Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Miracles are miracles...Miracles are outside the laws of nature...Some believe in miracles and some do not...There maybe a third category of miracle believers...For this group, who believe in miracles, maybe they choose which miracles they want to believe in...And for some reason, for me some miracles are easier for me to believe...Some miracles just seem quite odd from my perspective...
The virgin birth was a miracle...How can a virgin have a baby...I have read where people cannot believe in the virgin birth...I have also read where the virgin birth is a stumbling block for some people to believe in Jesus, because a girl cannot become pregnant without a man...And it is a miracle for a girl to have a baby without the help of a man...It is not a natural law to have a child without both a man and a woman...And some say that today's science continues to debunk the miracles, and the people of latter times just did not understand things as well as we do today...I do think they understood the laws of nature two thousand years ago...Joseph understood the laws of nature and how a baby comes into this world...Joseph found out his fiancé, and knew Mary was pregnant...But because Joseph was her future husband and was faithful to the law, he did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace, so he had in mind to divorce her quietly...But after he had considered divorcing her quietly, an angel of the LORD appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit...She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins."...
So Joseph knew that this was out of the ordinary, but he chose to believe both the second miracle and the first one...The first miracle was Mary was impregnated with the Holy Spirit...And the second miracle was an angel who approached him and talked him into staying with Mary and marrying her...So Joseph believed in the both the Holy Spirit and in angels...
The author Matthew does not give us much more evidence than that of Joseph's two miracles...He does not go into detail of the virgin birth...But we know something changed Joseph's mind for him to go ahead and marry Mary...No doubt that this is a Miracle Birth, and skeptics are open to deny the virgin birth...But if Jesus is the Son of God, and is divine wouldn't He enter the world a little bit different than others?...
And if miracles are miracles, then all miracles are odd...Because all miracles are outside the laws of nature, and that would make all miracles seem odd...But Joseph has put his belief in God above his own reputation and honor, after hearing the angel...So Joseph had a lot to believe in...And he believed Mary, but more importantly he also believed in God...