DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 20, 1882,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night, and
departed into Egypt: and was there until the death of Herod: that it
might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying,
Out of Egypt have I called My Son." Matthew 2:14,15.
"When Israel was a Child, then I loved Him, and called My Son out of
Egypt." Hosea 11:1.
EGYPT occupies a very singular position towards Israel. It was often
the shelter of the seed of Abraham. Abraham, himself, went there when
there was a famine in the land of his sojourn. To Egypt, Joseph was
taken that he might escape from the death intended for him by his
envious brothers and become the stepfather of the house of Israel. Into
Egypt, as we all right well know, went the whole family of Jacob–and
there they sojourned in a strange land. There Moses acquired the
learning which was so useful to him. It was out of the spoils of Egypt
that the furniture of the Tabernacle was made–as if to show that God
intended to take out of heathen hands an offering to His own
Glory–just as, afterwards, the timber of the Temple was hewn by Hiram,
the Phoenician, that the Gentiles might have a share in building the
Temple in token that they would, one day, be made fellow heirs with
Israel.
But while Egypt was, for a while, the shelter of the house of Israel,
it became, later, the house of bondage and a country fraught with
danger to the very existence of the elect nation! There was a very
useful purpose to be served by their going down into Egypt–that they
might be consolidated into a nation and might acquire many useful arts
which they could not have learned while they were wandering about in
Palestine. The lesson was valuable, but it was learned in much misery.
They had to smart beneath the lash and faint beneath their labor–the
iron bondage entered into Israel's soul so that an exceedingly great
and bitter cry went up to Heaven. Yet, when the heaviest burdens were
laid on their shoulders, the day of liberty was dawning! When the tale
of bricks was doubled, Moses was born! When man had come to his
extremity of persecution, then God took His opportunity of salvation
and led His Israel out of Egypt in the teeth of their tyrant master!
It had been at first a Goshen to them, a place of great abundance in
the Delta of the Nile, but afterwards it became a Mizraim to them, for
that is the Hebrew word for Egypt, and it means a place of straits and
tribulations. The point that is meant to be brought forward by the
Prophet is that they were called out of Egypt, for it was not possible
for them to mingle with the sons of Ham and lose their separate
existence. They were on the banks of the Nile and, at first, dwelt
there in much comfort, but this seductive ease was not allowed to hold
them–full soon they were heavily oppressed and their existence was
threatened. Yet both from the comfort of Egypt and from the captivity
of Egypt they were called and, at the call of God, they came forth.
The living seed may go into strange places, but it can never be
destroyed! The host of God may walk through fire, but it shall not be
burned! God has made the living seed immortal and it cannot die, for it
is born of God. Out of deadly lands, where every breath is disease,
they shall be called by the eternal Voice. Those whom God has chosen
may be cast far away, but they shall never be cast away! They may dwell
among a people like the Egyptians–most superstitious and debased. A
nation of whom even the heathen Juvenal made sport when he said, "Oh,
happy people who grow their gods in their kitchen gardens!" They
worshipped leeks, onions, all kinds of beasts and fowls and creeping
things, but the children of the Lord cannot be suffered to remain among
such a people, for the Lord desires to make of Israel and of all
Believers, a people separated unto Himself.
Out of the midst of guilty Egypt the Lord called His people, whom He
had formed for Himself, to show forth His praise. The abundance of
superstition, though it was like the sea, shall not quench the spark of
the Divine life in the living family of God! It shall burn on amidst
the waves until the God who first enkindled it shall, by His own right
hand, pluck it from among the billows and set it as a light upon a
candlestick that it may give light to all that are in the house!
Neither Egypt of old, nor Babylon, nor Rome can destroy the royal
seed–out of all dangers, the Church must emerge the better for her
affliction.
"Out of Egypt have I called My Son," is a text worthy to be made a
proverb, for it is true all through the history of the chosen seed.
