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Out of Egypt
CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery.
LONNIE: And I'm Lonnie Melashenko. Connie, today's
program is part three of our series on The Story behind the Christmas
Story. We're looking at the trip the Holy Family made from Bethlehem
down to Egypt.
CONNIE: You know, I'd never really thought much about it
before, but it is a rather long detour.
LONNIE: That's for sure. A quick glance at a map reveals that
Egypt is something like 300 miles due south, while Joseph and Mary's
hometown Nazareth is about 80 miles due north.
CONNIE: Why do you suppose the angel that appeared to Joseph
in a dream told him to take Jesus and Mary SOUTH to Egypt?
LONNIE: Well, we'll be looking at some possible answers to that
question a bit later in the program, but for right now, let me toss out
a little
hint. Think back to the earliest days of Israel's history, and what Egypt
meant to them back then.
CONNIE: Pharaoh . . . Slavery . . . Plagues . . . Miraculous
deliverance.
LONNIE: You're on the right track, and I'll have more to say
about that in today's message, "Out of Egypt." But before that,
another
story. Music is such an important part of the Christmas season, that we've
invited a Christian musician to join us for each of our programs this
month,
to share their story, and some of their Christmas music.
Joining us today is my good friend Jaime Jorge,
LONNIE: Welcome to the broadcast Jaime.
JAIME: Thank you so much. I'm so excited to be able to be here
in the flesh not just a little music or the violin, but here in person.
LONNIE: And Jaime Jorge is a world class violinist virtuoso I call
him. You've played before kings and governors Crystal Cathedral, names
like Larnel Harris, Billy Graham. You've traveled what 3,000,000 miles
now?
JAIME: Just a little bit over.
LONNIE: One year you were in Brazil. How many times?
JAIME: Six times.
LONNIE: And all this began what at about the age of three four
five years of age by a godly mother with that little violin in the country
of
Cuba.
JAIME: That's right. I was actually playing the saxophone. The
plastic Saxophone at the age of three and my mom decided that I would
be
playing the violin and that I was going to take violin lessons and the
rest is
history I guess.
LONNIE: You didn't really enjoy some of those years did you?
JAIME: No, I sure didn't. I used to tell my mom, that when I grow
up, I'm going to take the violin and flush it down the toilet.
LONNIE: Somewhere something clicked and you began to
discover dedicating your talent to Jesus Christ was very special, wasn't
it?
JAIME: Absolutely, two things, number one when we give our
talents to God that something special happens because that is turned into
something positive and it's for His glory. And number two I realized the
incredible power music had with people and I wanted to use that properly.
LONNIE: Now, you were at a very very young age when your
family was literally dug out of Egypt weren't you down in Havana Cuba.
JAIME: That's correct my dad wrote a letter to Castro and told him
that he had been trying to leave for many many years, that we wouldn't
be
allowed to leave, because they didn't want us to. He said, if he ever
left he'd
denounce his government for the rest of his life, and all of a sudden
they
basically came to throw us out of Cuba.
LONNIE: Hmmm, could've gone out in a body bag.
JAIME: Just about.
LONNIE: But you came to America. What were your feelings
when you finally got here?
JAIME: You know it's something I'll never forget and it's hard to
describe to be able to breathe an air that seemed different to see grapes
to
chew gum to eat apples to see how people were nice to you on the streets
and courteous was just overwhelming at first.
LONNIE: Now, you have so many stories in your life Jaime on
how the Lord has carved you out of Egypt so to speak. I wish we could
talk
about Chartise and how you won some championships with that incredible
classical song that had 128 notes and then you got into medical school
but
God had other plans for you didn't He.
JAIME: Well, I always thought that I wanted to be a missionary
medical doctor, but the Lord had other plans and at the second year of
the
University of Illinois I got the hint and I said "okay I'm going
to go leave
out in faith Lord and you take care of the rest.", and that's what's
happened
ever since.
