Destination-Driven Dreams

In this message, Chuck Swindoll explores Matthew 2:13–23, examining how God supernaturally guided Joseph to protect the young Messiah from the murderous rage of King Herod. Swindoll notes that while God used dreams and angels to direct the Holy Family because the Scriptures were incomplete and the Holy Spirit did not yet indwell believers, He leads believers differently today.

Swindoll begins by debunking superstitious methods of finding God’s will—such as looking for signs in clock numbers or picking random verses—and outlines five biblical ways God leads us now: through salvation, His written Word, the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit, wise counsel, and internal peace.

Turning to the narrative, Swindoll follows the “destination-driven dreams” that moved Joseph from Bethlehem to Egypt, and finally to Nazareth. He highlights Joseph’s immediate obedience to life-altering commands and concludes with three practical disciplines for discerning God’s will:

1. The Discipline of Trusting: When God’s will is sudden and quick (fleeing to Egypt).
2. The Discipline of Waiting: When God’s will is surprising or confusing (avoiding Judea because of Archelaus).
3. The Discipline of Accepting: When God’s will is “mysteriously mundane” (living in obscurity in Nazareth) [38–40].

Message Key Facts:

• How God Leads Today: Swindoll lists five prerequisites for discerning God’s will in the modern age:
  1. Salvation: You must be a Christian to be connected to the Source (Romans 8:14).
  2. The Written Word: God leads through intelligent study of Scripture, not “magic verses” found by letting the wind blow the pages open.
  3. Inner Promptings: The Holy Spirit acts as a “Divine GPS,” convicting us of wrong and illuminating truth [11–12].
  4. Wise Counsel: Consulting mature, objective believers who will ask hard questions [12–13].
  5. Inner Peace: Allowing the peace of God to act as an “umpire” in your heart (Colossians 3:15).
• The Five Dreams: Swindoll points out that the phrase “in a dream” appears five times across Matthew 1 and 2, highlighting the supernatural method God used to protect the Messianic line before the canon of Scripture was complete [18–20].
• Herod’s Brutality: To explain the massacre of the innocents, Swindoll profiles Herod the Great as a “monster” who murdered his own wife, mother-in-law, and three sons. He notes that Caesar once said, “It is better to be Herod’s pig (hus) than his son (huios)” [29–30].
• The “Nazarene” Prophecy: Swindoll addresses the difficulty of Matthew 2:23, “He will be called a Nazarene,” noting that this specific phrase does not appear in the Old Testament. He explains that just as Jesus’ saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) is not in the Gospels, some prophetic truths were passed down orally or represented a summary of the prophets’ general teaching [36–37].
• The Discipline of Obscurity: Using the example of Hudson Taylor, who spent years in a poor section of London before founding the China Inland Mission, Swindoll encourages those living in “mundane” seasons (like Jesus in Nazareth) to view them as preparation for future work [41–43].

Message References:

• Matthew 2:13–23: The primary text detailing the flight to Egypt, the massacre of the innocents, and the return to Nazareth.
• Psalm 23: Referenced as a picture of the sheep thanking the Shepherd for guidance.
• Romans 8:14: “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the children of God”.
• Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path”.
• Colossians 3:15: “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts”.
• Hosea 11:1: The prophecy fulfilled by the flight to Egypt: “I called my son out of Egypt”.
• Jeremiah 31:15: The prophecy fulfilled by Herod’s slaughter: “Rachel weeps for her children”.
• Acts 20:35: Used to illustrate that not every divine saying was written down in the primary texts.

Message Speaker:

Pastor Chuck Swindoll