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amen okay we're continuing this evening with our study on the book of Matthew and we're in chapter number two of course in chapter one we basically discuss the the genealogy of Joseph who's the stepfather of Jesus and therefore essentially Jesus is a rightful heir to the throne of David because of his association with Joseph of course it's not as biological father it's a stepfather but the principle still applies there now one thing I want you to notice is that in the book of Matthew in comparison to the book of Luke for example a lot of the beginning of Matthew from chapters one two we have a great emphasis on Joseph okay because the genealogy there is essentially tracing Joseph's ancestry all the way back to Solomon and ultimately to David and of course in chapter two we see that the angels coming to Joseph we see that he's leading him to deliver his family and then in the book of Luke when covering the ancestry of Mary I'm sorry covering the ancestry there it really focuses on Mary's side of the family because Mary's father is Heli who is the father-in-law of Joseph and he can trace it back to one of the sons of David who is Nathan and we see there's a great emphasis placed on Mary in the book of Luke especially the chapter prior to Jesus being born it really hones in on Mary's salutation or Elizabeth's salutation excuse me of Mary and the song of Mary and so you see those different emphasis that are placed there now here in chapter 2 in Matthew previous to this but after chapter 1 you have the events of Luke chapter 2 okay because in Luke chapter 2 is when they leave Nazareth Galilee and they go into Bethlehem to be taxed right and of course that's where Jesus Christ is born is in Bethlehem and he's a babe there that's where the shepherds come that's where they see the great heavenly hosts singing there it's of course a very famous Christmas story and then in Matthew chapter 2 is essentially when Jesus is a little bit older about two possibly even even three years of age we don't know exactly but just want to let you know that so you have chapter 1 of Matthew it goes to Luke chapter 2 when he's born and then Matthew chapter 2 when he's essentially has grown a little older two to three years possibly so look at chapter 2 here a lot of what I'm going to talk about tonight I've actually I've already preached okay because obviously Christmas was just a couple months ago and so I'm gonna have to reiterate a lot of things that I was talking about in those sermons but it's okay because most of you probably forgot about it anyway so a lot of you you know I mean and then when we go back to that video you're like the loudest amen are there you know it's just like okay see all those things work but you know sometimes we need to be reminded right and so obviously we need to cover those things because it's in the actual chapter that we're studying tonight and so let's look at it verse 1 of chapter 2 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 so a couple things that we want to talk about first in these first couple verses is the wise men okay the identity of the wise men who are coming from the east to meet Jesus Christ the Savior and the first thing I want to point out is that you know often we will sing about people will claim that these are kings right the three kings that came to Jesus or as the Bible doesn't really explicitly say that there were kings now it's a great song we three kings of orient are we sing it every Christmas and it's a great song but it doesn't really explicitly say that they are kings you can point to passages or a passage in the book of Psalms that would seem to imply that these men who came to Jesus and brought the gold frankincense and myrrh were possibly kings but it doesn't just directly say that they were it just labels them as wise men okay and the question a lot of people propose is who are these wise men where are they coming from what star or where in the Old Testament does it even refer to you know a star gonna be over it's gonna be over baby Jesus and how do they know these things and a lot of theories have been proposed in this regard people will often say that these wise men were actually astronomers or they studied a astrology okay that they understand understood that the celestial bodies and somehow the celestial bodies were able to tell them where Jesus was going to be born okay there's a lot of theories in that regard but actually I don't believe that personally and I'm explained to you why you know in the Bible there's many examples of people that are referred to as wise men right and many of them I would say a hundred percent of the time other than what we find here these wise men are not very wise concerning spiritual matters you say well how do you know that well you know when you look at the book of Daniel for example for example in chapter 2 and in chapter 5 you have the wise men who were under King Nebuchadnezzar right and King Nebuchadnezzar wanted to decipher the dream that he had that was given to him by God that was essentially information regarding the end times and he brought all the wise men all these individuals who were astronomers and astrologers people who studied the celestial bodies and they weren't able to give them a clear answer as to what the the dream meant right and not only that but you see wise men in Egypt okay who were essentially trying to replicate the miracles that Moses did and so many of the times that you see wise men in the Bible from a secular perspective from an unsafe perspective these are individuals that have a lot of worldly knowledge but they don't necessarily have any spiritual knowledge they really know the Bible they're really powerless and kind of meaningless in the eyes of God right you know they're wise in the eyes of the world but when it came to the things of God they didn't understand spiritual things okay however there is that that the the antithesis of the wise unsaved man and that is the saved wise man right and the Bible also refers to these individuals it doesn't explicitly call them wise men other than what we see here but it refers to God's people being wise okay and the Bible tells us that the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that win his souls is wise and it's my personal belief that when it refers