00:00 Introduction and Casual Banter

00:04 Podcast Introduction and Recording Setup

01:02 Book Recommendation: Memorize What Matters

01:36 Discussion on Bible Memory and Tools

03:37 Exploring Matthew Chapter 2

03:44 The Visit of the Wise Men

10:03 Herod's Reaction and the Prophecy

14:43 Return to Nazareth and Prophetic Fulfillment

16:02 Closing Remarks and Prayer

You okay.

2

Over there, something.

3

Attacked me.

4

Yup.

5

All right.

6

Well, Hey, welcome to another

episode of the daily Bible podcast.

7

We're recording.

8

Hello?

9

We're live, man.

10

That's right.

11

Yeah.

12

And you got attacked by something.

13

I did.

14

Something was in my face.

15

Yeah, I couldn't tell what it was.

16

It was like a Nat.

17

Something like.

18

Lighter than that.

19

Okay.

20

And far more threatening.

21

If I, if I do say somebody said,

well, that's a pretty terrifying,

22

so I can't imagine what that was.

23

I was probably a bad or.

24

Yeah.

25

Yeah.

26

Condo or something.

27

So my office isn't large and I mean,

we can go look for it right now.

28

If you want to see.

29

And I'm kidding you.

30

Sure.

31

Yeah, I want to do this podcast.

32

Okay.

33

We went for like an hour

and a half yesterday.

34

You started talking about Iran and Israel

and excuse, trying to keep you on track.

35

He brought that up.

36

I was.

37

I'm just trying to do my junior, the

one that was like, let's start going

38

through every name in the genealogy.

39

You said, Hey, walk us through

this in graphic detail.

40

And you laughed before I finished

my CA I didn't say graphic detail.

41

I'm pretty sure you can

go to the take flight.

42

We actually literally have the tape.

43

I don't have time for that.

44

Okay.

45

Fine.

46

I don't have time for that.

47

How about we just get into

the text then for today.

48

I have a book recommendation before.

49

this is you delaying.

50

I said I have one book recommendation.

51

I've been listening to this

podcast called memorize.

52

What matters it's by this guy,

Josh summers who's uh, is a

53

missionary and I believe Thailand.

54

And he started this whole podcast

channel about memorizing the Bible.

55

So I've been tracking it for a long time.

56

It seems like a great guy.

57

I don't know him personally, but he

just released a book called memorize.

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What matters?

59

12 proven strategies

to memorize the Bible.

60

And I can tell you, um, I love it already.

61

I'm halfway through it.

62

Give or take.

63

And I'm inspired.

64

I'm motivated.

65

I'm excited.

66

I've had, I've had a love, hate

relationship, but ain't no hot cold

67

is better way to put it hot, cold

relationship with Bible memory.

68

I have seasons where I'm on

it and I'm just crushing it.

69

Other seasons where I'm, um, you know,

I could keep the iron sharp so to

70

speak, but I'm not making new terror.

71

Uh, tragic trekking new path.

72

I'm not making progress.

73

This is what I'm trying to say.

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Let me just stop trying to use

illustrations in my speech.

75

So I would recommend it.

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I like the book.

77

I think you'll like it too.

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It's easy.

79

It's got he's on an audible as

well, which you can get for cheap.

80

Uh, memorize what matters?

81

12 proven strategies to memorize

the Bible by Josh summers.

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It's 10 bucks on Kendall, $20 hardcover,

$15 hard back our paperback rather,

83

and then $6 and 8 cents on audible.

84

Hey, you want to know

what makes it even better?

85

What's that I got a notification yesterday

from Bible memory, the Bible memory app.

86

Oh, that if you buy that book, I think,

I don't know if it's through them.

87

That you get a free pro license

to the Bible memory app.

88

That's a deal.

89

That is a huge deal.

90

That's great, man.

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I that's one of my favorite tools.

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I've had it for years now.

93

It's only gotten better, a little more

complex in some areas, but, uh, the.

94

At the call it Bible memory.

95

Yeah.

96

He used to be called scripture typer

Bible memory app is what it's called now.

97

It's a great app.

98

Yep.

99

Yep.

100

And you can do both those things.

101

Bob's your uncle.

102

Yeah.

