up the term anointed Christ is dealing with being a king, anointed king, and you think of Saul was the anointed of God. And so was David. He was anointed with oil to what? Roll over his people, Israel. And that's what we see later on here when we're dealing with the fact of the prophecy of Jesus being born in Bethlehem and that he was gonna be a ruler. And so obviously that's entailing being a king. But as we go on there, another interesting thing in Matthew 2 is in verse three where it says, when Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. So you may overread that sometimes, but obviously it's clear that Herod was troubled at this by what happens later on in the chapter. But it wasn't just him. And there's this false doctrine out there basically teaching that only like certain group, this high ruling class of the Jews rejected Christ, but the Jews by and large didn't reject Christ. That's a false doctrine. I don't care what John Hagee says. And just to prove that till you go to Acts chapter three, because it's interesting you say, well, why would all Jerusalem be troubled at this? It's just as much as the world would be troubled if Jesus Christ came back today. Because they don't want someone to roll over. They don't want the Lord to roll over them. That's what it comes down to. And so if Jesus Christ came back today, they would wanna kill him again. And so most of the world's not gonna wanna see Jesus come back and definitely doesn't wanna see him roll. And so, and even in the thousand year reign, there's gonna be people that don't want him to roll. And that's why at the end of the thousand year reign, Satan's gonna gather together all these people to go against the saints. There has to be people that are against them because not everybody's gonna like the fact that we have a righteous king and it's a righteous nation and that there's righteous laws. There's always gonna be people that aren't gonna like that. But in Acts chapter three and verse 13, it says, "'The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, "'the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, "'whom ye delivered up and denied him "'in the presence of Pilate, "'when he was determined to let him go. "'But ye denied the Holy One and the just, "'and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, "'and killed the prince of life, "'whom God hath raised from the dead, "'whereof we are witnesses.'" So, so far, this sounds exactly what we saw in John chapter 18, right? They wanted Barabbas and they denied the Holy One. Now, go on in verse 16, it says, "'And his name, through faith in his name, "'hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know. "'Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him "'his perfect soundness in the presence of you all. "'And now, brethren, I what that through ignorance "'he did it, as did also your rulers.'" So, he's talking to people that aren't the rulers and he's saying, I, what, basically, you know, I think that you did this through ignorance. And, but he's saying, as also your rulers did. So, he's not talking to just the elite in Jerusalem, he's talking to Jerusalem in general saying, you killed Jesus, you crucified him when Pilate wanted to let him go. And so, throughout here, they'll say, well, the Romans killed him. It's like, well, yeah, I mean, the Romans gave him authority to do it and the Romans technically are the ones that nailed him to the cross, but it was the Jews that were putting him to death because Pilate didn't wanna put him to death. He was constantly trying to get him out of it and he kept bringing it back. He's like, you know, what evil hath he done? And he even knew that they brought him to them for envy. But also, in 1 Thessalonians chapter two, you don't necessarily have to turn there, but in 1 Thessalonians chapter two and verse 14, it says, for ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus, for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us, and they pleased not God, nor, contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, for the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. You say, well, man, that seems a little harsh. Well, they're the ones that said, his blood be on us and on our children. That's what they said when they were saying, crucify him. And by Acts chapter three, it wasn't just the rulers. It was all Jerusalem saying that. And obviously, I'm not saying every single person was, because obviously, there were disciples that are weeping for him, and there was women of Jerusalem that were weeping for him. So when I say all Jerusalem, I'm saying like, pretty much the mass, the mob, or the majority were against him. But going back to Matthew chapter two, in verse four there, we see this prophecy of the fact that Jesus was gonna be born in Bethlehem. So in Matthew chapter two, verse four, it says, and when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, and thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. So you can see why the wise men are saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? Because even their own, even all of Jerusalem and the elders and chief priests and all them, the scribes that he called together, he said, where is the Christ to be born? And the prophecy is saying that he's gonna be a governor, and he's gonna rule his people. And so go to Micah chapter five. Micah chapter five, because Micah chapter five is where this prophecy is, but it also gives you a little more information about that. And especially as we go through Matthew, any time you see as it is written, or it's calling back to a prophet, you should always go back and look at that. You know, there's a place in 1 Corinthians, I think it's both in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, where it says, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. If you go back to Jeremiah, where that's actually quoted from, it'll tell you what that's talking about. It's talking about glorying in the knowledge of the Lord. And so that phrase, he that glories, let him glory in the Lord, is specifically talking