O blessed God, who provides understanding from Your Word via the empowerment of the Holy Spirit!
Thank You Jesus!!
Saints, consider Joseph, husdand of Mary, mother of the Lord Jesus.
Much has been made of Mary, obedient vessel that she was, but certain doctrine from rome has lifted Mary to a position she never intended, as she herself testified, "I am but a woman".
But in the "fray", we tend to neglect God's obedient servant, Joseph, her husband, head of the family.
In the first two chapters of Matthew; (Praise God we have Four Gospels accounts of Our Lord, and a fifth Book, Acts, to show us how the Early Church walked) Joseph has four dreams where an "angel of the Lord" spoke to Joseph.
and in [b]every[b]obeyed
1st dream: (MT 1:20-25)
dilema: "marry" a virgin already with child?
to which the angel of the Lord told him , " do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is concieved in her is from the Holy Spirit". She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus".
Here's the crucial part, the angel of the Lord backed this command up [b]FROM
"Behold, the virgin shall concieve and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel"
(cited Is 7:14)
and Joseph did what?
question, complain, disobey?
no, Joseph OBEYED without question.
2nd dream: (MT 2:13-15)
[b]flee to Egypt
the angel of the Lord came to Joseph and said that Herod will try and destroy the child, without hesitation, Joseph took his wife and child and departed for Egypt, no questions asked. Imagine if an angel of the Lord told you in a dream "leave your home and move to area XYZ".
but her is the crucial thing, the angel backed it up with Scripture:
"out of Egypt I called my son" cited to Hosea 1:11.
again, NO hesitation from Joseph, he [b]believed
3rd Dream; (MT 2:19-21)
take the boy back to Israel.
an angel of the Lord appeared again to Joseph in a dream,
"Rise ,take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead".
so Joseph did so, no hesitation.
Mind you, in this dream, the angel of the Lord cites no Scripture, but a yielded up Joseph knew in his spirit at this time, that it WAS an angel of the Lord, and went.
4th dream. (MT 2:22-23)
but as Joseph went back to Judea, and angel of the Lord warned him in a dream to withdraw to the disrict of Galilee, and he went to the district of Nazareth, lowly despised Nazareth, ("can anything good come from Nazareth?") backed up again by a word from the prophets, even though there is no exact citation for this word, which is:
"He shall be called a Nazarene".
Here's where I need and desire some backup from more learned saints versed in the Word of God, praise His Holy Name.
To be a "Nazarene" was to be despised, yes?
Now if we go back to Isaiah, and consider the "suffering servant" songs, specifically Isaiah 53 and 54, the servant was to suffer.
But another translation of "Nazarene" was not a geographical reference, but to the Hebrew word, "Neser", which is "Branch", a Messianic reference.
My points are this, as led ny the Lord:
Joseph's total obedience is to be a model for us, but Joseph was blessed and gifted not only with unwavering FAITH, but God communicated to him via angels and in dreams.
Now, if we have a "dream" from the Lord, yes, we must be cautious, we must test the Spirit, but we must not be afraid, if there is one crucial testimony in these dreams, they must be backed up by Scripture.
Oh saints, dont mistake me, I am not saying to lift "angels of the Lord" up. Did you notice how the Lord Almighty did NOT name these angels? There is a reason for this, and we all know, there are some in the Church, who "name" this "angels" and we must be cautious, because named angels might not be from the Lord.
My whole point is this: we read Scripture as worship, we also read Scripture to search for the testimony to the walk of those who went before us in this Most Holy Faith, and Joseph is a figure worthy of emulation as he was totally obedient to the Lord, and God deemed him trustworthy enough in the Holy Spirit to speak to him thru dreams.
Have you been spoken to by the Lord via dreams, and did He ground this word to you in Scripture?
Oh Jesus, please speak to us thru this Ministry, help us in the way you which us to go to serve You. amen.
Give us a Word, how may we serve You?
How may we walk like Joseph, in total faith and obedience?
Holy Jesus, Wonderful Jesus, Savior of our lives, minister to us all today, help us forgive those who have hurt us, heal the wounds and divisions of Your Church, Let us all love Jesus today in our hearts, in our words, in our actions, in our faith, amen.
natan