Chase: Hello and welcome to the Point Church Podcast. We're really glad you're here. Before we jump in, if you'd like to stay connected, you can download the Point Church app. It's a simple way to find messages, resource, and what's happening. And if this podcast is helpful, take a moment to like, subscribe, and share. You can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music. Let's get into today's episode. Hello everyone. Welcome back. ⁓ to day two of our Lint series where we're walking through Matthew. ⁓ we went through Matthew one, the genealogy of Jesus and how insightful that is and how we shouldn't just skip past those, even though how hard they can be read, but really diving into what the importance of that is. And so today with Pastor Sam here, we're gonna be diving into Matthew one verses eighteen through twenty-five. Mm-hmm. ⁓ this one we're just gonna be reading it, and as questions come up or insights that Pastor Sam has, we're gonna stop and kind of question it and through it so that way we can get the most out of the text possible. So beginning in this, it it reads The birth of Jesus Christ came about this way. After his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, it was discovered before they came together that she was pregnant. From the Holy Spirit. So let's pause there because that first ⁓ verse is loaded. And I think, you know, f a lot of people get lost in that because it's talking about how she was engaged to this guy named Joseph, but she wasn't impregnated by him. She was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Yep. Which is kind of, you know, the the spirit wise she's one of one in that way. No, there's not a lot of common stories. There is so much to unpack here. So ⁓ as we're reading this, let's I want to hear your insight on this of all of it, because it that's just one verse. And it's already like, whoa. Yeah, I would say ⁓ a key insight to this would be that the Holy Spirit is mentioned here for sure. Like that's that's how she became pregnant with child, but it's not the first time that the Holy Spirit's been mentioned in the Bible. You know, we have the whole old testament. and it goes all the way back to the first mention on Genesis one verse. Where it says the Spirit of God was hovering above the waters. Yeah. So again, like that is the Spirit of God that was forming the waters, forming life, forming creation. That again, Jesus entering into the world again echoes the Genesis story. Yeah. That it's like, okay, the Holy Spirit is front and center. The Holy Spirit is the one who's bringing about life. You could think about it like bringing about matter. You know, that Jesus had a body, fingerprint, hair color, eye color, ⁓ and that was being directed by the Holy Spirit. And ⁓ you know, in the same way that you're like trees and the birds of the air of Genesis, like i it's meant to be almost like a ⁓ poetic rhyme to Genesis one. Okay, so it's going back for New life, new creation. Yeah. Gotcha. Yeah. When a new person's coming. When it has that person or that that word engaged in there. ⁓ huh. I think, you know, sometimes ex maybe when especially when you're f a little kid, you you grow up thinking, you know, Mary and Joseph, they were married, and then here comes Jesus from the Holy Spirit. But that's a very important part that they weren't even married yet, which we'll get to, but it's a very important part, I think, that we have to hit on. Yeah. So ⁓ where this is also taking place is in Nazareth. So they're living in Nazareth and they're betrothed, I guess you could say, is a fancy term for it. They're they're promised to be married. Yeah. It hasn't come yet, but they're going to be married and she is by all historic accounts, she is not how like we would typically think of the average first time mom in the West today, especially in America, might be like mid twenties to mid thirties, you know, we'll say is when you start, you know, having kids. She's much younger than that. ⁓ that was more common at the time. But ⁓ this was also an honor shame culture where ⁓ Promiscuity was just not part of the equation. Your name was everything, your reputation was everything. So to be found to not only be engaged, it was like, okay, it mattered who you're engaged to. Yeah. Because again, family trees matter, as we talked about yesterday, but also that how you conduct yourself brings honor or shame onto your family. So you reflect all of this. So she is pregnant without a husband in a small town that's Hyper religious. not saying any of that that's bad, it's just that's what it is. That's the setting. Yeah. And so you have to think also if you're in her shoes, she's like, I know people are gonna be pointing, I know they're gonna be whispering, I know when I go into the synagogue or the marketplace, they're gonna be like, ⁓ that's Mary. She's pregnant from the Holy Spirit. You know what I mean? Like it'd have been the talk of that small little town. Like she's making it up. Yes, exactly. 