Matthew 1:20 Commentary and Bible Study

Joseph had not fully made up his mind what he would do, but his humble instincts led him in the direction indicated in the previous verse. But the Lord will not leave him in this state of misunderstanding and distress for long, and will not leave one believer concluding evil of another believer on the basis of wrong information. It is too painful for all parties involved and God desires that we live at peace. But this was an extraordinary situation and only an extraordinary cure could alleviate it. Mary’s testimony to her innocence would have been rejected out of hand, and therefore God sent his angel to speak to Joseph with much greater force. Even in a dream, so overwhelming was the authority of the messenger that Joseph knew the truth of this matter with complete certainty. Something had been done which had never been done before since the foundation of the world, and yet he knew it was true. The angel appears to Joseph in a dream, but this is no ordinary dream. There are many other occasions in the Bible in which God speaks in a dream, and always the one who awakes knows that this is not just the workings of his own mind but the voice of God (Genesis 20:3; 31:10; 31:24; 37:5; Daniel 2:1). Always God’s message so impresses itself upon the mind that there is no doubt that it has comes with divine authority, and to ignore this message would bring calamity. But although God spoke in this way in time past, he does not speak in this way today, for God ‘hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son’ (Hebrews 1:2). The time for private revelations is over, and now we turn to the public word of God recorded in the Bible alone.Joseph is addressed by the angel of the Lord as the Son of David, confirming what had been stated in the genealogy. He is the descendant of David who has been chosen to be the legal parent of the Christ; this has been done to fulfil the prophecy given to David that the Christ would come from his descendants. Joseph and Mary have been appointed to be the earthly parents of the Christ child. ‘Do not be afraid to take her as your wife, as if she were a person of dubious character,’ he is assured, ‘because she is pregnant not through sin but through a supernatural work of God in her. All the trust you had in her before can be restored.’ What joyful news to Joseph! He must believe in the virgin birth with all his heart in order for his trust in Mary to be restored, and he does. Further developments will confirm his faith: the events surrounding the birth of Christ; those who came to see the child, their worship and words; the prophecies of Simeon and Anna; and the unique character of the child throughout his life. Joseph was no longer alive when the public ministry of Christ began. We do not know when he died, but he was a parent to the Lord Jesus during his early life, and certainly was still alive at the time of the visit to Jerusalem when the Lord was aged twelve (Luke 2:42).It is the Spirit, not the Father, who is said to be the member of the Godhead who conceived Jesus within Mary, and from conception life had begun, not from any later point. It is also the Spirit who forms Christ in each child of God through the new birth.