Escape to Egypt

May 9, 2025 | Read and Think About Matthew 2:1-25

He didn’t know the people, the land, or the customs.  The life of his young family was at risk for a long time. He didn’t know what was happening from moment to moment, or how things would turn out.  For Joseph, these years had to feel like a total lack of control over circumstances.

To get an idea of the distances involved in these travels, you can search “map of New England”. New Hampshire’s size and shape are fairly similar to Israel ‘s first century boundaries.   Imagine going from the north part of New Hampshire down to the south.  That’s the journey to Bethlehem.  Now imagine going from there across the border into southern Vermont.   That’s like the distance to Egypt. 

Then imagine traveling with your family all the way back to New Hampshire after a couple of years, and continuing back up to the northern part of the state to start a next phase of life. 

On foot. Waiting for the next instruction. Not knowing when it would come.  Not knowing what danger lurked out there.  Courage, patience, and resilience don’t even begin to describe the key traits of Joseph and Mary.

As we read in the account given to us by Matthew, it required 4 different dreams and visions given to one man to accomplish God’s will.  Herod's plans to kill the child, Jesus, were no match for God’s plan and providence. 

True, Joseph had an angel directing each of his steps, and we do not.  But Joseph never got the whole plan, either.  Like us, he had to take this journey one step at a time.  Even if the dreams and the role of the angel in these events were unique and miraculous, there is a lot we can apply to our own lives if we think carefully about Joseph.   

The Birth of Jesus Announced

May 7, 2025 | Read and Think About Luke 1:26-38

The previous post involved “God’s Oath to King David.”  Now in this event which Luke recorded for us, almost 1000 years have elapsed (and a similar number of Bible pages!)

And notice that in Luke 1, verse 32 it says:  “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David.”

This is the promise from 2 Samuel 7:  “I will raise up your offspring, David, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”

Mary let the words of the angel sink in.  The call back to God’s oath to King David would have spoken volumes to her.  God was about to do something amazing!

This piece of context – a kingdom that will last forever - was huge in Mary’s mind and everyone else’s regarding God’s promises of salvation for Israel.  But it brings up the question:  salvation from what?  The people yearned for a different kind of salvation - - a political salvation from a repressive empire.  However, God was sending the way to eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. 

God’s way is always better, even when it seems impossible to understand it. One of the things that inspires me about Mary is she didn't have to have all the answers. Her strong faith led her to say, "let it be done according to your word."

God's Oath to King David

May 5, 2025 | Read and Think About 2 Samuel 7:1-17

This passage is from the 10th book of the Bible, so it’s pretty early out of the 66 books. 

Before we look at Jesus’s first century family, let’s check in with an important ancestor.  Almost 1000 years before Jesus lived David the King.  This post is about an oath that God made to David.

David was many things:  a shepherd, a musician, a husband, a father, a songwriter, slayer of a giant, a king, a sinner.  All these centuries before Jesus, David had wanted to be something else, too:  a builder.  As king of Israel, he wanted to build a temple for the people to worship God – a house for the Lord that would be a physical building of stone and mortar. 

But God had a different idea.  God promised David under oath that He would establish “a house” for David, which in those days in that culture also referred to lineage.  In an interesting play on words, God promised to place one of David’s descendants on a permanent throne.

God keeps his oaths.  This future King according to the oath is Jesus.

Now fast forward to the time of Jesus and the apostles.  Shortly after the resurrection of Jesus and just days after he ascended to Heaven, the apostle Peter spoke to a large crowd of worshippers.  In this first sermon after Jesus had ascended, and inspired by the Holy Spirit, Peter showed how God’s oath to David was fulfilled in Jesus.  This was an important proof to the people that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.  (Acts, chapter 2.)

In that moment, thousands believed the risen Jesus was the Messiah - Christ and Savior.

The way this all came together was as though God had been creating a tapestry for well over 1000 years. Actually, it continues to this day.