The message was sent to Joseph by an angel of the Lord; probably, the same angel that brought to Mary the tidings of the conception—the angel Gabriel. Now the intercourse with heaven, by angels, with which the patriarchs had been dignified, but which had been long disused, begins to be revived; for when the First-Begotten is to be brought into the world, the angels are ordered to attend his motions. How far God may now, in an invisible way, make use of the ministration of angels, for extricating his people out of their straits, we cannot say; but this we are sure of, they are all ministering spirits for their good. This angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, when he was asleep, as God sometimes spake unto the fathers. When we are most quiet and composed, we are in the best frame to receive the notices of the divine will. The Spirit moves on the calm waters. This dream, no doubt, carried its own evidence along with it, that it was of God, and not the production of a vain fancy.
Now, 1. Joseph is here directed to proceed in his intended marriage. The angel calls him, Joseph, thou son of David: he puts him in mind of his relation to David, that he might be prepared to receive this surprising intelligence of his relation to the Messiah, who, every one knew, was to be a descendant from David. Sometimes, when great honours devolve upon those who have small estates, they care not for accepting them, but are willing to drop them; it was therefore requisite to put this poor carpenter in mind of his high birth; "Value thyself. Joseph, thou art that son of David, through whom the line of the Messiah is to be drawn." We may thus say to every true believer; "Fear not, thou son of Abraham, thou child of God; forget not the dignity of thy birth, thy new birth." Fear not to take Mary for thy wife; so it may be read. Joseph, suspecting she was with child by whoredom, was afraid of taking her, lest he should bring upon himself either guilt or reproach. No, saith God, Fear not; the matter is not so. Perhaps Mary had told him that she was with child by the Holy Ghost, and he might have heard what Elisabeth said to her, (Luke 1. 42.) when she called her the mother of her Lord; and if so, he was afraid of presumption in marrying one so much above him. But from whatever cause his fears arose, they were all silenced with this word, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. Note, It is a great mercy to be delivered from our fears, and to have our doubts resolved, so as to proceed in our affairs with satisfaction.
2. He is here informed concerning that Holy Thing, with which his espoused wife was now pregnant That which is conceived in her, is of divine original. He is so far from being in danger of sharing in an impurity by marrying her, that he will thereby share in the highest dignity he is capable of. Two things he is told,
(1.) That she had conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost; not by the power of nature. The Holy Spirit, who produced the world, now produced the Saviour of the world, and prepared him a body, as was promised him, when he said, Lo, I come, Heb. 10. 5. Hence he is said to be made of a woman, (Gal. 4. 4.) and yet to be that second Adam, that is, the Lord from heaven, 1 Cor. 15. 47. He is the Son of God, and yet so far partakes of the substance of his mother, as to be called the Fruit of her womb, Luke 1. 42. It was requisite that his conception should be otherwise than by ordinary generation, that so, though he partook of the human nature, yet he might escape the corruption and pollution of it, and not be conceived and shapen in iniquity. History tells us of some who vainly pretended to have conceived by a divine power, as the mother of Alexander; but none ever really did so, except the mother of our Lord. His name in this, as in other things, is, Wonderful. We do not read that the Virgin Mary did herself proclaim the honour done her; but she hid it in her heart, and therefore God sent an angel to attest it. Those who seek not their own glory shall have the honour that comes from God; it is reserved for the humble.
(2.) That she should bring forth the Saviour of the world; (v. 21.) She shall bring forth a Son; what he shall be, is intimated,
[1.] In the name that should be given to her Son; Thou shalt call his name Jesus, a Saviour. Jesus is the same name with Joshua, the termination only being changed, for the sake of conforming it to the Greek. Joshua is called Jesus, (Acts 7. 45. Heb. 4. 8.) from the Seventy. There were two of that name under the Old Testament, who were both illustrious types of Christ; Joshua, who was Israel's Captain at their first settlement in Canaan; and Joshua, who was their High-Priest at their second settlement after the captivity, Zech. 6. 11, 12. Christ is our Joshua; both the Captain of our salvation, and the High-Priest of our profession, and, in both, our Saviour;—a Joshua who comes in the stead of Moses, and does that for us, which the law could not do, in that it was weak. Joshua had been called Hoshea, but Moses prefixed the first syllable of the name Jehovah, and so made it Jehoshua, (Numb. 13. 16.) to intimate that the Messiah, who was to bear that name, should be Jehovah; he is therefore able to save to the uttermost, neither is there salvation in any other.
[2.] In the reason of that name; For he shall save his people from their sins; not the nation of the Jews only, (he came to his own, and they received him not,) but all who were given him by the Father's choice, and all who have given themselves to him by their own. He is a King who protects his subjects, and, as the Judges of Israel of old, works salvation for them. Note, Those whom Christ saves, he saves from their sins; from the guilt of sin by the merit of his death, from the dominion of sin by the Spirit of his grace. In saving them from sin, he saves them from wrath and the curse, and all misery here and hereafter. Christ came to save his people, not in their sins, but from their sins; to purchase for them, not a liberty to sin, but a liberty from sins, to redeem them from all iniquity; (Tit. 2. 14.) and so to redeem them from among men, (Rev. 14. 4.) to himself, who is separate from sinners. So that those who leave their sins, and give up themselves to Christ as his people, are interested in the Saviour, and the great salvation which he has wrought out, Rom. 11. 26.
V. The fulfilling of the scripture, in all this. This evangelist, writing among the Jews, more frequently observes this than any other of the evangelists. Here, the Old-Testament prophecies had their accomplishment in our Lord Jesus; by which it appears, that this was He that should come, and we are to look for no other; for this was He to whom all the prophets bear witness. Now the scripture that was fulfilled in the birth of Christ, was that promise of a sign which God gave to king Ahaz, (Isa. 7. 14.) Behold, a virgin shall conceive; where the prophet, encouraging the people of God to hope for the promised deliverance from Sennacherib's invasion, directs them to look forward to the Messiah, who was to come of the people of the Jews, and the house of David; whence it was easy to infer, that though that people and that house were afflicted, yet neither the one nor the other could be abandoned to ruin, so long as God had such an honour, such a blessing, in reserve for them. The deliverances which God wrought for the Old-Testament church, were types and figures of the great salvation by Christ; and if God will do the greater, he will not fail to do the less.
