Do You Believe God’s Word As He Does Part 2
Scripture: Luke 1:26-45; Matthew 1:18-25; 13:53-58; 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Introduction:
In my message two weeks ago I asked you the question “Do you believe God’s word as He does?” I shared with you three different examples from the Old Testament of how people responded directly to the word of God as spoken to them. If you recall, Abraham accepted God’s promise to him of a son without question. Sarah, upon hearing the promise, laughed within herself prompting the Lord to ask her if anything was impossible with God. My last example was Jonah, who when he heard God’s word, believed what God said and tried unsuccessfully to not fulfill what God had told him to do. Each of these individuals responded differently to God’s word. When I closed the message last week, I asked you to consider this question: “If Joseph, Mary’s husband, was alive today and was getting ready to marry someone who said they had been impregnated by God, would he be considered to be a fool?” This will be the focus of my message this morning.
I. The Betrothed (Engagement) Period
“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.” Matthew 1:18
The engagement of a man and a woman was sealed when the prospective bridegroom gave a gift to the bride’s father. Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal in the Bible differs considerably from modern engagements. As an act of preliminary to marriage, betrothal implied a commitment almost as binding as marriage itself; its dissolution involved at least a formal divorce. The betrothed persons were referred to as “husband and wife” (Gen. 19:21; Matt. 1:20) and were to be completely faithful to each other. Any violation of the betrothed state was treated as adultery and could result in death for the offender (Deut. 22:23-25). At the time of Mary and Joseph’s betrothal, it called for a solemn oral commitment in the presence of witnesses with an added pledge of a piece of money or written pledge that would conclude with a benediction. The interval between betrothal and marriage under normal circumstances did not exceed twelve months. Mary and Joseph were in this state of their relationship. They were promised to each other with a solemn vow that if violated could potentially cause the offender to be put to death. Unlike our engagements today that can easily be called off, this was not the case with their betrothal. To get out of a betrothal, there had to be a reason and you had to go through a formal divorce. Now, sometime during this period of their relationship, Mary received a Word from the Lord. Turn to Luke 1.
II. Mary Responds To God’s Word
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, ‘Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end.’ And Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:26-38
Mary was engaged to Joseph and now she was being visited by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel told her that she would conceive a child and that she would name the child Jesus. When Mary asked Gabriel how this was so as she was a virgin, Gabriel told her that the Holy Spirit would cause it to happen. After getting her one question answered, Mary said okay. Notice how quickly she answered. She accepted God’s word as fact and did not argue against it. I have often wondered if she thought about the impact of this after the angel left her. Remember, this would be viewed as a grave violation of her engagement to Joseph, her turning up pregnant. This could have gotten very bad for her because Joseph could have called for her to be stoned to death as an adulterer. Even if no charges were brought against her, everyone in the village would know that she had “messed around” on Joseph. I mean really, who ever heard of the “Holy Spirit” getting someone pregnant? Can you see the wives at their monthly meeting talking about the latest news – Mary committing adultery? And what about her family’s reputation? This would be a major embarrassment for her immediate family. Remember, by this time her parents would have already accepted the betrothal gift from Joseph so their reputation was on the line also. Mary had to have thought about what this would mean to her, yet she agreed. She accepted God’s word as fact and did not think twice about it. If you read the rest of the chapter you’ll find that Mary went to visit Elizabeth, one of her relatives, and shared with Elizabeth what the angel had said to her. Not only did she accept God’s word, she went out and told someone else. After talking with Elizabeth, she would face her next biggest hurdle, her family and Joseph. They were going to find out. Although she was engaged to Joseph, she did not necessarily know how he would respond. I believe she knew her family would support her, but possibly not Joseph.
III. Joseph Responds To God’s Word
The Scriptures do not tell us how Joseph found out, whether Mary told him or he heard it through a secondary source, what we do know is that he found out. After he found out, Matthew 1:19-21 and 24-25 records his reaction: “And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly. But when he 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 that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins…..And Joseph arose from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took her as his wife, and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.” Matthew 19-21, 24-25
My question for your consideration this week was “If Joseph was alive today and was getting ready to marry someone who said they had been impregnated by God, would he be considered to be a fool?” If you answered “Yes” then you would be correct because there were many who thought he was a fool back in his day. Although our cultures are different, people tend to be the same. We have not changed much in the last 2000 years and we have people today who would ridicule Joseph for marrying Mary just as some of those who knew him did.
When Joseph found out that Mary was pregnant, he believed that she had violated her betrothal to him. As I mentioned earlier, to get out of a betrothal relationship, it would require a formal decree – a divorce – and depending on the circumstances, the violating party could be put to death. Whomever it was that told Joseph that Mary was pregnant, had to have witnessed the change in his composure. I can imagine the hurt that he felt, the anger that followed the hurt and then the consideration of a response to those emotions. I can also see his closest confidants and friends telling him that he should not allow her to get away with it, that he should be a man and take drastic actions to expose her publicly. (You know how friends are when they want blood.) However, the bible tells us that Joseph was a righteous man and that he did not want to expose her publicly. Joseph may have known that if he exposed her publicly that at that point it would be out of his hands. He would no longer be in control for the mob who gathered to hear what he had to say could literally take over and execute Mary. I also believed that he loved her because he did not want to humiliate her publicly. Finally made his decision that he would divorce her and notice what happened next? Once he made his decision, God dispatched an angel to inform Joseph that Mary had not violated their betrothal. The angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him that he should go ahead and marry Mary. Why did God wait? Why didn’t God just tell Joseph at the same time He told Mary what His plans were so that he did not have to go through the anguish of finding out through someone else? We do not know. What we do know is that once he had made up his mind, God went into action.
