“Out of Egypt I Have Called My Son”


From the beginning of His life, Jesus fulfilled the redemptive story of Israel. In Genesis, Jacob’s clan fled to Egypt to escape famine. There they multiplied and were enslaved. But God brought them out with a mighty hand through the waters of the Red Sea. He redeemed them from slavery, delivered them from Egypt, and brought them to the land of Promise. The redemption of God’s people in the Old Testament was a prefiguration of the eternal redemption to be provided by the Messiah.

Even in infancy, the Messiah went into and came out of Egypt, just as the Israelites had done centuries before. He reenacted the Route of Redemption. He commemorated the Exodus. He replicated the journey of His people, identifying with them, taking them in and bringing them out. His very childhood was a mirror image of the entire story of redemption, as it had been portrayed in the Exodus and as it would be provided by Calvary.

Out of Egypt I have called My Son.