Jesus' journey Part Two

Matthew 2

The Visit of the Magi

 ¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east^[b] and have come to worship him."
 ³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ^[c] was to be born. ⁵"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
 ⁶" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
      are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
   for out of you will come a ruler
      who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'^[d]"
 ⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
 ⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east^[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

 ¹³When 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." ¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where 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."^[f]
 16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted 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. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
 ¹⁸"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."^[g]

The Return to Nazareth

 ¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."
 ²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."



We will learn more about the true motives of King Herod later on.

From the very beginning, Jesus had to endure greedy emotions . . Before he was even old enough to understand any of these selfish events taking place. Think about it, Herod was disturbed... Because people were worshiping baby Jesus?? Sounds like a real gem.

Herod sent spies to tell him where baby Jesus was.

The appointed spies didn't even go back to tell Herod. This was a test of faith for them. They passed.

Thanks to a lovely angel of the Lord, baby Jesus would be safe for a while. Joseph, Marry and baby Jesus lived in Egypt until Herod died.

Herod had all of the boys age 2 and under killed when he found out he had been outsmarted. . Kings of all sorts are overtaken by their yearnings.. Yearnings for things of sin. . People in general, but I suppose we are all more familiar with the corrupt royalty and politicians. Perhaps due to the fact it published far more than mere every day Jane's and John Doe's..

All these events had been documented before they happened, through the prophets.

So we end today with Jesus moving from Egypt to Nazareth.

Let this help you to think about peoples true intentions. Herod claimed he wanted to find baby Jesus so that he could worship him. His true intention was to kill him out of jealousy.

Just let yourself be aware that people do not always mean what they say. The Devil dresses up his evil to make it easier to lure you in. Be safe and smart. Listen to what the Lord is telling you.

                                                        Stephie

P.S. Jeremiah 17:7
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him."

Jesus' journey, part one.

I am going to dedicate the upcoming postings to the journey of our personal savior. Jesus Christ. I am not certain the exact number of posts that will be dedicated to this yet. This is part one.

We will start with Matthew then move on to Luke later. This is where we will start to explore the book of Mathew. 

My archaeological study Bible has all sorts of fun facts at the beginning of each book. These are the categories as well as some of the content concerning the book of Matthew.

AUTHOR, PLACE AND DATE OF WRITING
Tradition associates this Gospel with the apostle Matthew, although intense debate has swirled around a statement from the early church father Papias that survives only in Eusebius(Ecclesiastical history, 3.39.16). It is usually translated(in part), "Matthew collected the oracles (logia) in the hebrew language." For generations most scholars interpreted Papias as claiming that Matthew had composed in hebrew a Gospel that was for the most part a record of Jesus' sayings or "oracles."
 Logia probably means a Gospel. 


AUDIENCE
Matthew's original readers were predominately Jews who already believed in Jesus and confessed him the son of God.

CULTURAL FACTS AND HIGHLIGHTS
Matthew's purpose was to prove to a Jewish audience that Jesus is the Messiah. 


TIMELINE
 Beginning of Jesus' ministry: 26 A.D.

Matthew 1:18-25

The Birth of Jesus Christ

 ¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  ²⁰But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[a] because he will save his people from their sins."
 ²²All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"^[b]—which means, "God with us."
 ²⁴When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Matthew 1:23. ²³"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"
    This verse refers to Isa 7:14; 8:8, 10.  I would like to delve into Isa 7:14 for a brief moment.

Isaiah 7:14 (New International Version)

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you ^[a] a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and ^[b] will call him Immanuel. <sup>[c]

As we get deeper into the journey of our savior you will find that Jesus lets it be known that this has been a plan for a long time. The Messiah (Jesus) must go through these events. This reference in Matthew simply gives further proof that he is the Messiah and his work was directly from our Lord. What a terrific thing to sit back and let seep into your mind. 


Could you imagine being there?? In 23A.D. 
Oh heavens, I could only start to imagine being in the same venue with our savior Jesus Christ. He is always in our hearts but I am talking about before his Crucifixion. . Such a tremendous amount of joy and love mixed with loyalty must have been flowing in the veins of the believers surrounding him.. It makes my tummy warm with butterflies to try and imagine this moment of utter significance it would have on a persons life.</sup>

^{This concludes the first part of Jesus' journey. I pray that you all take a moment to really talk to Jesus and let him know that you are thankful to him for dying for our sins. Not only dying but being tortured, humiliated as well murdered for our sins. He did all this with love, mercy and grace in his heart. He did this with the help of our Lord, so that the word of the Lord could be spread through the nations. I thank the Lord. Praise you Jesus! Praise you Lord!! For your mercy as well as your love. Please Lord help us all to help ourselves to better understand what we should really be focusing on in our lives. Not the cars, televisions, houses, money in our accounts ect.. I am not speaking of the things that we have come accustomed to believing we need.. I am speaking of the things that have true meaning to our dedication. The Lord, helping your fellow man/woman, selflessly giving your time to a good cause with the right motivation behind it.} 

 <sup>I adore these images.. If I posted all the images I find that I adore, well that would just be too many images for the eyes to process all at once. So I only post a few.


Please continue to explore Jesus' journey with me. I know this is a very important part of the Bible and I am grateful to be able to share it with those who are willing to embark on the expedition with an open mind and heart.

                                                Stephie

P.S. If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not people or things.
-Albert Einstein</sup>