to these wise men in Matthew chapter 2 it's actually referring to just evangelists preachers of the gospel preachers of God's Word men of God prophets of the Lord who just understood the Bible and I'm gonna give you a couple reasons why I believe that's the case number one because when you see in Matthew 23 for example Jesus talking to Israel says wherefore behold I send you prophets I send you wise men I send you scribes and it says some of them you shall kill and crucify and scourge in your synagogues and persecute them from city to city is referring to a group of men who are obviously preaching God's Word they're not being persecuted for just no reason these prophets wise men scribes just kind of used anonymously interchangeably should I say to describe individuals who are preaching God's Word and therefore they're being persecuted for their faith right and so we see that the Bible refers to people who win souls as wise we see God refers to them as being wise because of the fact that it's a wise thing to go preach the gospel and get people saved but also they're wise concerning the things of God okay they have the wisdom of God through the Word of God you know the Bible also tells us when talking about Timothy Paul writing to Timothy says that from a child he's known the Holy Scriptures which is able to make thee wise unto salvation okay and so I don't believe these wise men were any type of astronomers who study the celestial bodies because first and foremost nowhere in the Old Testament does it give any type of astronomy some sort of formula of when the Christ was going to be born when the Word of God was going to be made flesh this is something that had to be divinely revealed right by God through the prophets through an angel okay now you say well then you know they say there we have seen his star in the east wouldn't that imply that they're observing the celestial bodies you know that's obviously where people are getting that idea from well not necessarily if you understand the stars in the Bible are not always referring to celestial bodies such as planets and so on and so forth you know stars in the Bible also are indicative of angels okay you know in the Bible they're used interchangeably to describe angels you think of Revelation chapter 12 when Satan is cast out you know the out of heaven the Bible talks about how he takes one-third of the stars from heaven referring to those demons and celestial beings we think about Apollyon who's referred to as a star we think of I'm thinking of Revelation 8 what's that one angel called Wormwood think of Wormwood he's referred to as a star okay so many times throughout the Bible angels are used interchangeably to describe or stars are used interchangeably to describe angels and so this would actually fit the context more because what I think is taking place here is that these wise men who are prophets their scribes their men who are wise concerning the Word of God possibly had an angel come to them and tell them hey Jesus Christ is going to be born in Bethlehem okay you say I don't know that's a stretch well is it really a stretch I mean in Matthew 1 you have an angel coming to Joseph in Matthew chapter 2 you have an angel warning Joseph and Luke chapter 2 you have the angels coming to the shepherds I mean it seems as though the angels have a lot to do with what's going on here right and so I don't think it's it's a far-fetched idea to think that these men who are coming from afar they're reading God's Word they're preaching the Word of God you know they're being revealed to by God through an angel where the Christ should come from and I think that's the only logical and biblical conclusion that we can come to when it comes to this passage because of the fact that there is no Old Testament passage they give some sort of you know celestial formula of where the Christ is going to be born okay you know you have historical things where people say there's a particular star that showed up whatever two thousand years ago and that's possibly the star of Bethlehem but when you actually read Matthew chapter 2 you see that the star is moving right it goes before them the Bible says even to the point where you know they follow the star and it abides over the child Jesus well you know stars don't really do things like that if we're referring to like the celestial bodies okay so it's possibly just referring to an angel leading them to the place where the Christ should be born and so I believe that's what's taking place here and it really it kind of fits a narrative of the Bible doesn't it because of the fact that you know God didn't go to Kings to tell them where the Christ is gonna be born because Herod himself didn't know where Christ was gonna be born I mean he called the scribes and they finally told him like yeah it's supposed to be born in Bethlehem I mean the guy is a king over the region of Israel and you know the guy doesn't even know his own biblical history you know it took foreigners to come to him and tell him hey where's Christ because we followed his star from the east and come to worship the Christ he didn't go to scholars God didn't go to scholars he didn't go to kings he didn't go to magistrates he went to the wise men you know what that shows us today is that some of the deepest truths of the Bible are essentially designated for the wise men of this world not the wise men of this world as far as from a secular perspective but Christians in this world who esteem the Word of God right who read the Word of God you're like no I think you gotta go to Bible College for like five years and you have to go get your master's and your your your bachelor's your master's your doctorates and then you'll understand the deep things of God folks there's people out there who have their doctorates and divinity they're the master of Israel I mean Jesus Christ spoke to someone and the guy didn't even know how to get saved then was Nicodemus the guy didn't even know how to get say who cares what the chosen says the chosen the guy Nicodemus from the chosen knew more apparently than the Nicodemus of the Bible but the guy didn't even know how to get saved you just simply explain you know explaining illustrating what it is means to be saved which is to be born again to be saved and you know it's just going over Nicodemus his head and then Jesus