They are called out from among the surrounding race of rebels and, when
the call comes, none can hold them back. It were easier to restrain the
sun from rising than to hold the redeemed of the Lord in perpetual
servitude! "The Breaker has gone up before them, and their King at the
head of them"–who shall block up their road? God is still calling them
out and until the very last of His elect shall be gathered in, it shall
still stand true, "Out of Egypt"–and out of anywhere else that is like
Egypt; out of the worst and vilest places; out of the places where they
are held fast in bitter bondage, out of these–"have I called My Son."
At this time I shall, first, call your attention to the text in Hosea
according to the sense in which the Prophet first uttered it. He speaks
of the natural seed called out from the sheltering world, for Egypt was
a sheltering world to Israel, the natural seed, and they were called
out of it by the Omnipotent power of God. Secondly, we shall notice the
Divine Seed called out, literally, from a sheltering Egypt and brought
up from it into the land of Judea, that He might be the Glory of His
people Israel. Thirdly, we shall spend a little time in considering the
chosen seed, those who are given unto Christ of the Father–these,
also, must come out from the world, whether it is friendly or hostile.
The Lord has said to them, "This is not your rest, for it is polluted."
He is saying the same today. It is still true of the spiritual seed as
of our Lord Jesus and of the natural seed, "Out of Egypt have I called
My Son."
May the Holy Spirit be our Teacher while we handle this great subject.
I. Let us think of THE NATURAL SEED of Israel as called out of Egypt,
for with them this wonderful text began to be expounded. It is well
worth considering, for this constituted one of the loftiest lyrics of
Hebrew poetry. The deliverance of the people of God out of Egypt, "with
a high hand and with an outstretched arm," is a song which the nation
never wearied of singing–and which we ought never to weary of singing,
either–for at the close of all things, we and all the redeemed spirits
shall sing the song of Moses, the servant of God and of the Lamb!
The great redemption of the Exodus shall always be so eminent a type of
the greater redemption upon the Cross that the two may be blended
together and words that were sung concerning the first deliverance may
be readily enough used as expressions of our joy in our salvation from
death and Hell–
"From Egypt lately come, Where death and darkness reign, Seek our new,
our better Home, Where we our rest shall gain. Hallelujah! We are on
our way to God."
While speaking upon this natural seed I want you to notice, first, that
if they are to be called out of Egypt, they must first go down into
Egypt. They cannot come out of it if they have not first gone into it.
I do not know of anything that could have tempted them down into Egypt,
for it had nothing to offer which was better than Canaan, but the
fathers of the tribes were driven there by a famine which troubled the
whole world. The Lord sent a man before them, even Joseph, who laid up,
in store, food for the seven years of famine, and Israel went down into
Egypt that they might not die, but might be cherished by Joseph, who
had become lord of the land.
The Lord may, in order to prevent His people falling into a worse evil,
permit them to go into that which seems hopeful, but ultimately turns
out to be a great trial to them. Suffering is infinitely preferable to
sinning. The Lord may, therefore, send us sorrow to keep us from
iniquity. Dear Friend, the Lord who reads your heart may know that it
is absolutely necessary for you to be tried–and so, spiritually, to go
down into Egypt. He may send a famine to drive you there. He may place
you under great tribulations and so He may bring you down both mentally
and spiritually into a sad condition where you shall sigh and cry by
reason of bondage.
Do not look upon this as a strange thing, for all God's gold must pass
through the fire! It is one of the marks of God's elect that they are
afflicted! The Lord Jesus says, "As many as I love I rebuke and
chasten." Depend upon it that if
you are one of the true seed you must go down into Egypt! The Lord said
to Abraham, "Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a
land that is not theirs." The shield of the chosen bears the emblem of
a smoking furnace and a burning lamp. Even if the world shelters you,
it will sooner or later become to you the house of bondage–yet into
that house of bondage you must go, for there is a great educational
process going on in affliction to prepare us for the land which flows
with milk and honey!