103

Bob's your uncle.

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I don't.

105

Yup.

106

Do you know that phrase?

107

I've heard you say it before,

but it's another one of those

108

phrases where I'm just like, okay.

109

Do you know who it comes from?

110

Uh, is it like the, what about Bob?

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No, a, it comes from the world renowned.

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Mr.

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Eric Wagstaff.

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He's the first one that, that,

uh, started saying it around me.

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I was like, dude, what

are you talking about?

116

Well, apparently if we have any Brits

listening to this, they'll already

117

be leaps and bounds ahead of us.

118

Um, it's a British race and it

means, you know what, your rich

119

uncle Bob he's got to taken care of.

120

Don't even worry about it.

121

Bob's your uncle.

122

Oh, okay.

123

So if, if it's like, yay, no big deal.

124

It's already done.

125

It's a done deal.

126

You can say, Bob's your uncle.

127

It conveys the same thing.

128

I get that.

129

I get that.

130

I would really appreciate

having a rich uncle, Roberto.

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I think we all would.

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I think all of us would.

133

Yeah.

134

Yeah.

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Okay.

136

So there you go.

137

Cool.

138

Bob's drunken.

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All right.

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Thank you.

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Matthew chapter two.

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Matthew chapter two.

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Uh, this is my favorite.

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I count around the birth of Jesus

and there's a reason for it.

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Anyways.

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Uh, the other visitors besides the

shepherds are the wise men now.

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Uh, if you live in a, uh, you know,

legalistic home, then they're not

148

gonna let you put the wise men up

on the mantle with legalistics.

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A Bible reader who understands

what the tech says?

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Oh no, I put myself there too.

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I don't want my kids put it there either.

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And.

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We move the wise man, when we're

even out by nativity scene.

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Right in the front yard.

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Yeah.

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And the front yard and everything

else is next to the fireplace inside.

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No.

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You may be wondering

what we're talking about.

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If you look at the text,

even the text gives it away.

160

Notice when they visit

Jesus, they visit Jesus.

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When he's in a house, not a stable.

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Okay.

163

So that's one sign that time has passed.

164

And then the other side is a little

bit more difficult in the English,

165

but it's there more so in the Greek

for us, Jesus has called a child.

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Here.

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He is not an infant anymore.

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This is not a baby.

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So we're not talking about a

four or five, six year old.

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We're talking probably about a

toddler one to two years old.

171

Um, because the wise men were Wiseman

from the east and there's a lot of

172

debate as far as what does that mean?

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Where did they come from?

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Uh, there's people that, that think

that these were Wiseman over in,

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in Babylon and Persia and Iran.

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Speaking of Iran.

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In that area.

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And that's where they came from.

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Others think that it was

even further away than that.

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What we do know is they see a star

rise and that's what caused them to

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say, we should go and seek this out.

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Now the Wiseman in these geographical

areas were also often astrologers.

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They would have studied the skies.

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They would have been looking and studying

the constellations and everything else.

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And so when the star rose, they would

have noticed that there's something

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different from this and they appear

to have been familiar because they

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call it his star in Matthew two,

two seems like they were familiar

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with numbers 24 17 numbers, 24 17.

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Just to remind you, in case

that was not at the top of your

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list in your Bible memory app.

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It says I see him, but not now.

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I behold him, but not near a star.

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I shall come out of Jacob in a

Sceptre she'll rise out of Israel.

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So a lot of people believe they

understood that that was a prophecy

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about a root to be born in Bethlehem.

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And that's why they come seeking just

that when they come into Jerusalem there.

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Um, how did they find that out?

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How did they know that?

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That's a great question.

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If this is Iran, Persia, Babylon

area, it could have been vestiges

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leftover by the legacy of Daniel

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.

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They could have brought such information

with them, such prophetic knowledge

203

with them and talked about that even

while they were there in captivity.

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Uh, we don't know exactly, but

that seems to be why they show up.

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Uh, they show up, you guys know the story.

206

It's familiar, Herod's concerned

over a political rival.

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He says, Hey, why don't you go?

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And then come back and tell me

where, but I've always been shocked.

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Pastor read, maybe you've thought

about this or come to a conclusion.

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Why don't the Jews rejoice over this?

