Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
God Watches and Warns
The “they” in the above verse is referring to the wise men who had come to worship the Messiah. Jesus would be several months, if not two years old at this time. The wisemen had asked King Herod for directions to where Jesus was and Herod saw it has a threat to his rule and reign. He vowed to kill Jesus and in the next few verses we would read that he sent soldiers to Bethlehem to kill any male child under two years old. But, we see that God knows all the evil in man’s heart, even before man does the evil. He knows the thoughts and intent of the heart:
Jeremiah 17:9-10 (ESV Strong's)
The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
“I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
God watches over those He chooses to be His own. He not only sees the evil Joseph, Mary and Jesus might experience, but God also acts. God spoke to Joseph in a dream and warned him to flee the country. We can rejoice that we have a God who watches and who acts on our behalf. We have no idea what may befall us without the sovereign working of God in our lives. From the insignificant to the most major intervention, God is working in our lives to fulfill His plan for us. What if Joseph would not have been listening that day? What if he was so preoccupied with his wants and his plans that he missed the dream? Joseph was sensitive to the voice of God. God, therefore, spoke to him and rescued the family. As we read God’s word that is His method today to warn us from the dangers of the life around us. As we obey God’s written word He will find the ways to protect us from the destruction of the wicked world.
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