What words are said most often by angels when meeting or encountering humans? You might imagine it is “God bless you” or “Hear ye, hear ye” or maybe directly “Thus says the Lord”. But in fact, if you search Scripture, you will find that the words angels say most often to people are the words “Do not fear”. For example, when an angel appeared to Daniel,he said, “O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!” So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” (Daniel 10:19)

When an angel appeared to the women at Jesus’ empty tomb, he said:“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.” (Matthew 28:5) 

Bringing it closer to our series on angels of the Incarnation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.”(Luke 1:13). 

When Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she would give birth to Jesus, he said: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.”(Luke 1:30) 

When angels appeared to the shepherds to announce Jesus’ birth, one said: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”(Luke 2:10). 

And in todays’ Scripture, we will see again the command to not fear. Why do angels so often call on humans not to fear? On one level, angels often appeared in dazzling, otherworldly forms, which naturally elicited fear in those they encountered, so the call to not fear is simply a call to get past their glorious appearance. But beyond that, the angels are usually seeking to both comfort and encourage believers in their faith. Fear not, because God means to bring peace, not terror, or harm. Fear not, because you need to believe and obey this message without drawing back in fear or cowardice. 

Joseph was a man who needed great courage to believe and obey what God had for him. We can tell his story in five parts: his circumstances, his crisis, his chivalry, his challenge, and his courage. 

I. Joseph’s Circumstances

Joseph was not a rich man. We know that because of a small detail that Luke tells us, that when Mary and Joseph went to the Temple to consecrate the baby Jesus, they offered the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or pigeons – which was the substitute offering that the poor were allowed to bring, if they could not afford a lamb. 

He lived a modest and industrious life. Known in Greek as a “tekton,” a carpenter was more than a woodworker; they were versatile artisans skilled in working with wood, stone, and other materials. In a town like Nazareth, Joseph built and repaired things like doors, furniture, tools, and even structures like homes and synagogues. 

Joseph had learnt the trade from his father, Jacob, who had no doubt learnt it from his father, Mattan. Trades were passed down from father to son, and often enough the expensive tools needed: the handmade chisels, saws, and hammers. By this time, Joseph likely had his own simple workshop, where he put in his long hours, and often bartered what he made for other goods. 

Very likely, Joseph had been busy building his own home. He had recently been betrothed to the young girl Mary. His and her parents had arranged the marriage, with Joseph’s consent. He had known Mary his whole life, admired her, and was thrilled to be betrothed to her. He and his family could only afford the minimum dowry payment, and at their betrothal ceremony, there was likely no sumptuous feast that followed afterwards. 

But nevertheless, the thought of marriage and family made Joseph both excited and overawed. He knew he now had to get a home ready for his bride, before the special day when he would, with great ceremony, head to her father’s home, be married, and take her to his own home. 

During their betrothal, Mary and Joseph did not see each other. Mary had sent word that her aged relative Elizabeth was unexpectedly pregnant, and she was going to go and be with her. She was gone for three months.

When she returned, there was a buzz. Joseph could hear when the town gossips had a tasty morsel to share, and were whispering it around as the news of the day. Occasionally, he saw some of the women whispering and pointing at him. He knew something was amiss. 

II. Joseph’s Crisis

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

We do not know if Mary’s father came to see Joseph, or another messenger, or perhaps because of this extreme situation, Mary herself told Joseph. The simple truth was, Mary was pregnant, and he was not the father. We do not know if Mary sought to explain to him what Gabriel had said. The Bible spares us all the details of how the knowledge came to him, and how he felt and reacted. 

We can speculate that he was devastated. We imagine him going through all the emotions of shock, disbelief, hurt, betrayal, and anger. We picture his mind spinning with questions: Why would she do this? Who could this be? How could this have happened? What did he do wrong that she did this?

