NATIVITY By Mike Herron

Joseph of her condition and that he discovered it upon her return. He was a ‘righteous’ man, faithful to the law, the same description given to Zechariah, Elizabeth and later Simeon in the Temple. He could have had a public trial accusing her of adultery that would have shamed Mary but he chose the more discreet way. ‘He could give her a bill of divorcement (apolusai) …laid down in the Mishna (traditional oral teachings of the Rabbis), without a public trial.’ 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Joseph has four dreams and three of them are coupled together with a Scripture passage. A dream without scriptural basis is most often a fantasy. A scripturally based dream is a road-map from God. Joseph of the Old Testament was propelled to his destiny by dreams and their proper interpretation. The New Testament Joseph, himself a prince and heir of David, legally adopted Jesus by taking Mary as his wife fulfilling the prophecy that the Savior would be the son of David. Centuries before, King David had prophetically described the formation of Christ in Mary’s womb: ‘You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.’ (Ps. 139:15 NLT) Hebrews 10:5 quotes the Greek version of another of David’s Psalms concerning Christ: ‘That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer.”’ Jesus was given a sinless human body to offer as a sacrifice for our transgressions.

21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”