about being knowledgeable about God. You know, basically, if you're gonna glory in something, glory in the fact that you know God, and you know the Bible. And so, but there's usually always a little more information. It's interesting because there's a little piece of information that's not quoted by these scribes and chief priests. And the same thing when you go to, remember in Romans chapter four, where it says, you know, where he talks about whose iniquities are forgiven and whom the Lord will not impute sin. Talking about what David said. Well, when you go back to it, there's a little piece missing that's actually really interesting, where it says, and in whose spirit is no guile. And so it gives you that little nugget of truth there that's, you know, basically added onto that. Well, Micah five, where this is quoted from, gives you that little extra information too. And Micah five one, it says, now gather thy selves in troops. The daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. So we can definitely see that that happened to Jesus. They smote him on the head with a rod. And in verse two, it says, but thou Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that is to be a ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. So there's your little bit of extra information that if you were just reading the New Testament, you wouldn't have got that, but it's always calling back. And you say, well, why didn't it say it? Because the Bible doesn't always want to be really redundant about something. You think about Revelation chapter 20, where it says Gog and Magog. Maybe he didn't want to have two extra chapters in Revelation when he could just point you back to Ezekiel 38 and 39. You know, a lot of times it's just the fact that it's a key word, or it's a phrase, or it's a verse that he's saying, go back and look at this. So when you look at a place where it's talking about, as it is written, a new covenant, go back to where that's written. And so there's a lot of, when we go through Matthew, I'm going to be going back to where this stuff's written a lot, okay? Because there's always usually a little more information. Not always, but a lot of times it'll give you some more information that you didn't see before. And so, but this from everlasting, you know what that shows us? Is that Jesus is God. And the other versions mess this up. They, you know, they basically say it's whose origins. And they say he has an origin. No, it says whose goings forth have been from of old. That doesn't mean that he has an origin. And we're going to see that same kind of terminology used about God, because this term of from everlasting is used about God in the Bible. And so go to Psalm 90, Psalm 90. So it was a little clue back in the Old Testament that hey, this Christ that's going to come, that's going to rule Israel, it's God. And other places in Psalms, we saw that God promised that he would sit upon the throne of David. And it says out of thy loins, I will sit upon the throne. That's what he says in the Psalms about, about David and that prophecy of Christ coming. And so that's why he says I'm the root and the offspring of David. That's why it says the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make down enemies thy footstool, because the Christ that was going to come was going to be of David, meaning physically of David, but he's also God, meaning that he's David's Lord. And so there's always that little nugget of truth that's in there. Now, Psalm 90 in verse one, Psalm 90 in verse one, it says, Lord, thou has been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou has formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. So when you look at Micah 5, two, and it says, whose goings forth have been from of old from everlasting, the only way that that can make sense is if we're talking about God. And we are, because God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in the glory. That is Jesus. Now, go to Psalm 93. Psalm 93, we're gonna see kind of the same terminology, his goings forth have been from of old. And so in Psalm 93 in verse one, it says, the Lord reigneth, he is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself. The world also is established that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old, thou art from everlasting. It's interesting because even Micah 5, two, is talking about what? His kingdom and how he's gonna rule Israel. So his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, and there's no doubt we're talking about the Lord. All caps Lord, Jehovah, God Almighty that we're talking about here. Go to Habakkuk chapter one and verse 12. Habakkuk chapter one and verse 12. Just another verse. I mean, obviously there's plenty of verses that you can go to to prove Jesus is God. But this is a great one to show that. And we saw that in chapter one, dealing with Immanuel, God with us, and just what the name Jesus even means. And so in Habakkuk one and verse 12, it says, art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one? We shall not die, O Lord. Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. And so we again see, thou art from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one. Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine, what, holy one, to see corruption. And so you see that term holy one, we're talking about Jesus Christ. And we see that phrase used in Isaiah and other places as well, talking about Jesus Christ. So I just think that's interesting. And it just shows you that going back to where this stuff is quoted helps you understand some other information. And just because the chief priests and scribes didn't quote the rest of that off doesn't mean that that's not attached to it. Meaning that when you read Micah 5.2, that's a part of that verse. That's not to be separated from it. It's talking about the same thing that's going on. But go back to Matthew chapter two. And again, I don't wanna go too far into the wise men, but I do want you to see that they fall down and worship Jesus as a child. So we're talking about Lord at his birth. They're coming to him and saying, where is he that is born king of the Jews? So he was God from the beginning. He was God from conception. And this idea that he was just a man and then God came into him later on. No, that's not the case. And you say, well, that doesn't make sense. That's weird. That doesn't make physical sense that he was a man and he had to learn. Well, that's what the Bible says. So you just gotta deal with that. That he grew in wisdom and knowledge and in favor with God and men. You just have to deal with that. That's great. Great is the mystery of godliness. Without controversy, it says. Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world and received unto the glory. That is a great mystery on the fact of how that all works. But we take that by faith, obviously, that it worked out. That's how it works. But in Matthew chapter two and verse seven, notice what it says. It says, then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men and inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search diligently for the young child and when ye have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. So obviously he's being facetious about this and just basically saying, give me news. I wanna worship him too. Yeah, we see later on that obviously he wants to kill him. And so, and God warns the wise men, not to go tell them about where he's at. But notice in verse nine, it says, and when they had heard the king, they departed and lo, the star which they saw in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary as mother and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. But they fell down and worshiped this young child because he's God, because he's the king of the Jews from his birth. And that's a great mystery obviously to think about that and just to think about how Jesus grew. But when he was 12 years old, he was in the temple and the doctors of the law were amazed at how much he knew. And so obviously, that's divinity there and the fact that God, he was God. But he was made a little lower than the angels. So obviously there's a principle there that, and he was crowned with glory and honor. And why did he do that? For the suffering of death, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. But he was made a little lower than the angels. So basically he came down. Remember, he became poor that we might be made rich that through his poverty, we might be made rich. And so there's an aspect there of the fact that he's kind of giving up some things and then he had to grow in wisdom and he had to go through. He was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. Like there's a lot of things that he went through, he did everything we did, he had to learn the Bible like we did, but he's also God. So that's definitely a great mystery, but I believe it. I believe that's what the Bible teaches on it. But in Matthew chapter two and verse 13, we see that after the wise men, and again, if you want to have a sermon more so about the wise men, I've already preached on that. But Matthew chapter two and verse 13, we get into the fact of where Mary and Joseph had to flee into Egypt. And God warns Joseph in a dream basically saying that they're gonna seek the young child, that Herod's gonna seek the child to try to kill the young child. But go to verse 13, it says, and when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise and take the young child and his mother to flee into Egypt and be thou there until I bring thee word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt 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. So again, when we look at this, why is he calling back this verse? So this actually comes in Hosea chapter 11. So go to Hosea chapter 11, verse one. So as the spoken of the Lord by the prophet, doesn't tell you what exactly the prophet is, but it's actually Hosea and that this is mentioned. And again, you're gonna get a little more information. So it says out of Egypt have I called my son. So this is being fulfilled here. That's what you gotta understand is that the verse now there's, a lot of times you'll see kind of a dual prophecy kind of thing that can happen with verses. And like, yeah, the Old Testament is something that's going on right then or just happened or whatever, or something, but then it, but the fact is, is that this is being fulfilled. It says that it might be fulfilled. So this verse is no doubt talking about Jesus, okay? Even though there probably is another secondary application, but notice in verse one of Hosea chapter 11, it says, when Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. So that's where this comes from, is where the fact that it says out of Egypt have I called my son, but notice what the child's name is, Israel. You say, well, why is that important? Because in the New Testament, particularly what we're dealing with is the fact that Israel is a spiritual aspect, meaning that Israel is really Jesus, the seed which is Christ. Remember, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And the fact that Israel represents all believers, you think of New Jerusalem and how you have Jerusalem, which is now, which is in bondage with our children, but Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother of us all. So you have these two, you have the physical and you have the spiritual, and you had the physical Israel, obviously. And when you look at that and you say, well, what's the secondary? Israel, when Israel was a young nation, it was pulled out of Egypt. It was taken out of Egypt by Moses. And they called my son out of Egypt to serve me. So you can think of like, that's actually, if you were reading Hosea before Christ came, you probably just imagine that's what it's talking about, right? But you have Moses that that first covenant was made with, but now you have Jesus. