It had been ordained of God, that every possible evidence should concur to establish beyond a doubt the Messiahship of Jesus —
[Nothing could be conceived more unlikely than that Jesus the Messiah should be brought forth out of Egypt. He was to be born at Bethlehem e, and to be educated at Nazareth f. How, then, should it be possible for him to be brought out of Egypt? Behold, the rage and envy of Herod shall stimulate him to seek his utter destruction ; and to secure it, by the de- struction of all the infants from two years old and under, in all the vicinity of the place where Jesus was born. But, to defeat this murderous plot, an angel shall instruct Joseph to take the infant and its mother by night into Egypt ; and there shall they be preserved in safety, till Herod himself is dead : and thus, without any design on the part of man, yea, through the mur- derous rage alone of this jealous prince, is the prophecy ful- filled ; and the most convincing evidence is given, that Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour of the world.
In this view, as confirming the faith of all Believers to the very end of the world, is this prophecy pre-eminently import- ant; since it was beyond the power of man ever to imagine such an incident ; and since it took place only through the cruelty of him who sought to destroy Christ as soon as he was come into the world.]
Let us further consider,
III. Its mystical import, as applicable to the Israel of God in all ages —
It is well known that the whole deliverance of Israel from Egypt was a type of the deliverance of God's Israel from sin and Satan, death and hell. Taking, then, the passage in that view, we see in it,
1. The sovereignty of his grace —
[There is not a child of God, at whatever period he was converted to the faith of Christ, but was loved of God before the foundation of the world. Of every one of them it may be said, " God hath loved us with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness hath he drawn usg." To this all the
Scriptures bear witness11 And therefore, if we be God's
children, we must bear in mind to whose sovereign grace alone we owe it : " We have not chosen him ; but he has chosen us1."]
2. The work which he has ordained to accomplish in all his people —
e Matt. ii. 5, 6. f Matt. ii. 22, 23. e Jer. xxxi. 3.
11 Eph. i. 4, 5. 2 Tim. i. 9. * John xv. 16.