Once Joseph received the word from the Lord, he did not hesitate. He immediately took Mary as his wife. The way the Scripture is written it appears that he moved the wedding date up from what was originally planned. Joseph heard God’s word, accepted it and acted immediately upon it. Now let’s consider what he possibly went through. You see, although I asked you if he would be considered a fool today, there were things he had to deal with from those he knew. First consider his friends – the ones who were rallying around him to support him through those difficult days. When he told them that he was still going to marry her and actually move the wedding date up, can you imagine the look on their faces, especially with the strict laws of those days governing betrothal relationships? What about his family? They did not know Mary as well as Mary’s family knew her so they had no vested reason to believe that she had not violated her vows. Can you see his father or mother pulling him aside and talking with him about his decision? Can you see him trying to explain to his parents, his other family members and friends that he had a dream that confirmed that Mary had not violated their vows? Finally there are those who knew of the situation but were not necessarily friends of either Joseph or Mary. These were people of the village who may have heard about the situation through the gossip channels. Can you see Mary walking down the street and people looking upon her with disgust? Can you see Joseph walking down the street and people looking upon him with pity and ridicule?
Joseph did not get off easy with his decision. He could never fully explain to his family and friends what was happening. Many people in the village who knew them and had heard the story never believed them. Remember what some of the villagers said when Jesus was a man and had started His ministry? Turn to Matthew 13:53-58. It records the following: “And it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. And coming to His home town, He began teaching them in their synagogue so that they became astonished and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in His home town, and in His own household.’ And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.” After 30 years, people who knew the story still did not believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. That is evident in the question that they asked as to where He got those powers. He got them through the Holy Spirit. Not only did they question Him, they actually got offended at Him because of what He was doing. All of this goes back to the day He was conceived and the lack of belief in the story that Mary gave about her pregnancy. Jesus said that a prophet is not without honor except in his own town and household. Let me tell you how deeply this unbelief ran. There were members in Jesus own home who did not believe. If you remember Jesus twelve disciples – His brother James was not one of the original twelve, yet he wrote the book of James in the New Testament. History tells us that James was converted later and that originally he was not a believer in Jesus. So we have family, friends and everyone else questioning Mary’s testimony and Joseph’s willingness to marry her.
IV. What Would You Do?
Have you ever considered why the people responded the way that they did to Mary’s news? Can their rationale be the same as ours today? Many of you raised your hands two weeks ago declaring that if Joseph was alive today and made that same decision that you would consider him to be a fool for believing that God had impregnated his fiancée. But consider this fact, between the Old Testament and Christ, there were some 400 years of silence. During those 400 years of silence, there were no major prophets on the scene or miracles from God. What people had for 400 years were the Old Testament Scriptures and the oral stories that were handed down through the generations. Miracles were not happening as they did in the Old Testament and no one was having the “Moses experience” on a daily basis. Had Jesus been born during the Old Testament times He might have had a better reception, but after 400 years of silence, many of those that served God did not do it with the same vigor and/or dedication as was experienced by some in the Old Testament. They had knowledge of God but did not retain Him within their hearts. Four hundred years is a long time and there was not anyone alive when Jesus was born that had experienced God from an Old Testament view point. So after 400 years, the expectation that God would reveal Himself in man was believed, but not necessarily expected. The fact that there were expectations that were assigned to the man who would come and deliver Jesus made His job all the more difficult.
Since Jesus was crucified, more than 2000 years have passed. Almost 2000 years have pass since those who walked with Christ and knew Him personally have died. Although we are living in a New Testament age, we are not that much different from the people who were alive when Christ was born. We do not look for or expect miracles. We are critical of those who proclaim to be a prophet and rightly so, but when there is undeniable proof, should we remain suspect because we do not expect God to do anything in our lives. We have all heard of miracles happening around us – yet we do not think it could happen to us. We all have read at least some portions of God’s Word and yet we find ourselves thinking that it does not apply to 2007 and the culture of the United States. We have all made allowances for God’s Word so that it fits our lifestyle versus our lifestyle being fit around God’s Word. As we prepare to close out this year, I ask you to consider if you truly believe God’s Word the way that He does. Do you place the same value and attention to them as God did when He spoke them? When you stand before God at the judgment, will you be able to say “Lord, I heard and I obeyed” or will you say, “Lord, I heard and I wanted to obey but I was not sure exactly what you word meant.” I will close with this final scripture from 2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
We are living in these times now. May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