'Cause it continues on talking about Joseph's side in this. It says in verse nineteen so her husband Joseph being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her publicly decided to divor divorce her secretly. Yes. So divorce, ⁓ the way to understand it would be like they they had like a two step process to their engagement 'cause there was also like a bridal prize. So it it's it's something that's kind of lost to us. Yeah. It's not a great There's not a clean one for one, but think of it basically as like it it it was a divorce in a way that you're like, Okay, we're we're not gonna do this. We're not going any further. And he is on biblical grounds to do that. Like in in the ⁓ Mosaic Covenant, like and the Torah, I said the only way that you could hand someone a d basically a certificate of divorce was for sexual unfaithfulness and he's like, Well, she's pregnant. So like that Yeah, kinda is Clearly, like yeah, exactly. So but he's also not again think about his heartbreak. Like how hurt he would have been. The woman I love is pregnant. There's no good explanation for this. I mean, he probably thought she was making it up too. Yeah, absolutely. And ⁓ who is this person? She's use she's bringing God into the equation. Like that's horrible. And but he still loves her and he probably feels like a a urge to protect this woman that he loves because again like women of the time did not have the same rights as men. No. So to not shame her, he's like, you know what? Let's let's not drag this out. Let's not make it salacious. Let's just part our separate ways. I won't ⁓ 'cause you you could hurl ult like more punishment onto the wife. Yep. And he's like, I'm not gonna do that. We're just gonna walk away and that's it. Yeah. Because then it continues In verse 20 to clear some stuff up, says, But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David. Which again harkens back to the lineage. Yeah. So there you go. Yep. And it says, Don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. So when it's saying this, right, first the angel of the Lord. Yeah. If someone's reading this, they're like Wait, we were just talking about lineage and then Yeah. Now we're talking about a spirit, now we're talking about an angel. There's a lot coming at you. So like when he's saying angel, how would you describe that? Like what would that have looked like to Joseph? ⁓ like what an angel looks like? Technically kind of, but like more of like how is God communicating communicating this. Yeah, so that's a good question. Now ⁓ People are always trying to speculate what an angel looks like. Of course. The halo, the wings, and the Bible doesn't really say anything like that. ⁓ that's more of like artistic ⁓ representation. It actually says most times. They're terrifying. They're terrifying. Yeah, like they always say, Don't be afraid. Yeah. ⁓ the role of an angel is ⁓ you can think of it similar to as our church talked about, like what a prophet was in the old testament, which was a mouthpiece of God for the a mouthpiece For God, for the people of God, like someone that God appointed with a message to go to the people. An angel was like a heavenly mouthpiece for God. Gotcha. So for whatever reason, you know, God could use a physical, you know, the prophet or an angel, but either way, he's trying to communicate a message through an angel to this individual saying, Hey, ⁓ this is a crazy situation. Yeah. I'm not gonna leave you in the dark here. And like ⁓ he appears to Joseph in this dream and gives him comfort. He gives him reassurance. Mm-hmm. And he explanations. Yeah. And so like I do think that speaks to the character of God that God isn't like Well, you better. Yeah. Like like God isn't saying because Joseph was right logically and biblically. And God's like, You are right logically and biblically. I'm giving assurance that you are going to continue in this, continue with your ⁓ convictions. But that I think that speaks to the again the goodness of God that He's like, I'm not gonna leave you in the dark. Yeah. Now what is gonna be with you? When it's talking about spirit and angels, again, you know, someone maybe who hasn't read this, like when you hear angel and then you hear spirit, like what is the difference? 'Cause you know, yeah. Like they it sounds like they're kind of doing the same stuff, but yeah, you know ⁓ The difference would be the essence of ⁓ the spirit is God. Yeah. So God is a triune God, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Yep. Same in essence, same in character. has always been, always will be, is God, the threefold God. Angels are creations, mm-hmm. So created by God. They worship God. we are called ⁓ just as we are called to worship God as well, and ⁓ they are by all accounts eternal beings, ⁓ outside of the angels that fell into rebellion and followed the devil who will be destroyed at the end of the world. Angels will live forever. But ⁓ the amazing thing is that ⁓ humans have been elevated above the status of angels in God's hierarchy, like that we are called sons and daughters of God, but an angel has never been called that. ⁓ but again they are creation ⁓ they are heavenly creatures that deliver God's message, whereas the Holy Spirit, I think you could say I think you could say the angel does God's messaging, but the Holy Spirit is God, does the work of God. Like an angel cannot create life, if that makes sense. No, I understand. ⁓ only God can create