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. And so you see kind of these parallels with obviously the Old Testament and Moses is, it says, a prophet shall I son do like unto me, and it's talking about Moses. So Jesus is a Moses-like character, okay? Now, to go to Galatians chapter six, because in the New Testament, we see that basically, I believe there's always a spiritual Israel, but then there was a physical back in the First Testament. The Old Testament, there was this physical nation of Israel that was God's chosen people, whether they were saved or not, meaning that he was using this physical nation for a purpose. Now, only a remnant was saved, and the Bible is very clear about that. Not everybody in that nation was a believer, but God was using that nation as a whole to serve his purpose. But when we got into the New Testament, he dropped off the physical, okay? And in Galatians chapter six, there's an interesting thing that said here, Galatians chapter six and verse 15, it says, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy and upon the Israel of God. So who's the Israel of God? As many as walk according to this rule? As many as that circumcision doesn't avail anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature? And you say, well, are you sure about that? Well, go to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians chapter two is very clear. We're gonna read it, but it's stating that all believers, whether Jew or Gentile, are all of Israel now. But it's not a physical nation. It's not this physical circumcision with hands. And that's what you see is this circumcision. It doesn't matter now when it comes to that nation. And remember that he said to Nathaniel, behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. So that means that you can be an Israelite not indeed. Okay, what does indeed mean? It means truly. Here's an Israelite that's truly an Israelite. You'd be like, what does that mean, you know? He really pays his taxes. No, he's really a patriot. You're an American, but are you American? You know, like, that's not what it's talking about. When it says an Israelite indeed, he's focusing on the fact that in whom is no guile, meaning that whose spirit is made perfect, who's saved. Okay, so that was before the New Testament even started that there was this Israel, being an Israelite indeed. But back before the Old Testament stopped, there was the physical nation of Israel, and then there was the spiritual nation of Israel. And, but in the New Testament, that whole physical nation's gone. God doesn't regard them. I regard them not, said the Lord, because he found fault with them. And so that whole first covenant where he says, you'll be a peculiar people unto me and all that, that's all null and void now. That's gone, it's done away, it's abolished. But in Ephesians chapter two and verse 11, this is what it's talking about. We're talking about this Israel of God, or talking about the fact that Jesus is that Israel that came out of Egypt. Remember with Adam, there's this allegory here. With Adam, the first Adam was made a living soul, and the second Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit, and I'm gonna probably misquote this a little bit. Howbeit the first was of the earth, earthly. But the second was the Lord from heaven, okay? So we see that you have these things where you have kind of like the physical Israel, who was actually a man and, you know, and obviously would represent things about Jesus. But then you have the true Israel, meaning Jesus Christ. You have Abraham and his seed, which is Isaac, but, you know, Isaac obviously represented Christ, but then you have the true promised child, which is Jesus. So there's all these things that are picturing that. So it's no marvel that he would be called Israel. And so, but it's a spiritual aspect, right? His name wasn't Israel, but he is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is the one that was promised to come. Now, in Ephesians chapter two and verse 11, it says, Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. Now, that commonwealth of Israel, this is how some people state, like Pennsylvania, is called the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So I have an engineering license in Pennsylvania, and it'll say, you know, you're a license in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, right? What does that mean? Commonwealth just means like the citizen, you know, like basically that state or, you know, that province, and some states don't say it like that. I don't think West Virginia says it like that, but that's what it means, like the commonwealth. And so commonwealth means you're not of that country, okay? To be a citizen, meaning the alien. Alien just means that you're a stranger, you know, like aliens like Mexico, those that come across the board and they call them aliens, not little green men. But as you go down in verse 15, it says, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace. I'm sorry, in verse 14 it says, for he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. So this middle wall of partition is just dealing with the fact that before, in the first testament, you had to be a part of Israel to kind of, you know, have good fellowship with God, you had to do all these ordinances and diverse washings, and you had to do all this stuff. And you could do that, it's like, you didn't have to be born there. You can become an Israelite. But it was all this physical nation stuff that you had to do not to go to heaven, but just to be a part of God's chosen people in the world. And so, but then you go down to verse 19, it says, now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. And so now, what do we have? The Israel of God. Those are all believers, whether Jew or Gentile, whether bond or free, whether barbarian, Scythian, male, female, it doesn't matter, we're all a part of that holy nation, that royal priesthood, that peculiar people. And it says, which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God, which have not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. And so in the New Testament, that's why the New Testament's so much greater. That's why it's better. That's why it's the better testament, established upon better promises. And so, but we see that at the very