So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 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.” Matthew 2:14-15
Out of Egypt
The words in our Bible reading today show that even as a baby, Jesus was already fulfilling prophecy and establishing his credentials as the promised Savior. When King Herod sought to murder the Christ child, God sent the holy family fleeing to Egypt. Seven hundred years earlier, Hosea had foretold that God’s Son would go there and return—and now Jesus, cradled in his mother’s arms, was living out that prophecy.
To understand this fulfillment, though, we must recall Israel’s story. Over three thousand years ago, God adopted a nation of slaves and called them his son. He brought Israel out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and gave them a new home in Canaan.
But Israel did not always return their Father’s love. The people he rescued turned to false gods and sacrificed to idols. Through prophets like Hosea, God warned his disobedient children what would happen if they refused to repent. They deserved punishment for their idolatry. Yet God could not stop loving his son.
That is the backdrop for Matthew’s quotation. Jesus is the perfectly obedient Son of God—so fully identifying with God’s people that his life mirrors theirs. As Israel once went down to Egypt, so he went down to Egypt. As Israel was called out, so he was called out. Where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded; where Israel rebelled, Jesus obeyed.
And he obeyed for you! When the time had fully come, God sent his beloved Son to be born in Bethlehem, to live as the obedient child you were meant to be, to die on the cross, and to rise again so you could be brought into God’s family. He loved you so much that he poured out his Spirit into your heart so you can cry, “Father!” and know that the Almighty delights to hear you, protect you, bless you, and save you.
Even though you have been a rebellious child, God’s grace is greater than your guilt. His love at the manger and the cross is more than enough to bring peace on earth and good will to men.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for fulfilling your Word by calling your Son out of Egypt, so that I am your own dear child. Amen.
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.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt. Matthew 2:13-14
God’s Purpose in Herod’s Fear
One moment, the baby Jesus had magi laying treasures at his feet; the next, Joseph was taking him into the night and headed for Egypt. The Light of the world had come, but the darkness fought back.
You see, the Magi had first come to Jerusalem and told King Herod that they were looking for the King of the Jews. Herod viewed the baby as a threat, and he didn’t like that. He had already killed three of his sons, his favorite wife, his mother-in-law, his uncle, some cousins, and the high priest for being threats to his crown. Now he targeted a baby.
But God saved his Son from an early death because the plan of salvation required that he die on the cross when the time had fully come. He fled as a child so that he could later say, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
The world did not change the night Jesus was born, but everything changed the morning he walked out of the tomb. The power of Jesus’ resurrection is already removing the darkness, and he will completely remove it on the Last Day.
When evil touches your life, remember it also touched him. The child who fled Herod is the Savior who was “despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain” (Isaiah 53:3). At Christmas, God gifts you his Son, Jesus.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for stepping into this dark world so that you can call me out of it and into your wonderful light. Amen.
I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us—yes, the many good things he has done for Israel, according to his compassion and many kindnesses. Isaiah 63:7
Mercy and Compassion
A highly respected running coach was once asked what he would do if he wanted to make his own son an Olympic runner. He responded, “I would get him a coach that believed he could be an Olympian.” After all his years of training runners, this man had learned that having a coach who believed in his runner was a key component to helping that athlete reach his true potential.
Isaiah describes the Lord looking at his people and saying, “Surely they are my people, sons who will not be false to me.” How could the Lord say this when Israel had turned its back on him again and again? It wasn’t that God thought he could make his people better simply by believing in them. No, God calls Israel his people because in his love and mercy, he made them his people. “He became their Savior.”
A coach might help an athlete achieve his greatest potential by believing in him, but God has done much more for us. Simply believing in us would not have been enough, because left to ourselves, our only potential was to go our own way and stray further away from him. So, God in his love and mercy redeemed us. By sending his only Son, he bought us back from our destiny of being sinners forever separated from him. This truth causes our Christmas joy to overflow every day of the year. In his loving kindness, the Lord has made us his people, who are given the righteousness and obedience of his Son.
What’s our response to such mercy and compassion? We can join with Isaiah in saying, “I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us.”
Prayer:
Merciful and compassionate God, I thank you for being my Savior. You have made me your child through the redemption that comes through Jesus Christ. Help me to speak of your kindness, of all that you have done for me. Amen.
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The First and the Last, who was dead and came to life again, says this:
9 I know [1] your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy that comes from those who say they are Jews but are not; rather, they are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear anything that [2] you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will suffer for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
11 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
Letter to the Church in Pergamum
12 To the messenger of the church in Pergamum write:
The one who has the sharp, two-edged sword says this:
13 I know [3] where you live—where the throne of Satan is. And I know that you hold fast to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me even in the days when Antipas, my faithful witness, [4] was put to death near you, the place where Satan lives.
14 But I have a few things against you: You have some people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who instructed Balak to put a stumbling block in front of the children of Israel so that they would eat things offered to idols and commit sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have some people who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore, [5] repent! If not, I will come to you soon, and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
17 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give some of the hidden manna. [6] I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, which no one will know except the one who receives it.
Footnotes
Revelation 2:9 A few witnesses to the text add your works.
Revelation 2:10 Some witnesses to the text read Do not fear what.
Revelation 2:13 A few witnesses to the text add your works and.
Revelation 2:13 Or martyr
Revelation 2:16 Some witnesses to the text omit Therefore.