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But they knew the prophecies.

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In fact, they even tell Herod.

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This is the prophecy.

214

He's going to be born in Bethlehem.

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Yep.

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And here they've got some wise men

going, Hey, we saw a star history.

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They should have known the

prophecy in numbers as well.

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I agree.

219

So why are they not excited

and going to Bethlehem?

220

I think there's a couple of things that

maybe are part of the problem here.

221

And I think throughout, throughout the

gospel of Matthew, the, the religious

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leaders are not, are not favored.

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They're not given high status.

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So certainly what Matthews, I think

painting the picture here is that even

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the leaders and religious leaders of

the did the elites who knew better

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kind of yacht when they heard the news.

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And this is not a good thing, obviously

this is meant to convey the fact that.

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Israel was asleep at the wheel as it were.

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And so Jesus shows up and the

only people that have the right

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mind about them are Gentiles.

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It's the Gentile, Easterners, whoever they

are, who show up and understand who this

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baby is, and they respond appropriately.

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Contrast it.

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Two.

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To his, his own people.

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Uh, he came to his own and

his own did not receive him.

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Right.

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That's what John chapter one says.

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And here you also have

religious, uh, The leader.

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So you have carried the great

who's threatened by this baby.

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He tries to kill him.

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So you have different responses.

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And I think the response to the

religious leaders is apathy,

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disinterest, disbelief hardheartedness.

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And.

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This can be a number of things

there, but I don't think it's

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good, no matter how you slice it.

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Right.

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And even you quoted that from John.

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And that goes on to say, but to those

who did receive him, he gave the right

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to become children of God who were

born, not of the will of man, nor of

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the flesh, nor blood, but of the father.

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So at the end of the day, one of the

reasons why they don't believe the

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foundational reason is God doesn't

open their eyes to be able to believe.

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But this is Micah five, two that

they refer to that there's going

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to be a ruler born in Bethlehem,

which you might think, okay.

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That seems like a big deal.

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It's an even bigger deal than you

realize because Bethlehem wasn't

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wasn't, uh, uh, uh, place on the map.

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Like Google maps, apple maps, for sure.

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It would not have had

Bethlehem on the map.

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They are the, yeah.

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Uh, Google maps.

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They may have had it, but

it's going to be an outpost.

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There's not going to be any reviews.

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Nobody's going to have been there before.

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This is a nowhere place.

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Really.

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Um, and so this is the small area

that God is going to use to, to

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bring the Messiah into the world.

271

Here at hatches is playing to find out the

exact location in the Wiseman, takeoff.

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And this is why this is one

of my favorite stories here.

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The wise men come in in all of their

stature and their prestige and their

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glory and their honor, and they come

and they fall down and they worship

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prostrate on the ground before.

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A child before a top as weird.

277

It's weird, but just convicting to, right?

278

Yeah.

279

Like if they did that to a toddler, And

they did better than they understood

280

as we'll often say, because they didn't

fully understand everything, but they

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knew enough to say this is the king

and they're willing to, to throw all of

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their prestige, all of their dignity,

all of their honor, everything else.

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And cast it at the feet

of this, this baby.

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Uh, this child that's amazing.

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That's that's an encouragement to

us to say, man, we need to be doing

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that with our lives to absolutely.

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They give us a good example.

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In fact, they, they, they

forecast the future that Gentiles

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would bow the knee to Jesus.

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And this is not only our future.

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But this is the future to come as well.

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Uh, the Kings will bring their

glory into the new Jerusalem

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and they'll give it to Jesus.

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They'll give it to him again.

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Gold, frankincense and

myrrh and, and verse 11.

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You see here, you see that here.

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That's the gifts they bring.

298

And that's why some people think

that there were three of them.

299

Because there were three gifts,

three Kings of orient RS.

300

We don't know if there's

three, there could be two that

301

could have been seven, right?

302

Uh, but the three gifts doesn't mean

that there are three of them there, uh,

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at furthermore the gifts themselves have

some significance you could over read

304

into it, but it looks like whatever.

305

Whatever else is conveyed

by this at minimum.

306

What said is that this,

this guy is special.

307

And so these expensive gifts are

meant to showcase that we understand

308

you're a special person, and

we're going to honor you as such.

