Matthew 2:19-23 ~ Nazareth fulfilled

 

Nazareth has unique characteristics. Sitting way up on a ridge overlooking a wide valley, Nazareth is much more safe giving time to prepare for incoming dangers. And Nazareth is going to catch the wind. It's called The Branch. And is to be fruitful. "Nazareth" is derived from one of the Hebrew words for 'branch', namely ne·ṣer, and alludes to the prophetic, messianic words in Book of Isaiah 11:1, 'from (Jesse's) roots a Branch (netzer) will bear fruit'.

Also unique to Nazareth, before Christians were called Christians, we were called Nazarenes. 

Not to be confused with Nazirites - The nazirite is called, "Holy unto the Lord" (Numbers 6:8) swearing not to have wine, not cut his hair and avoid impurity like corpses. Like Samson of The Book of Judges.

Jesus is instead of Nazareth. Isaiah 11:1 

Isaiah 11:1

 

And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, 

and 

a branch out of His roots shall bear fruit.

Samson is to make himself holy by a sacrifice, a vow and actions. Unlike Jesus Christ Who is the Holy One of God. Redeemer.

This is really a learning contrast. One Jesus Christ is born into.

Jesus Christ frees us from the Law. And by His free gift - brings us into God's Holiness by the salvation Jesus freely gives us.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law for us. Not by His Works but by being the Manifest Word of God His Father.

Nazareth today hosts a city rebuilt to be the City of Nazareth Jesus knew in the First Century A.D. This is part of a trail that is about 60 miles long where followers of Jesus can walk the Jesus Trail.

Some of the dwellings are large, to indicate this might be a 4 generations family living together. Each generation adds on to the house. Peter lived with Andrew in Capernaum and with his mother-in-law. God always wanted families to be Ephesians 3 - living on earth and in Heaven together.

Isaiah 7 tells us of the very industrious life led in this generation. One of hard work with lovely rewards. Not of the wealthy Romans, but with gracious life.

Matthew 2:19-23

19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead." 

21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod Joseph was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. 

23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Isaiah 7

10 And Jehovah spake again unto Ahaz, saying, 11 Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. 12 But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt Jehovah. 13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, when he knoweth to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhorrest shall be forsaken. 17 Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father’s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—even the king of Assyria.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon all thorn-hedges, and upon all pastures.

20 In that day will the Lord shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep; 22 and it shall come to pass, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall every one eat that is left in the midst of the land.

John 1

12 To them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.

16 For of his fullness we all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We can see Isaiah knew of Jesus Birth in 700 BC.  John knew about the Family of God. 

But when we look at the Bible, the last mentions of Jesus' Mother, Brothers are they gathered to mourn and pray before Easter and after Good Friday.  And as the New Testament continues:

1 Corinthians 9:5

We each have the right to marry one of the Lord's followers and to take her along with us, just as the other apostles and the Lord's brothers and Peter do.

We find another reason Jesus gave His Mother, Mary, to the Beloved Disciple John.

While John was part of the Church in Ephesus, living with Mother Mary, the brothers of Christ, were traveling the world to bring the Good News. 

John was called to Rome, and in Patmos, exiled, to part of sending the search for historians looking for the presbyters as eyewitnesses to Jesus and His Healings, Signs and Wonders. 

The Historian who collected the oral histories of Jesus was Papias of Hierapolis.

The "Presbyters" (Elders): Papias is famous in early Church history for prioritizing oral tradition over written texts. In his surviving fragments (preserved by the historian and Bishop of Caesarea, Eusebius), he explicitly uses the term "presbyters" (elders) to describe his direct sources of apostolic tradition. He wrote: "If, then, any one came who had been a follower of the elders, I questioned him in regard to the words of the elders...." According to the 2nd-century theologian Irenaeus, Papias was a direct companion of Polycarp and a "hearer of John," referring to John the Apostle, Disciple. Papias’s text is the historical source that famously John the Apostle.

Roman history disagrees in many aspects. Even the order of the Emperors and the years.  Church History has published this for many decades:

Diocletian (284-305) Major Empire-Wide Persecution begins ca. 303; confiscation of Christian churches and books; arrest, torture, and execution of many Christian leaders. Personally sends troops to Nazareth, the Bishop of Caesarea Eusebius records seeing Constantine on the path to Nazareth.  Diocletian was offering clemency to the nephews carefully recording their ancestry to Jesus Christ. 

All refuse and are tortured and put to death. Diocletian sends troops to Turkey to place the Bishop Nicholas (also known as St. Nicholas or, in German, Santa Claus, in prison.)

Constantine era punishment is different from that of 33 A.D. Claudius.  Claudius had the torture described in the death of Jesus, Savior of the world.

Constantine era 

When Constantine is out from under the tutelage of his uncle with 3 other potential Emperors. Punishment and torture are reformed. The crime must meet the punishment.  If a murderer killed their father, the killer is to be put in a sack with poisonous snakes. Head cut off instead of crucifixion. 

Abolition of Crucifixion: Constantine officially banned crucifixion in the Roman Empire. Mercy ending a gruesome, prolonged method of execution used for slaves and lower-class criminals. Historians debate (of course!) the motivation of Christian piety or general human mercy. Or Both.