Egypt is one of the early lessons. It is strangely early with
some–their religious life begins with a cloudy morning and threat of
storm. This will work them lasting good. "It is good for a man that he
bear the yoke in his youth." Therefore we have, "When Israel was a
child, then I loved Him and called My Son out of Egypt." The earliest
days of Israel were in Egypt; the nation, in its infancy, was called
from there. While the Divine life has not yet attained to maturity, we
meet with straits and troubles and have to go down into Egypt and feel
the weight of the yoke upon our shoulders. This is one of God's ways of
preparing us for freedom, for he that has never tasted of the
bitterness of bondage will never be able to appreciate the sweets of
the liberty with which Christ makes men free. So Israel must first go
down into Egypt. He descends that he may rise to greater heights!
Note, next, that it was while in Egypt and at the worst time of their
bondage in Egypt, that they received the first notification that the
nation was to be called the son of God. Israel is not called a son
until Moses comes to Pharaoh and says, "Israel is My Son, even My
first-born: and I say unto you, Let My Son go, that He may serve Me."
God had been with Abraham and called him His friend, but I do not
perceive that He called him His son, or that Abraham addressed the Lord
as, "Our Father which are in Heaven." Neither do I find similar sweet
words flowing from the lips of Isaac or of Jacob–but when Israel was
in bondage–then it was that the Lord revealed Israel's adoption and
openly declared, "Israel is My Son, even My first-born."
He scourges every son whom He receives and He receives them even while
the scourge is sorely bruising them! They were a poor down-trod
nation–a nation of slaves begrimed with brick-earth and bleeding
beneath the lash of their taskmasters! The Egyptians must have utterly
despised a people who yielded so readily to all their exactions. They
looked upon them as a herd of slaves who had not the spirit to rebel,
whatever cruelties they might endure. But now it is, while they are
lying among the pots and their faces are stained with tears, that the
Lord openly, before proud Pharaoh, owns the nation as His Son, saying,
"Israel is My Son, even My first-born." I think I see Pharaoh's grim,
sardonic smile as he seems to say, "Those slaves, those wretched
brick-makers whom the lowest of my people despise–if these are
Jehovah's first-born, what care I for Him or them?"
Learn therefore, dear Brothers and Sisters, that God is not ashamed of
His children when they are in their worst estate. We are told,
concerning our Lord Jesus, "For which cause He is not ashamed to call
them brethren." Yes, and not when they put on their beautiful array;
when the jewels are in their ears; when they are led forth with music
and dancing and when they shout over Egyptian chivalry drowned in the
Red Sea will they be more the Lord's children than they are in the
house of bondage! The Lord God speaks of their adoption for the first
time when they are still under the oppressor and when it seems
impossible that they can be rescued! The Lord speaks very plainly to
the haughty Pharaoh, "Let My Son go that He may serve Me; and if you
refuse to let Him go, behold I will slay your son, even your
first-born."
Oh, but is it not a blessed thing to go down into the Egypt of
tribulation if there, for the first time, we learn our adoption of the
Lord? Is it not a sweet thing, even, to be under the heaviest bondage
if you are, by such means, made to understand better than you ever did
before what it is to be a son and a heir, a joint-heir with Jesus
Christ? The first-born of every creature is He and we are the Church of
the First-Born whose names are written in Heaven! The heritage of the
first-born belongs to Jesus and to us in Him–and we often know this
best when our heart is broken because of sin and when our troubles are
overwhelming our spirit.
"Fear not," says He, "I will help you." "Fear not, you worm, Jacob, and
you men of Israel; I will help you, says the Lord and your Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel." Yes, it was in Egyptian bondage that they
received the first witness of the Spirit, that they were, as a people,
the sons of God! When it became clear that they were really the sons of
God, then they suffered persecution for it. A place which, as I have
said, was, at first, their shelter, now became the iron furnace of
oppression. Their hard labors are doubled; their male children were
ordered to be cast into the river and edicts of the most intolerable
kind were fulminated against them.
Now, Brethren, Satan soon knows the man that God has acknowledged to be
His son and he seeks to slay him even as Herod sought to kill Jesus.
