(Matthew 1:18-25)
18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had thought this over, 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. 21 She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23 “Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
The Jewish wedding back then was very different. If you wish to see a small chart on how the Jewish wedding parallels the end times, click here.
Back then, once a woman chose her husband (or agreed to a marriage), they would become engaged. BUT, legally they were already married, and to part ways even at that point, would have involved a divorce! As we see in scripture, both Joseph and Mary were "righteous". In Luke 1:28, Mary was described by the angel Gabriel as "favored one" and said that the Lord was with her. All of these describe a person who is a believer. Both had already put their faith and trust in the Lord God.
Besides that, there was not anything "special" about either one of them, except that they both loved God and had willing hearts, which is what God desires from people, to become believers, to know Him personally, and have willing and trusting hearts.
Since they were both believers, they understood that divorce is against God's will, but so is having any sort of sex outside of marriage. In fact, in the Old Testament laws, anyone who committed adultery was stoned to death. We can only speculate here a bit, but Joseph perhaps sent Mary away, giving him some time to pray and seek the Lord's wisdom in this, which is what any of us should do in all situations.
Obviously, no one will ever face a circumstance even close to this one! Although, back then, this would not have been all that far-fetched. Sure, a woman could have claimed that she was carrying the long expected Messiah, in attempts to excuse an indiscretion; but anyone knowing scripture back then would have understood the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:1-3), the Davidic covenant (2 Samuel 7:16), the prophecy of Daniel (chapter 9) as to the Jewish Age, and more importantly the prophecies of Isaiah about their coming Messiah (Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6).
The Lord God answered Joseph's prayer by sending an angel to confirm His plan, with very specific instructions. In faith, Joseph obeyed these directions, even abstaining from intercourse until Jesus was born, so as not to raise any questions that Jesus was from the Holy Spirit. As we see in further scriptures, God brilliantly orchestrated everything so that they and Jesus would be protected.
We can see just from this one event how important it is for a believer to marry another believer. Imagine how this would have gone if either one of them had chosen to marry an unbeliever! Marriage is teamwork. And in the Lord, He will bless this union, to remain strong and unified, as both husband and wife draw closer to the Lord. When God has a plan and purpose for us, we can be confident that He will equip us and work out all the details. And if we are married, His plans will also incorporate both spouses! All we need to do is to continue seeking Him out in our relationship with Him, and have a willing heart.
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