The Birth and Childhood of John the Baptist and the Angel's Message to Joseph

Today we'll be talking about the birth and childhood of John the Baptist and the appearance of the angel to Joseph, who would be the stepfather of Jesus. I'll run through this pretty quickly here. By way of review, remember that Zechariah was a priest. He was quite old, as we talked about two classes ago. He and his wife Elizabeth had been unable to have children for many years. That was quite a scandal, you might say, in the culture of that day, because it was viewed that if you did not have children, you were being cursed, for some reason, by God.

Consequently, they would have been looked down on, whispered things behind their backs, that sort of thing. Particularly because Zechariah was a priest, that would have been doubly looked down on. Because, again, for a priest and his wife not to have children, obviously people would have thought there was something major wrong, some secret sin or something that was preventing that from happening. But then, as we covered in the earlier class, I'm just setting the stage for today's class, when Zechariah was serving his course in the temple, then the angel Gabriel appeared to him, as he was offering the incense there in the holy place.

Gabriel told him that he would have a son who was to be named John, or God is a gracious giver, the meaning of the name John. Today, we'll pick up the story with that in John 1 and verse 57. Begin reading here. This is on page 5, I think it is, of the harmony. Reading here, John 1 and verse 57, Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. Again, Elizabeth is quite elderly by this point.

She had borne this disgrace, this stigma of not being able to bear children for so many decades. And finally, now she is blessed in her old age with a son, and not just any son but a very special son who is to play a very important prophetic role.

Verse 58, When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her. Again, this is quite a turnaround for her, before people had been whispering behind their backs. But now people are rejoicing with her, because of this miracle that has been performed in the life of her and her husband, Zechariah, there. So it is obvious that a miracle has taken place for her to become pregnant at that age.

Again, probably somewhere from the 60s to 70s, I would think, there. So now people are realizing that God is using and working through Zechariah and Elizabeth in a very special way to bring these things to pass. And so it was, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child, and they would have called him by the name of his father, Zechariah. His mother answered and said, No, he shall be called John.

This is in accordance with the instructions of the angel, Gabriel. So we see a couple of things from this verse here. First, that it was common to name a child on the eighth day when the boy was circumcised. Don't know about girls, but that was the custom there, as we see, for boys. He was named officially on the eighth day when he was circumcised. And as a side note, it must have been common among the priesthood to name sons after the father, because there was this expectation that he would be named Zechariah after his father.

We don't see reference to that anywhere else in the Gospels, but apparently that is the case from the way this is worded here. But Elizabeth says, No, we're going to name him John, according to Gabriel's instructions there. And continuing on in verse 61, But they said to her, There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.

John. So again, there's obviously this custom of naming children after a relative. So they made signs to his father what he would have him called. And again, we see from this, as we talked about earlier, they're making signs because Zechariah is not only mute, he can't speak, but he also can't hear.

So they're doing sign language to him to explain what they're discussing there. So he cannot speak, but he also cannot hear there. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, saying his name is John. So they all marveled. Just to give you a little archaeological tidbit here about this writing tablet that's mentioned here. The Romans used writing tablets, basically a little wooden tablet, filled with wax, a hard wax.

And you might call it the iPad of the day. They're about the same size, and they would use a stylus. This particular one is a bronze stylus. It's a fancy Roman model of the iPad. It's the advanced model there. But they would use a sticker, stylus, sharpened stick, and would write in the wax. And then when you need to erase it, you just rub on the wax and smooth it all out again. And it's nice and clean there. So this, and the woman on the other side there, is actually from a painting from Roman times, and she's holding one of these writing tablets.

And it would fold shut like a book there, and she's holding the stylus in her hand. So this is apparently what it's referring to here. And this shows us that people could commonly read and write in that day. They weren't a bunch of illiterate know-nothings there. It was quite a literate population there.

So as soon as this happens here that Zechariah says that his name is to be John, immediately, verse 64, his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke praising God.

So one of the study questions I asked was what was the first thing Zechariah did after he could speak again? He praised God. He's probably had all of this built-up praise within him for nine months that this miracle is happening in his wife's womb. And his son has now been born, and as soon as he can speak, he just burst forth praising God there.

