This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Matthew 2:13-23” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 25, 1996.

We are working our way backward through Matthew’s Gospel this morning. We are starting in chapter 20, and we are reading from the 20th verse. Let’s give our attention to God’s holy, infallible word. Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him.

And he said unto her, What wilt thou, she saith unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom? But Jesus answered and said, He know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with.

But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.’ And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. But Jesus called them unto him and said, He know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. but it shall not be so among you. For whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. For whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Matthew 5, verse 10. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say, O manner of evil, against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they, the prophets which were before you.”

And then finally, Matthew 2 verses 16-18. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wrath and sent 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 inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rhema was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”

How fruitful, O God, you have made your word! Are we not ourselves testimony to that fruitfulness? And Lord, as we are fruit in ourselves to you and your kingdom, may we be fruitful for you, in that we are productive of good work and deeds of mercy, evidencing kindness all around. But our prayer, O God, is not merely for ourselves, for we would see the fruitfulness of your word in the world, even as sinners are converted to Christ, even as your church is filled up with those brought to faith by your sovereign activity. Therefore, O God, may your servants who proclaim your word proclaim it cruelly and in the power of your Spirit. We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen. interpreting the Bible has been compared to peeling an onion. Layer after layer is removed on your way to the center. Our messages of late have been dealing with the interpretation of the Bible, and we have been using Matthew 2 verses 13 through 23, like an onion, peeling back the layers on our way to the center of things. This morning we want to touch the very center of verses 16 through 18, a very powerful section in this gospel stretch that deals with the pitiful, weeping Rachel and her irretrievable children.

My plea all along has been that as we engage in Bible interpretation, that we let our minds go. That is to say, keeping in mind the overall purpose of Scripture, remembering what the Bible is about, and keeping our grip upon our confessional identity, we are to allow the text of Scripture to carry us along in our thinking that we might reach into the riches of God’s truth. Don’t be content with pablum. Don’t settle for milk when you should be getting meat.

When we look at verses 16 through 18, we are immediately introduced to one of the horrid figures of scripture. Verse 16 sets before us the figure of Herod in all of his viciousness. But I have asked you previously, when considering the figure of Herod as he is presented to us here in this 16th verse, of whom does he remind you? It’s time to let your mind go. Of whom does he remind you? Does he not remind you of Pharaoh so many centuries previously?

The description we find of Pharaoh and his actions in the beginning chapters of Exodus is Edith with regard to the children in Egypt. Therefore, we have, as it were, a new Pharaoh. But note now, a new pharaoh whose Egypt is not characterized by the River Nile and the cities of Ramesses, but by the Georgian River and the city of David. We have then, as this new pharaoh is introduced to us, the stuff for considering the substance of a new exodus, a new exodus that is taking shape, that is working itself out, not under the authority and aegis of the person and ministry of Moses, the Old Testament mediator, but under the person and aegis of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Here will be an exodus in which God’s Son does not effect an exit out of Egypt, out of the territories of Egypt, for the territory of Canaan, the so-called promised land, but one in which he effects an exit out of Canaan, out of the promised land itself, and that for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and its transcendent glory. Now, in hearing that and taking stock of the text as a whole, we’re dealing here with verses 13 through 23, you may recall, you may object. You may say, how is it evident that the Son of God effects an exodus out of the land of Canaan, the land of Israel, the promised land itself, and not out of Egypt? When we are told in verses 13 through 15 that the Son of God went down into Egypt, out of Egypt I have called my Son, and verses 19 and 23 speak of the fact that he comes up out of that territory.

Now, to be sure, this observation is correct. from that we would expect the maintenance of the theme of an exodus out of Egypt proper. But you still must deal with the introduction of the figure of Herod in verse 16 and his pharaoh-like actions that take place in the territory of Judah, not in Egypt.

Are you beginning to understand exactly what the intention of the Holy Spirit is here in framing things this way? What the Holy Spirit is telling us, yes? Christ, because of his identity with his people, will go down into Egypt, and he will come out of that territory. He will, in fact, relive the exodus for the sake of his people, such is his identification with them. Or, as he says later on, at the River Jordan, to John the Baptist, he will do all of these things in order that all righteousness might be fulfilled. But the Holy Spirit, what we have just said notwithstanding, the Holy Spirit will not allow you to think against the background of Jesus’ descent into Egypt and his ascent out of that territory, by which we might see, in fact, the death and resurrection of Christ.