309

And often we don't do that.

310

We kind of, we can be just like the

religious elites who yawn at Jesus and

311

sometimes don't give him the proper

worship and adoration that he's doing.

312

This is to your point, pastor

PG that convicting statement.

313

Yeah.

314

Yeah, well, the rest of the chapter

contains, uh, just titled heritage

315

horror, um, because Herod doesn't find

out cause they leave worn by an angel.

316

They, they go different way.

317

And so here it says, okay, well to

cover my bases, I'm going to have

318

every child, every male child.

319

Uh, killed of the Jews whose.

320

Who's two and under.

321

Um, Jesus is warned along or Joseph

Marriott warned to take Jesus and fleece.

322

They go to Egypt until here

it dies here, dies in four BC.

323

Okay.

324

So that's one of the reasons why

we say Jesus, wasn't born at zero

325

because here it dies it at four BC.

326

And so this is all taking place.

327

Again, to your 0.6 to four BC, it seems to

be the time of his birth, but here it goes

328

to kill all of the children two and under.

329

And that's why it says that that

quote about the, the weeping of,

330

uh, of the Rachel's children, uh,

the weeping there in Ramallah.

331

Uh, Rachel.

332

Re representing, um, the, the mothers

of Israel in that any, anything on

333

that, uh, PR that, that section of

the weeping of the mothers there.

334

So that's, he's, he's not quoting,

uh, He's not quoting himself here.

335

This is Jeremiah.

336

And this is in relation to the Babylonian

exile Ramaz was likely where they were

337

gathered before they were deported.

338

This is a place of weeping

because now these, these mothers

339

are losing their children.

340

They're going to go off and be deported.

341

They're going to be separated.

342

It's not going to be a

good situation for anybody.

343

So it's curious as to why Matthew

uses this particular sentence.

344

Uh, so anyone who reads Jeremiah,

isn't gonna look at this text and

345

say, oh, this must be a prophecy.

346

This is it.

347

Where you get interesting, uh,

interesting and insight into how

348

scripture uses the term prophecy profits.

349

It can be specific or indirect general.

350

Uh, we might say.

351

Um, Boyce has a little bit on

this in his commentary on Matthew.

352

So it's specific prophecy would

be like the one about Micah

353

five, two Bethlehem in Judea.

354

And that's that's the one is

forecasting a ruler that one's a

355

specific prophecy, hard to think of

something more specific than that.

356

More precise or even Matthews or, uh,

Isaiah seven 14 here, though, you have

357

a general prophecy that a lot of Bible

readers are probably would have missed.

358

I would have missed this.

359

Had I not known that Matthew chapter two

is going to use this, but here Matthew was

360

injecting deeper meaning and deep, deeper

information and insight into Jeremiah.

361

Chapter 31 that we ordinarily

wouldn't have seen.

362

And he's saying here.

363

Uh, when, when you have people killed

in Bethlehem, which by the way,

364

Bethlehem being a small city as it

were, as you said, pastor PJ, we're

365

talking maybe a dozen 20, 20 kids here.

366

It's not small.

367

It's not inconsequential.

368

We're talking about a small number of

children, which is why historically

369

speaking, people are going to say,

Hey, the Bible is not accurate.

370

This would have been recorded somewhere.

371

Some of what it said, something

about this, and that's not true, not

372

when it's a small city and not when

Herod the great who was known to be.

373

Uh, paranoid and a little weird

and aggressive toward even his

374

closest friends, his sons, even

he would kill his own sons.

375

If they threatened him, it's not unusual.

376

This is totally fitting even.

377

So britannica.com will also mention

this account and say, this is.

378

This is very likely given his personality.

379

So yeah.

380

Even Britannica, willing to say this.

381

So again, Jeremiah 31, this is not

about this, but it speaks to it in

382

that it forecasts in foreshadows.

383

What would eventually take place?

384

Matthew sees it, adopts it and adapts

it and says, this is specifically

385

speaking about Jesus interaction.

386

Who was ultimately going to

release his own people from exile.

387

Yeah.

388

And you mentioned.

389

We're going to have to talk about

Matthew's use of prophecies because

390

that's not something for us to do.

391

'cause we, we aren't writing.