And verse 65, Then fear came on all who dwelt around them, and all these things were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. That would have been the the uplands around Jerusalem, which is up on a high mountain ridge in the central part of the country there. So when it refers to the hill country, that's what it's talking about. And also, I might point out here, it's probably not talking about fear, as in dread or terror or something like that, but more the kind of fear that we would translate as awe or amazement or wonderment. Again, why? Because of these miracles that people are now seeing in their midst. Here's this elderly woman who's having a baby in her old age. Here's Zechariah, that the archangel Gabriel has appeared to him in the temple and told him that he would have a son in his old age. So people are amazed at these miracles that are now taking place in their midst. This is a very exciting thing taking place here in this time. Verse 66, and all those who heard these things kept them in their hearts, saying, What kind of child will this be? And the hand of the Lord was with him. So again, they're talking about these miracles that they have witnessed here. So again, this is very exciting. This is big news to the people of that area. Continuing in verse 67, now his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people. So Zechariah starts off praising God and saying, Blessed is the Lord God of Israel. And then he says, goes through some of the things that he's praising God for. He says he has visited his people. And what does that mean? Well, think about it. When was the last prophet who had appeared to Israel? It was Mar-lakai. Four and a half centuries earlier. There has been no prophet in Israel for all that time. There have been no miracles, no dramatic miracles like those we read about in the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures here. So it's quite dramatic. Zechariah is acknowledging that now God is intervening in the nation of Israel, what's left of it, Judea at this time. And now God is actively working again. It is starting to be another age of miracles here. So God is visiting his people. He is interacting with them again, is what is being referred to here. After all, God had directly intervened with Zechariah and Elizabeth. And now they are the parents of the one who is to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And also, Zechariah's wife, Elizabeth's relative Maryam, or Mary, has now been told that she is to give birth to the Messiah. So this is a tremendously exciting time here. So yes, God is visiting with, he is interacting directly with his people once again now. Zechariah also says that God has redeemed his people. And to redeem means to buy back, or to ransom, or to deliver all those meanings encompassed within that Greek word. How does God buy back, or ransom, or deliver people? Well, through Jesus Christ, through the Messiah who was to come there. We all know, Romans 3.23 tells us that all have sinned, that we all deserve the death penalty for that. And apparently, Zechariah has some understanding that part of the role of the Messiah was to be a Savior, to be one who would pay the penalty for the sins of people. That was not something that is commonly understood in that day. But Zechariah apparently has this insight from the things that he says here.

Continuing in verse 69, and is raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. This is a reference back. You might write down Psalm 18, verse 2.

Where David, again, this is talking about the house of God's servant David, and David writes, The eternal is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Why does he use this unusual word, horn, here? I mean, what's this talking about? A horn of plenty, animal horn, shofar, what? Well, in the Old Testament, you find this phrase used several different times. And a horn is used, you might think of a bull or an ox, a very powerful, very strong animal. And the horn was used as kind of the source of strength or power of that animal. It's kind of metaphorically speaking there, symbolic of the animal's strength and power. So what this is saying, and symbolically here, is that God is going to raise up a very powerful, a very strong individual from the house of David who will bring salvation. And of course, what that is referring to is Jesus the Messiah, whose name means God saves. And as we've seen many times already in these classes, Jesus is a descendant of King David and will fulfill many of the messianic prophecies about the descendant of David. Also, I might mention again, if you raise your hands, if you have any questions, anything not clear. We're covering through this fairly quickly today, but if you do have questions, feel free to raise your hand. Continuing in verse 70, this is continuing with Zechariah's praise to God, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets, who had been since the world began. And of course, this is referring back to the fact that God has prophesied of the coming of this Messiah all the way back, literally, to the book of Genesis.

You might write down in Genesis 3, verses 14 and 15. And this is right after Adam and Eve have sinned by taking the forbidden fruit and at the instigation of Satan in the form of the serpent.

And it says, So the eternal God said to the serpent, because you have done this, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heels. This is a prophecy that the Messiah would ultimately overcome Satan. And we know that will happen, according to prophecy in the future. Another very early prophecy from Enoch, seven generations later, quoted from the book of Jude, verses 14 and 15.

