12/20/07 - Christmas 1 - Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

YOUR FUTURE IS SECURE
- The Lord knows what will happen
- The Lord knows what needs to be done

The life Jesus lived was filled with terrible situations. All of us remember the Pharisees and teachers of the law plotting his death on numerous occasions. We’re familiar with the people in his home town trying to throw him off a cliff. And the end of Jesus’ life is forever etched into our memories: betrayal, beatings, false accusations, flogging, and finally crucifixion. These kinds of things jump out at us when we think about the hard times that Jesus experienced. But let us not forget that the beginning of his life was not all that pleasant either! Not only did his parents have to travel 100 miles from Nazareth down to Bethlehem while Mary was 9 months pregnant, Jesus was born in a feeding trough! Not exactly the cleanest or the most sanitary of places to be born, especially two thousand years ago. And then, as our text for today tells us, soon after Jesus was born King Herod wanted to kill him. And so the young family had to escape down to Egypt, at least 120 miles to the border of that foreign country, and however many more miles it took them to get to the place at which they would stay. The danger in Jesus’ young life continued when they made that long journey back to Israel because Herod’s brother was on the throne - potentially just as dangerous to Jesus’ life as before. And so Joseph, Mary, and Jesus traveled that last 100 miles or so through the very heart of this heathen king’s territory in order to get to the northern city of Nazareth, the place where Jesus ended up spending the majority of his childhood.
The beginning of Jesus’ life was anything but quiet and peaceful. From a human point of view his future must have been questionable. I’m sure many people around him and his family at that time were wondering what would eventually happen to him. Where would he end up living? For how long? Would he even survive the threats to his life? We know, of course, that Jesus had to survive. He had to live until he reached the cross on Calvary. And God his Father made sure everything that happened to Jesus directed him towards that goal. His Father could do that because God knew what was going to happen beforehand. In fact, he predicted it! When Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem, that fulfilled a prediction the Lord spoke through the prophet Micah. The gospel writer Matthew reveals to us that when Jesus was taken to Egypt to escape the grasp of Herod, it fulfilled the prophecy of Hosea 11. And when Jesus was taken up to Nazareth to avoid the threat of Archelaus, it fulfilled another prophecy that said Jesus would come from that very town. These prophecies were spoken by the Lord hundreds of years before Jesus came. God knew what was going to happen the whole time! He knew what dangers lay ahead. He knew what sinful actions sinful people would try to carry out. And he knew what needed to be done. The future of the boy Jesus was secure the whole time. Jesus’ future had always been secure.
But so is yours. Your future is just as secure as Jesus’ future was. Because the Lord knows what will happen to you as well. And he also knows what needs to be done. He may not have prophesied specific details about your future, but he still knows. He still sees. And he still cares. Nothing will ever escape his notice because he has been aware of everything that will ever happen to you since eternity. Nothing is going to surprise him. Nothing is going to shock him. And nothing in your future or anyone else’s will disrupt his perfect and unchangeable will.
But it’d be nice to know how he is going to work everything out in our future, wouldn’t it? It’d be a relief to know where you’re going to end up, how he’ll work this recent tragedy out for this particular family member, or in what way he’ll use this sickness or this disappointment or this ongoing struggle for the good of your future. We understand that since the Lord knows the future, our future is secure. But there’s still a part of us that wants a little reassurance, isn’t there? If he could just sometimes show us how or why or when he will use what’s happening to us to secure our future, it’d be a nice encouragement and comfort for us right now, wouldn’t it.
I’m not about to tell you that he does show you how he works things in every time, but I will ask you this: Do you remember the 1st Commandment? “You shall have no other gods.” And what is the explanation to that commandment? “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” We should trust in God above all things. But do you realize that when you want that reassurance, when you would still sometimes like that evidence, the visible verification that what God promises is true, you are no longer trusting in God above all things. Your trust has faltered. Your faith has lost its focus. Because you are no longer basing your confidence and assurance in God’s Word alone, but on your knowledge. If you just knew that it were true, if you could just see how it will work out, if you could just be shown once in a while how and in what way your future will be secure, then you’ll be comforted, then you can relax, then you will understand how it all works out.
But that’s not trusting God with all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your strength and all of your mind, is it? That’s not relying on him 100%. That’s wanting something more. That’s falling into the sin of Thomas - the disciple who didn’t believe Jesus had risen from the dead. He demanded proof. He wanted to see and feel for himself. He crudely claimed that he would only be convinced if he could put his fingers in the holes from the nails and the gash from the spear. He did not take God at his Word. And just like Thomas we have broken the 1st Commandment many times by not completely putting our trust in God and his Word. And if we have broken the 1st Commandment, the mother of all commandments countless times how then could we ever look at the Lord in the face - the one we don’t fully trust? He knows what will happen in the future. He promises our futures will be secure. And it’s degrading to the Lord when that’s not enough for us.
