This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. (Matthew 1:18-19 NLT)
Scripture does not give us insight into how Joseph learned about Mary’s pregnancy. Maybe Mary stopped to see Joseph after returning from her cousin Elizabeth’s home in Judah. She could have been three months pregnant at the time.
Even if Mary said the exact words spoken by the angel Gabriel to explain her chosen vessel status to bear the Messiah, it would have been a mind-boggling concept for Joseph to accept. No virgin had ever bore a child in the history of the world. Not once!
We don’t know for sure, but it had to be a tense conversation between the two of them.
To his credit, Joseph decided to serve Mary with a bill of divorcement, witnessed by two or three people, rather than taking her before a magistrate and publicly humiliating her, or possibly even sentencing her to being stoned for an adulterous affair.
As he considered this [the divorce], an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”(Matthew 1:20-21 NLT)
Joseph’s dream was so powerful and convincing that he did not even go to his local synagogue to search scriptures and talk over his dilemma with any leaders. His dream turned his life into a big “Yes, Lord.”
This revelation came about because of a chance meeting with a young Christian lady. I gave her a personal prophecy about her calling and future destiny. She laughed and replied, “No way! I could never do that.”
Usually, I don’t reply when a person disagrees with a personal prophecy I give them, except to say something like, “If I’m wrong, forgive me.”
Yet this time, I said, “You’re just one vision away from accepting this word for your life.”
“Oh, that’s profound,” she said.
Hmm! I wonder how many believers in America are just one vision away from walking in their callings.
“In the last days,” God says, “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men [and women] will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. (Acts 2:17 NLT)
Larry Who 