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men also. This is referring to false prophets and so on. But it mentions here that, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints. Talking about the return of the Messiah. Enoch somehow knew this and understood it. And prophesied this back seven generations from Adam and Eve. So, yes, God has indeed spoken by the mouth of his prophets, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden, foretelling that a Messiah would come. And, of course, there are many hundreds of scriptures we don't have time to cover about the coming of the Messiah and what the Messiah would do if they're scattered throughout the Bible. I might also point out here why did God send human prophets, as opposed to speaking directly with people. You might recall what happened at Mount Sinai in Exodus 20, right after God gives the Ten Commandments there from Sinai. What is the reaction? And these are the very next verses after the Ten Commandments. Now, all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. And then they said to Moses, You speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. So the point being mentioned here is that the people did not want to hear directly from God. And God said, Okay, if you won't listen to me, I'll speak to you through human agents, through human prophets, and so on. So this ties in with what Zechariah is saying here, that God from that point sent human prophets to reveal his word to Israel rather than appearing to them directly. And continuing on, verse 71, back here in Luke 1, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. And Zechariah is here quoting from Psalm 106 and verse 10. He saved them from the hand of him who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And again, this isn't an exact quote because the psalm was written in Hebrew. Zechariah is speaking in either Hebrew or Aramaic, and it's recorded in Greek and then translated for us into English. So you're going between several different languages there, so that accounts for some of the differences there. But the point Zechariah is making is that God does deliver his people from their enemies and from those who hate them. And one of the study questions I sent out last night is, what are the two great enemies that God delivers us from?

Two familiar passages that tell us about our enemies as Christians. Who are they? What are they? Any takers on that? Yes, Tim. Satan. Yes, Satan is one. Satan, our enemy, our adversary, he's called, which means enemy. What's the other great enemy? The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Death. 1 Corinthians 15. Yes, we'd like to write those down. 1 Peter 5, 8 refers to our adversary, the devil. 1 Corinthians 15.26, the last enemy that will be destroyed is death.

There. And what about human beings? Are they our enemies? Well, they shouldn't be, although sometimes they put themselves in that position. But as Hebrews 13.6 says, we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, I shall not fear. What can man do to me? So, so long as we are obeying God, trusting God, doing what he says to do, we don't have to worry about other human beings as our enemies there, what they might do for us.

So, continuing back here in Luke 1, verse 72 now, continuing with Zechariah's praise of God, 1 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham. So, we see here that Zechariah understood that the coming of the Messiah would involve several important things that we see pointed out here, just in these few verses here. One of those things is mercy. The coming of the Messiah would involve mercy, the forgiveness of our sins, grace, reconciliation to the Father.

All of this is going to be made possible by the coming of the Messiah. It would involve a second thing, God's holy covenant. God's holy covenant with human beings. It didn't mean scrapping God's law and doing away with it, ignoring it, but rather it would involve what? It would involve writing that law in our hearts as part of the new covenant He would have with people through His Holy Spirit. And third, it would involve the promises, or the oath as it's worded here, to our father Abraham. The promises to Abraham. And what promises would that be? That through his seed, through his offspring, through his seed singular, the Messiah, that all the nations of the earth would be blessed. The prophecy, in other words, of Jesus the Messiah being a descendant of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob and Judah as well. But this is what this is referring to here. Obviously, Zechariah is familiar with these prophecies and understands that they would be fulfilled through the coming Messiah. And continuing on in verse 74, "...to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, and holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life." Just as a question here, how do we serve God without fear? Well, it answers it there in the next verse. By serving Him and holiness and righteousness all the days of our life. So we serve God according to His definitions of righteousness. That means don't make up your own rules, your own forms of worship, which is the problem with traditional Christianity. People have thought they've had a better idea and come up with their own ways of worshiping God rather than doing what God Himself says to do. Continuing in verse 76, now it shifts a little bit from a Messiah to His son John, his new baby boy who's eight days old. Now, Zechariah starts prophesying about his son John. And he says, "...and you, child, will be called the prophet of the highest, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways." So Zechariah understood that the prophecy of Malachi 3 and verse 1 was related specifically to his newborn son there.

And reading Malachi 3 and verse 1, "...behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming," says the eternal of hosts. So Zechariah again knew that this prophecy of Malachi that he's referring to here is a prophecy about his very own son there. Boy, you talk about a mind-boggling concept. I mean, just how would you feel if your new son or new daughter you knew was actually prophesied in the Bible there? Yes, Aaron. Sure. Uh-huh. To see what he said there.

Right. Moses also, death mentioned in the face, and it's excluded from Malachi, but it's not like I mentioned in the face. Moses learned before God, face to face. Face to face. Abraham faced the face. Literally John was teaching face to face. But he wasn't for all the prophets, and all the prophets thought God was for him. Right, very brief here. John literally looked for him. Right. Yeah, definitely would see God in the flesh, face to face. I mean, they're cousins and some relation there. Yes, John.

Right.

Right, and we're not allowed to do so. Yeah.

Yeah, true. Yeah, good catch there. Good point.

Okay. Yeah, continuing on. Let's see.

