On Hosea 11:1 and Matthew 2:15

Narrator: Chris Genthree
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The notion of the application of the words in Hosea, “I have called my Son out of Egypt,” to Christ, is ridiculed by rationalists. Now, I affirm distinctly that it is according to the tenor of scripture testimony, and quite rightly applied. It is a great leading truth.
If you look at Isa. 49, you will see Messiah distinctly presented as taking the place of Israel. I think we have spoken, when on the pseudo-Isaiah of infidels, of the elect servant of Israel, Christ the elect Servant, and the remnant the elect servant of the last days. But this chapter 49 is more definite. Israel is first presented as Jehovah's witness in the earth, as the polished shaft in His quiver. “Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said,” exclaims Messiah, “I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for naught and in vain.” And so it was with Christ on earth. “But now, saith Jehovah, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, and to be my salvation to the end of the earth.” That is, Israel is presented as the servant of the Lord; but when Christ comes, if it were so, His labor was in vain, and then Christ (though to restore the remnant in due time) is Himself God's Servant, and light goes forth to the Gentiles.
This is the passage Paul so strikingly quotes as justifying his turning from the Jews to the Gentiles, when the former rejected his message. Christ takes the place of Israel under the law, Israel after the flesh. This He does all through John, though in a higher way, as revealed Son of God. Hence, in chapter 15, He proclaims Himself as the true vine. Israel was the well-known vine, and, as remarked before, Messiah was to be the best branch, the topmost bough. But Israel is set aside. The true Vine, as the true Servant, is Christ. Israel was Jehovah's son, His first-born; but Christ was the Son, the true First-born of every creature. Hence, as rejected by Israel, He begins Israel's whole history afresh, and, as not deriving His position from the people, He is called out of Egypt to begin their history according to God. I am not saying whether scripture be wise or foolish; I believe it divinely wise; but this is not my question now. What I say is, it is the system of scripture to substitute Christ for Israel, the Second Adam for the first, and that what wholly failed as founded on the responsibility of man was taken up afresh in the perfect and unfailing Son of God. Indeed this is true, as we have seen, as to every principle of God's dealings with men, but I now speak only of Israel. And hence Matthew or the New Testament, citing the Old Testament scripture, uses it rightly according to the intended scope of scripture. People may quarrel with scripture, but they cannot say that Matthew quotes, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son,” in a way not according to the intention of scripture. It is the system and plan of scripture, of the Old Testament itself, thus to transfer passages from Israel, the provisional son, to Christ, the true Son.