Title: Look into Suffering / Matthew 2:13-15
Content Matthew 2:13~15
The righteous are at ease when the world says they are righteous.
But in an unrighteous world, the righteous face difficulties.
It is difficult for both the follower of the righteous and those who help him.
The magi who came to the Messiah after seeing the signs from heaven were no exception.
Knowing the cunning plan of the evil King Herod, God directed the way to the dream.
This time, he is trying to find and kill the baby Jesus, so he tells his parents, Joseph, to flee to Egypt.
The Son of God, who was born on this earth, spends a few days in a stable and then goes on a long way to escape.
Let's look into the providence of God that is hidden in the life of Christ, which began not with glory but with suffering.
1. Even the righteous will suffer from evil and death
Jesus is the most perfect righteous man without sin who came to this earth.
What we fear is disease, poverty, sorrow, evil and death.
But the most fearful is the painful death of the power of the evil one.
Evil King Herod hears that the Messiah has been born and wants to kill instead of worshiping him.
Parents and baby Jesus, who have no grudges, must be driven to death from birth.
Just like humans, our greatest enemy is death.
Jesus took on a physical body and began his life as a being pursued by the death that people suffered.
The One who does not have to die is driven by death and understands human beings.
Only Jesus can deliver you from this valley of the shadow of death.
Christ came to solve our problems from the beginning, and He solves them through His death and resurrection on the cross.
2. The way of life is a traveler's way
Joseph's family came all the way to Bethlehem to register, but now they have to leave their homeland as a stranger to Egypt, a foreign land.
Egypt is the place where God's children took refuge in times of famine, the place where Joseph son of Jacob was sold, and also the place where he was enslaved for 400 years.
The traveler's way means that there is no place in the world to deviate from God's bosom.
Christ was born on this earth, taking off the robe of the glory of the kingdom of heaven and putting on the clothes of the aging flesh.
As a young body, I can't rest and go on a journey.
He walks that path because it is the pilgrimage we must walk.
Clearly, God has promised to always protect his children on their travels.
Those who firmly believe in it enter the land of promise and blessing.
What the Lord promises is not always peace, but care for those who depend and obey.
It is for those who have faith to enter the land of blessing on the foreign road, and the result is victory.
3. Behold Christ!
Jesus' life journey is not for himself.
He came according to the word of God and walked the hard journey of Egypt to fulfill the prophecy.
Now, when you come back, you will suffer death in your body in order to fulfill God's word.
His final suffering and death fulfill God's will to save us.
He entered into human suffering.
You started your life as a stranger in hardship.
He is chased by death from the beginning and ends his life with death.
You are on the same journey in life as we do.
And the One who knew all of life took the body of death for the sake of his children and made us alive.
This is the gospel.
The truth that you have overcome hardship and death should be our faith.
What are you still afraid of?
It is a problem that the Lord has solved, and my eyes must look to Christ.
Now, God's providence is to move those who live by faith that has overcome the world into the kingdom of God through Christ who will come again.
Take the hand of Christ.