But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. Matthew 2:19-23

God works in mysterious ways, we heard this phrase a million times, but when you read the Bible you see how God works in ways we can’t even comprehend. Just when you think the fight is lost, God shows you He is in complete control. While Jesus time in Egypt was temporary and a fulfillment of prophecy, the time has come for Christ to come back home

Notice how accurate the Messianic prophecies are, the Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), The Messiah would then go to Egypt (Hosea 11:1) , however when we reflect about the Christ being a Nazarene, its more of a cumulative case. This is why many were probably confused about the Messiah

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isaiah 11:1

The word “Nazarene” in Hebrew means “Branch” , as we know Isaiah 11:1 is a prophecy of the Messiah, as the stem of Jesse is the line of David. The Messiah will come from the Line of David, as we see the genealogy of Christ  at the beginning of Matthew 1:6 “And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;”

Jesus the Nazarene is the Branch of Jesse. Again you can use the words Nazarene and Branch interchangeably. 

I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Acts 26:9

It’s clear that the Apostles and early Chistians, identified the Messiah as Jesus of Nazareth. As we learned earlier Nazarene is actually a Messianic title. As we also remember Jesus was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth (Luke 4:16-24) Just as the name Bethlehem had significant meaning , also the name Nazareth has significant meaning also

So as the disciple asked “Can anything good come out of Nazareth”? The answer is Yes, the Christ, Son of God came out of Nazareth to save us from our sins Amen!