The Prophetic Saving of a People and a Nation – Matthew

There are two accounts of the story of Christ’s birth recorded in the Word. One is in Matthew and the other in Luke. In Matthew, we find the story in chapter 1:18-25 and chapter 2. The focus here is on the virgin birth, the visitation of the Magi to the Christ child, and the attempt of Satan, working through Herod, to destroy God’s plan. How is it missed that this is a prophetic story start to finish? After nearly 400 years of silence, God started speaking. We see that God spoke to humans in dreams and via angelic hosts, to cause His plans to come to pass. He had to be very clear, and He had to trust that the the humans He was sharing His plans with would believe Him! This wasn’t exactly normal at the time. Joseph and Mary each had to do exactly what He told them to do, and quicky! He also prophetically outwitted Satan’s borrowing of Herod. He gave instructions in a dream to the Magi. They don’t appear to be His people, yet they were drawn into His plan and had to act on His revelation, as well. That’s a whole lot of trust in humanity, if you ask me. What was it about the things He said and the way He said them that caused them to participate in His plan to save humanity? Stop and think about that.

“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b-21; NIV)

“And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.” (Matthew 2:12; NIV)

“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’” (Luke 2:13; NIV)

Give Him 15 minutes in prayer:

• Pray for revelation, then read Matthew 1:18-25 and chapter 2, as if you have never read them before. Notice what God had to do to cause His plan to come to pass. What was He overcoming in the hearts of each character. How did He move around the government structure?
• In this prophetic season, ask God to open up the hearts of the whole Body of Christ to the prophetic gifts of God.
• Repent on behalf of the Church that we have been okay with many in Christ’s body not believing He still speaks to us in dreams, visions, and angelic visitations.
• Tell the Lord that you are open to being led prophetically to see the lost and our nation saved.
• Intercede for the lost in America.

A prayer you can pray:

Father, we are in a season where we are reminded that You speak to Your people in dreams and visions. You want us to “hear” what the Spirit is saying to the Church. As we read and ponder the story of Christmas in Matthew, show us how You worked prophetically to cause Your ultimate plan to come to pass. We repent for the Church thinking it is okay to not believe You can and do still speak to us this way. You are still speaking. You still give dreams and vision, warnings, and direction through dreams and visions. We welcome the ways You want to lead us, Father. We repent of deciding how we will communicate with You. May Your Church be a prophetically led Church that is grounded deeply in Your Word. Show us how to reach the lost. Show us how to save a nation. In Jesus’ glorious name, we pray, amen.

Today’s decree:

The whole Church will hear Him prophetically and this nation will be saved!