says art thou a master of Israel and no it's not these things but you know what there's no difference with the masters of Israel today because you go to whatever seminary you go to whatever cemetery or whatever you know Bible College I guarantee you most of them won't be able to give you a clear answer of what salvation is they can't point you to the exact scriptures they'll just give you some off-the-wall answer that doesn't match up with scripture they'll give you a Jordan Peterson type answer you know what do you mean by saved you know saved is a is a complicated word like say from hell that's what we mean how can we not go to hell hell me no like how do we how do we avoid hell how do we go up there and not go down there it's like it's not hard but yet you know the masters of Israel of this world don't understand the deep things of God because they're not revealed to them I mean the Bible specifically tells us in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 that you know I hath not seen nor ear have heard neither have entered into the hearts of men the thing that God has prepared for them that love him but he hath revealed them unto us by his spirit the Bible says there's people who who have spent tens of thousands of dollars to get a biblical education and have all these degrees and certificates and all these things but they don't understand jack squat about the Bible it's not revealed to them most of them probably read hundreds of books on Bibles but probably never read the Bible cover to cover itself and the Bible says that the deep things of God are revealed unto us okay by his spirit and so God doesn't require for you to have some certificate some degree you know some epistle of commendation my says he are our epistles known in red of all written in our hearts known is our work amen and the Bible tells us you know to study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth it doesn't say to go to Bible College it doesn't say to go to some seminary it doesn't say to get a master's degree and in fact the Bible seems to like condemn people who you know really place an emphasis on those types of titles okay and so I believe these men are just simply students of the Bible they're students of the Word of God they're evangelists or soul winners they're probably not very rich men either like whoa I don't know I don't know though because they brought frankincense and myrrh they brought the gold so that would seem to indicate that maybe they were rolling in the dough or something I don't know maybe they were kings but folks when you study people who gave these really luxurious gifts to Christ most of the time it was like all their living think of the woman who provided the ointment right or the woman who cast in her two mites these are people who are not necessarily rich or wealthy they're just kind of giving everything that they have which is a great picture of we as Christians how we should give everything we got to Christ all right give it all we got and so I think that would be a far more powerful message to show that these wise men were willing to compass land and sea to see the Christ and bring them a gift of possibly all their living like it's gold frankincense and myrrh and of course we know the symbolic representation behind those things but these are simply believers is what I think it is okay and you know the common sermon that you hear about wise men is wise men still seek him and you know as cliche or as cheesy as that may sound it is actually true because a wise man will build his house upon a rock amen that's who God considers to be wise those who build their house upon a rock the floods come storms come and that house just doesn't fall over because their foundation is Christ the foundation is the Word of God they're wise concerning the things of God and so you know these men are coming from afar I believe that possibly it's an angel who's leading them obviously doesn't explicitly say that but based upon the context of chapter 1 the context of chapter 2 the context of Luke chapter 2 and the context of just angels in general I think we could safely surmise that it's probably referring to an angel because angels are just kind of working 24-7 here communicating with believers about the Christ he's talking to Mary he's talking to Joseph he's telling them in a dream I mean he's like he's like don't go here because they're trying to kill you guys I mean angels are very much involved in the affairs of Joseph and Mary so I believe that he's also involved in the affairs of the wise men okay and so let's not esteem the knowledge of this world or the so-called wisdom of this world as being legitimate or anything or should I say as being a source that would from which we can learn biblical knowledge right you know you don't need to go to the smartest person in this world to understand the Bible okay you know the Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 that the least esteemed in the church are able to judge matters more than the judges of the judicial court system okay and so we see that that's where God places the emphasis on and it's a it's a place where we should place an emphasis on as well is to make sure that we're asking God for wisdom right that we're praying God open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law if any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and a breadeth not the Bible says so just ask God for wisdom be around wise people he that walketh with wise men shall be wise the Bible says but a companion of fools shall be destroyed and so these guys are really wise I mean they're they're putting King Herod to shame how embarrassing for King Herod to like you know he needs some outside source to come in and tell them hey you know God is here right the Word of God is about to be made flesh you know Herod has this really stupid response because instead of like what I can't believe this I should have known this get all the scribes in here you guys are all fired you guys are the new scribes you know because apparently you guys didn't think it important enough to come and tell me and then actually worship Christ he sees it as a threat to his position and he should right but he sees it as a threat to his position who he is as a king look at verse number three it says when Herod the king had heard these things