“Under the Microscope”: The Inexhaustible Scriptures
As the Christmas season is upon us, many a pastor and church will, no doubt, be turning their minds toward those classic gospels of Matthew and Luke to review joyfully both accounts of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having done that quite recently, I was struck with an amazing realization from one of the prophecies found concerning the journey of Joseph and Mary. Matthew 2:13-15 speaks of the escape Joseph made to Egypt along with Mary after the birth of Jesus because an angel appeared to him in a dream warning that Herod desired to take the life of the Christ child. On account of that dream, Joseph made a successful journey to Egypt with his young family until Herod died.
The passage reads:
"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.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
The 15th verse of that chapter concludes by informing that this ordeal was “to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”
Which prophet was the apostle Matthew referencing? None other than the so-called “broken-hearted prophet” Hosea. Once that verse was read, I immediately had a flashback to a recent musing. Several months ago, I preached through the book of Hosea and eventually came to the chapter in which Hosea made that original prophecy.
Hosea 11:1 makes the following statement, “When Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” The latter half “out of Egypt I called my son” is what is quoted in Matthew 2:15 and is what that apostle affirms was fulfilled when Joseph took Mary and baby Jesus to Egypt for safety. Matthew, through inspiration of the Holy Spirit, penned those words; thus, if he proclaims it to be a fulfillment of that prophecy, then his assertions cannot be questioned.
I remember quite vividly that the thought I had while studying the text in Hosea (and realizing it was a prophecy about Jesus) mirrored the same thought I had recently when encountering the prophecy fulfilled in Matthew’s Gospel. The inner chat went something like this, “If Matthew had not revealed that Joseph and Mary’s flight to Egypt was a fulfillment of Hosea’s prophecy, I would never have made that connection on my own”. As a matter of fact, it would never have occurred to me that the latter part of Hosea 11:1 was any kind of prophecy to begin with. It seems to fit right in with what Hosea was declaring about the nation of Israel at the end of chapter 10 and at the beginning of the 11th chapter. Furthermore, I doubt anyone else—student or scholar—would have thought differently had Matthew 2:15 not been in existence because it’s easy to understand how the “son” in Hosea 11:1 could be a reference to Israel.
Theologically, though, I’m well aware that often prophecies can have two aspects of fulfillment—an immediate fulfillment and a later fulfillment. Thus, in Hosea's prophecy the immediate fulfilment of the “son” is the nation of Israel, while the future fulfilment of the “son” is Jesus the Christ. However, the issue still stands that if students of the Bible were completely honest with themselves, almost no one would have tagged Hosea 11:1b to be futuristically fulfilled in Christ as Matthew confirms.
What’s my point?
It is two-fold.
Firstly, a more thorough, meticulous, and thoughtful study of Scripture should be the perpetual pursuit of every child of God because there is so much that we often overlook. I am unquestionably convinced that shallow Bible reading produces shallow Christians. Never will we reach the spiritual heights God has for us, until we learn to dive deeper into the oceans of His Holy Book. It is time to stop surveying Scripture as if through a telescope and to start examining the Bible as if through a microscope. Telescope-type Bible glossing will cause a believer to bypass the prophetic gem in Hosea 11:1 as well as a plethora of more obvious truths and doctrines revealed in God’s Word. How unfortunate it is that many adult followers of Christ never sink the clutch and make an intentional shift out of VBS gear. We must learn to think logically and critically and to scrutinize the Bible with a fine-tooth comb.
Secondly, never should any one of God’s creation—even if he or she is converted—imagine they have fully grasped and understood all there is to know concerning Holy Scripture. Such would be a mistake of epic proportions.
Often, after studying, say, a particular book of the Bible we can gain the notion that we have “conquered” it and would not really need to pay much attention to it moving forward—at least not anytime soon. That is utter deception. A Christian’s plunge into the volumes of Scripture is equivalent to dropping a small marble ball, one-inch in diameter, into the calculated centre of the churning, humongous Atlantic Ocean. Charles Spurgeon was correct when he asserted that “no one ever outgrows Scripture. It deepens and broadens with our years.” If I was graciously given a million years to live and faithfully studied Scripture throughout that entire timespan, I would still be learning and uncovering more rich gems in year “one million and one”. Such is the nature of God’s special revelation to us.
Throughout the miles and the millennia, there have been multitudes globally who have diligently, carefully, and prayerfully studied Holy Scripture. One would find it beyond challenging to—in a serious-faced manner—even suggest some individual overall who has known and understood Scripture more than anyone else in history. Easy, on the other hand, would it be to locate the believer who probably knows Scripture the least; for that would be the one who erroneously assumes they have entirely mastered the inexhaustible writings of an inexhaustible God.