When the Man-Child was born, the Dragon knew who that Man-Child was and
sought to
destroy Him. He vomited forth floods to sweep Him away, until we read
that the earth helped the woman and there were given to her wings of a
great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,
where she is nourished from the face of the serpent. No sooner is the
child of God really acknowledged to be such, than at once the seed of
the serpent will hiss about him–and if they can, will cast their venom
upon him. At any rate, they will bite at his heel till God has taught
him, in the name of Jesus, to break the serpent's head.
Rest assured that this is another mark of the election of Grace. All
that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. In
Ishmael's case, it was seen that he that is born after the flesh
persecutes him that is born after the Spirit, and so it is now. You
cannot expect to pass through this Vanity Fair without exciting the
jeers and sneers of the ungodly, for the Lord's inheritance is unto him
as a speckled bird–the birds round about her are against her. Every
David has his Saul; every Nehemiah his Sanballat and every Mordecai his
Haman.
But now comes the crown of the text, that is, "I have called My Son out
of Egypt," and out of Egypt, Israel must come! Egypt was not Israel's
portion–it was "a land that was not theirs." My Brothers and Sisters,
we are not citizens of "the great city which spiritually is called
Sodom and Egypt, where, also, our Lord was crucified." The best thing
in this present evil world is not your portion nor mine. Friendly
Egypt, sheltering Egypt, was not Israel's inheritance. He gave them no
portion, even, in the land of Goshen by a covenant of salt. They might
tarry there for a while, but out of it they must come, as it is
written, "You have brought a vine out of Egypt." The best side of the
world, when it seems warmest and most tender to us, is not the place
where we may lie down with comfort.
The bosom of our God–that is the true shelter of His people–and there
we must find rest. If we are dwelling in the world and are tempted to
be of the world–and to take up with the riches of Egypt–we must, by
Grace, be taught to cast all this behind our back, for we have not our
portion in this life, neither can we have our inheritance until we
enter upon the life that is to come. Jacob said on his death-bed, "Bury
me not, I pray you, in Egypt." And Joseph gave commandment concerning
his bones that they should not remain in Pharaoh's land. Even so, the
saints of God are weary of the world's dominions; they tremble like a
bird out of Egypt. Not in Egypt would God reveal Himself to His people.
What says He? "Come you out from among them: be you separate and I will
be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and daughters."
When He called Israel His son, it is in connection with this coming
out. "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." And you and I must be fetched
out from the world and all its associations–and truly severed from
it–if we are ever to come to know the Lord our God. In Egypt, God was
not known, but "in Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel."
His people must not permanently reside in a strange country. The land
of tombs was no fit home for a living people whose God was the living
God! Therefore it is written, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son" and
the heathen knew it, for they said, one to another, "Behold, there is a
people come out of Egypt."
There were many difficulties in connection with this calling of Israel
out of Egypt. Perhaps one of the chief obstacles was their own wish to
stay there, for, strange as it may seem, though it was a house of
bondage to them, they did not wish to stir from it at first! Their
spirit was broken by their sore bondage so that they did not receive
Moses and Aaron as they ought to have done, but they even chided them.
Ah, Brothers and Sisters, the chief work of God with us is to make us
willing to go out, willing, by faith, to follow Jesus–willing to count
the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt!
He did make them willing and they went out, at last, right joyfully,
marching in rank like a trained army! They did not need to be driven,
but hurried to escape out of the enemy's country.
Moreover, the Lord made them able to go, as well as willing, for it is
very beautiful to think that there were no sick people in the whole
nation of Israel at that time of the going out! We read–"There was not
one feeble person in all their tribes." What a splendid thing for a
whole nation to have no weaklings! There was no need to carry any in
the ambulance–they all went marching forth with steady foot out of the
dominions of Pharaoh! O child of God, has God given you the will to get
out of the bondage of the sin and the corruption of this crooked
generation? He that gives you the will, will give you the power!
Perhaps you are crying, "Who shall deliver me? To will is present with
me, but how to perform that which I would, I find not."