he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him so not only is he bothered by the news that Jesus Christ is born all of Jerusalem is troubled why now obviously there's people in Jerusalem who are rejoicing at this but let me say this the people who are rejoicing at the birth of Christ are not people who are esteemed in society because who do the angels come to in Luke chapter 2 or Luke chapter 2 is what the shepherds God puts on this magnificent show for the shepherds people who aren't necessarily esteemed as being like you know these big shots in society but apparently they're reading God's Word apparently they're walking with God apparently this is important to them so he came to the least esteemed of this world to reveal this great truth but all of Jerusalem in general is just like they're scared they're troubled at this look at verse four 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 it's him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the Prophet and thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not that are not the least among the princes of Judah for out of these shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel so it's not like they didn't have access to the Bible they have access to the Bible they have people there who are studying the Word of God on a consistent basis to the point and it's and by the way when they're looking for the scripture they're not they don't have like a canonized book like this they don't they didn't have the tab system right it was just like a table of contents like okay oh yeah where's that at you know they don't they didn't have a concordance or anything what about scrolls here okay so they're just like bring out this scroll and by the way then they're there the Bible back then what they're reading is not broken up into chapters or verses either and they read it backwards too they're just like you know he said what's the point you're trying to make the point I'm trying to make is that who's ever whoever is bringing this to the king's attention obviously knows the Bible obviously knows where it is where the prophecy is where to look so what does that tell you it shows us the bad condition that Israel is in because to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required and that's why God judged Israel so harshly they didn't even see the time of their visitation it's not like they were ignorant of the Bible the Bible says he came into his own his own received him not and it's not because of ignorance it's not because they didn't have enough truth it's not because you know they weren't given a clear gospel presentation it's not because oh they were offended by some synagogue and they're disillusioned with the religion of the Bible or something like that that everything that they needed unto them were committed the oracles of God the Bible says and you know we can see that here because the scribes are like oh I know where that's at right over here in Micah you know just go to Micah this is what it says here of course I don't have the chapters there but like in this portion right here this is where it talks about the coming Christ so you would think that these chief priests and scribes would go to the wise men and say let us go with you because we want to see but they don't care they don't care so before people start going on and defending Israel and defending the Jews and saying oh man well you know poor Jews and poor Israelites you know because they're gonna go to hell well if they go to hell because they chose to go to hell because they chose to reject Jesus Christ because they had all the information necessary to get saved my friends and obviously not all of Israel is damned because there are Israelites I mean the twelve disciples were mainly composed of Jews okay you had some other ones in there there weren't but you know the majority of them were Jews of Israel so there's obviously a remnant a righteous remnant that not only got saved when Jesus Christ was here on this earth but they were saved even prior to him coming because when they read the Bible they actually believed it they they got saved it called upon the name of the Lord they took the information and did something with it right whereas these guys you know I guarantee you we can go to some seminary or Bible college or whatever and ask them where's John 3.16 and you know what they'll tell me why show you when I can just quote it to you right but if I ask them how do I get saved they're like oh you got to repent of your sins oh you got to do have faith and works it's like didn't you just quote John 3.16 it's like didn't you just quote Micah why aren't you coming with me to see the Christ so it's obviously you know the the concept here is that knowledge puffeth up and these men were puffed up they were troubled and they stumbled at the stumbling stone okay look at verse number seven then Herod when he had privately called the wise men and inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared now let me mention a couple things regarding this verse here is that he's not doing this on a public forum okay and why is that well probably because the wise men aren't necessarily you know they're not like scholars they didn't do their time in Bible College they didn't necessarily get they don't have the pastoral theology certificate on their on their office or something like that so it's kind of embarrassing for the for the for King Herod to have to go to the wise men to inquire about these specific details because this chief priest and his scribes don't know the answer so it's embarrassing to him so therefore he calls him in privilege so how do you know that well because Nicodemus came to Jesus by night it's not because he was working a day shift and that was the only time he can go talk to Jesus it's because he's ashamed of Christ is what it is and folks this is the same song today you know I've run into scholars I've run into doctorates I've run into those who are masters in theology and it turns out they're not masters at all the only thing they mastered is memorizing information regurgitating it on a sheet writing some thesis and forgetting about everything that they studied so they can get themselves a certificate you know that the true students of the Bible are those who study the Bible we don't need to go to some seminary we