And then, his thoughts would have inevitably been tempted in the direction of embarrassment and humiliation. He would now be what we call a cuckold, one who is the victim of his wife, or betrothed unfaithfulness. With this goes scorn, shame, silent or open ridicule. Joseph is looked down upon as one who could not keep his betrothed’s affections on him. 

He would feel angry, subjected to open ridicule, a victim of another’s unfaithfulness. So now Joseph faced a crisis. Here he was, betrothed to Mary, building a home for them, and now she is pregnant. 

What must he do?

He had some options. The strictest interpretation of the Law in Deuteronomy 22 said that if a Israelite woman was married and found not to be a virgin, the husband could bring her to the court of Law and she could be punishable by death. 

But since they had not yet been married, Joseph had the option of a divorce of their betrothed situation. They were legally betrothed, so they needed to be legally divorced from that betrothal. Joseph had two options available. He could proceed with a public divorce, in a Court of Justice, where he would accuse her of having broken the covenant of faithfulness, brought witnesses, and then had her declared guilty of violating the covenant. He would essentially shame her, use the court as a moment of retribution, a kind of just or unjust anger at his betrothed for humiliating him in the community, and gain back his reputation, and probably some of his money, as well. 

The other option was a private divorce. He could send her a private letter of divorce. It would be sent to her privately, only it had to have the presence of two witnesses that she received the letter and read it. In that swift, quiet and private way, the betrothal would be over. This was the crisis.

So what did Joseph do? 

III. Joseph’s Chivalry

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 

The Bible tells us that Joseph was a just man. This is the Bible’s way of referring to the person who stands in right relationship with God. To be just is to be right, righteous, on the moral scale, your evil is removed and your goodness is present. That only happens when a person places faith in the living God. It was in the Old Testament book of Habbakuk that it was said, “the just shall live by his faith.” A man becomes just by faith, not by his own efforts or righteousness. 

Joseph was a believer, a righteous man, one forgiven and changed from within by God’s saving grace. The fruit of that righteousness was that Joseph acted in mercy and grace towards Mary. He didn’t understand what had happened or why. He couldn’t make sense of it. He was hurt, saddened, disappointed beyond words. But the sign that he was one of God’s children was that he resisted revenge, anger, bitterness. He did not turn to vengeance, and self-vindication. 

Instead, he responded with chivalry, meekness, kindness. From a worldly perspective, Mary deserved to be humiliated for humiliating Joseph. But from a godly perspective, Joseph would commit Mary and her future to the Lord, and do her as little harm as possible. 

It is the one of the marks of the righteous that they wish to live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. Believers agree with Paul in Romans 12:18 “¹If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” Godly people are not looking for conflict, anxious for confrontations, itching for moments to display their anger, their power. This was Joseph’s chivalry.

Now it is interesting that once Joseph has made up his mind to do the best thing he knows, the kindest and most righteous thing he knows, that only then does he find out what has really happened to Mary. 

IV. Joseph’s Challenge

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

As Joseph gives himself to pondering the best way to deal with a bad situation, he finally succumbs to sleep. And it is in sleep that he receives his angelic visitation. 

Now here it is important to understand that Joseph was not experiencing a dream as we usually think of them, a kind of self-constructed play of events emerging from his own mind. 

In the Bible one of the forms of direct revelation from God to man has come in the form of a vision. Several of the prophets received visions: Isaiah, Daniel, Ezekiel. Even Abram experienced this. A vision seems to be a kind of opening up of heavenly reality, for a person to see. In fact, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus told his three disciples not to share the details of the vision until much later. The only difference between a vision and a dream is that this very same encounter with heavenly realities takes place while asleep. By the way, this is not something restricted to the Bible. In New Age and occultic practices, they often seek to make contact with the spirit world in the dream state, many modern encounters with demonic entities, masquerading as aliens take place during the dream state, or in what is the equivalent of a waking vision.

Joseph is experiencing an angelic visitation, not simply having his mind invent an encounter with an angel. 