LONNIE: So, half way through you made a deliberate choice and
said "it's you or me here."
JAMIE: That's right, I was giving up a great deal of security, stability
to do something you know kind of Gypsy like, but it worked out because
whenever the Lord blesses you when He blesses us you are doing His will
He is going to take care of us.
LONNIE: Share some of your greatest joys you've had using your
violin to go to be a worldwide international ambassador for Jesus Christ.
And Jaime you have got to be one of the finest we've got out there.
JAIME: Well, I only praise the Lord for what I'm able to do and I
remember particularly one time a year and a half ago when I was in
Orlando and a young lady came up to talk to me until the program was
over and you mentioned that championship that talent show, if you will,
in
school in college that I played at. She was actually there and she said
to
me, you're not going to believe this, but I was there and heard you ten
years ago. She said "I had a tumor in my brain and I was blind and
I was
going in for surgery the next day and I had a 50/50 chance of coming out
of
there alive." And she said all that she could remember is the young
man
playing the violin the music was so different and I said God if you allow
me
to come out of this place alive I want to be different like that young
man
and here I am standing in church today. That just blows me away because
I'm not worthy of those kinds of blessings, yet the Lord uses us whenever
we're willing to be used by Him.
LONNIE: That's marvelous. Really that's the story behind the
Christmas story behind a very special Christmas story isn't it Jaime?
JAIME: That's right I was also plucked out of Egypt, if you will, and
as I thought of this I wanted to make sure. Like the little drummer boy
that
touched me very much. That I used all of my talents, everything that I
have
for God's glory not for anyone else's gain not for my own gain, but for
God
that's what I want to do
LONNIE: Beautiful, let's listen now to Jaime Jorge with the "Little
Drummer Boy".
"The Little Drummer Boy", Jaime Jorge.
CONNIE: Jaime certainly has a wonderful musical gift--I especially enjoy
WATCHING him play. He really gets into his music!
LONNIE: He's a very dedicated musician. We always have him take
part in our Voice of Prophecy Family Reunion concerts, and he's a joy
to
work with.
CONNIE: If you'd like to know more about Jaime and his
recordings, or the Family Reunion Concerts, you'll find that information
on
our web page at www.vop.com. The next concert comes up in March,
doesn't it, Lonnie?
LONNIE: Yes, March 3 in Fort Worth, Texas, we'll have more
than 100 musicians involved, including Jaime.
CONNIE: Jaime's CD, "Christmas in the Aire" is also available
for
ordering from Voice of Prophecy. You can use our regular toll-free
number to order it, and the cost is just $15.00. You can order it by calling
1-800-872-0055.
LONNIE: It's full of wonderful Christmas music
CONNIE: Now Lonnie, your message today, "Out of Egypt," is
part of our series called "The Story Behind the Christmas Story."
But
there's a story behind the series as well, isn't there?
LONNIE: Yes, there is. In 1999 we had the privilege of taking a
camera crew over to the Holy Land to film several programs--spiritual
documentaries I guess you could call them--that revealed some amazing
aspects of events that were happening in Israel at the time of Jesus'
birth.
One of the fascinating stories we traced happened down in Jericho.
Ken Wade, our producer, was the one who ferreted out this story, and
took me down to the ruins of an ancient swimming pool to help tell the
story behind the Christmas story.
Ken, I must admit that I was fascinated by some of the places you took
us
to in Israel--places I'd never known existed, even though I'd been there
on
tours several times before.
I guess one of the most interesting had to be that old swimming
pool we found beside the old Jericho Road. I think our listeners would
be
interested to hear what an ancient swimming pool has to do with the
Christmas story.
KEN: Yes Lonnie it's really a 2000-year-old murder mystery down
there. Herod you know wasn't Jewish, but he was married to a Jewish
woman a very prominent family, granddaughter actually of two different
high priests.
LONNIE: Politically expedient for Herod of course.
