Portraits of faith - Joseph

 As we enter the Advent and Christmas seasons, our attention is often focused on the first two chapters of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. I am persuaded that all the folks we encounter in these chapters teach us many things about faith that would be worth looking into.

I want to look at the people in these four chapters, in the order they appear, and see what I can learn about faith. It follows then that I would begin with Joseph.

Everything we will see about Joseph is in Matthew 1 & 2.

1:20, 24  But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost . . . Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:

2:13-14  And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

2:19-21  But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

2:22-23  But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

Angels played an active part in these chapters - three of Joseph’s encounters involved angels. All four involved dreams. How does this illustrate faith?

First, Joseph believed God speaks to people in dreams – he never doubted that God was speaking to him in his dreams. I remember many of my dreams and I have also had dreams from the Lord. It is really neat that you can tell when your dream is from the Lord!

Second, Joseph believed angels are God’s messengers. They must have identified themselves and he never doubted them for a minute. As I said, I have had a few dreams from the Lord, but I have never seen an angel, but I have a feeling that when angels appear it is pretty evident who they are.

Third, Joseph believed what the angels told him, and he believed this to be the word of the Lord to him and for his situation.

Fourth, each time he had a visit from an angel, or a dream, he believed what he was told to do was from God, and he did it. Every time. Immediately. Joseph had faith to obey.

When you believe you obey: obedience springs from faith. Faith and obedience are like Siamese twins – you never see one without the other. If I say I believe, but I don't obey, then I do not have saving, sanctifying faith; I do not have the faith that pleases God. Throughout the entire Bible, whenever someone believed the Lord it affected what they did; and whenever folks did not obey they were charged with unbelief. We see this in Hebrews 3:15-19:

15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

We see their problem described as “sinned” (17), “believed not” (18), and “unbelief” (19). “Believed not” in v 18 is a word that means they stubbornly refused to be persuaded to believe and obey the Lord. “They chose to sin, and would not believe. Unbelief produced disobedience, and disobedience produced hardness of heart and blindness of mind.” (Adam Clarke)

Rather than singing the song Israel sang in the wilderness, "I don't believe and I won't obey", I would prefer my song to be:

I'll say yes, Lord, yes
To Your will and to Your way
I'll say yes, Lord, yes
I will trust You and obey
When the Spirit speaks to me
With my whole heart I'll agree
And my answer will be
Yes, Lord, yes
(Lynn Edward Keesecker, 1983)


NEXT: Joseph & Christ: What we learn about Christ from Joseph