Soon after Jesus was born, magi from the east went to Jerusalem, seeking to worship Him. When King Herod heard of this, he was troubled. He inquired of the birth place of Jesus and then secretly called the magi to determine accurately from them the time that the star appeared in order to destroy Him (Matt. 2:1-8). But an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the child and His mother and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you.” Joseph arose and took the child and His mother by night and departed into Egypt. They stayed there until Herod died (vv. 13-15). This fulfilled the prophecy of the prophet Hosea: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, / And out of Egypt I called My son” (11:1).
Hosea’s prophecy not only explains the fact that Joseph took Mary and Jesus and fled into Egypt. It further reveals that in Christ’s first coming He was in union with Israel as the Son of God by fleeing to Egypt and by being called out of Egypt. In the matter of being the Son of God, Christ was joined to the Israelites. Although Israel became exceedingly evil, Christ still became organically one with them through incarnation to be a real Israelite.
After the death of King Herod, who sought the life of Jesus, Joseph and Mary took Jesus and returned to Galilee, settling in Nazareth. This was “so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matt. 2:23). The word prophets, in plural, indicates that this is not a particular prophecy but a summary of the significance of several prophecies. The title Nazarene may refer to the branch in Isaiah 11:1, which in Hebrew is netzer. The branch there, signifying Christ, is a sprout out of the stump of Jesse, the father of David.
By the time Jesus was born, the throne of David had been overthrown. This means that the royal stem of David had been cut off. Now a new sprout came forth from the stump of Jesse and grew out of his roots. This sprouting and growing were in a situation of humiliation. Jesus was not born in a recognized and honored royal home, nor did He grow up in a renowned city such as Jerusalem. Rather, He was born in a poor home and grew up in a despised town. All this made Him a Nazarene, a branch—not a lofty branch of a stately tree, but a seemingly insignificant sprout from the stump of Jesse. Although Jesus was a Nazarene, within Him was the Spirit of God, the glory of God. As the prophet Isaiah prophesied, “Then a sprout will come forth from the stump of Jesse, / And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. / And the Spirit of Jehovah will rest upon Him, / The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, / The Spirit of counsel and might, / The Spirit of knowledge and the fear of Jehovah” (Isa. 11:1-2). The Spirit of counsel and might here equals the wisdom and power in 1 Corinthians 1:24, which tells us that Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. He is the wisdom which gives counsel and the power which gives might. What a humble yet precious Savior He is!
Isaiah 53:2 prophesies of Christ, saying, “He grew up like a tender plant before Him, / And like a root out of dry ground. / He has no attracting form nor majesty that we should look upon Him, / Nor beautiful appearance that we should desire Him.” In the Bible plants often typify humanity. For Christ to grow up like a tender plant before Jehovah means that Christ grew up before Him in His humanity. In His divinity Christ has always been perfect and complete, and thus there was no need for Him to grow in His divinity. However, He needed to grow in His humanity. First, He was born as a child, and then He grew up into boyhood and eventually into manhood.
He grew up in humanity not only like a tender plant but also like a root out of dry ground. Dry ground signifies a difficult environment. Our Lord was born to a poor carpenter’s family, became the son of a carpenter, and grew up in the city of Nazareth of the despised region of Galilee (John 1:46; Matt 13:53-57). Like a root out of dry ground, He grew up in the midst of hard circumstances. He did not have a physically attractive form nor an appearance that people would desire. Isaiah 52:14 says, “Even as many were astonished at Him— / His visage was marred more than that of any man, / And His form more than that of the sons of men.” The Jews thought the Messiah would be admired by people, like Moses and David, who were attractive in appearance (Acts 7:20; 1 Sam. 16:12). The Jews also thought that when the Messiah came, there would be the royal scepter, an open ceremony, and the support of the people. But they never thought the Messiah, the anointed One of God, Christ the Servant of God, would grow up in Nazareth of Galilee like a root out of dry ground. His visage and form were marred, having no attractiveness or majesty, such that He was reckoned as nearly fifty years old when He was thirty (John 8:57). This certainly astonished the Jews. Our Lord is altogether lovely, altogether beautiful, and altogether rich, but these features are not visible to the naked eyes; only spiritual eyes can see them.