But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said to him, "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 name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins." Mathew 1:20-21.
The angel of the Lord had just announced the birth that was to come to Joseph, that would bring forth the long awaited Savior that was foretold in Isaiah 7.
Many men through out the ages have wanted their unborn babies to be aborted, or if not that, have just rejected them by not being a part of their lives as they grew. Some even deny themselves to be fathers.
Joseph could have rejected this child as well. After all, he knew the baby wasn't his. And what of his mother? He could have made her a public spectacle had he wanted to. And no one at that time, would have blamed him.
But when the angel of the Lord appeared to him that night, the situation was undeniable. At least to him. Because he knew that this baby to be born was special. He was going to do great things. He was going to save us from our sin.
But who was this angel? God? Jesus announcing his own birth? Gabriel?
Gabriel shows up in the Old Testament in chapters 8 & 9 of Daniel.But then he again shows up to announce the birth of Jesus to Mary.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to the city of Galilee name Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a men whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. Luke 1:26-27
Luke goes on in the next few verses to give her the same news that was given to Joseph. However, this time, it was Gabriel who announced it.
As in the Old Testament cases of the angel of the Lord appearances, this is different perhaps. But just as we saw in those cases we know that God can do anything. He can appear in whatever form he chooses. We know that Jesus made an appearance in the Old Testament. But he did not take the form of a baby until Mary conceived him.
Jesus himself spoke of that in John 5:46 "If you believed in Moses, you would believe in me, for he wrote of me."
Other scripture in Isaiah 52:12. 61, 7:14 are a few of those that prove to us that Jesus existed long before his birth before Mary birthed him.
But how can these things be? Truly, all things in scripture do not give us all the answers to the questions we ask. And yet, that is what faith is. There are just things that we will not know in this life about why God did things the way he did and why they are important to us. Someday perhaps we will know. For now, it just a matter of believing. A matter of faith.
Why? Because God is God. And he can do what he wants to do. And that is the difference between he and us. He is Great and we are not. Our hope is not in us. It is God and his word.
Even the psalmist David knew where his hope was. He gives us our promise for today, September 22, 2019,
You are my refuge and my shield: I have put my hope in your word. Psalms 119:114.
While we have questions-the who,the what and the why of these things we read in God's word, the most important of all is whether or not we put our hope, and our trust in it. Because at the end of the day and at the end of our life, that will be all that counts.
Thanks for coming by today Friends. Joseph again gets a message from the angel of the Lord. Come back next time for that story. God bless your day!
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