KEN: Indeed, but she had a brother, a seventeen- year- old brother
by the name of Aristobulous and the family persuaded Herod to name him
high priest. Seemed like a good idea to start off with, but the trouble
was
the people liked Aristobulous better then they liked Herod.
LONNIE: He was a very jealous?
KEN: He was not the kind of man you wanted to stand in front of
and so the story the takes place around this one. One day Herod threw
a
big party down at his palace down at Jericho. It was a winter palace and
everybody was having a great time and Herod and Aristobulous were even
frolicking around together, but what happened then was a lot of the people
jumped in the swimming pool to go swimming and Heord said,
"Aristobulous, why don't you go in to?"
LONNIE: And they started a game of dunking.
KEN: A little bit of a game of dunking. And it wasn't exactly fair. It
wasn't weighted in Aristobulous' favor should we say. Unfortunately by
the
end of the day this high priest, brother of the wife of the king, was
found
floating face down in the pool. And of course Herod was immediately
accused. The fingers were pointed at him.
LONNIE: That must have shaken up the people.
KEN: It shook up the people tremendusly. It would have been like
the death of young John Kennedy here and princess Diana in England. It
was a terrible terrible thing and Herod was never able to escape the
accusations that he had something to do with Aristobulous' death, and
of
course that's one little key that kind of cues us in on the character
of this
man who shows up in the Christmas story, the man that Joseph and Mary
have to flee to Egypt to stay safe.
LONNIE: Ken, the fascinating thing for me was to discover you've
researched this is that Anthony and Cleopatra all play into this swimming
pool and all have to do with the birth of Jesus.
KEN: Well they do. Yes all of these people we hear about in
history were actually involved in this story and it's a fascinating thing
we are
able to deal with that in this story.
CONNIE: Thanks Ken and Lonnie for that historical
perspective for the story behind the Christmas story.
LONNIE: I want to be sure our listeners know that the videos we
produced in the Holy Land are available.
CONNIE: They can be ordered at our online bookstore at
www.vop.com, but listeners can also call our toll-free number 1-800-872-
0055 and request them. We do request a minimum donation of $20.00
for this 2-hour video series, so be sure to have a credit card available
if
you'd like to order the videos.
LONNIE: And Connie it is certainly is interesting to dig into the
background and find out what the people mentioned in the Bible were
really like. Our research into what happened down at Jericho helps us
understand the kind of king Joseph and Mary had to flee from when they
moved to Egypt.
CONNIE: But you know Lonnie I still have a question in my mind.
Did God send his son into Egypt? Is there some special significance? Did
Joseph's family's trip to the south and that's your topic in today's message,
"Out of Egypt"
SERMON: Out of Egypt
LONNIE: Have you ever been on a long trip, spending weeks--
maybe even months--on the road? Did you find yourself thinking about
home every day? How nice it would be to just head back to where you
came from, and to settle in to home life again?
Do you suppose Joseph and Mary felt that way after they'd spent a
few weeks, or perhaps months, living in Bethlehem? We don't know just
how long they stayed there after Jesus was born. But it was more than
just a
few days. Matthew tells us that when the wise men from the East came to
visit, they found the family living in a house--no longer in a stable.
And we know that when King Herod wanted to be sure he got rid
of the child who had been born king of the Jews, he massacred children
up
to the age of two. So, never mind the pictures on your Christmas cards.
It's not likely that the wise men brought their gifts to baby Jesus in
the
manger. The family had moved into a house by time they got there.
So, Joseph and Mary had been away from home for a long time.
And then that angel came and told Joseph to:
"Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and
stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child
to
destroy Him." (Matt. 2:13).
If it had been me, I think I might have had some questions:
"Egypt? Why Egypt? Can't we just go home to Nazareth?"
But Joseph listened to God's instructions, and obeyed, and off they
went to Egypt.
Matthew's Gospel gives us just the tiniest little clue as to why God
put Egypt on their itinerary. Here it is in Matthew 2:14-15:
When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by
night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod,
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the
prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."
