Leaning of the everlasting arms

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

LEANING ON THE EVERLASTING ARMS

Matt 2:13-18

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."   16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."  

NIV

Two fulfillments of prophesies about the Christ are within this short narrative. But the wonderful truth here is the all knowingness of God. Before Herod even knew he had been outwitted by the Magi, God made sure that Jesus was not going to be anywhere close to the action that was to happen. Now there also is this truth about the Magi outwitting Herod. Of course it was not really them, as they too were spoken to by an angel of the Lord. God was outwitting Herod, in both cases. Would we expect anything less? So then what do we learn? Never try to outwit the unbelieving world with our own cleverness. However, if we are walking in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, then we should always be a step ahead of the rest of the world. The reason for staying under the direction and thus the protection of the Spirit is the world, like Herod, is furious. They might pretend to tolerate us, but we know those unbelievers who are in power are continually attempting to shut us down through either legislation or executive orders.   This attempt to remove any reference to Christianity from the public square is just one of their furious responses, although they hide their real emotions. They actually give preference to other forms of religion, such as atheism. Yet we have nothing to fear because we walk with the Lord of lords, the King of kings. What can man do to us?

Ps 56:11

11 in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

NIV

Ps 118:6-7

6 The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? 7 The LORD is with me; he is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.

NIV

Heb 13:4-6

4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you;never will I forsake you."   6 So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"  

NIV

Over and over we are assured the Lord will be with us, he will guide and protect us from the furious world that would desire to extinguish us all. Herod would have killed Jesus had God not moved ahead of him. But we know God did and Herod was outwitted on all accounts. The Magi did not make any agreement with Herod. We know they heard what he said about Bethlehem, but we are not told the Magi agreed to return and tell him where they found Jesus. The narrative just says they went on their way after hearing what Herod said. There is more truth there as well as in this quote from Hebrews. We should not be in agreement with the world, with its ideologies, or passions. There should be no covenant between us and the world. We have nothing in common with them, nothing at all.

2 Cor 6:14-18

14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common ? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."   17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate,       says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."   18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,        says the Lord Almighty."  

NIV

We see this in the Lord telling Joseph to get out of town, out of the country because he knew the world was about to get furious. He told the Magi to go another way, not to return to Herod. Although we are not told, we could imagine Herod may have rewarded them for their alliance with him. But God had other plans and he made sure all was going according to his plan and purpose. We are the recipients of that plan. We are here safe and secure from all alarm because of the plan of God. “We are safe and secure from all alarms, leaning, learning on the everlasting arms”.