Of course, since the Lord knows everything that will happen, he knew that we would break the 1st Commandment just like we have been. He knew we wouldn’t be satisfied with his clear Word. He knew we would always be looking for proof and assurance and verification. He knew these sins would condemn us (not to mention every other sin we have ever done). And since the Lord knew that was going to happen, he knew what needed to be done. That’s why we’re talking about Jesus’ life today. The whole reason we celebrate Christmas, the whole reason we have a Scripture reading from the gospels every Sunday, the whole reason we gather together as “Christians,” is because of what God did. “When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons” (Gal. 4:4-5). Because God sent his Son Jesus to this earth, our sins against the 1st Commandment no longer matter. Our sins against the 2nd and the 3rd and the 4th are forgotten. In fact, all of the sins we have ever committed are permanently erased from our record. God knew what needed to be done and he did it. He sent his Son. He rejected his Son. He sacrificed his Son. He raised his Son. He glorified his Son. So now the problem is fixed. No matter what terrible things you’ve done, no matter how badly you have broken the 1st Commandment, all those sins are lost in Christ. God did what needed to be done. Your future is secure.
And if God did all of that for you before you were even born, don’t you think he’ll continue to do what is necessary for you while you are living? He still knows what will happen. He still knows what needs to be done. And so the car accident that happens to someone close to you next month, has already been planned for. The sickness, the disease, the injury that you experience next year has already been on the Lord’s mind for centuries. The battle you’ve been having trying to spread the Word to your family members, and the struggle you’ve been having with your own faith - the end results of those labors are already known to your loving Father. And he also knows exactly how he will work them out for your best interests.
I’m sure Moses’ mother wasn’t too thrilled about placing her baby into a basket and sending it down the river so that he might possibly escape the murdering hands of the Egyptians. But God knew what needed to be done. And he used that tragic experience to save Moses and to eventually lead his chosen people to the Promised Land. I’m sure the prophet Jonah wasn’t happy to be inside a belly of giant fish for three days after he jumped overboard. But God knew what needed to be done. He not only saved Jonah’s life, but more importantly, he used that extremely uncomfortable and nauseating situation to bring Jonah to repentance. And if you remember, that allowed Jonah the chance to preach to the city of Nineveh and bring that entire city to repentance as well. I’m sure Joseph wasn’t in the best of spirits when his own brothers plotted to kill him, when he was sold as a slave, when he was falsely accused of trying to sleep with his master’s wife, and when he was forgotten in prison by the only friends he thought he had. But the Lord knew what needed to be done. He used those terrible things that happened to Joseph to make him the 2nd most powerful person in the land, to preserve his family, and to preserve the line of the Savior. Speaking of the Savior, I’m sure the disciples were worried sick when Jesus was arrested, close to depression when Jesus was flogged, and completely heart broken when Jesus was crucified. Of course, God knew what needed to be done with those events as well. And we all know how he used those sickening sinful actions to bring about salvation for all people of all times.
Have you ever had to send your new-born son down a river in a basket, knowing he would probably not survive? Have you ever been swallowed by a giant fish and sat in its belly for three days? Have you ever been sold as a slave by your own brothers and left in a prison for trying to act like a Christian? Have you ever witnessed your best friend, your teacher, and your God falsely arrested, flogged, and stapled to a wooden beam with metal stakes? Have you had to experience anything in your life even close to the horror and the misery of those events? But didn’t the Lord use the very atrociousness of those things for the good of his people? And if he could take things that awful and that appalling and turn them out for the good of his people, what do you have to complain about? No matter what happens to you in your life, you know God will turn it out for your good as well. He knows what will happen long before it ever does and he knows exactly what needs to be done to use those things for his will! How could we not live our lives in complete joy and optimism knowing that God has promised our future will be that secure?
Our eternal future is that secure. There is no promise of a pleasant earthly future. You may very well die in poverty. I might lose my job, my family, my health, my mental faculties, my reputation, and my sanity. But my future, my eternal future, will always be secure. And your eternal future will always be secure. The Lord will make sure that whatever comes your way will benefit you for eternity. That’s his promise. And so that will happen. That’s a comfort to know going into a new year, isn’t it? Because we don’t know what will happen. We don’t know what we’ll face. We don’t know what we’ll lose. But God does. And he knows what needs to be done. And although we will never know what God does, he has given us at least one very important insight into our future: we will go to heaven because Jesus died for our sins. So come what may in this life, we already know what will happen in the end and for the rest of eternity. And is there really anything more important to know than that?
Amen.

“The Lord will rescue us from every evil attack and will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.” - 2 Tim. 4:18