Rest assured that God, the Holy Spirit, who has given you the will,
will also give you the strength–and you shall come marching out of
Egypt, having eaten of the Paschal Lamb! The Lord stunned their
enemies, so that they begged them to be gone and bribed them to make
haste! With blow upon blow, He smote the Egyptians, till on that
dreadful night, when shrieks of pain went up from every house in Egypt,
the Egyptians hastened them to go. "We are all dead
men," they said, "unless you go!" Even their taskmasters urged them to
immediate flight. Our God knows how to make even the wicked men of the
world cast out the Christian–they cannot endure him when once his
adoption is made known! They grow tired of his melancholy presence;
tired of his convictions of sin and of that gloomy face which he
carries about with him, and they say, "Get out, get out, we cannot
endure you!" They perceive something in him which is foreign to
themselves and so they thrust him out. Egypt was glad when they
departed and so the world, itself, seems glad to be rid of the Lord's
elect when God's time is come to set a difference between Israel and
Egypt!
The spiritual meaning of all this is that from under the power of sin
of Satan and of the world, God will certainly call His own redeemed.
They shall not abide in the land of Egypt! Sin shall not be pleasant to
them! They shall not continue under Satan's power, but they shall break
his yoke from off their neck! The Lord will help them and strengthen
them, so that they shall clean escape from their former slavery. With a
high hand and an outstretched arm He brought up Israel out of the land
of Egypt–and with that same high hand and outstretched arm He will
save His own elect whom He has loved from before the foundations of the
world and whom He has purchased with His most precious blood! They,
too, shall sing as Israel did, "Sing unto the Lord, for He has
triumphed gloriously," in the day when God shall deliver them!
So far we have spoken of the natural seed.
II. Now we turn with pleasure to THE DIVINE SEED, the Man Christ Jesus.
He had to be called out by an angel from the sheltering Egypt into
which Joseph and His mother had fled with Him. I dare say when you have
read that passage in Hosea, you have said, "I cannot see that it has
anything to do with Christ." The passage in Hosea is evidently about
Israel, for God is speaking of Israel both before and after the verse.
But look–the natural seed of Israel is the shell of the egg of which
the Divine Seed is the life! God calls Israel His Son. Why? Because
within that nation lay that Seed which, afterwards, was known as the
Well-Beloved, the Son of the Highest. They were the shell and,
therefore, to be preserved for the sake of the Blessed One who,
according to the flesh, lay within the race!
I do not think the Lord would have cared about the Jews more than any
other nation if it had not been that in due time He was to be born of
them, even He in whom is His delight, that choice One of the Father,
the Son whom He loves. So when He brought His Son out of Egypt, it
means, first, that He rescued the external, nominal, outward sonship.
But the core, the living core within, is this Son, this true Son of
whom the Lord said, putting all others aside, "This is My beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased." And the passage, if I had time to show you,
could not be limited to Israel, for if it had been, it would lose much
of its accuracy.
Why, do you think, the passage was made so obscure? It is confessedly
obscure and anyone reading it without the spiritual teaching which
Matthew received would never have perceived that Christ was going down
into Egypt to fulfill that Word. I take it the reason of the obscurity
was this–that its fulfillment might be of the Lord, alone. Suppose His
father and mother had known these prophecies and had purposely set
themselves to fulfill them? There would have existed a kind of
collusion which would have beclouded the wonderful wisdom of God in
bearing testimony to His Son. Mary and Joseph may have known of this
prophecy, but I greatly question whether they perceived that it
referred to their son, at all, or to the Son of the Highest–but now
they must do the very thing that God says shall be done–without
knowing that they are fulfilling Scripture!
One of the worst things you and I can ever attempt, is to try and
fulfill a prophecy. Good mistress Rebecca wanted to fulfill a prophecy
and what a mess she made of it! She endeavored to make her second son
the heir and, in the attempt, she brought upon him and herself a world
of sorrow! Had she not better have let the prophecy alone? Surely, if a
prophecy is made of God, God will see that it comes to pass. If it is a
Chaldaic prophecy, a prophecy of soothsayers and magi, no doubt they
will try to make their own oracle true–but the Lord, who sees the end
from the beginning and ordains all things–can speak positively of the
future. If any of you set up for prophets, beware of prophesying till
you know that you can make it good! God does not need such petty
provision–He needs no help from us–His word will surely be
established! Mary and Joseph did not try to fulfill the prophecy, for
they could not have understood it to mean what it meant. It was
purposely put in a dark and cloudy form, but still the Lord knew what
He was doing–"That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord
by the Prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son."
