From Egypt to Jesus - Hosea 11:1

Well, when was the last time you heard this verse preached around Christmas time? It might seem like I just opened up my Bible at random, closed my eyes and picked this verse, but I promise you there is a reason, and there is a connection to the birth and childhood of Jesus.

There are some people that simply cannot get enough of Christmas each and every year. They start listening to Christmas music on November 1st, and put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving.

I’m not one of those people. In fact, there was a time not all that long ago, where I thought the Grinch made some solid points. After all, the Grinch was forced to watch Whoville hold a massive consumerist holiday, while, at least in the Jim Carrey adaptation, not only does he live in a cave by himself but also eats trash. Remember when he eats a lightbulb?

As I got older, Christmas began to feel like another holiday, except for this one, you were required to spend ten times the money.

But all of that has changed since having kids. Christmas is fun again. And it’s something that I really look forward to each year, because I know our kids are going to have a blast. The gifts and the presents are fun because it’s fun for them.

Kids will certainly change your perspective on things, and no doubt, that’s what this verse is about: a child, more specifically, a son.

Not only is Christmas a wonderful time of year for children. It is, after all, a time when we remember the birth of a particular child. We reflect on the fact that God took on flesh and dwelt among us.

In Hosea, God calls the people of Israel his son, but of course, Matthew finds the ultimate fulfillment of Hosea 11:1 in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Obviously, we’re looking at an Old Testament prophecy this morning that finds its ultimate fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ, and we’re going to do the same thing next week as well.

So, you’ll need to keep a finger in Matthew chapter 2, because we’ll be going back and forth between the two passages.

But what I hope you will see from this prophetic passage is that just as God led the people of Israel out of bondage and slavery, so Jesus leads you and me out of bondage and slavery.

In the context of Matthew 2:15

As I’ve already mentioned, the real reason I selected Hosea 11:1 is because Matthew quotes this particular verse in chapter 2 verse 15. And of course, the quotation comes shortly after Matthew’s birth account.

At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, we read about the birth of Jesus Christ. But it’s in chapter two, we get some distressing information. The wise men approach King Herod and ask him, “where is he who has been born king of the Jews?”

And if you remember, Herod is troubled by that question, and with evil intent he asks the wise men to return back to him once they’ve found the king so that he too could worship him. But Herod had no intention of worshiping the king, rather, as an illegitimate king he felt threatened by the possibility of a child that might have a legitimate claim to the throne.

And as a man willing to do whatever it took to maintain power, Herod ordered for all the little boys in Bethlehem to be executed. How evil, right?

But an angel visited Joseph in a dream and told him to take Mary and Jesus and flee Bethlehem and head to Egypt. And it’s with all of that background, Matthew said, “This was to fulfill what the Lord spoken by the prophet, “out of Egypt I called my son.””

When you understand the background of Matthew chapter 2, the Hosea quotation seems to fit neatly in.

The Lord is going to call “his son” Jesus out of Egypt, his family would settle in Nazareth and from there he’ll launch his public ministry, thus fulfilling the words, “out of Egypt I called my son.”

It fits like a glove doesn’t it? It makes perfect sense?

But the reality is, things get a little more confusing and messy when you go back and read Hosea 11:1. When you look at Hosea 11:1 in context Matthew’s quotation doesn’t appear neat and tidy at all.

In fact, when you look at Hosea 11:1 in context, it might appear as if Matthew had selected this verse at random.

In the context of Hosea 11:1

When I think of Old Testament prophecy that points us directly to Jesus Hosea isn’t necessarily the first book that comes to mind. There are lots of other Old Testament prophecies that I think of first like,

Isaiah 7,

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Or how about Isaiah 9,

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Or even Genesis 3:15,

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

That’s really just scratching the surface of Old Testament prophecies that were written hundred or thousands of years before Christ that find their ultimate fulfillment in him. But nevertheless, those are some of the Scriptures that immediately come to mind.

And of course, all Scripture points us to Jesus Christ, but some books, passages, and verses make that connection much clearer than others.

When I think about Hosea, I don’t necessarily think about prophecy that points us to Jesus, there are other things that come to my mind first. For example, when I think about Hosea, I think about what God called Hosea to do. God told Hosea to marry and have children with a prostitute named Gomer who was consistently unfaithful to him. That’s what I think about when I think about Hosea.