New and Altered Penalties: While he banned certain punishments, Constantine's legislation expanded capital punishment to new offenses (kidnapping, adultery, and corruption) and replaced penalties like deportation with harsher execution methods for specific crimes. For instance, parricide punishments were refocused as modified severe measures. While slave punishments remained intense.

It is the nature of mankind to sort out the events and make their own determination. We won't end the discussion on Constantine's "True Belief." 

Yet, we do have the Biblical standard saying a tree is determined by the fruit. Constantine is said by historical accounts not to have wanted to be in Nazareth seeing brave men, great great to 6 great, nephews of Jesus die saying He is the Son of God.  And later to repeal Capital Punishment and Death with the motto the punishment must be equal to the crime.

Constantine believes the signs of the sky, seeing a Cross, wins the Battle and he becomes Emperor. 

He dearly loves his mother, Helena, dearly and she boards a ship in her late 70s to travel to Israel and bring home antiquities of Jerusalem and saints and Jesus for 2 to 3 years.  Honoring the Lord. This is not an easy journey. She returns home and within a year or two dies of old, old age about 82 years old.  And Constantine, in his love for his mother, abandons his own tomb to give his mother the grand tomb seen in Rome today. If Constantine had been opposed to this pilgrimage, he certainly could have stopped her voyage. 

337 AD, Constantine was part of a military campaign against Persia, Constantine fell seriously ill. Seeking a cure, he traveled to the hot baths of Helenopolis. Constantine realized his illness was terminal, and requested the sacrament of baptism. He moved to an imperial villa at Achyron, Nicomedia (Turkey), where he removed the imperial purple robes for the white garments of a Christian neophyte. Died May 22, 337 AD.

Eusebius wrote the Life of Constantine (Vita Constantini) shortly after the emperor's death. A detailed, eyewitness-adjacent account of Constantine’s deathbed baptism. He records Constantine’s final speech, where the emperor expresses his long-held desire for "the seal which confers immortality". Eusebius writes Constantine’s late baptism not as a failure of faith, but as a pious decision of grace relieving all his earthly sins were entirely washed away right before facing God's judgment.

And these are the Scriptures:

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

2 Corinthians 5:17 

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Romans 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Revelation 21:1-27 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 

1 John 5:18

We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.

1 John 3:9

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.

Colossians 3:10  

And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

1 Peter 1:23

Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God

Abba, Father,

Who redeems your life 

from the pit

and 

crowns you 

with love and compassion

With Your Help, 

evidence unseen, 

we believe Jesus walks on water.

Praying for the healing

of the entire Kirk Family,

both of Charlie's parents,

his wife Erika

and their 2 small children.

Charlie's sister,

his extended family.

And HIS Extended family

in

The God of All Salvation.

Who have met

in 

grief

profound

unkindness.

Controversy.

Healing, Lord Jesus.

God Bless you

and The Lord

Keep you.

The streams of

political 

freedom

lead to

The Source

of Life

Jesus Christ. 

Dwell in me,

Dwell in us,

Dwell in those we Love,

Help us to seek You first.

And we will finish well, in Jesus Christ. 

HEAL OUR NATION

For Children in their Schools, all safety.

For those who protect and defend the USA,

protect us from evil.

Let evil and practicing evil

depart far from us

and our children.

Thank You, Father,

for Your Good Will.

And hearing our prayers.

Keep our food supply safe.

Support the Police.

For Worldwide Peace.

And the Peace of Israel. 

Peace in the Middle East.

For Gaza

a

new nation

far from 

the 

repeat 

of 

war.

Adoption

in

a new land

of

new beginnings.

Those who protect

and defend

All The Word of God.

Freedom in our Churches.

Wholeness

Holy.

Goodness.

And the Nations of the world,

Your Good Creation,

Calling upon You.

Lord Jesus Christ,

Worldwide Peace

Prosperity and

Peace.

We pray that as a Nation,

as a Community,

as a Church,

as a Neighborhood,

we share what You would have us share.

And in this communal sharing,

Your Good Creation would see

better weather.

Rain shared instead of flood.

Removing drought.

PRAYING WITH HOPE
FOR
BETTER
WEATHER
WORLDWIDE
Please

Jesus Christ.

Warmth shared

instead of unusual cold

storms.

Thank You, Father.

Prayer does work,

Thank You, Lord

 for hearing us.

Bless this

Good Creation,

Father,

let the storms of

destruction

and drought

pass us all by.

And prayers

for PEACE

and the good and written

wishes of family

fully honored

are greatly appreciated

Thank You.

The good health of our

family

and the Healing

of Edward's eyes.

Thank You, Father,

for Your Help, Helper,

Comfort, Comforter.

Lord Jesus Christ!

We ask in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Our Father!

2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord

is the Spirit,

and

where the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is Freedom.

And in Jesus - this Hope, 

Faith and Love - we will rise up believing Jesus. 

Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves †

Yes, The Lord Fulfills His Purpose

Thank You, Jesus

†