Once upon a time, there was a man named Jacob, who had a son named Joseph. Joseph was a dreamer of dreams...

This time there was no coat of many colors
This time no one got sold into slavery
But there was a great famine
And there was an unscheduled trip to Egypt...

Let’s take a look at the Four Dreams of Joseph:

Matthew 1:
18 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 by the Holy Spirit. (O) 19 So her husband Joseph, being a righteous man, (P) and not wanting to disgrace her publicly, decided to divorce her secretly. (Q)
20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. (R) 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, (S) [i] because He will save His people from their sins." (T)

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 See, the virgin will become pregnant

and give birth to a son,

and they will name Him Immanuel , (U)

which is translated "God is with us." (V)

24 When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord's angel had commanded him. He married her (W) 25 but did not know her intimately until she gave birth to a son. [j] And he named Him Jesus.

So, Joseph is about to get married; he is in the ‘Betrothal’ stage of Jewish marriages at the time. During this time, Jewish marriages were arranged; A thing like marriage is much to important to be left to mere attraction, so they thought. There were three steps in marriage- First, came the arrangement itself; second, the betrothal period where the couple lived together as husband and wife but did not have the privileges of a married couple; third; Marriage. Joseph and Mary were at the betrothal stage. They were getting to know each other, and getting used to the other’s little habits, idiosyncracies- the things that they began to love about each other... and the things that would make them nuts in later years. Joseph began to love Mary, and he thought that Mary was beginning to love him....

And Joseph makes a discovery that drops the bottom out of his life. His fiance had betrayed him... she was pregnant, and since he was a good man who followed the rules of his betrothal, he knew that he was NOT the father

His fiance is pregnant, and he is not the father.

I think it’s safe to assume that his heart broke.

But here we see that Joseph was a good man who loved mercy, as his adopted son did. In his betrayal, in his heart-brokeness, he could’ve had Mary stoned to death as an adulteress. He would’ve been justified in having her executed... but he showed mercy.

He was going to send her away quietly, so she could find a new life somewhere else...

And then Joseph, like his namesake so many years ago, dreamed a dream.

20 But after he had considered these things, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. (R) 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Jesus, (S) [i] because He will save His people from their sins." (T)

22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

23 See, the virgin will become pregnant

and give birth to a son,

and they will name Him Immanuel , (U)

which is translated "God is with us." (V)

24 When Joseph got up from sleeping, he did as the Lord's angel had commanded him.

Something leaps out of this passage to me. The Angel didn’t say “Don’t be angry” or “Don’t be vengeful” or “Don’t exercise your rights”... he said “Don’t be afraid”

“Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife” Afraid? Why would fear be a part of this equation? It could be that since the child was not his, he was afraid of what it would be like, that he wasn’t prepared to be a father... which meant that as he was considering the magnitude of his decisions, he had considered raising the child as his own. It was not uncommon for betrothed couples to rush marriages...
Underneath the heartbreak, underneath the betrayal and underneath the anger, there was fear. Which meant that underneath the fear was love.

Joseph then did as he was commanded, he married Mary and Jesus was born according to prophecy.

But Joseph wasn’t done dreaming...

Jesus had been born, and they had found lodging in Bethlehem. He was making his way as a carpenter- which may have been more like being a general contractor. Dave Curry made me go and study the root word of his occupation, and it translates to ‘craftsman’, as near as I can tell. However one day, Persian Astrologers show up at the door. This was probably not a common occurrence. Can you imagine opening the door to your rental house and seeing a royal caravan there, asking to come in? Remember, this was waaaay before the prize patrol, and it was probably rather intimidating. Joseph let them in, offered them hospitality... whatever he and Mary had handy for visitors. They wanted to see the baby, the child that Joseph had started to raise as his own. They worshipped the baby, and gave him gifts of gold, incense and royal embalming spices.

A little odd for baby gifts.... but this was no ordinary baby. After this busy day, Joseph lay down to sleep... and dreamed a dream.

13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him." (I) 14 So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. 15 He stayed there until Herod's death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son. (J) (K)

One thing I really have to admire about Joseph. Once he got his marching orders, he marched. I imagine that the gifts of the Magi supported them during this exile; all three items were freely tradeable and of great value. It would’ve been extremely difficult for Mary and Joseph to support themselves in Egypt, as they probably didn’t know the language, didn’t know people... it’s very hard to do business in Joseph’s field without a good network of contacts. So, as usual, God provides the means to survive exactly when it is needed.

And Joseph and his family found safe haven in Egypt, where Israel found safe haven during the famine several hundred years prior, while Herod perpetrated the wholesale slaughter of the innocents back in Israel.

There’s so much here- God’s provision for their needs, the parallels between Joseph, the savior of Egypt and Joseph, the step-father of Christ... I could spend a month on this. Maybe someday I will. But like Joseph, we need to keep moving...

Mary and Joseph listened for news from Israel... was it safe? Could they go back home yet? I imagine Joseph asked many travelers for news from home, and amidst growing homesickness, the news was never good. They heard about Herod’s slaughter of the children. The news probably always made them heartsick. They were strangers in a strange land, they longed for familiar faces, familiar surroundings... familiar food. Isolated and alone, they waited for news...

And waited
And waited.
Jesus was walking and talking...
They needed to get him back to Israel
They despaired of ever getting back to Israel.... the money was running out

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, (O) 20 saying, "Get up! Take the child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, because those who sought the child's life are dead." 21 So he got up, took the child and His mother, and entered the land of Israel

The angel of the Lord was not prone to slow entrances, was he? BAM! Suddenly! Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared! And just as suddenly, Joseph got up and headed back to Israel. He took his wife and child and headed home with a happy heart. They were going home!

They crossed into Israel and got some bad news...

22 But when he heard that Archelaus [i] was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.

Judea was probably not the best option for Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Archelaus was not known for his friendly demeanor. His father had killed thousands of babies trying to get at Christ, who knew what the son was capable of?

Joseph stopped. He had been told that it was safe to go back to Israel, but Judea... Bethlehem... home.... was decidedly not safe. Why had he been told to return to Israel if he couldn’t go home? Imagine his confusion. He was a man of faith, a man, like Abraham, when told to go somewhere by God, went.

But now, he was stranded, waiting to enter Israel, very much like the Jews waited after their wanderings... waiting on the word of the Lord. Fortunately, Joseph didn’t have to wait too long...

For once, the angel of the Lord didn’t appear suddenly.

And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. (P) 23 Then he went and settled in a town called Nazareth to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that He will be called a Nazarene. (Q)

Galilee? Well, it wasn’t Judea, but it wasn’t Egypt either. They settled in Nazareth, where he taught Jesus his trade, watched him grow. I’d like to think that Joseph didn’t stop dreaming, but that he had the normal dreams of a father for his son...

So, what can we take away from the four dreams of Joseph?
1) God is merciful and understands us down to our deepest emotions.
2) God provides the means to take care of our needs as we faithfully serve him
3) God protects us
4) God puts us in certain places for a reason....
And God. Acts. Suddenly!... and expects us to do the same.

He can move in your heart as suddenly as He did in Joseph’s dreams. If you have suddenly had Him move in your heart, this time is for you.