Advent; Joseph

notes

Main point summary

Jesus came through the miraculous action of God and the obedience of Joseph in order to fulfill the scriptures.

Discourse**

editing

NT

Matthew 1:18-25

esv

mine

Now the birth of u Jesus Christ 1 took place in this way.

The origin of Jesus as the Messiah of Israel unfolded as follows:

v When his mother Mary had been betrothed 2 to Joseph,

After Mary was legally married to Joseph,

before they came together

and before they consummated their union,

temporal

she was found to be with child w from the Holy Spirit.

she was discovered to be pregnant (the pregnancy being a miraculous conception through the action of the Holy Spirit).

And her husband Joseph, being a just man

Now, Joseph, who was her lawful husband at this time, was a righteous man according to the law and before God.

and unwilling x to put her to shame,

Therefore , he was unwilling to publicly shame Mary (for what clearly appeared to be sexual immorality) just to avoid anyone thinking he was involved somehow with the pregnancy.

inference

resolved to divorce her quietly.

Therefore , he made the difficult decision to simply and legally walk away from the marriage - but not to try and clear his name. The result being that Mary could be preserved from as much difficulty as possible given the situation.

actionresult

But as he considered these things,

And while he was deeply pondering this difficult situation

behold, y an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

in the midst of his agony angel sent by the Lord came to him while he was sleeping and said:

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife,

"There is no reason to fear what will happen if you go ahead and finalize your union with Mary!

for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Because she was not unfaithful to you! God, by the power of the Holy Spirit has placed this child in her womb!

ground

She will bear a son,

The child will be a son

and z you shall call his name Jesus,

Furthermore you are to name him so that he is legally your son. And the name you are to give him is Jesus.

progression

a for he will save his people from their sins.”

This is because Jesus means, "Yahweh Saves" and he will be the one to save Yahweh's people from their true enemy, namely, sin and death.

series

ideaexplanation

situationresponse

b All this took place

Jesus' earthly origins unfolded this way

c to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

so that God's word, spoken by Isaiah, would be fulfilled when he wrote,

d “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

Look! God will be with his people in such a way so that no one can dispute his miraculous origins. He will be man, a son... And he will come through the womb of a virgin.

and they shall call his name e Immanuel”

And he will literally be the 'Immanuel.'"

(which means, God f with us).

(In other words , he will be God with us).

actionpurpose

When Joseph woke from sleep,

Immediately after Joseph woke up

he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him:

he followed the angels instructions:

he took his wife,

that is he publicly finalized the marriage to Mary thus taking her shame on himself

but knew her not

Yet , he did not consummate the marriage

until she had given birth to a son.

so that her virginity would remain intact until after Jesus was born.

concessive

And g he called his name Jesus.

And he obeyed the Lord by naming him (thus claiming him as his own child) Jesus.

This would have been devastating news to Joseph. Given how the narrative unfolds he was not aware of the additional information added by the narrator.

One can imagine Joseph, as a righteous man, both in character and standing before God, agonized over what to do.

The only solution that makes any since.

This verse would have filled Joseph's heart with assurance, joy and praise!

His obedience is immediate with no hesitation or regard for the cost to himself. He covers Mary taking her shame upon himself.

discourse

Notes**

It is interesting to consider that we don’t really know much about Joseph because he really is a minor character in the whole drama of Christ’s incarnation – yet! He plays such vital part. He is Mary’s husband. He gives her his protection and covering since she is in such a weak and vulnerable situation. He takes her shame upon himself. Not only that! But as a descendent of David by naming Jesus and adopting him as his Son, he places him in the line of David in order to fulfill the prophecies made about him. Joseph is a just man – we see that in the way he chooses to deal with Mary even before the angel visits him in a dream – and then especially after he obeys the word of God given the cost for himself if he goes ahead and takes Mary as his wife. But this story is not about Joseph. This is a story about God fulfilling his promises. This is a story about God working powerfully through the Holy Spirit to be with his people (Immanuel) and to save them from their sins – and Joseph gets to be a part of that story! How? Obedience. Joseph chooses to lay down his life for Christ and in return he gets the privilege of being Jesus’ earthly father. Obedience always equals greater intimacy with Christ. Obedience always results in knowing God more and getting swept up in what he is doing in the world – And nothing is more exciting and soul fulfilling as that. Even if there are great sacrifices to make this side of heaven. Joseph could have chosen to worship the idols of comfort and reputation but instead he lived out his faith and became the earthly father of Jesus!

Notes**

It is interesting to consider that we don’t really know much about Joseph because he really is a minor character in the whole drama of Christ’s incarnation – yet! He plays such vital part. He is Mary’s husband. He gives her his protection and covering since she is in such a weak and vulnerable situation. He takes her shame upon himself. Not only that! But as a descendent of David by naming Jesus and adopting him as his Son, he places him in the line of David in order to fulfill the prophecies made about him. Joseph is a just man – we see that in the way he chooses to deal with Mary even before the angel visits him in a dream – and then especially after he obeys the word of God given the cost for himself if he goes ahead and takes Mary as his wife. But this story is not about Joseph. This is a story about God fulfilling his promises. This is a story about God working powerfully through the Holy Spirit to be with his people (Immanuel) and to save them from their sins – and Joseph gets to be a part of that story! How? Obedience. Joseph chooses to lay down his life for Christ and in return he gets the privilege of being Jesus’ earthly father. Obedience always equals greater intimacy with Christ. Obedience always results in knowing God more and getting swept up in what he is doing in the world – And nothing is more exciting and soul fulfilling as that. Even if there are great sacrifices to make this side of heaven. Joseph could have chosen to worship the idols of comfort and reputation but instead he lived out his faith and became the earthly father of Jesus!