Yes, so he understands this is that Malachi is prophesied of his very own eight-day-old son. There, what he's going to be, the role that he's going to play as part of God's plan. Got to be quite a profound moment for Zechariah to prophesy this of his own son.

Right there.

Continuing in verse 77, part of the role of John, who would prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah, was to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission, by the forgiveness or removal of their sins. So John's message, and we'll get into that when we see some examples of his preaching, was primarily a message of repentance. He did not teach about salvation himself, other than pointing people to the Messiah, to Jesus, who would be the one who would bring salvation. John's emphasis was on repentance, again, to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord, to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord there as the Most High God there.

And through the Messiah, then, would come salvation and the forgiveness of sins.

Verse 78, through the tender mercy of our God, with which the day-spring from on high has visited us. And of course, all of this is possible through the grace and mercy of God, and not anything that we deserve. Let's comment briefly about the word day-spring here. If you look it up in a concordance, it basically means the sun rising in the east. It's translated east, it's translated sun. It's basically talking about the sun rising. And this is a reference back to Malachi 4 in verse 2, another prophecy. But to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. So this is metaphorically speaking of Jesus Christ coming as what? As the light of the world and the dawning of light in a world filled with the darkness of night. They're speaking metaphorically of Jesus Christ here, who is going to bring light to the world. And that's what this phrase is referring to. And we see this metaphor continued here in the next verse, verse 79, to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. So as we talked about in one of the sermons about the background of the Gospels, one of the themes of the Gospels is light versus darkness, particularly in the Gospel of John. And we talked about how the darkness that it's talking about there isn't just absence of light, but it is talking about a spiritual force and power of darkness, the dark side, to use the Star Wars phrasing there, that there actually is a spirit world of darkness led by Satan and his demons. And they have done what? They have blinded the world. The whole world is blinded by Satan, and it's also done what? As a result of that blindness, we have death that enshrouds the world. So part of Jesus Christ's coming is the light is to remove that spiritual blindness and ultimately to remove death from mankind as well through the power of the resurrection from the dead. So just again, a lot of information packed into these verses here when we start looking at the significance of these words and phrases that are used here. And again, how is Christ going to give that light? Well, by guiding our feet into the way of peace that it shows here. That's the way the spiritual blindness is going to be removed. That's the way the death is going to be removed by Jesus Christ guiding people in the way of peace at last. And of course, we know we won't turn there, but for instance, Jeremiah talks about it's not in the way of man to direct his own steps. Actually, that's from the Proverbs. Jeremiah talks about the way of peace they have not known and so on. There are many scriptures we could toss in that tie in with that.

So continuing and wrapping up here in this section in verse 80, it says, So the child grew, John is born, and then he grows, and becomes strong in spirit, and was in the desert till the day of his manifestation or his appearance to Israel.

It's rather interesting that in all of the Gospels, this was all that we see about the childhood of John the Baptist. One sentence there, the child grew and became strong and lived in the desert.

There, Jesus Christ, there's only one vignette, you might say, that's at age 12 when he goes to the temple. That's all we see about Christ's childhood in there. The Gospel writers just do not include that. As for John, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that considering that Zechariah and Elizabeth are quite old when he's born, that probably he stays with them until they pass away, which he may have been only 10 or 15 years old by the time they pass away. Maybe 20, I don't know. But yes, they probably died when John was quite young. And after that, then he leaves and goes to the desert to prepare himself for his ministry as the one who will prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. Any questions about this section here before we get into the next part of the study? Yes, Dave? In verse 80, where it says, the child grew and became strong in spirit. Is that the spirit or God's Holy Spirit? Probably God's Spirit, because let's see, when Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, Gabriel prophesied that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb. And whether that means within the womb or from the moment he left the womb is not necessarily clear in the language there. But apparently, yes, he apparently had God's Spirit from birth. And yes, he's becoming stronger as he utilizes and grows with that spirit. Yes, Arrot? When did the tradition begin that he became some wild man? I'm going to save that for a future sermon or study about John. Let's see, I mentioned this down in Springs in one of the earlier studies. There's a concept and I'll give it as a background sermon probably as we're going through this. It's a concept. Hebrew word is called a remez. R-e-m-e-z, it means hint or alluding to something. And why is John doing the things he does? Why does he go out in the desert? Why does he dress the way he does? Why does he live and conduct his ministry in the areas that he does? Who is John? He is the second Elijah. He is consciously doing the things that Elijah did. He's not coming right out and telling people he is Elijah, the Elijah who is to come. But he is acting like Elijah. He is preaching a message of repentance like Elijah. He is dressing like Elijah. He is conducting his ministry in the areas where Elijah conducted his ministry. What he's doing is symbolically telling people that he is the second Elijah who would come and prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. So I'll get into that in more detail than in a future sermon. But that's the short answer there. Yeah, where the story came, he's a wild man. Well, Elijah was a pretty wild man. I mean, he disappears for years at a time, comes and delivers his prophetic messages, and then disappears back out into the wilderness again.

