"20 TRUTHS of CHRISTMAS" #9 Joseph is an example of obedience to God's Word.
How can we be more obidient?
Betrothed to be married to Mary before they came together. MATTHEW 1:18.
Had a choice.
. Divorce her-
(from the engagement as required by Jewish law, not the marriage. They weren't fully married yet.)
and send her away secretly.
. Or
Disgrace her publicly.
He was a righteous( just)man
(-greek-[dikaios]-equitable in character and act - by implication.)
It was well known.
(Matthew 1:19)
He was going with sending her away secretly, then after hearing the angel, changed his mind and followed the angels advice.
.
He named Jesus in obedience, went to Bethlehem in obedience, stayed with Mary, anointed his 1st born son according to customs, left to Egypt, returned to Nazareth, took Mary as his wife, all out of obedience. All either through law or revelation.
. I've heard he was a carpenter, though wood was more rare there, it's more likely he was more of a rock mason. That would've been the more common craftsman of that day. He was in the kingdom line of the royal blood of David but Israel didn't have kings anymore. They hadn't for over 500 years. He is from Bethlehem but we keep finding him in Nazareth. Not a place of high class people.
He does end up having children with Mary.
We don't know a bunch about Joseph but everywhere we do see him, we see inspiring acts of obedience and love for God. Someone who, when facing a big choice, waits on the Lord. Waits for comfort, guidance and most importantly in his situation, he waits on God for direction. What an example of obedience.
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20 Truths of Christmas # 10 Jesus Would Be Born In Bethelehem. Who Says?
Today, we look at the last of the four geographical prophecies associated with the birth of Jesus.
MICAH 5:2 - But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from the days of eternity.
. Micah, Matthew, the Magi, the scribes and the Pharisees of the day, the top theologians, and Herod all agreed that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem. . After all, it was the city of David who's bloodline the king must come through. The bloodline of both Joseph and Mary. . Joseph and Mary were commanded to return to their homeland for a census to take place. ( Luke 2:1-4 ), so they left Nazareth and went to Bethlehem.
Bethlehem means "House of Bread"
Ephratah is an ancient name for Bethlehem and means fruitful. Micah- The prophet's ministry was from 742-701 B.C. Micah 5:2 - goings forth from long ago (days of old), indicates the eternal existence of the Messiah. - [Habakkuk 1:12] . ALSO. see (Ruth 4:11)
4 Geographical prophecies associated with the birth of Jesus : Nazareth, Rahma, Egypt, and His birth city Bethlehem. The first we see chronologically. With the other three, we have seen; an analogy, a type and a symbol of prophecy. Nothing to decode or decipher on this one. Micah made it very clear for all. *Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.*
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20 TRUTHS of CHRISTMAS #11 EGYPT is a place of Jewish refuge.
Why have the Jews always fled to Egypt?
When the Magi left. Joseph is told by God through an angel in a dream to arise and take the child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Matthew 2:13 . (arise)- immediate command. child and His mother. Anytime in the bible you see this ( Jesus & Mary) it's always the child 1st then the mother.
FLEE- in Greek (pheugo) pronounced foojay. where we get our word fugitive. Its a present imperative of the verb. Means a continuous act. {flee and keep on fleeing} . EGYPT- Egypt was once a place of bondage to the Jews now becomes a refuge. Between the O.T. and the N.T. all the area was ruled by the Greek Empire. A revolution by a Jewish family called the Maccabees caused a serious back lash to some Jews so many ran down to Egypt to escape trouble. That's because Alexander the Great set up the Egyptian city of Alexandria as a place of refuge and security for the Jews. In the time of Jesus that law was still in existence. In fact many Jewish Rabbi thought of Alexandria as a place of sorcery, and some teach that Jesus went there to learn it and came back as a powerful deceiver. They stayed there until Herod died. History tells us it was only maybe 6 months. Less than a year. Then an angel appears to Joseph in a dream in Egypt and tells him to return to Israel.
MATTHEW 2:20.
Why the move to Egypt and back? God could have saved Jesus many different ways. Why like this? Prophecy fulfilled! . (vs. 15) that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt have I called my son." God wanted to validate the credibility of Jesus as the savior and this becomes 1 of 4 geographical prophecies associated with the birth of Jesus. Eliminating the possibility of any pretender coming along. The prophecy is from Hosea 11:1.
. I like that it says " spoken of THE LORD by the prophet." What is written in the bible is the spoken WORD of GOD. The writers are the tool he uses (by the prophet) and that's true of all scripture. HOSEA 11:1- When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. the son is Israel. It's a past statement. (When Israel [WAS] So how does this even relate to the future and to Jesus? 1st off: ALL O.T. prophecy has a central theme of the coming Christ.
SECOND: This is a kind of prophecy known as a type. A biblical type is a non verbal prediction or picture that has been validated by the N.T. If it doesn't have N.T. validation, we can't be sure it is a "type".Otherwise we could make anything stand for anything. That could play havoc trying to interpret the bible. Only through N.T. validation can a non verbal prediction be confirmed as prophecy. That's a biblical type. [A rule of interpreting scripture (hermenuetics).] Hosea 11:1 Emphasizes God's love for the people of Israel. When Matthew quotes it here and applies it to Christ, what he is saying is Israel is a type of messiah. And more than that, it says Israel was made for Christ to come from. And in His genealogy, Jesus was always a part of Israel. Also Jesus, the preincarnate Christ was: IN THE BEGINNING with God and was GOD. (John 1:1) Then God has it come to real life during the birth of Jesus, in the events in Matthew 2. When Jesus returns, the land that gave Him refuge, Egypt, will receive a special blessing at that time (Isaiah 19 & Zephaniah 3)
We don't have to wait. We can accept His work on the cross and get the greatest blessing of all, SALVATION.
That makes 3 of the 4 geographical prophecies. Tomorrow we close them out with the forth, as we reach # 10.
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