beginning here in Matthew two, that Jesus is that Israel that's coming out of Egypt. So just as much as Israel in the Old Testament came out of Egypt and he started that first covenant with Moses, we have Jesus coming out of Egypt as a young child, and he's bringing in truth and grace. Because he's bringing in the New Testament. So you can definitely see the parallels with that. And if you didn't go back to Hosea, you may not have seen that. So that's one thing, when you're reading through, especially Matthew, Matthew's very key in this, meaning that Matthew's always saying as it is written. It's always calling back to the Old Testament. And so you're gonna find out some different information or more information that's gonna help you understand what's being said and why it's being said. Because you may just look at it and be like, oh, that's interesting. It said that in the Old Testament that he was gonna be coming out of Egypt. You could just look at that and just say, well, that was fulfilled. I didn't know that was a prophecy, that he was gonna be in Egypt for a little bit. But there's more to it than that. It's not just the fact that he had to flee to Egypt and the Bible was saying he was gonna have to flee to Egypt. It also pictures the difference between how Moses came out of Egypt and started the First Testament. Jesus is coming out of Egypt and he's starting the New Testament. And obviously the difference between the physical Israel and the spiritual Israel. So anyway, I know it's a little deep. But anyway, go back to Matthew chapter two and verse 16. Matthew chapter two and verse 16. This is a very sad passage. It's interesting though, when you're talking about that parallel with Egypt and all that, what really starts off Exodus? Pharaoh's trying to kill all the children, trying to kill the deliverer. What happens here? So, just things like that that just kind of pop out sometimes when you're reading this type of stuff. Now, in verse 16, it says, Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked to the wise men, was exceeding wrath, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men, then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And Rhema, was there a voice heard, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. So obviously, this is a horrible story. Sometimes you'll just read over this type of stuff. I mean, I don't want to imagine it. But imagine the mothers in Bethlehem when this happened. Now, go back to Jeremiah 31. And again, I'm going to show you something that actually when I was studying this out, this is something I've never seen before, as far as I've never really looked at this, because a lot of times you'll just look at the verse that's being quoted. But you should also look at the verses around it too, and just see what it's talking about in the Old Testament, and what's the context, what's being said. And when you keep reading past this, there's something interesting that's being said here, and I think it's very, just kind of, it bolsters something that we already believe. But in Jeremiah 31, which by the way, is where the New Covenant's mentioned, because right after this is where it says, I'll make a new covenant with them. And so no marvel there, that's in the same chapter. But in verse 15, notice what it says. Thus saith the Lord, a voice was heard in Rhema, lamentation and bitter weeping, and Rhehel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children because they were not. Now first of all, notice that there's a C missing there. Now this is common when it comes to different languages. So you'll see in the New Testament, in Matthew one, I didn't really talk about this, but Rhekab, the harlot, is Rhehab, the harlot. Now where that comes from is that in different languages, there's like this hard H, okay, meaning that in Greek, for example, it looks like an X. Well, that's how you start off the word for Christ. And so you have that CH sound. But a lot of times the way you pronounce it is just like a hard H, okay? But in other times you would pronounce it like a K, or you'd pronounce it like a CH sound, like a ch sound. And so it's no marvel that I see an H here in the Old Testament, but then in New Testament, you see the CH and stuff like that, and that kind of little difference, because it has to do with that different language and depending on how you transliterate it, okay? Because you could look at it as a hard H, you could look at it as a CH and stuff like that. Anyway, probably didn't really need to know all that, but what I'm saying is that don't look at that and be like, oh, there's a mistake in the Bible, they missed the C. No, that just has to do with transliteration of different languages. And it really actually makes a lot of sense that it would be like that anyway. But going on, so you're in Jeremiah 31, verse 15, go to verse 16 now, because I don't believe it's changing thought here. I don't think it's just like, you know, that's one verse and then everything else before and after it has nothing to do with it. Verse 16 says, thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears. Now, that makes sense that it would be saying this, okay? Because why? They were weeping and would not be comforted. Now, notice what it says, Raph, it says, for thy works shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. That's interesting, because who are they weeping over? The children that were killed, that were what? Two years old and younger, okay? Notice what it says in verse 17, it says, and there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border. So I believe this is actually another place to show us that when children, if children die, that we'll see them again, that there is hope, okay? And you say, well, you know, it kind of says it weird. It says they shall come again from the land of the enemy. Well, okay, well, we're gonna spiritualize this because the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 26, it says the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. So where are they gonna return from? They're gonna