The Holy Spirit, I say, will not allow you to think that the territory of Israel, the territory of Judah, is the goal and sacrosanct after all. The Holy Spirit in Matthew is serving notice on all dispensationalists. That is what he’s doing! Do you think the Holy Spirit, when Matthew was writing this, didn’t know about the eventuality of dispensationalists?

He’s answering the question! the territory of Judah will not be the goal. For Judah itself, its territory, is ruled by its own Pharaoh, who wickedly and wantonly executes the children. And the land of Judah and Israel becomes its own Egypt, where God’s children are in greater bondage than they were in Egypt, from which they must be rescued by one greater than Moses. no territory in this creation, be it even the so-called land of promise, Judah and Israel, to which the new exodus will lead you. Instead, you shall be led into the kingdom of heaven which Jesus proclaims, into which he enters before you and on your behalf by his death. and by his resurrection.

Just an aside at this point. If the first exodus was with extraordinary joy, then what must be the joy of all those who have a part in the new superlative exodus. Why it is unbounded, is it not? But interestingly now, you note in verses 16 through 18, as these two exoduses are being formed for us and contrasted, the emphasis will not fall upon the joy, but upon the grief and the sorrow. Actually, our original exodus, that from the books of Moses, is helpful in understanding the sorrow in you.

Keep up with me now. We’re peeling back the layers of the onion. We’re working toward the heart. Considering the original Exodus is a help in understanding the sorrow in view. We’ll build our case. The scriptures now, the book of Exodus, speaks very directly about the sorrow and grief experienced by the children of God in Egypt. We are told about their heavy burdens. We are told about the cruelty of their taskmasters. We are told about their cries that perpetually ascend to God. The important thing to keep in mind about this grief and sorrow for the children of God in Egypt is this.

It is always described as a sorrow that rises out of, and because of, persecution. Stay with me. It is always described as a sorrow or a grief rising out of and because of persecution. It is never described as a sorrow rising out of a grief for one’s own sins and the consequences of that sin. Now, I’m not going liberal on you, please. Hang with me.

In other words, the sorrow of Israel and Egypt is the sorrowing of suffering that comes to the children of God at the hands of others, at the hands of wicked men, at the hands of sinners, not the sorrow that comes from punishment rightly deserved to Israel because of her own sin.

Israel in the Exodus setting is therefore seen as a victim, not as a judgment-deserving sinner. As a victim. Israel is particularly the victim because she is in the overarching plan and scheme of things, identified with God, and for His sake she is made to suffer. Likewise, now, as we turn to Matthew 2, verse 16, the children and their parents here who suffer because of what Terah does in this new exodus setting, experience sorrow as victims. not as judgment-deserving sinners. See that first of all.

Their grief and their pain are at the hands of sinners. Such grief and pain comes to them unjustly as they, for the sake of Christ, who is now off in Egypt, bear the horrors meted out by Herod and his henchmen. In this particularly, these grieving folk in Bethlehem are now connected to the Exodus generation. They grieved there too. But these grieving folk of Bethlehem are also very really connected to God’s children in every age, as God’s true children suffered the wicked hostility of their enemies.

However, the unique application of this whole matter running along this line in Matthew 2.16 is the way we are able to see in these parents and children In Bethlehem, the Church of Jesus Christ, which for the sake of Church, remains the victim as the persecuted and the reviled for righteousness’ sake. Even as Jesus speaks of this matter in Matthew 5, which we have read this morning, not because of their own sins, but because they are the victims of the sins of others. Now, we would be happy, I know I would, to stop right there. It’s not my fault, it’s their fault. I’m innocent, they’re guilty. I’m righteous, they’re wicked. I’m very happy to stop right there. But Matthew doesn’t.

And that’s the kicker. He goes on with his statements in verses 17 and 18. Now, this is not in order to overthrow anything that has been said so far. But you will notice that now Matthew, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is taking an unexpected turn. If we’re following, he’s taking an unexpected turn. We have been talking rightly about verse 16 in connection with the Exodus and the unjust oppression unleashed against God’s children. Yes, right, so far. Specifically, we have been talking about the innocence of the parents and the children in Bethlehem as they reflect the innocence of Christ’s Church when it is assaulted, maligned, and reviled, even brought to the point of death.