Remember one thing, that all the Words of God in the Old Testament and
the New refer to Christ! And what is more, all the works of God have an
opened window towards Christ. Yes, I say that in the creation of the
world the central thought of God was His Son, Jesus, and He made the
world with a view to His death, Resurrection and glorious
reign! From every gnat that dances in the summer sunbeam up to the
great leviathan in the sea, the whole design of the world works toward
the Seed in whom the earth is blessed! In Providence it is just the
same–every event, from the fall of a leaf to the rise of a
monarchy–is linked with the kingdom of Jesus! I have not time to show
this, but it is so, and if you choose to think it over, you will
clearly perceive it.
God set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the
children of Israel–and everything that has happened, or ever shall
happen in the outside world–all has a look towards the Christ and that
which comes of the Christ! I love to find Jesus everywhere–not by
twisting the Psalms and other Scriptures to make them speak of Christ
when they do nothing of the kind, but by seeing Him where He truly is.
I would not err as Cocceius did, of whom they said his greatest fault
was that he found Christ everywhere, but I would far rather err in his
direction than have it said of me, as of another divine of the same
period, that I found Christ nowhere!
Would it not be better to see Him where He is not than to miss Him
where He is? The Pattern of the things on earth is in Heaven–is, in
fact, in Jesus, the Son of God! He is the Pattern according to which
the Tabernacle and the Temple were built. Yes, and the Pattern
according to which this brave world was made–and worlds which are yet
to be revealed. All the treasures of the wisdom of God are hidden in
Christ–and in Christ they are made manifest. I do not wonder,
therefore, that this passage in Hosea should point to Him! It is
certain that our blessed Lord is, in the highest sense, the Son of God.
"Out of Egypt have I called My Son,"
Write the word, SON, in capitals–and it must mean Him–it cannot, with
emphasis, mean anyone else! I would rather give up the idea that Hosea
even thought of Israel, than think that the Holy Spirit did not intend
that we should see Jesus in those memorable words, "My Son." It came to
pass that our Lord must find no room in Israel and so must go down into
Egypt. There was no room for the young Child in the inn and, now, the
Edomite, the child-devouring Herod, has risen and there is no room for
the new-born King anywhere in Palestine! Alas, how sad a picture of the
visible Church where Christ, at times, can find no room!
What with contending sects, Pharisees and Sadducees, there would seem
to be no more room for Christ in the Church, today, than there used to
be. By fear of Herod, His parents are made anxious, and by angelic
direction they must go down into Egypt, where Herod's warrant would not
run. Heathen Egypt will shield, while hypocritical Judea will slay!
Jesus, like another Joseph, must be carried down into Egypt, that the
young Child's life may be preserved. Here He has a foretaste of His
life trials and early begins His life of affliction. The King of the
Jews flees from His own dominions! The Lord of All must know the heart
of a stranger in the land of Egypt! The poet represents His mother as
saying–
"Through the desert wild and dreary,
Following tracts explored by few,
Sad at heart, and worn, and weary,
We, our toilsome march, pursue.
Israel's homes lie far behind us,
Yet we pause not to look back,
Lest the keen pursuer find us,
Lest grim murder scent our track.
Eagles o'er our heads are whirling,
Each careering towards her nest;
Even the wolf and fox are stealing
To the covert of their rest.
Every fowl and noxious creature
Finds on earth its lair and bed
But the infant Lord of Nature
Has not where to lay His head.
Yes, my Babe, sweet sleep enfolds You
On Your fainting mother's arm;
God in His great love beholds You,
Angels guard Your rest from harm.
Earth and Hell in vain beset You,
Kings against Your life conspire!