have the local New Testament Church you know the Bible talks about in Ephesians chapter 4 that he gave some apostles and some prophets and some pastors and teachers and evangelists for the work of the ministry for the edifying for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ you didn't give seminaries or Bible colleges for that and so you can learn the Word of God you have the Holy Spirit of God that the Spirit of truth residing within you to learn these things but he also calls them in privately and he inquires diligently what time the star appeared because we'll see later on in the chapter he has a nefarious agenda to murder all children from two years age and under he's not talking about you know what time did he appeared because I want to record this as a historical event I want people to get it right when they say he you know was born in the first century AD when was he born he wasn't looking for a specific time the reason he's doing it is not to honor Christ it's because he wants to know well if he can't find him then the next move is to murder all the children from two years here two years old and under that way we can sort of guarantee that maybe or hopefully he's in that crowd of children that they're murdering it's not because he actually cares okay verse 8 says and he said he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the young child and when you have found him bring me word again that I may come and worship him also and this is the thing that I always comes to mind when I read this like why don't you just come with us right like like you foreigners you go to Bethlehem you look for him and when you find them then come tell me because I want to worship him too because he's not trying to worship him he sees him as a threat so obviously he's lying to them and he wants to murder the child verse 9 says when they had heard the king they departed and lo the star which they saw in the east went before them see there's some characteristics that are not akin to a celestial body till it came and stood over where the young child was when they saw the star they rejoice with exceeding great joy which is the same wording that's used in Luke chapter 2 when the shepherds see the heavenly hosts the angels singing verse 11 says and when they were come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshipped him and when they had opened their treasures they presented unto him gifts gold frankincense and myrrh now I always kind of trip out on this verse because I think to myself you know I've had a couple two-year-olds okay and every time they reach the age of two I'm just like whoa this is like the age that you know when the wise men came and they saw Jesus and just kind of like you know who's who has a two-year-old right now who is Asa David who's your two-year-old Claire yeah so just think about that it's like someone that small you know they're coming and they're coming to worship you know the Christ I mean it's just like you got to be very delicate you know and they come and they bring these these gifts and I'm not going to rehash what the gifts represent but you can go and listen to that sermon and being warned of God in the dream that they should not return to Herod they departed into their own country another way so you know that this mission that these wise men are on they're coming to meet the Christ obviously these are saved men okay these are saved men they're wise concerning the things of God they understood the prophecy in Micah chapter 5 and they follow this angel the star that led them to the Christ okay now look at verse 13 says when they were departed behold the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream saying arise and take the young child and his mother and 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 now we surmise that Jesus was potentially about two years old okay but we don't know exactly if that's the age that he was when all this took place the reason we think that is because Herod chose to kill all the children from two years old and under based upon the appointed time that the wise men gave we don't know it could be he could have been three years old three and a half years old we don't know because of the fact that he said why wouldn't you say two well because of the fact that they stay in Egypt until when until Herod dies well obviously Herod was alive when he sent everyone when he sent his soldiers to go murder the children from two years old and under so it's possible that he might have been a little older than two years okay maybe three we don't know we don't exactly know how long they stayed in Egypt we just know that they stayed there until he died until Herod died and we don't necessarily know when he died okay some would speculate that it was in the fourth century BC but we don't really know the Bible doesn't really give us a good indication of when that took place I will say this though okay it's possible that he was there or he returned three and a half years at three and a half years and I don't want to get too deep into it because it'll bore you a lot but in when you go to Revelation chapter 12 Revelation chapter 12 is one of the most enigmatic chapters in the book of Revelation I mean it's very obscure just a lot of symbolism but it's a very powerful chapter to help us to understand end times Bible prophecy okay and when you read the events in Revelation chapter 12 a lot of people differ on its interpretation let's just go to Revelation chapter 12 real quick I won't spend too much time on this okay I won't bore you I'll you know I'll scream and yell later on okay so it's a short chapter Revelation chapter 12 is a short chapter but it packs a punch okay and when you look at end times prophecy you see these numbers keep coming up 42 months which is a thousand two hundred sixty days and of course according to Daniel there's a thousand three hundred thirty five days which if you subtract the one from the other you get seventy five days which is how long the great tribulation is so on and so forth but the one of the main passages that we extrapolate the thousand two hundred sixty days is from Revelation chapter 12 okay now in Revelation 12 you have this great wonder in heaven verse number one the woman clothed with the Sun and it says a verse number two and she being with child cry travailing in birth and