Seeing God’s Plan (Matthew 1:18-25)

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (v. 18).

We read here that Mary became pregnant before she had any sexual relations with her husband-to-be. Anyone finding out that she was pregnant would assume that she and Joseph had engaged in sex outside of marriage and, in the Jewish world, this was a very serious sin (Deuteronomy 22:20-24). When Joseph discovered her pregnancy, he had a decision to make: he could have publicly shamed her and sent her away. We can imagine Joseph’s anxiety over this situation. He was part of a people who represented God; who were expected to live for Him and according to His standard. For Joseph’s soon-to-be wife to be found pregnant was not only socially embarrassing, but it called into question his devotion to God. After all, it appeared that he had ignored God’s way and indulged his own selfish lusts. However, he responded differently.

“And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly” (v. 19). The Bible identifies Joseph as a “righteous man” who wanted to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reason. He felt that he could not go ahead with the marriage to Mary, but he did not want her to suffer public humiliation. He loved her. He decided to quietly call an end to the marriage and send her away; this would solve the dilemma as best as it could be solved…or so he thought. Many times, when we encounter difficulties, we think we know what we need to do, we think we have a plan to fix things. However, quite often, God has a much better plan for us. We need to constantly be alert to His leading…after all; He knows a lot more than we do.

God interrupted Joseph’s plan, “But when he [Joseph] had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us”” ” (vv. 20-23). What a message, not only did it put Joseph’s mind at ease, it also set forth God’s plan for the salvation of the world. This is what Joseph’s people, the Jews, had been waiting on their entire existence. And now, this carpenter and his wife had been chosen to be a part of it…an incredibly important part.

“And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus” (vv. 24-25). Joseph awoke with an entirely different take on his life; although he would still face some challenges involved with what others would think about him, he now knew that he was right in the center of God’s will…exactly where he wanted to be…exactly where we all should want to be. No longer was Joseph filled with anxiety over the future; rather, he was filled with holy expectation that he and Mary were being used by God to fulfill the promises He had made so long ago. Excitement replaced anxiety for Joseph.

In addition to the deep theological truths contained within this passage, there are several practical things that we, as Christians, can apply to our lives.

When Joseph faced an unexpected complication in life, his first reaction was to attempt to handle it himself. The Bible says that Joseph was a righteous man, but it does not say that his first reaction was to go to God in prayer about the situation. We need to keep this in mind: no matter how big our problem may seem, our first response should be to go to God and trust Him to see us through.

Another truth we learn from this passage is that God can turn what we view to be a problem into a wonderful answer; an answer that is most usually better than we even imagined it could be.

We should trust God in the good times and the tough times; He knows the beginning and the end and everything in between. In this passage, God turned Joseph’s problem (from Joseph’s perspective) into the Salvation of the world. God is ready, willing, and able to take care of us in our time of need also.

 Article by: Robert Driskell

*All Scripture quotations from the New American Standard Bible