John is in the wilderness because that's where Elijah conducted his work there. That's a short answer. And it doesn't specifically say that John was either. It says that he wouldn't drink wine. I don't remember if it refers specifically to his hair or not. I'd have to go back and look at that again. Quite possibly he was, but sources are divided on that as to whether he was or not. It doesn't specifically state it. There's certainly a strong indication that he was, but it doesn't say it for sure. So short answer. We'll cover that in more detail later. But good question. Very good question. Okay, let's be continuing on then. We'll move to the next part, which is at the bottom of page five of the Harmony, and cover these eight verses here fairly quickly. This is where the angel is not named, but we can probably assume that it's Gabriel. I don't know that for sure. But the angel appears to Joseph and tells him about the son who will be born to Mary. So continuing this story here in Matthew 1 verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was his follows. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. And just to review briefly, we talked about the betrothed period last time. It lasted about a year. It was considered a legally binding agreement because there was a contract associated with that. And both the man and the woman during this year would prepare themselves for their married life together.

So this is sometime during this period. We don't know how long they have been engaged at this point. But put yourself in Joseph's sandals here. Let's approach this. Because again, there's a lot of human interaction and very human interest stories involved here.

So Joseph, again putting herself trying to see this from his perspective, he is engaged to Mary, this young lady here. And suddenly she goes away to visit her relative Elizabeth for three months. So they've been engaged before this, and suddenly his bride-to-be up and moves away for three months. That's quite unusual there in that time. So then either while Mary is away visiting Elizabeth or after she returns, Joseph finds out that she's pregnant. And he knows he's not the father.

He knows they haven't been engaged in that. So to Joseph, this has to look pretty bad because either she had done something and ran away to visit Elizabeth while she tries to figure out what to do, or maybe she was visiting somebody other than Elizabeth during that three months there. So Joseph has got reason to be concerned here.

It's obvious Mary is expecting a baby and he's not the father, and they're engaged. Then what is he going to do now? So he's really wrestling what to do with this, whether he should break off their marriage agreement, their covenant they have entered into. So verse 19, then Joseph, Mary's husband, being a just man, he is a good man, a righteous man, and not wanting to make her a public example was minded to put her away secretly.

In other words, to break off the contract, to give her a divorce, and do this quietly, because he obviously cares for Mary and does not want to see her publicly disgraced. So he thought that he would just quietly divorce her and be done with it. So he thought. So next thing, verse 20, here. But while he thought about these things, so this is obviously weighing heavily on Joseph's mind, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. I find this a little interesting, too, because the angel appears to Zechariah in person, appears to Mary in person, but appears to Joseph in a dream.

Don't know that there's any significance to that, just that different methods that are used here. And the angel says, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you, Mary, your wife. So again, she is considered already his wife, because it is a legally binding agreement.

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, or Yeshua, God saves. For he will save his people from their sins. So what we see is Joseph is given, as recorded here, essentially a condensed version of what we read earlier, the message that is given to Mary there. That she would have a son, that the son is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and the son's name would be God saves, for he would save his people from their sins.

And interesting here, then, that Matthew, who, as we talked about in the background of Matthew, who is Matthew writing to? He's writing to a Jewish or Hebrew audience. What's the purpose of him writing? To prove to them that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one who is fulfilling all of these prophecies about the Messiah.

So what does Matthew do with that bit of information about the angel and Joseph? Well, he immediately goes back to an Old Testament prophecy about the Messiah. And then explains, verse 22, 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 Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. And this, of course, is quoted directly from Isaiah 7 and verse 15, taken out of a fairly lengthy prophecy there. But Isaiah wrote, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.