return from death. Now, obviously, you can be talking about the physical resurrection, but the fact is is that they're not gonna be dead, okay? But I wanted you to see that because when I was reading, I was like, oh, man, that's actually really good, meaning that, you know, basically they're weeping, they would not be comforted, but he's saying, refrain thy voice from weeping and then eyes from tears, because then it says they shall come again from the land of the enemy. Talking about the children, and if you didn't think that I was talking about the children, in the next verse, it very much clarifies it, and it says in verse 17, and there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border. So just another way to show, hey, you know, all those children that died, they're in heaven. All those children that Herod slew, they're all in heaven. Now, obviously, you'd still be sad about it. I'm not saying like, but he's basically, it's kind of like this comfort, like, yeah, I mean, this is horrible what happened, but they're in heaven, but they're not, you know, you're gonna see them again, they're gonna return again, and that enemy of death isn't gonna take hold of them. Now, I preached a whole sermon about this, dealing with the fact that you say, well, how are they saved? Because their soul hadn't died yet, and this is just a very simple, it's honestly very simple. You say, well, you know, the Bible says that they come forth from the womb speaking lies. They have their flesh, and doesn't their flesh die though then? Because for the wages of sin is death. So you say, well, why did children die then if they're innocent? Well, their flesh is sinful from the beginning, okay? It goes forth speaking lies, and so that's obviously sinful from the beginning, it's in the blood. Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but their soul does not die until they have the knowledge of good and evil, until they understand that they've broken God's commandments. And I'm not talking about like they understand that they shouldn't take a cookie, you know what I mean? That's different, okay, it's different because obviously I have children that are younger and they know, you could tell they know that they shouldn't be doing something that I'm telling them to do, but they don't understand that there's a God that created them and they have a law, like the law of God, like the knowledge of sin, which is breaking God's commandments, transgressing God's law. And so that comes at different points in time, but I would say this, that two and under is definitely covered, okay? And that's what we see here with Jeremiah and this story with Rachel. And so if there's any comfort, when you're reading this story, the comfort is that all those children are in heaven. But I thought that was interesting just kind of reading, that's where you go back to the Old Testament, you get a little more information as far as what's being taught there. But go in Genesis chapter 35, you say, well, why is it mentioned Rachel? You know, what's the point of Rachel being mentioned here? Well, if you understand, where did Rachel die? Well, and you can find this in different, in other places too, but in Genesis chapter 35 and verse 19, it says, and Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. So where did Rachel die? And what did she die of? Giving birth to Benjamin. She died giving birth to a child, okay? Now it's actually kind of a little backwards because she died and the child lived, because in the case of the prophecy that came forth, you know, the children died and the women were weeping over their children. But it's just, you say, well, why is Rachel mentioned? I believe that's why, because she died literally at Bethlehem and Bethlehem Ephrath. And that's what it says, you know, that there is a voice heard in Rhema. Yeah, Rachel weeping for her children. But obviously this happened in Bethlehem that that happened, Bethlehem Ephrath. And so that's where you see the Ephrath, which is Bethlehem, that's the same place. And so, but there's also something else to see here too. Go to Revelation chapter 12, Revelation chapter 12. Now, when we read Revelation, the way to understand Revelation is that it's in chronological order, but when you get to chapter 12, it starts over again. Now this happens in Daniel too. If you read Daniel's 12 chapters long, you read up to chapter six and it's all chronological as far as from when Daniel went into Babylon to the very end where basically he's pretty much an old man, right? Then it backtracks and it says, you know, in the first year of Belshazzar or whatever, and then it's like the third year of Belshazzar and then it goes on throughout history. So seven to 12 is chronological. Well, Revelation is the same way, but when you get to Revelation 12, it's very clear that it's going back in time. It's going back to Jesus' birth. And notice in Revelation 12, verse one, it says, and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head, a crown of 12 stars. And she being with child, travailing in birth and pain to be delivered, and there appeared another wonder in heaven and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns upon his heads and his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and they cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered and she went forth to devour her child as soon as it was born and she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. So this is actually, you say, well, what is this all talking about? Well, when you go to Matthew chapter two, it actually makes a lot of sense because basically there's this woman that's giving birth to this child who we see later on is caught up in the God into his throne. So who's that? Jesus Christ who's sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high and the woman's giving birth to this man child and Satan, which is the devil or the dragon here, later on it says the dragon is the devil, Satan, that old serpent and so the devil is trying to kill, devour the child and what do we see here? Herod is trying to kill Jesus