In this case, we do not have the name of the angel. The Gospel of Luke identifies the angel that visited Mary and Zacharias as Gabriel, here the Gospel of Matthew simply calls him an angel of the Lord. I think it is very likely that this was Gabriel, but we don’t know for sure.

Once again, we see angels tasked with a message. But that is not all that they do. Let me give you a short list of things Scripture records angels as doing.

1. First, they are said to serve believers. Hebrews 1:14 says ¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14)
2. Second, they have guarded believers against danger. ¹¹ For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. ¹² In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11–12). We remember how God protected Peter by having an angel release him from prison in Acts 5.
3. Third, they sometimes deliver answers to prayer. Daniel is praying when Gabriel comes to him and says, your prayers have been heard and I have come to tell you how things will unfold. 
4. Fourth, it was an angel who directed Philip to evangelise where he did, which saw the eunuch coming to faith. 
5. They encourage believers in the face of danger, an angel encouraged Paul before he stood trial. Acts 27:23-25.
6. They watch believers as we serve the Lord, I Cor. 11:10; They learn from what they observe, Eph. 3:10 .
7. They may serve the believer at the time of our physical death. Jude 9. Luke 16:22 ²² So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. (Luke 16:22) 
8. They gather the elect of Israel at the Second Coming, Mt. 24:31.
9. They guard the gates of the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:12, 27. Rev. 22:14.

This angel though, is given to the task of conveying divine revelation. Notice, he addresses Joseph as son of David, which is unusual. Why? Because Joseph is the legal heir of the David’s throne. And he is going to be the adoptive father of the one who will sit on that throne. 

The angel says to Joseph, do not be afraid to marry Mary. She is not guilty of immorality; she has not betrayed you, she has not violated her marital vows. Instead, she is pregnant by a miracle, this was an act of divine creation in her womb. The Holy Spirit has wrought this miracle in her. 

And then the angel told Joseph, the one charged with naming the child, that he was to be called Jesus. Why? Because Jesus, Yeshua means Jehovah is salvation, Jehovah saves, and this one will save His people from their sins. Joseph, also well-taught in the Scriptures would know that this is Messiah. In fact, he would have thought of the Scripture which Matthew then quotes and comments on:

So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Matthew is quoting Isaiah 7:14. This is the virgin-born child who is God among us, because He is God in the flesh. And only Immanuel can be Yeshua. Only God among us can save His people from their sins. 

We can barely imagine the combined shock, relief, joy, and fear as Joseph took in these words. God wanted him to go ahead with marrying Mary. He wanted them to be a family. But she was pregnant with a God-conceived child. 

God was charging Joseph to be husband to the mother of the Messiah. He was charging him to become the adoptive father of the Saviour of the world. He was charging him to take up the responsibility, though it would mean being misunderstood, maligned, scorned, ridiculed by others. In some ways, a private divorce would have been the easiest thing he could so. What lay ahead of him was perhaps one of the heaviest burdens a man has ever faced. This is an assignment you must not fail in, and one which few will understand or reward you for. This was the challenge.

V. Joseph’s Courage

Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18–25) 

We saw in Mary an incredible faith – one that submitted to the path laid out for her with the words, “Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord.” Here we see that she was truly a kindred spirit with Joseph. The moment Joseph wakes up, he sets about obeying by faith. 

First, whatever divorce arrangements he had begun, he cancelled them. To the bewilderment of his own family, he informed them that he would be marrying Mary. And then, he delivered the news to Mary. One wonders what tears of joy flowed that day, as she found confirmation not only of the message Gabriel had brought to her, but confirmation that she was marrying a man of faith. 

Joseph’s faith, like Mary’s, submitted to God’s will, placing obedience higher than pleasing man. Pleasing God was more important than pleasing man. God’s reputation was more important to Joseph than Joseph’s reputation. Joseph also had to die to his old dreams of a simple life, of a respectable family in Nazareth. He must now always shoulder the burden of gossips, of speculation, of slander. 

