Closer
Look
So
this week I started taking another look at the first Christmas. I read Matthew 1-2 and I found some things I
never really noticed before. I saw Joseph,
Mary’s husband a little differently. Joseph
is a thinking man He is also a man of action.
Matthew 13:55 says he was a carpenter.
I’ve been around carpenters My mom and dad have both worked as
carpenters. They have even worked with a
group of Baptist men and women called Hammer Slammers who build churches. Being a carpenter means Joseph is a man who
knows things. He can put things together
in his head and make them happen. So when
he was told something by God he processed it more than likely to the end
result. But he was also a righteous
man. That’s a title any God-fearing man
should aspire to. He also knew his story
was not about him but about Jesus.
Matthew
1:18-25
18This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His
mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took
place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of
the Holy Spirit. 19Joseph, to whom she was
engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he
decided to break the engagementh quietly.
20As he considered this, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be
afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the
Holy Spirit. 21And she will have a son,
and you are to name him Jesus,i for
he will save his people from their sins.”
22All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s
message through his prophet:
23“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give
birth to a son,
and they will
call him Immanuel,j
which means
‘God is with us.’”
24When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of
the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25But he did not have sexual
relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Matthew
2:13-23
13After the wise men were gone, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and
his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because
Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14That night Joseph left for Egypt with the
child and Mary, his mother, 15and they stayed there
until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the
prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”e
16Herod was furious when he realized that the
wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around
Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of
the star’s first appearance. 17Herod’s brutal action
fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18“A cry was heard in Ramah—
weeping and
great mourning.
Rachel weeps
for her children,
refusing to be
comforted,
for they are
dead.”f
The Return to Nazareth
19When Herod died, an angel of the Lord
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20“Get up!” the angel said.
“Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who
were trying to kill the child are dead.”
21So Joseph got up and returned to the land of
Israel with Jesus and his mother. 22But when he learned that
the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there.
Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23So the family went and lived in a town called
Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a
Nazarene.”
Joseph
was warned in dreams more than once and does what God tells him. No Hesitation just did it. He’s very much a man of action. He also trusts God when it seems like nothing
makes sense. But the star of all this is
not Mary or Joseph. You may hear a lot
of people say “Thank you Baby Jesus.” But he’s not a baby anymore. And If you
are praying to his mom you are praying to the wrong person. Jesus was the star
of the show and always will be. He came
to live and die and come back to life and Save us from our sins. God gives us
many chances to turn to Him for salvation which can only be found in one person
that is in Jesus Christ. See Christmas
is about a rescue mission it’s about redemption. Without it we don’t have the sacrifice on the
cross.
Strange way to save the world by 4 Him
Go tell it on the mountain by FrancescaBattistelli
Hark the herald Angels by Jewel
We are the reason by David Meece
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