The untold Christmas story

The Christmas story is about the birth of Christ Jesus.

Mary is the key person in this story. However, there is another key person in this story who has been overlooked. That person is Joseph.

The story begins in Matthew 1:18. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”

Joseph stayed engaged to Mary, although he knew he was not the father of the child.
“Then Joseph her husband , being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.”

According to the law of his day, Joseph could have her stoned or write a bill of divorcement.

While he was meditating on these options, an angel appeared in a dream and said to him, “Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, Mary, thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and called his name Jesus.”

Imagine the great thwarting temptation Satan placed on Joseph. One mistake and the whole plan of God to come to mankind in the form of flesh through a virgin would have been diverted.

Joseph faced ridicule from the people. Yet he obeyed instructions from God. Against laws of nature, laws of civil government and peer pressure, Joseph remained a just man and stayed true to his character so the scripture would be fulfilled.

To complete the Christmas story, all depended on one man, Joseph. To fulfill the salvation story, one man, Jesus Christ, was the one to complete, and it was finished. God is calling all men to stand and retrieve the divinity of Christmas back from the commercialism that has thwarted the true message.