18 These are the facts concerning the birth of Jesus Christ: His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph, her fiancé, being a man of stern principle, decided to break the engagement but to do it quietly, as he didn’t want to publicly disgrace her.
20 As he lay awake considering this, he fell into a dream, and saw an angel standing beside him. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “don’t hesitate to take Mary as your wife! For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a Son, and you shall name him Jesus (meaning ‘Saviour’), for he will save his people from their sins. 22 This will fulfill God’s message through his prophets—
23 ‘Listen! The virgin shall conceive a child! She shall give birth to a Son, and he shall be called “Emmanuel” (meaning “God is with us”).’”
24 When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel commanded and brought Mary home to be his wife, 25 but she remained a virgin until her Son was born; and Joseph named him “Jesus.”
Luke 2 TLB
The coming of Jesus into the world as a baby was heralded by supernatural dreams, visions and appearances of angels.
What about this Joseph... what an amazing guy he was.
Firstly, when he found that Mary was pregnant, he didn't want to bring her into public disgrace, as some men might have done.
He obviously had a deep love for her and wanted to preserve her dignity as much as possible.
Today, having a child out of wedlock isn't the shame as it was back then, so we don't feel the same impact of Joseph's care for Mary.
When he had the dream of an angel appearance, he didn't dismiss it as "wishful thinking", but took it as God's message.
It wasn't just any old message, it was backed by Bible prophecy:
Isaiah 7:14 AMPCTherefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].
Joseph, it seems, was familiar with this scripture.
It was the confirmation of the validity of the dream.
That's a lesson for us all.
Yes, the Lord does speak in dreams and visions, but these must be tested against God's Word.
A dream or vision from the Lord will never contradict scripture.
Contrast this with, a famous married Christian leader who was led astray by a divorcee who proclaimed that he was her "Mister Right". So he left his wife and married her.
This was in direct contradiction of his marriage vows and scripture, of which he was very aware.
Thank God for Joseph, whose faith, love and obedience to God brought Jesus to be born in Bethlehem as had been long promised
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