Just Who Was Joseph?
Joseph has to be one of my favorite Christmas characters, yet we don’t know much about him. We see him at the birth of Jesus, but the last time we see reference to him is when Jesus is 12 years old at the temple, however in the few verses that we do read about him I know that I like him.
In Matthew’s description of Joseph, it says that he was a righteous man. According to Webster’s Dictionary righteous means acting in accord with divine or moral law. Only Noah, Abraham and maybe a few others were described that way in the Bible without being covered by the righteousness of Christ. Joseph was not sinless, but tried to live his life according to the way God wanted him to live.
Can you imagine how he must have felt when he heard that Mary, the woman who was going to be his wife, was pregnant? He had never even been with her, so whose baby was it? What would others think about him or her for that matter? What was he to do? Should he just stop the marriage in hopes of protecting her?
Before he could make the wrong decision, God sent his angel to speak to Joseph in a dream. God had hand-picked him to be the earthly father of Jesus, to raise Him, to teach Him, to love and nurture Him. God had chosen the perfect man to go along with the perfect woman to be the parents of His beloved child.
The angel confirmed that Joseph should marry the woman he was engaged to since the baby was divinely conceived by the Holy Spirit. The angel also declared that the child’s name should be Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins.
After the dream Joseph wasted no time in obeying the instructions God had given to him. He didn’t seek out the counsel of his friends or listen to the questions of his family; He obeyed unconditionally because he knew God and was sure that he could trust what God was telling him to do.
After Jesus’ birth an angel of the Lord again appeared to Joseph to provide him with more instructions—take Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt until things were safe enough to return and again we see immediate action on his part. And then there is a final visit from an angel where Joseph is given further directions about where to raise Jesus as his son—in Nazareth.
Each of the encounters that Joseph had were part of God’s plans to fulfill prophecy: the virgin birth, the escape to Egypt and that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. Joseph heard from God; Joseph listened to God; Joseph obeyed God; and Joseph was used by God to bring about His plan and His purpose.
Do you know Him well enough to discern His voice? How do you react to His difficult instructions? Do you obey readily and hastily? How has God used you to bring about His plan?
I can’t wait to meet Joseph someday and hear more about his life with Jesus, but most of all I look forward to telling him what an encouragement he has been to me… how a simple man, doing the right thing day after day can make a difference in the world.
Matthew 1:20-21 …an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “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.”
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