But our God can ne'er forget You,
Nor His arm that shields You, tire."
Mark well, that if the Lord Jesus Christ had willed it, even though but
a Babe, He might have blasted Herod as He did another Herod in later
days. And He might have made him to be eaten of worms. The glorious
Jehovah could have sent a legion of angels and have driven the Idumaean
dynasty from off the throne, if so it had pleased Him. But no violence
was used–a gentler course was chosen. When Jesus stands up to fight,
He wars by nonresistance. He says, "My Kingdom is not of this world,
else would My servants fight." He conquers by flight rather than by
fight. He taught His people, when persecuted in one city, to flee to
another. And He never bid them form bands and battle with their
persecutors. That is not according to Christ's Law or example! A
fighting church is the devil's church, but a bearing and enduring
Church–that is Christ's Church.
His parents fled with Him by night and took Him down into Egypt, that
He might be sheltered there. Traditions tell us wonderful stories about
what happened when Jesus went into Egypt, but as none of them are
Inspired, I need not waste your time with them. The only one that might
look like fact is that His parents sheltered themselves in a temple
wherein idol gods were and when the Child entered, all the images fell
down. Certainly, if not actually true, it is a poetical description of
that which happens wherever the Holy Child puts in an appearance! Every
idol god falls before Him! Down he must go, whether it is Dagon, or
Baal, or Ashtaroth, or whatever the god may be called! Yes, and he that
wears the triple tiara on the seven hills and calls himself the vicar
of God on earth–he, too, must come down–and all his empire must sink
like a millstone in the flood!
We do not know how the young Child and Joseph and Mary lived in Egypt
except that they had received gold from the Magi and that, being a
carpenter, not a hedge carpenter, but one skilled in joinery and
repairing wheels, Joseph could find plenty of work in Egypt where vast
multitudes of Jews were already settled. Whether our Lord was carried
to Alexandria or not, we cannot tell. The probability is that He was
housed there, for it was the great rendezvous of the nation and the
center of their learning–there the Bible had been translated into the
Greek tongue–and there flourished schools of Jews much more liberal
than those in Judea. It is, therefore, not unlikely that the Prince of
Peace went to that region where we have most unhappily illustrated
Christianity with cuts–not all of wood, nor all innocent of blood.
But Jesus could not stay in Egypt. "Out of Egypt have I called My Son."
His parents, by a brave act of faith, went back at the command of the
angel, to the Holy Land–Your land, O Immanuel! Jesus could not stay in
Egypt, for He was no Egyptian! He did not come to exercise a ministry
among the Egyptians. He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel in His public working. Being called out of Egypt, the heavenly
vision was not disobeyed. His foster-parent, Joseph, took Him back and
they settled in Nazareth. Yet remember, He had been in Egypt and this
was a prophecy of blessing to that land–for wherever Jesus goes, the
air is sweetened!
Every plot of land that His foot has ever trod on shall be His forever.
What said God to Jacob? "The land whereon you lie will I give you." And
the same is true to Jacob's great descendant! Jesus has slept in Egypt
and Egypt is His own. God has given it to Him and His it shall be!
Glory be to His blessed name!
III. Let us turn to think of THE CHOSEN SEED that shall be brought out
of Egypt. Here I would remark that this passage may be taken and should
be taken, literally. God has a chosen people who shall assuredly come
out of the very Egypt which now exists. It is remarkable that early in
the Gospel day the Truth of God was gladly received in Egypt. Egypt
became the land of saints and divines and, as it had once been the
source and home of civilization, so it became an active camp for the
soldiers of the Cross. Under the successors of Mohammed, all this was
swept away and now the Crescent's baneful beam falls where once the
heavenly sun shed out its infinite Glory and scattered health among the
sons of men.
