A Christmas Interlude

The Gospel according to Joseph

Let’s take a brief break for this week from our Abraham, my Friend series. I heard a familiar Bible verse quoted this week and it triggered some thoughts.

John Wycliife, 1320-1384, is a name highly revered by Bible students. He created the first English translation of the Bible using the Latin Vulgate. He is sometimes referred to as the Morning Star of the Reformation. He is less well known for some advice he gave to students of the Bible. His methodology might be seen as the first clear example of what is often called Inductive Bible Study (IBS). In IBS we interrogate the text to find out exactly what it is saying. This was his advice:

For a few minutes, let’s apply just some of Wycliffe’s questions to the text that captured my thoughts.

“…And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21 NKJV)

To whom?

The angel of the Lord is speaking to Joseph, the betrothed husband of Mary.

Of whom? And what is said before?

He is speaking of Mary and the child in her womb.

In what circumstances?

These words were spoken to Joseph privately in a dream and are prefaced with the words ‘do not be afraid’. The Quakers had a concept that ‘God always speaks to the condition’. It was the pattern of their gatherings in their Meetings Houses. They gathered together to wait on God in expectation that God would ‘speak to their condition’. Not for them the ‘sermon series’ nor a ‘verse by verse exposition’.

Modern Bible students speak of the epistles as ‘occasional’. By that description they mean that, in the main, the epistles were reactions to a perceived need or occasion; they are not random truth but are addressed to particular people and settings. They contain truth of eternal relevance, but we can often best understand that truth by observing its context. So what is the context of the angel’s visit and message?

Joseph was afraid, and God used the messenger to ‘speak to his condition’. Why, you might wonder, was he afraid? At this time, only Mary knew that ‘the fullness of the times’ had come — she carried her secret alone, but for her betrothed husband; it seems she disclosed it to him, as we discover from Matthew 1:18,19. Let’s try then to think as Joseph might think. His espoused bride has an impeccable reputation, surely he can believe her? But what about the family and the neighbours? What would they think when Mary’s condition began to show itself? And were there doubts niggling at the edge of his thoughts? Did he take these thoughts to bed with him? Did sleep come with difficulty?

God knows our innermost thoughts, even those to which we have not dared to give a name. So God’s messenger ‘speaks to his condition’. He always does. ‘Don’t be afraid’ is a familiar first sentence when God speaks into lives.

And to what purpose?

To assure him of her purity and to encourage Joseph to take Mary under his permanent care in providing a home for their unique family, and to name the expected child.

You can work through some of the other questions at your leisure but I will concentrate now on the first of Wycliffe’s questions.

What is spoken or written?

It’s only a few words but it is what I will call the ‘gospel according to Joseph’. No one witnessed this event so the account we have must have originated with Joseph himself. Let’s try to sense the impact of these few words for Joseph. This, as far as we know, is the first time Joseph heard ‘the gospel’.

And she will bring forth a Son

This was not the first time that God had intervened in enabling unexpected births. Isaac, Jacob, Samuel were all ‘miracle’ babies, but Mary’s child would be of an entirely different order. Previously God had intervened to assist the natural process of father and mother, but this birth was a miracle of divine generation.

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa 7:14 ASV)

This child would be ‘God-with-us’. God incarnate. Charles Wesley expressed the wonder of these events:

God, contracted to a span
Incomprehensibly made man.

Joseph was to have no part in the conception. His role would be that of care and paternal provision, and… he would give the child his name. When the miracle of conception had come to its fullness in the birth, Joseph would take the role of a father, and name the child.

And you shall call His name Jesus…

The name, in its Hebrew form, means Jehovah’s Salvation. In the Greek translation of the Scriptures that was known and used in the region of Galilee, the name ‘Jesus’ appears 270 times. It was not an uncommon name. Most of those Old Testament references are to one man:

And Moses said to Jesus, Choose out for thyself mighty men, and go forth and set the army in array against Amalec to-morrow; and, behold, I shall stand on the top of the hill, and the rod of God will be in my hand. And Jesus did as Moses said to him, and he went out and set the army in array against Amalec, and Moses and Aaron and Or went up to the top of the hill. (Ex. 17:9-10 LXX-B – English translation of the Septuagint)

Let me illustrate. (This will have most significance for people in the United Kingdom but I think it will carry.) Suppose a child was born into my household and I decided to name the child ‘Winston’. What would you think? Immediately the UK WW2 prime minister would come to mind. What would be in my mind when I made this choice? What kind of destiny might I have in mind for the child? What thoughts and emotions would it trigger?

For Joseph, living in Galilee of the Gentiles and familiar with that Greek translation, ‘Jesus’ was the name of a warrior leader, Moses’ successor. Moses brought them out but Jesus brought them in. So surely this one about to be born was to be the military leader who would set them free from the control of their Roman oppressors. The original ‘Jesus’ was a warrior and a strong one, and the thought of a strong salvation is a frequent feature of the gospel.

“And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.” (Is. 19:20 NKJV)

He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. (Luke 1:51 NKJV)

Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David… (Luke 1:68–69 NKJV)

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16 NKJV)

The gospel is not primarily a beautiful truth. Primarily it is a powerful salvation.

…For he will save his people from their sins

But if Joseph thought of a powerful military leader the next few words would have put him straight. This is a vital clause. The coming powerful Saviour would save his people from their sins. The coming deliverer would not target the secular power of Rome but would deliver from the pervasive and defiling consequences of failure to live lives in conformity to the Maker’s requirements.

There is a popular assumption that Christ came to deliver us from the prospect of an eternity of separation from God, but this is not the focus of this promise. It is not the consequence of sins but the sins themselves that would be the mission of this coming deliverer. Salvation is far-reaching and touches many aspects but at this point in ‘the gospel according to Joseph’ it is focused with laser-like precision on ‘sins’.

…His people…

But whose sins? Yes, we know that he carried the sins of the whole world but notice this detail: ‘he will save his people from their sins’.

Some years ago I attended a Christmas Service of 1500 or so people. We sang the familiar carols and heard the readings and then the speaker stood up; a well-known preacher with a high profile and an international teaching ministry that had a wide reach. His style was after the manner of an ‘after-dinner’ speech; calm and reasoned with some gentle humour.

The audience, mostly Christian, were enjoying the Christmas atmosphere when he asked a question. ‘How many here are still struggling with a “besetting sin”? Something which has dogged your steps for years and which you have not been able to shake off?’ His trusting audience responded; perhaps two-thirds of them raised a hand. He paused, and continued… “‘So he is not your Saviour yet? For Jesus shall save his people from their sins.”’ It was a rude interruption to a pleasant evening.

But who are his people?

I won’t continue with his sermon but will add my own. Would you have raised a hand? Is Jesus, in reality, a Saviour to you? Is he or isn’t he a Saviour from all sin? And if not how do we become part of his people and come into our full inheritance?

There was, according to Paul, an Israel within Israel. His people are not identified by their genes but by their faith.

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. (Rom. 9:6–8 NKJV)

This is the persistent theme of Paul to the saints in Rome:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. (Rom. 1:16 NKJV)

Authentic faith and its accompanying genuine repentance brings a man or woman into the place where God can begin the astounding miracle of regeneration.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12–13 NKJV)

Those who receive him and his faithful witness are given the right to become the children of God. Properly understood deliverance from the defilement of sins is the unique inheritance of his people — not his people by ‘gene-ration’ but by regene-ration.

May you truly know the fulfilment the gospel according to Joseph in these our days.