Dreams

In the first two chapters of Matthew there are five dreams, and five significant messages through them. In the first (1:20-24), an angel of the Lord announced to Joseph not to divorce Mary because of her pregnancy, for that which was begotten in her was of the Holy Spirit.

The second (2:12) was addressed to the wise men from the East, so that they would not tell Herod where the child Jesus was. In the third (2:13), an angel appeared to Joseph to tell him to flee to Egypt with the child and his mother, because Herod would look for the Child to kill him.

In the fourth dream (2:19), an angel appeared to Joseph to tell them to return from Egypt, because those who sought the Child's death were dead. And in the fifth (2:22), Joseph was told to go and live in the region of Galilee.

Five providential dreams, five warning voices that directed the characters in the midst of adverse circumstances, so that God's purpose would be fulfilled.

They seem so fragile a man, a woman and a child, and they seem so fearsome the forces of an enraged Herod. Yet a single movement of God's hand, a timely warning, a message in a dream, are enough to outwit evil and put a shield around those He loves.

When God's purpose is involved, men may well rejoice in their littleness and helplessness, that He is mighty enough to guard them. When the heart of God has been laid hold of on earth by some men (for His delights are with the sons of men), it matters not that these are weak to the utmost degree, there is no force in the universe, either of angel or devil, able to hurt them, for God Himself keeps them.

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