To Me:
To me, I understand this passage to first reveal the lineage of Christ by discussing the genealogy of Abraham to Jesus. In the Old Testament, it was prophesied that the Savior would come from the blood line of David which comes from the blood line of Father Abraham. Yes, I may have cheated a little and not read every single person that fathered this person, but I do know that the point is the proof that the Old Testament prophesy is fulfilled and the Savior does in fact come from the blood line of David and Father Abraham.
The second part of this chapter, mentions the birth of Christ to Mary; a story that many of us are familiar with. Christ our Savior was born to a virgin, the virgin Mary who conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There are two parts that stand out for me in this chapter. One, Joseph, Mary’s fiancée, was planning to no longer marry Mary after he has learned that she was pregnant. Of course who would believe that your fiancée is pregnant but still a virgin? That was a tough pill to swallow for Joseph. I don’t think any of us could blame him. The nice part about Joseph, he was not going to make a scene out of it. He was going to discontinue the engagement without bringing any attention to Mary or to himself. If attention would have been brought to Mary, she would have been ridiculed and I’m not sure what else.
At this point, God actually intervened. An angel spoke to Joseph in a dream stating that the baby Mary is carrying is of God. The angel even revealed to Joseph what the name of the baby will be, Jesus. I find it interesting that the angel told Joseph what the name of the baby would be and not Mary. My guess, is that it’s God’s way of having Joseph having some part and contribution to the situation since Mary is already carrying the baby 🙂
I also believe that God still has many ways that he can speak to us, and one of those ways is through dreams. I’ve found some dreams to catch my attention and they are different from other dreams that I may have had. There is something different about it and you know this one is different. I see it as sometimes we are too busy to hear God, he finds other ways to get our attention. He’s a gentlemen and rarely screams it, so he’ll whisper it softly, even if it’s in our sleep. Of course this is something that we have to be careful about and I’m not saying every dream is like this and that we should do or follow every dream that we have. I’m just saying that for some of those dreams that catch your attention, may be there for a reason and I’m simply saying at least listen to it and feel it out. The Bible later on also says “Test every spirit.” So if you have one of those dreams, pray about it, feel it out, and always seek God and his will ultimately.