But Hosea is told by God to marry the prostitute named Gomer and to have children with her, and Hosea and Gomer have three children, Jezreel which is the name of a valley where the Lord judged and punished the people of Israel through humiliating military defeat.

Their second child was named Lo-ruhama which means “No Mercy.” Literally her name is, “she has not received mercy.” And lastly, their third child is named Lo-Ammi which means “Not My People.”

So Hosea’s family is a prophetic sign act. That is, God used Hosea’s unfaithful wife to illustrate Israel’s unfaithfulness to him. Just as Gomer chased after other men, so the people of Israel chased after false gods.

So the names of Hosea’s children tell us how the Lord is going to deal with Israel. Because they have broken their covenant with God, the Lord is going to judge them, they’ll receive no mercy, and no longer would he consider them his people.

It’s quite the depressing prognosis, isn’t it?

But just as quickly as these severe prophecies are pronounced, the Lord promises Hosea that they will one day be reversed. We’re told, “great will be the day of Jezreel, and say to your brothers, “you are my people” and to your sisters, “you have received mercy.”

Hosea was to love Gomer even in spite of her unfaithfulness. And that’s the real message of Hosea, that even in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God, the Lord will never stop pursuing and loving his people. God never gives up on his people.

In the midst of suffering, pain, and sorrow of God’s judgment and yet he never left them without hope, which is beautifully captured in Hosea chapter 11. In Hosea chapter 11, the Lord is described as a loving parent toward his child, Israel.

Looking again at Hosea 11:1, God not only calls Israel his child, but his child whom he loved. That’s God’s never stopping, always pursuing, hesed love. In fact, God loved his son Israel so much that he called him out of Egypt.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

In other words, the Lord is reminding the people of Israel just how much he loved them. He loved them so much that he delivered them out of slavery in Egypt while they were still a blossoming nation. The population of Israel grew tremendously as slaves in Egypt which is why Pharaoh would not let them go. Israel was growing so rapidly, he was worried they’d revolt which is why he treated them so cruelly.

So the nation of Israel was like that of a small child - still growing.

And of course, we know the story, God led the people out of Egypt and then they wandered around for forty years.

But pause right there for a second. On the surface, doesn’t it seem like what Hosea and Matthew are talking about are two completely different things? Hosea is talking about Israel being led out of Egypt while Matthew is talking about Jesus fleeing to Egypt.

But Matthew specifically tells us that Jesus heading to Egypt is the ultimate fulfillment of Hosea 11:1. It almost looks like Matthew did an Old Testament word search for ‘Egypt’ and ‘son’ and landed on Hosea 11:1.

But that’s what you think, you’re entirely mistaken!

Jesus the Better and Faithful Son

This past Tuesday, I had the privilege of seeing Handel’s Messiah performed by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra and it was excellent. But I was struck by the fact that so much of what was being sung was Scripture, but even more than that, it was Scripture centered upon the judgment of God. Handel’s Scripture references that were sung made the point that it would be a fearful day, when the Lord comes.

At one point, the bassist sings from Malachi 3, “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire.”

Who can abide in the day of the Lord’s coming? The Scripture references used in the first part of Handel’s Messiah paints a rather grim, hopeless picture.

Which was no doubt the case for the people of Israel! How could a faithless people stand before a holy God?

Obviously, the point that Handel was trying to make is that a people marred by sin cannot stand before the Lord, they desperately need a Savior.

Because only a sinless man can stand before the Lord. To stand before the Lord apart from Christ is utterly hopeless.

Doesn’t hope seem to be in short supply today? So many people struggle with depression and mental illness.

I read where the CDC reported that nearly 50,000 people committed suicide in America last year. You have to be in an extremely hopeless place to take your own life.

So much of what we read and hear about are stories of personal pain, tragedy and suffering. Where are the hopeful, joyous, and exciting stories in our world?

But that’s precisely what Matthew is trying to do: provide you and me with hope, because he wants us to see that where Israel failed, Jesus Christ was victorious.

As so here, we’re reminded that where the people of Israel were unfaithful, like a prostitute, chasing after false gods, Jesus Christ was perfectly faithful to the one true God.

Doesn’t that really add another element to God the Father’s words, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”?