pain to be delivered and you know obviously this woman represents either Mary because obviously the woman who gave birth to Jesus was Mary but it could also just represent Eve and in fact they could probably represent both because Eve is the mother of all living but when you get specific about it obviously Mary's the one who gave birth to Jesus okay and it says in verse number three there appeared another wonder in heaven of course this is the red dragon and verse number four says that he his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven did cast into the earth the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born so who would the dragon represent in Matthew chapter 2 Herod right you see how Herod is a symbolic representation of the dragon and that that's being stated here of what's taking place verse 5 says and she brought forth a man child who is to rule over all the nations with the rod of iron and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne so this is giving us a synopsis of Jesus's life right from the time he was born first century AD to the time that he died at the age of 33 and then he was received up into heaven verse 6 says and the woman fled into the wilderness where she at the place prepared of God that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three score days okay so now we're kind of jumping into the future and to end times prophecy between verse six and five because we're given this number of a thousand two hundred sixty days and obviously this isn't necessarily a number that we see in Matthew chapter two however this is a number that we know is synonymous with intense prophecy because of the forty and two months okay and of course the wilderness is picturing tribulation which is the beginning of sorrows which lasts for a thousand two hundred sixty days and the Bible talk refers to the last 75 days as great tribulation where the Antichrist makes war with the Saints and he overcomes them okay I'm going somewhere with this in verses from verses 7 through 12 is we have the war in heaven where Michael and his angels go out of what Satan and his angels and he puts a shellacking on them right whoops them and he's cast out okay of heaven and it says in verse number 11 and they over referring to believers that they overcame overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death and of course this is referring to the fact that when he is cast out of heaven he comes to this earth to make war with the Saints and even though physically they overcame him he over overcomes them here in verse number 11 says that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb in other words they're saved okay so you know yeah they're able to he's able to destroy the body but not the soul okay so we know this and of course when he's cast down the Bible says at the latter end of verse number 12 that he has but a short time okay now many people will interpret this in different ways you know there's differing opinions as far as the timing of everything is concerned and at the end of the day doesn't matter because when we're in the tribulation we're not gonna be like hey I was right you know I mean it's a clock getting killed any last words yeah I was right about the timeline all right at that point even pre-tribbers are gonna be with us and the pre-tribbers we're not gonna be rubbing it in her face because we were just too busy running you know trying to save our own lives right but that's why we talk about it now okay I can't say that when the tribulation starts I'm not gonna go to some pre-tribbers and be like hey I told you so all right you know come and join us all right you know don't say I didn't tell you well what was that again or just be like hey were you still doing it here bro yeah I might mess with them a little bit you know but people kind of have a differing opinion as far as what's taking place in Revelation 12 and the where they differ on is when is Satan cast out okay because there's a group that will say there's pastors there's groups that will think that well you know when he's cast out that's actually at the beginning of the beginning of sorrows okay when the first seal is open the Antichrist goes forth conquering into conquer that's when he's cast out because that's where all the bad stuff is happening known as the beginning of sorrows you can kind of see where they where they come up with that you know you can kind of see where they're getting that from because in verse 13 after he's cast out it says when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth he persecuted the woman who brought forth the manchild and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time time and a half at times from the face of the serpent well a time time and half at times is a thousand two hundred sixty days for 42 months okay so you can kind of see where they get that from I'm of the persuasion that he's actually cast out not at the beginning of Daniel 70th week which is the first seal but rather when the Antichrist goes to make war with the Saints the reason I believe that is because of the fact that the beginning of sorrows it's not just Christians going through that it's the whole world you know they're experiencing the wars the famines the pestilences you know it's not until great tribulation where all the conservative efforts of the Antichrist are focused in on killing the Christians okay and when you look at the timeline you see that when he when Satan is cast out of heaven that's when the Antichrist dies which at that point he's not necessarily the Antichrist he becomes the son of perdition when he's possessed by Satan and then he has but a short time which is when he makes war with the Saints okay now the argument that people will pose is well verse 13 and verse 14 seem to indicate that he's cast out at the beginning of Daniel 70th week why well because the previous verses show that Satan was cast out and so chronologically if it shows that he's cast out from verses 7 through 12 and verses 13 to 14 they're going into the thousand two hundred sixty days that would mean that that's basically Satan comes at the beginning of Daniel 70th week and the argument I would make is well yeah but verses 6 & 5 are previous to the war in heaven where he's cast out and verses 6 & 5 talking about the thousand two hundred sixty days you say