[3am]

The following text has been a real puzzle for dispensational scholars:
Mat 2:14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew is referring to the OT prophet Hoesa's statement:
Hosea 11:11 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.

A careful reading of the OT text in Hosea 11 reveals that statement is simply a Historical fact or narrative. It does not contain the slightest hint that it is a prophecy nor is there anything in it that needs to be fulfilled. So why did Matthew say that Jesus went to Egypt and back in order to fulfill that verse?
Here is where the dispensationalist approach breaks down. The OT by itself is an incomplete revelation of God's plan. The NT further unfolds the basic principles inherent, but not obvious in the OT. That is the reason there is so much confusion concerning the prophecies.

God called Israel his "firstborn son."
Exodus 4: 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,
This is a very revealing point. It indicates that Israel was far more than a nation that was destined to live in a land. Israel pointed forward to something much greater than itself. This is explicitly revealed in the New Testament.
Matthew is showing unequivocally that the entire history of the nation of Israel was a type pointing forward to Christ. Jesus is the antitype, or fulfillment of Israel's history.

Israel was baptized in the sea (1Cor 10.2), Jesus was baptized in the River.
After baptism, Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years to be tempted by the devil. After baptism, Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness for 40 days.
Moses struck the rock and water came flowing forth to quench the thirst of his people. Jesus was struck, and poured out living water to save his people.
God sent manna [bread] to feed the people. Jesus is the bread of life.

Jesus went over the same ground that Israel went over, but Jesus succeeded where Israel failed.

Even Adam was a type of Christ (Rom 5:14). God put Adam to sleep and took something out of his side which he used to make his bride, Eve. Likewise, Jesus went to sleep and out of his side flowed blood and water which forms His bride, the church.

Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the Entire Old Testament.
He is the seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15)
The nation of Israel could have had it all, had they embraced their Messiah.
Now they can still have it all, in Him. Not as a literal nation, but as something even better, a part of the body of Christ who is the true "Firstborn Son" and the true Israel of God.

So the question is, Was Matthew correct in saying that Jesus was the fulfillment of Israel's journey into Egypt and back?
3am