Now, the fascinating thing about the prophecy that Matthew quotes
is that the prophet Hosea was writing about history not the future when
he
penned those words. He was reminding his people about how God had
led them out of Egypt--an event that occurred 700 years before his time
and
more than 1400 years before the birth of Jesus.
Hosea was looking back at the past, but Matthew took that
reminiscence and showed how it applied to Jesus, who lived many years
later.
Jesus came to this earth to set up God's kingdom here--to invite
people like you and me to be a part of His kingdom. And He was not the
first Jewish leader to take refuge in Egypt in preparation for setting
up a
New Kingdom.
Even the patriarch Abraham, the father of Israel, journeyed to
Egypt once, as he walked with God, preparing to establish his family in
the
Promised Land.
And don't forget that Abraham's great-grandson Joseph was sold by
his brothers into slavery in Egypt, but God turned their wicked plans
for
good by preserving lives when famine struck. Joseph's father and all his
brothers eventually moved down to Egypt too. And then when God was
ready to establish Abraham's descendants as a nation, He called them out
of Egypt.
There's another fascinating story about Israel and Egypt that's found
in the Old Testament. Do you remember the story of Jeroboam? He was
one of King Solomon's construction foremen. But then one day a prophet
stopped him on his way out of town.
The prophet predicted that God would split the kingdom of Israel
in two and make Jeroboam king of the largest portion. But of course that
didn't make Solomon happy. He was just as excited about someone taking
his kingdom away as King Herod was when he heard that Jesus had been
born to be King of the Jews. He wanted Jeroboam dead. So Jeroboam
fled from Solomon. And guess where he went.
Egypt.
He waited there until he heard that King Solomon was dead. Then
he came back to Israel to claim the kingdom God had promised to him.
Does that sound like anything out of the Christmas story? How
about this:
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, "Arise, take the
young
Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who
sought the young Child's life are dead" (Matt. 2:19, 20, NKJ).
Finally, Joseph and Mary were able to go home. To take there
young son back to their hometown, to live among family again. It must
have been a great "Christmas" homecoming when they finally pulled
their
donkey into the garage back home in Nazareth.
They had wandered long and wandered far--but it wasn't really
wandering--because God was leading them all the way. Joseph was
responding to God's guidance at every crossroads on the map.
God had led them to Egypt so that--just like Abraham, just like
ancient Israel, just like Jeroboam, Jesus could come "out of Egypt"
to the
promised land to set up God's new kingdom.
But what a different kingdom it would be!
Jeroboam's kingdom was a man's kingdom--the king soon began to
do things his own way, rebelling against God and setting up idols for
the
people to worship.
But Jesus' kingdom--well, there was just no comparison. Everything
that Jesus said and did was according to His heavenly Father's will. He
faithfully followed His Father's instructions, just as Joseph had done.
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but
the will of Him who sent Me," Jesus said (John 6:38 NKJV).
It seems odd to us that Joseph took his family to Egypt. But it
was all part of God's bigger plan. And, come to think of it, the story
of
the wise men who came to Bethlehem seems to be full of detours too.
First to Jerusalem, then to Bethlehem, then back home by a different
road.
It must have seemed to them like life was full of detours.
Does your life ever seem that way? I know there've been times
like that for me. Times of illness, times of loss. But looking back on
it,
I can see that God had a plan all along.
Has it been that way for you as well? Or might it be that this
Christmas season it seems like your life's gone way off the path--far
from where you thought you should be by now? Maybe you HAVE
made a wrong turn or two. Or it might be that God is just leading you
to Nazareth, via Egypt.
Whichever it is, will you do this one simple thing: Turn your
eyes toward heaven. Look up. Ask your heavenly Father to guide you
to where you should be.
He has a plan for your life, and He'll be glad to guide you, just as
He did Joseph, the wise men of the East, and Jesus. O Friend,
turn to Him today. Let Him bring you Out of Egypt, and into His
kingdom!
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