well then what's going on in verses 13 and 14 I think first and foremost is just a reiteration of what's going on in verses 5 & 6 but also this might just be referring to or being a callback to Matthew chapter 2 okay you say well how do you know that well look at verse 15 and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman he might cause her to be carried away of the flood and the earth helped a woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth and the dragon was wroth with the woman and went to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ now when you compare the wording there to Matthew chapter 2 where Herod is mocked of the wise men the Bible says that he's wroth and what happens when he's wroth he goes to make war with the remnant of the seed he just kills off a bunch of kids so what I believe is taking place from verses 13 through 17 it's a reiteration of the beginning of the chapter but it's also simply a callback to Herod and what Herod did okay which is why the wording is essentially the same now will it make a difference whether he comes at the beginning of the tribulation or a beginning of beginning of sorrows or the beginning of great tribulation no because people are just gonna be dying we're not gonna even care at that time you're just gonna be caring about winning souls to Christ reading God's Word being right with God but you know it's good to know these things beforehand don't be trying to study the book of Revelation when you're going through the first seal is this war was like what chapter are we in it's like dude you're in Genesis go to the back of the bike you know the end of the Bible you know they're like dude I think I read somewhere in the Bible that he's gonna be in the desert you know in the secret place or something that's where we got to go like get your knowledge now enjoy intense Bible prophecy now because there's gonna come a time if it happens in our lifetime where you're not gonna be able to enjoy it okay it's just like we just got to get this over with hopefully I could just make it you know to see Christ with my own eyes whether they're just rolling out of my head because I've been killed or not you know just I just want to see the Lord anyways go back to Matthew chapter 2 and if you didn't get that then you know I don't listen to though actually there isn't a sermon sorry I didn't upload it but it was at a different church that I preached it's a sermon called end times antithesis where I go really down deep on that teaching and just share a lot of cool truths so if you want to visit that sermon you can I'll upload it tomorrow okay how about that all right so anyways so that's what happens here Herod is wroth it says in verse number 16 then Herod oh I'm sorry that's where I was going with this so the reason is it potentially might be that Jesus has been in Egypt for a thousand for for three years because that would fit the context of the latter end of Revelation 12 that he's into the wilderness for a thousand two hundred sixty days which is essentially three and a half years okay you know that's just a common number that keeps coming up three and a half years three and a half years throughout the Bible there's there's famine for three and a half years there's a drop for three and a half years you know and just that number keeps coming up and so I would not think it's a strange thing at all if it's also applied to how long Jesus and his family are in Egypt which is a picture of the world okay for that amount of time can we prove it dogmatically no we cannot but it's interesting to think about that that's can be potentially the case okay that's where I was going with that sorry for losing track verse 16 these are all my notes right here so sometimes it's it gets a little sloppy then Herod when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men was exceeding Roth 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 acquired of the wise men so as his intentions are now revealed of why he asked for the time he was born because he had the intention to kill Jesus and then of course verse 17 and 18 is quoting Jeremiah chapter 31 Jeremiah 31 is prophesying of this mass murder of children in the Old Testament verse 19 but when Herod was dead behold an angel the Lord appears 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 verse 22 says actually let's skip down to the last verse here we'll spend our the last couple moments here in this last particular verse verse 23 says and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets he shall be a Nazarene now let me spend just a little bit of time talking about this particular verse okay sometimes you're right into certain passages of Scripture in the New Testament that seem to quote the Old Testament but when you go to the Old Testament those verses aren't there you read that you're just like where is that at? I don't see that and sometimes it's a case of what we looked at in the very first couple verses regarding the star of Bethlehem where we were just misinterpreting what the Bible is actually saying okay it's not that the wise men saw a scripture that said hey this is how the stars are gonna align and this is how you know the Christ is gonna be born at this time it was an angel who just came to them and instructed them in those ways okay now this is one particular verse that kind of gives off that vibe okay because it says that the prophets have spoken that he referring to Jesus shall be called a Nazarene now this is not in the Old Testament though you can type it in and say he should be called the Nazarene or do variations of that phrase you'll never find it in the Old Testament and people like critics of the Bible of course like to point to this and say see look at all these discrepancies in the Bible this verse doesn't exist in the Old Testament and you know I just first of all I just tell them but it's in the Bible though because it's in Matthew chapter 2 so there you go okay but let me give you three possible explanations to this verse and the one explanation that I believe is the right answer okay but I think all of these are pretty good but I think one of them is actually the correct one because obviously he's from Galilee he's of Nazareth that's essentially where he grows up he's born in Bethlehem but he grows up in Nazareth okay one of the explanations