A VISION OF OBEDIENCE (2 OF 4)
Scripture: Matthew 1:18-25
This content is part of a series.
A Vision of Obedience (2 of 4)
Series: Christmas Visions
Richard Bradley
Matthew 1:18-25
It seems to me that Joseph is sometimes a sort of forgotten character in the Christmas story. After all what did he actually have to do with the original Christmas pageant? He wasn't even Jesus' father. So, concerning Christmas what is Joseph's claim to fame? We don't know anything about him before Jesus' birth except for his genealogy. We certainly don't know anything about him after Jesus' birth, except for one brief scene in the Temple as he and Mary sought Jesus. What made Joseph so special was his response to his Christmas vision.
We can't actually say that Joseph possessed faith can we? What is faith? Faith is the ability to believe what we haven't seen just as though we had. That was not Joseph. He had a vision of the night in which he saw an angel and God used this dream to explain the virgin birth to Joseph and his place in the Christmas story.
Obedience is merely doing what we're told to do. Faith is not required. Hopefully, we'll all receive a vision this Christmas season. Like Joseph, will we be as obedient to ours as Joseph was to his?
Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ''Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.''
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 ''Behold, the virgin shall be wi ...
Series: Christmas Visions
Richard Bradley
Matthew 1:18-25
It seems to me that Joseph is sometimes a sort of forgotten character in the Christmas story. After all what did he actually have to do with the original Christmas pageant? He wasn't even Jesus' father. So, concerning Christmas what is Joseph's claim to fame? We don't know anything about him before Jesus' birth except for his genealogy. We certainly don't know anything about him after Jesus' birth, except for one brief scene in the Temple as he and Mary sought Jesus. What made Joseph so special was his response to his Christmas vision.
We can't actually say that Joseph possessed faith can we? What is faith? Faith is the ability to believe what we haven't seen just as though we had. That was not Joseph. He had a vision of the night in which he saw an angel and God used this dream to explain the virgin birth to Joseph and his place in the Christmas story.
Obedience is merely doing what we're told to do. Faith is not required. Hopefully, we'll all receive a vision this Christmas season. Like Joseph, will we be as obedient to ours as Joseph was to his?
Matthew 1:18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.
19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ''Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.''
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:
23 ''Behold, the virgin shall be wi ...
There are 5916 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