But Matthew now, by the Holy Spirit, will not permit you to comfort yourselves with that bare consideration. He will not allow it. Just as he would not permit his readers’ flattering thoughts about the glories of the land of Judah and Israel in contrast to the wickedness of the land of Egypt, thus placing his Pharaoh in the land of Judah and even upon its throne. So, Matthew now, by the Holy Spirit, will not allow you to comfort yourselves with this passage. as if you, in this passage, are to consider the innocence that might be attributed to you.

It is to this end, then, that Matthew cites Jeremiah. Thus, citing a passage in verses seventeen and eighteen that serves as a summary out of Jeremiah 31 of the distressed people of Judah who, because of their own sins, are visited by God’s wrath in an utter devastation of their nation to the point that they are carried off into captivity and into death.

Matthew, therefore, has given us two images, the one superimposed on the other. He has taken a picture of the exodus, and now he has taken another picture and he has placed it on top of it. We have here a biblical double exposure. The first picture, verse 16, is exodus stuff. with its message about the people of God’s innocence and the unjust sufferings that they experience at the hands of wicked men. The second picture, verses 17 and 18, is exile stuff, with its message about the people of God’s guilt and proper suffering at the hands of God’s appointed executioners. The purpose of this double exposure is obvious.

While you, as the people of God, will always know the price of your identification with Jesus Christ as innocent victims of this world’s unrighteousness, you must never forget that you are liable to God’s justice because of your sin. and thus completely dependent upon Him for your life in His blessings. But as we have now peeled away the layers of the sun, we are at its center. and at its heart. For you’re liable to think, be it exodus or exile, I’m lost. In my considerations of my innocence, in the considerations of my guilt. As the layers are peeled off, we get to the heart of it, don’t we? For as the layers come off, we now have set before us this text’s main character. And who is that main character?

Well, certainly it’s not Herod. It’s not even the Pharaoh that stands behind him. No, it’s not even the Israelites, the children of God in Egypt, or in Babylon, or even in Bethlehem, or even in the church. The main character of the text here is Jesus Christ himself. Do you want a perfect consideration of innocence, of an innocent victim, of one who suffers unjustly at the hands of wicked men? Are you not there taken to Christ himself? Do you not now behold him? He is the center of the text.

He is what this passage is about. is the true innocent victim, and I say, the true innocent victim who was even in view during the days of Pharaoh and Moses. For that story also, when all of the layers were peeled back, is one that is about Jesus Christ.

He is the true innocent victim for whose sake you then are called to suffer as his church. He is the true innocent victim who in his perfect purity, his perfect purity, did the Lord Jesus ever commit the least sin? No. He is holy, harmless, and undefiled.

In His perfect purity, He gives His life a ransom for many who willingly shed His blood as the blood of the new covenant on behalf of His people and for the sake of the forgiveness of their sins that they, in fact, might be innocent in Him. In this, He has made Himself one with His people. In their sins, He takes to Himself sinful flesh, we are told in Romans 8. giving himself over unto death as a child of Rachel, giving himself over unto death as a child of Rachel, that he might become as one who is not. He thus becomes the exile, the true exile. the one who places himself under condemnation and experiences the full fury of his father’s indignation against the heinousness of sin.

He is the main character in the Exodus and in the exile and in the story of the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem. Likewise, he is the main character. He is the main character in the Church and in the Church’s story. He is the main character in your life’s story. Did you know that? Your life is about Him. Paul says, for to me, to live is Christ. He is the main character in your life story if you trust in Him, if you belong to Him. If you do belong to Him, if you do believe, let me tell you something.

The joy of the Exodus has been superseded for you. and the deaths of grief and sorrow of the exile have been resolved for you. As you, through the porthole of Matthew 2 verses 16 through 18, and by the death and resurrection of Christ, now enter into the remainder of this gospel. In order to get to the rest of the gospel, you have to go through this gate. in that to the end that you might know the glory of the kingdom of heaven, which are so powerfully and eloquently proclaimed here. Father, as you direct us marvelously, we with your Word in hand, and you laboring with us in your Spirit, we behold, O God, the layers peeled back, understanding them as best we can as we go, and reaching the center, the heart of the matter.

This to the praise of your glory, and for our edification and strengthening in the things of our faith. Truly, O God, may we know your word. May we know your Son. May we know you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Help us, our Father, as we are called to suffer for Christ’s sake. Help us also, O God, as we take stock of our own sinfulness. And in light of these matters, may we see the incomparable glory of Christ and the true riches of our God. We pray it in Jesus’ name, amen.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.