is that people often say well the Hebrew word Nazarene is very similar to the Hebrew word branch okay they're so similar in fact that it's possible that Matthew wrote in Nazarene not because he thought that you know he was mistaken regarding the words but just because you know these are words that sound similar they kind of drive home the point because in Isaiah chapter 11 it talks about him coming forth as a branch referring to the Christ so that's kind of a stretch though because it almost makes it sound like they made a mistake or something like Matthew made a mistake if he's saying that Nazarene sounds like a branch then wouldn't that mean that Matthew made a mistake like the guy doesn't know his English or his Hebrew I mean no I don't think so at all I think this is if this were to be the answer it's a very creative writing in my opinion and let me explain how let me give you an example before you you give me those looks okay because in Malachi chapter 4 for example in verse number 2 it talks about the son of righteousness but how a son spelled s-u-n with the capital S to indicate that we're talking about Jesus Christ so Malachi didn't make a mistake here right he's not he's just he's not like I forgot how to spell son dang it this always happens there's no spell check back in those days you know what I mean and you just put s-u-n no it's obviously a creative way to describe Jesus Christ because of the fact that the actual Sun itself is where everything revolves around the Sun s-u-n doesn't matter with all these flat retards saying everything revolves around the Sun which lines up with the Bible that everything revolves around the Sun s-o-n they didn't make a mistake he's just using creative poetic language where it's just like I see what you did there you know it's like he put s-u-n it's like ah I see what you did there that's pretty good because the capitalization of s is a dead giveaway that he's obviously referring to Jesus Christ even though s-o-n and s-u-n are two completely different things but when in when coupled together in context actually make a beautiful picture because it's referring to Jesus Christ being the son of God who is the son of righteousness but yeah he is the preeminent one now isn't he he is the one by which everything centers around he is the most he is the preeminent one he's the most important one so it's not a mistake it's using creative poetry to try to essentially communicate this wonderful beautiful truth so you can see how Matthew can do the same thing with Nazarene and you know the the Hebrew word for branch because it's just like oh I see what you're doing there because he is the branch that shall be revealed from Isaiah chapter 11 verse number one but he's also actually born or grown up in Nazareth so it's kind of like a double meaning right because they sound the same just like son and son sound the same I don't believe that's the case though but yeah I think that's a great argument though I think it's a possibility okay another thing another possible explanation you're like man you sold me on that one though like I believe that was that's the one though another one is the fact that you know the Bible says in the Old Testament that he was despised and rejected and the stigma that Nazareth has city of Nazareth is that no good thing can come out of Nazareth right it's a place where essentially that which is despised and rejected it comes from so by Matthew saying that you know he shall be a Nazarene based upon the stigma of that day is like oh he's basically saying that he's despised and rejected I see what you did there Matthew he's despised and rejected because Nazarenes are despised and rejected okay that's a possible explanation but I don't think that's the one either okay but I think that's that's a decent explanation the third one is the one that I really think it is okay and I could be wrong but I think it holds water let's read it again verse 23 says and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was written by the prophets spoken by the prophets that's different so it doesn't indicate that it was written anywhere in the Old Testament what's indicated is that it was spoken by a prophet yeah but you know it should be written though no because you know Jude quotes Enoch even though Enoch doesn't have a book in the Bible doesn't matter what the people who believe in the book of Enoch say he prophesied of these things doesn't mean he wrote him down it means he preached about him it came out of his mouth and so by divine inspiration some unknown prophet in times past prophesied spoke of the Christ being growing up or being raised in or that he was gonna be a Nazarene I think that's probably the most biblical answer right there because then it's just like oh yeah it doesn't that's why we don't find it's because it was spoken it wasn't necessarily written now it's written now because we have in a Matthew chapter 2 but before this was penned down or before the Word of God was completely canonized before even Matthew spoken by the prophets okay and I think that's the most probable answer there and I hope you're happy with that okay but you can believe all three of those if you want I don't know you believe any of those if you want I think they're all good answers but I think that it's probably the latter okay but that's pretty much it so Matthew chapter 2 is a great chapter obviously it's known as the Christmas chapter but a lot of great truths there and I hope you learned something tonight let's pray when we dismiss father we thank you so much for your word so thankful for the book of Matthew and the wonderful truths Lord thank you for the example of the wise men who obviously had communion with you Lord and and they study the Bible they were great probably men of God who won souls to Christ and preached the word who you reveal these things to Lord and I pray that you continue to reveal them unto us Lord as we pray for you to enlighten our eyes and give us understanding of your word bless us as we go on our way I pray you bless our Easter service Lord do we have a great great turnout on Sunday that many people would be saved that we'd have some baptisms and that we'd be able to integrate some people into our church as well Lord and bless us as we go on our way we'd love you we thank you pray these things in Jesus name Amen