Jesus Christ came to restore, heal, and fulfill. He came to fix what was broken.

The suffering of God’s People and Jesus

Most evenings when we’re putting our kids to bed they’ll request we sing them a hymn. It’s not the best quality singing, but they get what they ask for. But one of the ones we sing to them regularly is the hymn “Were You There?” Johnny Cash and many others have performed the hymn.

The last stanza reads,

“Were you there when he rose up from the dead? Were you there when he rose up from the dead? Oh sometimes I feel like shouting glory, glory, glory. Were you there when he rose up from the dead.”

What I’ve always found so powerful about that particular hymn is that it’s an old African American slave spiritual. Just imagine for a second, slaves working out in the field singing, “sometimes I feel like shouting glory, glory, glory. Were you there when he rose up from the dead?” That’s pretty powerful stuff, isn’t it?

Sometimes knowing the background and history of a particular hymn will really change the way you hear the lyrics won’t it?

And of course, I bring up that old hymn for a reason. Slavery is really synonymous with suffering isn’t it?

The people of Israel suffered for 400 years enslaved to the Egyptians. Generations of Israelites suffered at the hands of the Egyptians and in fact, we’re told that the Lord freed them because he heard their cries for help.

This is really the key to understanding the relationship between Matthew 2 and Hosea 11.

The people of Israel were well acquainted with suffering and so is the Lord Jesus. He is the suffering servant that Isaiah 53 speaks of.

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

And the people of Israel associated Egypt with slavery and suffering.

You see, the reason Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1 and says that prophetic word was fulfilled goes much deeper than Jesus accomplishing what Israel failed to do. That’s a piece of it, certainly, but it’s not all of it.

The point that Matthew wants to make by quoting Hosea 11:1 is that Jesus willingly entered into the pain, sorrow, and suffering of this world.

In many ways, isn’t that why Jesus came to earth? To experience what you and I experience? To not just experience all the wonderful, fun, things that life has to offer, but the pain and suffering of this world as well?

And just as Moses led the people of Israel out of literal, physical, bondage and slavery in Egypt, but Lord Jesus delivers all who trust in him from the greatest bondage of all: slavery to our sin.

I have to confess, it does feel a little dark and depressing to be talking about suffering around Christmas time. But the reality is, suffering is a part of the human experience. We’ve been reading and singing our way through the Psalms over the last year and a half, I’m sure you’ve noticed that some of the Psalms are a little dark. But as John Calvin famously said, “...[the Psalms are]... an Anatomy of the Soul; for there is not an emotion of which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror.”

The Psalms reflect the range of human emotion. We should never downplay or minimize the suffering that someone is experiencing, and the church should always be a place where we should feel free to talk about the things that are weighing heavily upon us.

But even with that said, Christians should resist the temptation to ceaselessly wallow in their sin and suffering and act as though your life is a slow death march to the gulag.

Why?

As Hosea reminds us, Christ is our hope even in the midst of suffering!

“Out of Egypt I called my Son.”

Jesus leads you and me out of the very source of our pain and suffering: sin! Ladies and gentlemen that is far greater deliverance than freedom from painful circumstances have or will experience. Your circumstances in life are the symptoms of a much more significant disease: the fall of humanity into sin.

But if you trust in Christ then he will set you free from the tyranny, pain, and sorrow caused by sin. I’m not saying that all your problems will melt away because you believe in Jesus. We all know that isn’t true.

But what I am saying is that the hope you have in Christ will change the way you view the inevitable challenges of life.

How else can a slave joyously sing “sometimes I feel like shouting glory, glory, glory. Were you there when he rose up from the dead?” knowing that they’ll be forced to pick cotton all the days of their life?

The only answer is that their hope wasn’t in the things of this world, their hope was in Christ. The gospel is good news no matter what life throws at you. Amen?

And of course, this is what we must remember during Christmas. We must remind ourselves and others that Jesus is the reason for the season, not to correct people that feel compelled to say “Happy Holidays” and score cheap political points. It’s so much bigger than that: the birth of Jesus Christ represents everlasting hope and freedom from the tyranny of sin in the midst of a world marred by pain and suffering.

That is the beauty of the gospel isn’t it? Only Jesus Christ will give what you truly need in the midst of trials and suffering.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Amen. Let’s pray together.