and in the process he kills all these children to try to do it but obviously it doesn't happen. So this is a great way and I'm not here to get into all the details on this because I can get into the 12 stars and what this is talking about and who the woman is exactly but obviously the woman, I'll just say this, the woman in Revelation 12 is talking about Eve being the mother of all living because in the first portion of that 70th week, you have the dragon going after the whole world but obviously you had that prophecy where it says I'll put an enmity between her seed and thy seed, between me and the woman and between her seed and thy seed and so you can definitely see how that would parallel to here and obviously Mary is the woman that actually brought forth but that's where you get into the 12 stars. I said I wasn't gonna get into that. Yeah, I'm getting too far into it but the 12 stars obviously represent Israel and the fact that she was of Israel and all this other stuff but anyway, it's very simplistic. I mean she wasn't actually a woman that was clothed with the sun. She didn't put on the sun like a coat. It's just very simplistic but go back to Matthew chapter two. The last thing I wanna get to is this last portion here dealing with Jesus being a Nazarene or of Nazareth so you see this Jesus of Nazareth and so Matthew two and verse 19 it says but when Herod was dead, behold an angel the Lord appearth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying arise and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for they are dead which sought the young child's life and he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel but when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither notwithstanding being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee 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. So what's the whole point of this whole story portion right here? It's to tell us why he was Jesus of Nazareth because basically he came out of Egypt because Herod died but then when he was coming back, he was gonna obviously look like he was gonna dwell in Judea or in Bethlehem or someplace like that and basically God warned him not to go and he dwelt in Nazareth and that's why he was a Nazarene. This is kind of explaining why he dwelt in Nazareth but it also fulfilled a prophecy that it was spoken by the prophets that he shall be called Nazarene and I kind of already covered the fact of there are things that were spoken that were the word of God that weren't written until later. Just like Enoch prophesied that the Lord shall come with 10,000 of the saints, that was prophesied throughout the ages but it wasn't written until Jude and same thing with this, he shall be called a Nazarene. Well, that's in the Bible, you know, that he shall be called a Nazarene. It just wasn't written until later, okay? So that is scripture that he shall be called a Nazarene but all that say is that this kind of shows you that. So we remember we see at the very beginning, you know, where is he that's born King of the Jews? At the end, it says he shall be called a Nazarene. There you have Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Now, there's this common thing of basically saying, well, he's a Nazareth, that means he has long hair. There is a difference, this does not say that he was a Nazarite, okay? There is a difference, go to Numbers chapter six. So this is where people get confused because Nazarenes never mentioned in the Old Testament or Nazareth or anything like that. There's a Nazarite vow. See Nazareth, like saying you're of Nazareth, that's a place, it's a location. It'd be like saying I'm a West Virginian, right? A Nazarite means you took a vow, a Nazarite vow. So those are two different things. I know it sounds similar, but they're two different things, okay? A Nazarite vow, it doesn't matter, that had nothing to do with location, okay? It wasn't a city, it wasn't a place, it was something that they did. Now in Numbers chapter six is where we see this Nazarite vow. Numbers six and verse one, it says, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, when either man or woman shall separate themselves to a vow, a vow of a Nazarite to separate themselves unto the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink and shall drink no vinegar of wine or vinegar of strong drink. Neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes nor eat moist grapes or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation, there shall no razor come upon his head until the days be fulfilled in the which he separated himself unto the Lord. He shall be holy and shall let the locks of his hair of his head grow. All the days that he separated himself unto the Lord, he shall come at no dead body. He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother or for his brother or for his sister. When they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head, all the days of his separation, he is holy unto the Lord. So that's the Nazarite vow. Now, there's different things about this. Now, what's interesting about this is that the Nazarite vow didn't mean she took this for life either. Most of the time they were just doing this for like a year or something like that where they're just kind of separating themselves unto the Lord. And you say, well, they'd have long hair. It says, first of all, it says a razor shall come upon their head. It doesn't say that they can't pull their head. Now, it does say to let the locks of the hair grow. But again, it's a razor because after they would do this, they'd have to shave their head. So when they do this, they would basically let their hair grow, basically let themselves go, so to speak. And then after they were done with their vow, whatever portion of time they would do it. But if you look in the Bible, they wouldn't do it for that long, usually. And let's say you did it for a year or your hair grows about like a half inch a month, okay? So that'd be like six inches for a year, right? So six inches would be like this, okay? And so even if you were a man, let's