Egypt did turn to God and it will turn again. Let me read you this
passage (Isaiah 19)–"In that day shall five cities in the land of
Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of Hosts; one
shall be called the city of destruction. In that day shall there be an
altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar at the
border thereof to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a
witness unto the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry
unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and He shall send them a
Savior, and a great one, and He shall deliver them. And the Lord shall
be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day,
and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yes, they shall vow a vow unto the
Lord and perform it. And the Lord shall smite Egypt: He shall smite and
heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall be
entreated of them, and shall heal them. In that day shall there be a
highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into
Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyp-
tians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the
third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the
land: whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My
people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance."
So that we feel clear that our God has yet a son to call out of Egypt
and He will call him. There shall be a seed to serve Him even in the
midst of the down-trod people who live by the Nile floods, for God has
said it. There is one passage to which I should like to refer you,
because it is so full of comfort. (Jeremiah 43:12)–"And He shall array
Himself with the land of Egypt"–think of that–putting it on as Joseph
put on his coat of many colors! "As a shepherd puts on his garment; and
He shall go forth from thence in peace." Yet shall Christ wear, as a
robe of honor, this land of Egypt! And again shall it be true, "Out of
Egypt have I called My son" Let us learn from this, that out of the
strangest and oddest places God will call His son. Certain Brethren
among us go the lodging houses in Mint Street, Kent Street and other
places. Can any good thing come out of them? Assuredly, it can, for,
"Out of Egypt have I called My son."
Out of Thieves' Acre and Ketch's Warren, saints shall come! Some of
you, perhaps, know of holes and corners in London where a decent person
scarcely dares to be seen–do not pass by these abominable haunts, for
out of such Egypts will the Lord call His sons! The worst field is
often the most hopeful. Here is virgin soil, unplowed, untilled. What
harvests may be won by willing workers! Oh you brave hands, thrust in
the plowshare and break up this neglected soil, for thus says the Lord,
"Out of Egypt have I called My son." Many of you who live in the midst
of Israel and hear the Gospel every day remain disobedient–but some
from the lowest and vilest parts of the earth shall yet be called with
an effectual calling– and they shall obey, for it is written–"Out of
Egypt have I called My Son."
But we will take the text and conclude with it in a spiritual sense.
All men are in Egypt, spiritually, but God calls out His own sons. Sin
is like Pharaoh, a tyrant that will not yield. He will not let men go,
but he shall let them go, for God says, "Out of Egypt have I called My
Son." We are in a world which is the destroyer of Grace as Pharaoh was
the destroyer of Israel's little ones. You do not think a good thought
but what it is laughed out of you! You scarcely catch a word of
Scripture, but as soon as you get home you are compelled to forget it.
Nevertheless, out of that– "Out of Egypt have I called My Son." You
shall yet be delivered! Put you your trust in Jesus Christ, for, "to as
many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God."
And He will call every son of His out of Egypt.
Perhaps you are in the dark, as the Egyptians were during the plague,
or as when God turned the dark side of the pillar to Egypt. Ah, but if
you are one of His–if you will but trust Jesus, which is the mark of
being God's elect–out of darkness will God call you! Out of thick
Egyptian night will He fetch you and your eyes shall be made glad with
the light of the Gospel of Christ! Perhaps you dwell in the midst of
superstition, for the Egyptians were horribly given to
superstition–but yet out of that will God call His people! I look to
see priests converted! I hope to see leaders of the Gospel found among
men that were once steeped to the throat in superstition! Why not? "Out
of Egypt have I called My Son."
Where did Luther come from but from the monastery? And he preached the
Word of God with thunder and lightning from Heaven–and God blessed it
to the emancipation of nations! He will bring others of that kind–out
of all sorts of ignorance and superstition He will fetch them to the
praise of the Glory of His Grace! I feel encouraged to pray for those
who appear to be hopeless! I feel as if I must cry to God, "Bring them
out of Egypt, Lord, the worst, the vilest." You, here, that know what
Egypt is and are in it, and know you are in it, oh, believe that the
Emancipator has come! The Redeemer has appeared! With an offering of
blood He has stood before God and given Egypt for a ransom, Ethiopia
and Seba for you! Oh, that He might win those with power whom He has
bought with price! And to Him be Glory, world without end. Amen.
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Despair Denounced and Grace Glorified