Live and move

DEVOTION

PROPHESIES AND FULFILLMENTS CONCERNING CHRIST

LIVE AND MOVE

This is sort of a two for one prophecy, in the sense that it is about Jesus making his escape into Egypt, so that he could be called out of Egypt. Although Hosea really only speaks of him being called from Egypt, Matthew is recording the fulfillment including his escape into Egypt.

Hos 11:1

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

NIV

Matt 2:14-15

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."  

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We think one of the interesting concepts we are seeing and will continue to see is that the life and death of Jesus was completely planned out from the beginning. All the events of his life were planned, and were foretold to men so they would speak and record them for all mankind. It makes us wonder if our lives are also planned out for us. Here we see Jesus moving from one country to another and back again. We are certain this has been the same for our life. He called us from the city of Chicago and showed us the very spot in the suburbs he wanted us to move to. Then some years later he made it very clear, actually by voice, whether audible or by the Spirit within saying, “Move here” when we were visiting where we now live. He has directed the affairs of our life in so many other ways. We have to believe he does this in the lives of others. He knows us so intimately, he knows the number of hairs on our head.

Luke 12:6-7

 7 Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

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Our lives are in his hand, he has it planned, he has a purpose for our lives.

Job 14:5

5 Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

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Even the days of our lives are determined by God, he has set a limit on our lives and we cannot exceed that limit of months. We might think we should eat healthy or exercise more so we can have a longer, healthier life. Yet we wonder if any of it really matters in light of the plan of God. Our testimony regarding when we were fifty-seven and eating very unhealthy, working long hours, having a heart attack and told by the doctors that we should have died, but God kept us alive and still now able to continue to pursue his plan for our life at seventy-three. There is no question God has our months numbered and we will live them out to the limit he has set. Jesus lived until the very precise moment he was to die on the cross. He did everything the Father had for him to do. This is our lives, we are to do all that the Father has for us to do until the day he decides to bring us home. All the days of our lives are for a purpose and that is to be all that he intends us to be, to fulfill his plan for our lives, so we bring honor and glory to his name. As he called Jesus out of Egypt, he has called us out of the city of darkness into the city of light.

Acts 17:24-28

24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28' For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

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In Christ we live and move and have our being.