392

Under the direct guidance

of the spirit of God.

393

We aren't writing the words of God.

394

And so we don't have the.

395

The ability to take the Bible and

make it mean something that it wasn't

396

intended to mean by its original authors.

397

But we'll see, Paul do this as

well with some of the old Testament

398

prophecies that he quotes.

399

And some of his books too, it takes

it in, it seems to take it and apply

400

it to a different context than what

the original author intended it to.

401

And I think at the end of the day,

we've got to give them the Liberty

402

to do that because they were guided

by the spirit and doing that.

403

And we've got to be careful in how

we go about doing the same thing.

404

Absolutely.

405

And one of the things that I've

read as I was studying some.

406

I'm working through Matthew right

now with the students, as you

407

said, And I'm learning that maybe.

408

Maybe what we're seeing here is not

Matthew misusing it and saying, I'm

409

going to, I'm going to totally take

this out of context and make it

410

mean something that it never meant.

411

Um, instead and said, maybe Matthew's

doing something more sophisticated

412

in saying, this is what it means.

413

And let me show you that the

greater fulfillment of this

414

passage, as opposed to, Hey,

here's something out of left field.

415

Which is often helps.

416

Some people understand Matthew and

I'm beginning to appreciate maybe

417

there's more than what meets the eye.

418

Uh, for the average reader, it just

takes a, take some more thinking

419

and more clarity in terms of how you

approach a text, still holding it

420

with the tender touch, because you

don't want to manhandle it and force

421

it into something that doesn't fit.

422

But I wonder if there's just more than

meets the eye for the average reader.

423

And again, we're looking at this in 2024.

424

Um, w we need to read it, like they

would have re read it and understood

425

it and say, okay, maybe there's deeper.

426

Meaning here, not in a Gnostic

way, but more of a, like, okay.

427

Maybe there's more going

on that with the BCI.

428

Yeah.

429

Well, the chapter ends.

430

Uh, with the return of Jesus and his

family, but they don't come back to, to

431

Judea there because Harrods air is, is

there and they don't want to avoid any

432

sort of camp or they do want to avoid

rather any sort of conflict with his air.

433

They're not sure how he might be

feeling still about everything.

434

So.

435

Uh, they go north and they go

up to the region of Galilee

436

to Nazareth and it says there.

437

That what might be spoken by the

prophets verse 23 might be fulfilled

438

that he would be called a Nazarene.

439

Now.

440

That's not an old Testament

prophecy that we have anywhere, but

441

Isaiah 11 verse once talks about a

branch that would emerge Nazareen.

442

Not Zehr Hebrew word for

branch, the branch town, the

443

branch man from branch town.

444

It could be that a mystics.

445

Yeah, another guy or another

author said that this may simply

446

be a reference to his status.

447

And he pointed to the reaction of,

uh, of Nathaniel when Nathaniel

448

hears from Philip that, Hey, we

found the Messiah and he says, can

449

anything good come out of Nazareth?

450

So he said, this could be a reference to

his status as somebody who is despised

451

and not thought much of from Isaiah 53.

452

That.

453

Hey, there's nothing remarkable,

remarkable about him, that, that

454

we should give him any attention.

455

Look where he's from.

456

He's from Nazareth.

457

And so they said maybe this is.

458

53 references advised.

459

Forsaken that kind of thing.

460

Yep.

461

Yeah.

462

That's what I read too.

463

Yep.

464

So.

465

That's it, man.

466

That's Matthew two.

467

We've only got one chapter today.

468

That's incredible.

469

Yeah, we still filled up

time pretty well though.

470

We did.

471

I think people are gonna be upset about

let's pray and then we'll be done.

472

Got thanks for your work.

473

Thanks for, uh, this, this chapter and

in the testimony in that the witness

474

of the Wiseman, may we be like that?

475

May we worship Jesus with all

that we are knowing so much more

476

than they knew at that time.

477

And so give us a load of desire

and in just the wherewithal to know

478

how to do that and what that should

look like on a regular basis with.

479

In Jesus' name?

480

Amen.

481

Amen.

482

All right.

483

Keep reading your Bibles and tune

in again tomorrow for another

484

episode of the daily Bible podcast.

485

Bye.