say I just like took that bow and I just didn't cut my hair. Let's say I didn't even cut it until, and that would mean I wouldn't have to shave or anything, right, because you'd not have a razor upon your head. Then my hair would be pretty shaggy, but it wouldn't be like this long flowing like hair down my back, okay? That takes a long time to get that far. Now, with Samson, there could have been kind of an exception there with Samson. And obviously, what does it represent if a man have long hair? Shame. He also had Ezekiel lay on his side and eat dung. So I mean, there are different things. He had Isaiah preaching naked. So there's definitely some kind of things that he did. But by and large, I'd say the Nazarites were not these long-haired, hippie-looking people because they wouldn't do it for that long too. Now, another thing is they say, well, how do you know that Jesus didn't, he was of Nazareth, maybe they all took Nazarite vows. Maybe like all the Nazareth people, people of Nazareth were Nazarites too. Okay, well, it doesn't say that, first of all. But second of all, it's very clear that he didn't take a Nazarite vow. Now, John the Baptist kind of did, meaning like he wouldn't drink wine or anything like that. Go to Luke chapter one, and this is the last point I'm gonna make and we'll be done. I just want to really make this point that not only does it not say that Jesus took a Nazarite vow, it's very clear that he didn't take a Nazarite vow. In Luke chapter one, we're gonna see about John the Baptist. Because John the Baptist and Jesus are compared to each other. When they're kind of rebuking Jesus or trying to say stuff about Jesus, they're comparing him to John the Baptist and they're a complete contrast at dealing with this certain issue. So in Luke chapter one and verse 13, it says, But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard in thy wife, Isabel, I'm sorry, Isabel, Elizabeth, shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John, and thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. Now, if you remember John the Baptist, now, obviously that sounds very familiar to the Nazarite vow. It doesn't say that he's a Nazarite, but what I'm saying is that there's something very similar to that. But also, what did he eat? Locust and wild honey. So he wasn't exactly eating a luscious meal here when he was out in the wilderness doing this. Now, go to Matthew chapter 11, this last thing I'm gonna show you, because I just wanna really kind of dig this in that John the Baptist would be the only, I'm not even saying he took a Nazarite vow, but I'm saying he's the only one that even comes close to this. So you say, well, did he have long hair? I'm not saying he had long hair, okay? Because it doesn't say that he took a Nazarite vow. So it could just be that he was not drinking juice. He was kind of living a very austere life. Locust and wild honey is not exactly living a lush life, okay? Have you ever eaten a locust? I haven't, but you know. Anyway, Matthew chapter 11, verse 18, it says, For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. So that makes sense when you think about the fact of, from his birth, he wasn't to drink wine or strong drink and all this other stuff, right? So it's kind of showing that he was kind of living that life, right? Notice verse 19, the son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified of her children. So notice how the complete contrast between John the Baptist and Jesus. They're saying, he can't, he's not eating or drinking. You're doing, you're eating and drinking, you know? So he didn't have this like restriction. He's gonna eat butter and honey, it talks about in Isaiah chapter seven, dealing with, you know, Emmanuel, you know, a virgin shall be with child and all this, and it goes into that. And so this Nazarite, this whole idea of Jesus having long hair is just not in the Bible. And, you know, you think about when they were taking him, you know, when Judas was gonna say, hey, I'll signify who it is by when I give him a kiss. Why didn't they just say, hey, it's the Nazarite person over there with the long hair, okay? But it just comes out to this, that there is a difference between being a Nazarene and being a Nazarite. And even that, even that, the only case that we see that someone probably had long hair is Samson, meaning that it was long enough to where he could braid it. Okay? But even then, it doesn't necessarily have to be as long as like the women's hair that's in here right now for it to be that case. And some people have limitations on how long their hair will grow too. You know, I'm not like, I don't study this, okay? But anyway, but I hope all that makes sense. And if this sermon teaches you anything, which we're gonna get into a lot more of this when we go through Matthew, is the fact that, hey, go back to the Old Testament where this stuff's quoted. Obviously, you used the New Testament as a flashlight, you know, and we have the New Testament, we have all this stuff revealed, but the Old Testament has a lot of good truth and there's a lot of light that's coming from the Old Testament. And a lot of it just comes through the fact that the New Testament's not just gonna, the New Testament would be huge if it was gonna repeat and just put all this stuff in it. It's key words that are pointing you back to a passage just so you'll read that and understand what's being said. Let's end with a word of prayer. The only father we thank you for tonight and thank you for everybody that came out. And Lord, we do pray that you be with all those that are in the Philippines, pray that you keep them safe and pray that they win many souls to you. And Lord, just pray that you help them to have a good time out there. I pray that you'd be with our church here, be with us as we go back to work and just with our travels. I pray that you'd be with brother Bruce as he flies in and just pray to give him safe travels. And Lord, just pray that you'd help us to see many souls saved. And Lord, we love you and pray all this in Jesus Christ's name, amen.