life. That's why you need the spirit to form Jesus in the womb, but an angel to deliver the message. And then ultimately you see as the coming of Christ and the spirit that dwells in us that That really becomes the main communicator to us today is the Holy Spirit dwelling in us that we don't have necessarily a personal angel, but we can access God directly. Perfect. Because the angel continues in verse 21, she will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Yep. So I mean that's kind of telling what's going to happen later on in this beautiful. Well, Jesus, his name Actually translates closer to Joshua in ⁓ like Yeshua is how you'd say it. Yep. So that's the name for Joshua, which again harkens back to the book of Joshua, the successor of Moses who led the people of God into the promised land. So this is a new Joshua. This is a new leader moving people out of slavery into freedom, but in this language it says, ⁓ deliver them from their sins instead of the slavery of Egypt. The promised land, it's from death to life. That's good. And then verse twenty two and ⁓ twenty-three. Mm-hmm. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. And then here you'll see it bold in your Bibles where it says, See the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will call him will name him Emmanuel, which is translated to God is with us. So where What prophet is this coming from? Yeah, this comes from ⁓ the prophet Isaiah, ⁓ where Isaiah is the prophet who ⁓ was living during the seventh, eighth century in ancient Israel, and ⁓ it's a beautiful story. I I will give like a quick summation of it, but basically Israel's under attack from a foreign power, Isaiah Being a prophet, a mouthpiece for God, is sent to King Ahaz and says, Hey, there's gonna be trouble, it's gonna be bad, there's gonna be a siege, but you're gonna survive. And here's a sign like to that that not only this moment, but all moments going forward when people are in distress, in the deepest pain, they need to know there's a a way out, way through. Here's the sign that God will get you through, Emmanuel. Mm-hmm. Virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel. Go read the story. It's in Isaiah chapter six and seven. ⁓ it it's absolutely amazing. But go and and just read that and be like, wow. So, like, that's the promise that God will not only save us from our sins, but saves us through whatever trouble and tribulation we go through in this life. Not to say we won't have it, because Jesus is very clear. In his life, you will have trouble, but that he will always be with you. God with you in everything. That's so good. Because then it really it shows how much Joseph is just submitted to God in this next two verses where it says, When Joseph woke up, he did as the Lord Angel had commanded him. He married her, but did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son, and he named him Jesus. Jesus. Yeah. So again, Joseph not only trusts God, he throws himself into the scandal with Mary, and he does not live out the ⁓ marital pleasure, we'll say, of having a wife. He's like, no, like we're gonna I'm setting a boundary around that. and he it says he named him Jesus, which again you have to think like The faithfulness of Mary, of course, because she's like, I I'm doing this no matter what. Like Messiah's in my body. But again, for Joseph to say, I'm gonna enter into this with you and I will like raise a son that's really not mine, but kind of mine, like the the confusion of that. ⁓ it just shows the faithfulness of these two people, Mary and Joseph, who were called to the same thing but in different ways. Yeah. And I think that does speak to again to the beauty of ⁓ just faithfulness to God above all else. Like yeah, Joseph is the royal lineage. Yep. Mary's not, but Mary's faithfulness is what qualifies her that we celebrate Mary way more than we celebrate Joseph, for I mean she was the one who went first and might have had to go solo. So yeah. ⁓ I mean it speaks to Joseph's like Like just submissiveness to God. Yes, both of them. I mean, just imagine like you get your wife comes over and tells you, Hey, I'm pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Yep. In this day and age, you're gonna be like, No. No, you're not. No, you're not. No, we're done. We're done. And then he just And then think about her loneliness of like Well great. The man I love is gonna secretly. Like what what were her prayers like that night after the conversation? Like both of them submitted to God. Long before they submitted to each other. Uh-huh. And I think that has to just a not a unimportant point, but just something worth noting. That has to be the foundation of any marriage. Any marriage. Any marriage. Two people submitting to God individually. Yep. First and foremost, before any submission to each other. because out of your submission to God comes your submission to each other. You know, it's so much easier to submit, serve your spouse when you've already submitted and served God. And I think you see that. perfectly here on the highest level. Amen. And with that we're gonna close out today. but we'll be back tomorrow opening up to verse or chapter two of this story. So we'll see you then. Awesome.