Joseph then did a second great act of faith. He marries her, but did not seek to consummate the marriage until Jesus had been born. To cast no aspersions on the virgin-born status of Jesus, to honour the truth that this child was conceived of the Spirit, Joseph waited out the months of her pregnancy, exercising meekness, self-control and restraint, for the sake of blamelessness. He also did this, because he believed the exact words of Scripture: a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. She is to be a virgin at the time of the child’s birth. Joseph acted in faith in God’s Word, and made sure the Word was fulfilled exactly as it was written. He was not going to violate what was written, or re-cast it in his own image. 

The Bible does not teach that Mary remained a virgin her whole life. Indeed, since marriage is honourable and the marriage bed undefiled, abstaining while married would actually be a form of sin, according to 1 Corinthians 7. Instead, Mark 6:3 says, “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” (Mark 6:3). Mary and Joseph had at least six children after Jesus, being the half-brothers and half-sisters of Jesus. 

But Joseph exercised courageous faith in this act of abstinence as well.

The third way we see his courageous faith is what verse 25 says. He called His name, Jesus. It was traditional for the firstborn son to carry the name of the father. Since there were no Joshuas, no Yeshuas in the family, Joseph would have raised eyebrows at the naming ceremony, eight days after Jesus was born (which would have been in Bethlehem, not in Nazareth). And again, when they returned to Nazareth, he would have gone through the same objections and questions. Why would he do it? Faith. Faith in God’s revealed Word. God had told him to name the child Jesus, so he did. 

Last week we saw that faith is not mere belief in facts. It includes a submission. It includes surrendering to the cost of all that God’s free gift may be. Here we see in Joseph that faith is not merely passively or weakly accepting something. Faith includes a certain courage, a willingness to step into the headwinds of doubt and cross that line. Faith contains courage. 

Some of the most repeated words in Scripture are “fear not”. Fear not is the negative, the positive is believe. Again, to be clear, we do not have to work up courage and then offer God our courage as a kind of trade. We do not earn salvation because we are bold. 

But what God offers does require that we either shrink back in cowardly unbelief, or we leap into His arms. We either step back, or we step forward. We either step out the boat onto the waves, with our eyes on Jesus, or we retreat into our excuses. 

At this point, a lot of people start criticising the process as blind faith, as leaping into the dark. But faith is never blind when we can see clearly who it is that we are trusting. Faith is never a plunge into the dark when we know who has promised to be with us. But to accept what God offers contains courage. 

How do I know He will truly save me from hell if I trust in Him? How do I know He won’t ruin my life with manifold trials and persecutions? How do I know that my doubts won’t prove to have the last word? How do I know He won’t turn around and go back on His word? How do I know that I haven’t missed some other path for my life? Well you can’t know. That’s what faith is. If God told you in advance what and how and why He was going to unfold events, there would be no faith. Faith is trusting God will keep His Word, deliver, save, bring good, even when you can’t see how, don’t see how, are unable to see the means He’ll use. 

When you’re facing a Red Sea with Egyptian armies behind you, or a Jericho with mountainous walls, or an army ten times the size of your men, or an Assyrian force of 185 000 surrounding your city, or the command to eat Babylonian food that violate Jewish law, or to bow down to a golden image when everyone else does, or to leave your old life and follow the carpenter-preacher, or to face Sanhedrin and Roman governors who tell you to stop; in the end faith says, I’m trusting the One who stands behind the command. I’m not trusting my own ability to figure out how it will work; I’m trusting the Person behind the promises. 

Above all, when you’re facing the choice to live your life your own way, to please yourself, follow your own law, or to risk following Christ, to place your trust in Him not only for Heaven, but for Earth, for life then and life now, to give up the world, and live as a Christian immersed into His death and resurrection, that takes faith. Courageous faith. 

Angels that appear seem to say to those they meet, Don’t fear. We know Him. He does not lie. He means to do you good. Trust His Word, and press forward. Fear not, be strong, and very courageous, the Lord your God goes before you.