Joseph also the Star of Christmas

Joseph is one of the most unusual men in the Bible

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In many ways, Joseph was the star of the Christmas story. This is not to take from Mary, the mother of Jesus, from Jesus himself nor from the Holy Ghost. It is simply to recognize the rare man Joseph really was. Read the Scripture below very carefully.

Matt 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. (KJV)

Now see some things here that puts Joseph in a class all by himself. See the circumstances Joseph found himself in. He was engaged to a girl (she was at least 12 years old) and discovered she was expecting a child out of wedlock and he was not the father of it.

Joseph, rather than blow the whistle on her, was willing to quietly and privately put her away without any one knowing one thing about her pregnancy. No wonder he is called a just man by Matthew here. How would most other men react to this? They would blow their top and sound off to anyone who would listen. They would sound off to salvage their pride and ego. (Mary would have been stoned to death.) You see, it took just as much a special man to bring Jesus into this world as it did a special woman in the person of Mary.

He was a spiritual man because he believed hook, line and sinker, the dream of the angel and the story he told about her being pregnant with the Spirit of God himself. This took a spirituality most do not have today. Imagine if any of us was in this position right now. Would we buy this? Yeah! Sure! Uh Huh! Yeah, right. Not one of us would buy into this. Not even one. We would be ready to save face. Not Joseph. He was a just man. He was a spiritual man.

Then, being fully awake and having believed to the hilt everything the angel said, he did explicitly and exactly everything the Angel told him to do. He went ahead and married Mary without even one voiced question or doubt.

How many of us would be screaming out from our pride till this hour? I venture to say that all of us would.

Furthermore, Joseph never had any kind of marital contact with her until after Jesus was born. Even though he was married to her in every sense, there was no marital contact between them at all. Matthew tells us this.

Matt 1:25
And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. (KJV)

Joseph was the real hero here in a way. What an example he set for us all. He was a just and fair man. He protected her and let his own pride and ego recede into the very background of his being.

He was a spiritual man. He had to be in order for him to believe the angel’s story about a Holy Ghost pregnancy. He had to be spiritual enough to believe, trust and follow the instructions given him by the angel in this passage.

He had to have deep, deep spiritual insight for him to buy into the story that Jesus was indeed, “God with us!” He had to be a spiritual man to see that the Scripture the angel used here was indeed the bedrock for his entire message that Jesus was “God with us.”

How many of us today would shout from the rooftops that “this Scripture was taken out of its context,” or some other equal, unbelieving remark that would justify us in making Mary a public spectacle. Joseph, however, did none of it. Instead, he did what the angel told him to do. He took Mary “unto him for his wife.” Then he did not touch her.

After Jesus birth and the wise men of the east were gone, the angel appeared to Joseph again and delivered a message of danger to him.

Matt 2:13-15
13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.
14 When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. (KJV)

The angel told him to take the young child and his mother to Egypt and stay there because to bring them back prematurely would cause them to be put to death. Joseph did exactly as the angel said for the second time. He kept them there until the angel brought him word that it was safe to return.

What an unusual man this Joseph was. God picked the just right, earthly guardian for His only begotten Son. He prepared a man, Joseph, to be the earthly step-father of Jesus.

Joseph was as much prepared by God as Mary was prepared by God. How awesome to contemplate that nothing was left to chance here. Everything ran flawlessly according to the plan of God operated by the power of God. What a man this Joseph was!

If you missed our article on Mary, the mother of Jesus, read it here now.

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Dr. Jay Snell: Author of several books concerning the healing, prosperity, family well being and salvation contained in the Abrahamic covenant for Christians. These books were presented many times on TBN.