Which means, as Matthew explains, God with us, God in the flesh. You might write down—we covered this again in an earlier sermon about John 1. How does it start? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And skipping down several verses, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

So this is God with us. God left His throne in heaven and came to earth to live among us. Here, Philippians 2. Don't have that reference, but you might write that down about how God surrendered His divinity, His power, His glory, His majesty, that He shared with God the Father, and came to earth as a tiny human being, a tiny, helpless human being. So again, this is God with us, the meaning of Emmanuel. God left His throne in heaven and came to live among human beings as a human being. So that He could be, as we talked about last time, the sacrifice for mankind, and to allow us to ultimately be reconciled to God through that sacrifice. And receive eternal life. Continuing on, verse 24, 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, did not have sexual relations with her, in other words, till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Or again, God saves. One thing to note here about Joseph's character is he didn't need a miracle to convince him, like Zechariah. He didn't need to be struck butte and deaf there. He just accepted it. He said, Okay, sure. I'll take Mary's my wife. Your word is good for me. So again, it shows some of the character of Joseph. He was a God-fearing, God-trusting man, and he just simply did that, did what the angel told him to do.

When he was told that Mary was expecting a child by the Holy Spirit, he just fully accepted that and took her to wife, which would have been highly unusual in that culture of that day.

Another factor that probably played into this reaction is that he probably genuinely loved to Mary and really, truly did want to marry her. He's probably relieved to find out that, no, she hasn't been with another man. Yes, this is when the angel tells him that she's conceived by the Holy Spirit. He's probably greatly relieved and wants to marry her then. Yes, Tim?

I think he's probably the one who helped us follow.

Right. Good point. I hadn't thought about that, but you're probably right. Yes.

Yes, they were expecting a Messiah based on various other prophecies. We'll get into that a little bit later when we talk about the Messianic expectations there. But, yes, they were.

Whether he had talked to Mary about this, probably not by this time, but he probably went and confirmed it with Mary. She probably told him what had happened then, I would assume so. So, yes, then he goes ahead and marries her and they live happily ever after, with some exceptions there.

I'll go ahead and point out one final thing in conclusion here. And if you have questions, we'll get to those, too. But I would like to point out here, because in Catholicism, as we touched on last time, they believe that Mary remained a perpetual virgin even after she bore Jesus. There are several scriptures that conflict with that view there. Two of them, Matthew 12, 46 and 47, that says, While he was still talking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and brothers stood outside seeking to speak to him. Then one said to him, Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak with you.

And another one, Matthew 13, 54-56, And when he had come to his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, Where did this man get his wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Good Jewish names. In Hebrew, it would have been Yaikov or Jacob.

Joseph would have been Joseph or Yusuf in Hebrew. Simon, Shimon or Simeon, and Judas, Yehuda or Judah in Hebrew. These are all Greek-asized names here, but good Hebrew names there. Named after two of the patriarchs and two of the twelve tribes of Israel there.

Very good Jewish names. And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? So what we see is there are four. Jesus has at least four brothers and sisters, plural, so there's at least two sisters there. So he has at least six half-siblings there.

How do Catholics get around this? Well, they say that the word brothers actually means cousins.

These are his cousins there. And when that doesn't fly too well, they give another view and say that, well, actually that's referring to children that Joseph was a widower, and therefore these are his children from a previous marriage. And they're step-children, in other words, there. So that's how they get around the plain meaning of Scripture there.

Basically, in the Catholic Church, tradition is more important than Scripture, so they have to distort the plain meaning of the Scripture to come up with these convoluted explanations to explain why Scripture doesn't mean what it says. So, yes, Eric.

Yes, right, true.

Yeah, very clearly. Good point, I pledge to point it out.

So, and of course, why do they emphasize Mary so much? Well, frankly, it's their worship of Mary. And if you go to Europe and have the opportunity, particularly in Italy or places like that, Switzerland, you go there and you'll see these images of Mary all over the churches. And they even have a special title for Mary. It's Queen of Heaven.

Anciently, that same title was applied to Semiramis and Astarte and people like that. So their emphasis on Mary worship is nothing but a continuation of this ancient worship of the Mother Earth goddess and so on there from ancient times. So that's a whole other subject we don't have time to get into today, but I thought you would be interested in that. So any questions about anything we've covered here? Yes, Anna? I'm going to ask you about all the facts of John. Do you believe the fact that Jesus went blind would show that Christ would not just walk into the Bible to hear the facts of John? Uh, don't. Probably not because Jesus clearly would have drunk wine with him during the period of his ministry on earth. What was his first miracles? Turning gallons and gallons of water into wine. So it was commonly done and they would have obviously taken wine at the Passover's before that last one as well. I'm sorry. Well true, yes, yes. Yeah, he's called a wine pepper in a drunk or two, so Jesus obviously did that. Right. I don't think it might be possible, but I don't know of anything. So, okay. Okay, well good. Well, with that, then the Bible study is dismissed.