Revelation 2:17 A few witnesses to the text add to eat.
1 To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write:
The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven gold lampstands, says this:
2 I know your works, your [1] labor, and your patient endurance, and that you are not able to tolerate evil people. You have tested those who say they are apostles, but are not, and have found them to be liars. 3 Indeed, you do have patient endurance. You have endured hardships on account of my name and have not become weary.
4 But I have this against you: You have forsaken your first love. [2]5 Remember, therefore, the state from which you have fallen! Repent and do the works you did at first. Otherwise I will come to you [3] and remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.
6 But you do have this: You hate the actions of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give the privilege to eat from the tree of life, which is in [4] the paradise of God.
Footnotes
Revelation 2:2 Some witnesses to the text omit your.
Revelation 2:4 Or You have lost the love you had at first
Revelation 2:5 A few witnesses to the text add quickly.
Revelation 2:7 A few witnesses to the text add the middle of.
9 I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingship and patient endurance in Jesus, [1] was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus. [2]
10 I was in spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write what you see on a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
Jesus Appears
12 I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands, 13 and among the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was clothed with a robe that reached to his feet, and around his chest he wore a gold sash. 14 His head and his hair were white, like white wool or like snow. His eyes were like blazing flames. 15 His feet were like polished bronze being refined in a furnace. His voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. His face was shining as the sun shines in all its brightness.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last— 18 the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell. [3]
19 “So write what you have seen, both those things that are and those that will take place after this.
20 “The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven gold lampstands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”
Footnotes
Revelation 1:9 Some witnesses to the text read Christ.
Revelation 1:9 A few witnesses to the text add Christ.
1 The revelation from Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Christ expressed this revelation by means of symbols sent [1] through his angel to his servant John. 2 John spoke as a witness to the word of God and to the testimony about [2] Jesus Christ, that is, to everything he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and hold on to the things written in it, because the time is near.
Greeting
4 John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia: [3]
Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed [4] us from our sins by his own blood 6 and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
7 Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” [5] says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.
Footnotes
Revelation 1:1 Or Christ communicated these things by sending them
Revelation 1:2 Or of
Revelation 1:4 Here Asia refers to the Roman province of Asia (located in what is now Turkey), not the continent of Asia.
Revelation 1:5 Some witnesses to the text read washed. (“Witnesses to the text” mentioned in footnotes may include Greek manuscripts, lectionaries, translations, and quotations in the church fathers.)
Revelation 1:8 Some witnesses to the text add the Beginning and the End.
Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. 2 Praise him, all his angels. Praise him, all his armies. 3 Praise him, sun and moon. Praise him, all you bright stars. 4 Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters which are above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, because he commanded, and they were created. 6 He caused them to stand forever and ever. He gave a decree, and it will not pass away.
Praise From the Earth
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, great sea creatures and all the depths, 8 fire and hail, snow and fog, storm winds that obey his word, 9 mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, 10 wild animals and all cattle, crawling creatures and flying birds, 11 kings of the earth and all peoples, officials and all judges on earth, 12 young men and also young women, old people with young people. 13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His splendor is above the earth and the heavens. 14 He has raised up a horn [2] for his people— the praise of all his favored ones— for the children of Israel, the people close to him. Praise the Lord.
Psalm 149
Praise Him, All His People
1 Praise the Lord. [3]
The Church Triumphant
Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing his praise in the congregation of his favored ones. 2 Let Israel rejoice in its Maker. Let the people of Zion celebrate for their King. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing. With hand drum and lyre let them make music to him. 4 For the Lord is pleased with his people. He adorns the humble with salvation. 5 Let those he favors rejoice in honor. Let them shout for joy on their beds.
The Church Militant
6 May high praise of God be in their throats, and a two-edged sword in their hands, 7 to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples, 8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with iron shackles, 9 to carry out the judgment written against them. This is the glory of all his favored people. Praise the Lord.
Psalm 150
Praise the Lord!
1 Praise the Lord. [4]
Where?
Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the expanse that shows his might.
Why?
2 Praise him for his acts of power. Praise him according to his abundant greatness.
How?
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn. Praise him with the harp and the lyre. 4 Praise him with hand drums and dancing. Praise him with the strings and the flute. 5 Praise him with the sounding cymbals. Praise him with loud cymbals.
Who?
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
Footnotes
Psalm 148:1 Hebrew hallelu Yah
Psalm 148:14 The word horn is a reference to power. Here it refers to the Messiah.
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Tornadoes, hurricanes, heavy rainfall, forest fires—it’s been a busy fall for WELS Christian Aid and Relief, which responds on behalf of WELS members to reflect Christ’s love to people facing […]
Julie K. Wietzke Different histories, one future When we talk about reaching out to other cultures in the United States, we can’t ignore the amazing opportunities God is providing for […]
The synod’s new long-range plan, entitled “Christ through us,” has four main priorities. One of those four involves bringing Christ to the nations through our world mission efforts. Rev. Larry […]
Leaders from The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS), and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) gathered last week near Jacksonville, Fla., for two days of theological […]
During 2025, WELS has commemorated the 175th anniversary of its founding, 175 years of God’s work among us and through us. Resources have been produced and presentations given. This year […]
The Synodical Council met Nov. 7–8 for its fall meeting at the Center for Mission and Ministry, Waukesha, Wis. The Synodical Council (SC) is the group of lay leaders and […]