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Neotserene

Words of Faith Final

Neotserene

Words of Faith 1-8-2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

www.faithfellowshipweb.com

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Matthew 2

    [19] After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt [20] and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

    [21] So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. [22] But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, [23] and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

   

      At a very young age, Jesus was repatriated to his homeland from Egypt.  The Lord directed Joseph through a dream to return.  The family did not return to Bethlehem because Archelaus, one of Herod's sons, was now reigning. It seems he inherited all of Herod's worst character flaws and then some. 

      So, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus moved to Nazareth in the north, where Antipas, another son of Herod ruled with more stability.  Evidence indicates that many families from Bethlehem settled in this area, perhaps due to Herod's brutality. 

        Matthew reminds us that this was no coincidence.  The move to Nazareth fulfilled what the prophets had foretold.  Actually, no single text says, He will be called a Nazarene.  But the word Nazarene is very close to the word Neotser meaning branch or shoot.   Matthew was probably referring to several prophetic references that speak of the Messiah as a branch or shoot.

      Jeremiah 23:5 - "The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.

      Zech. 3:8 - " 'Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.

       Zech. 6:12 - Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the Temple of the Lord.

       Isaiah 11:1 - A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

       The child Jesus who migrated from Judea and resettled with His family in Nazareth was a shoot or branch from Bethlehem's Davidic town.  Jesus is the branch, the neotser spoken of in the Scripture.  The Body of Christ, the church—all who claim the name of Christ-- are also the shoot or "neotser" of the Anointed One that grew out of the branch of Judaism.  Even Gentiles who are grafted in to the olive tree of Judaism are Neotserene because we are part of the shoot that came up from the stump of Jesse.    

      Does Jesus live in your heart by the presence of the Holy Spirit?  Are you born again by the power of His Spirit?  Do you follow the Nazarene?  Then you, too, are a Neotserene.  Give thanks.

 

        Lord, I give thanks for Your sovereign plan.  Thank You for sending Your Son, the Anointed One of God, and making me a Nazarene.  In Jesus' name.

 

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2021

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.