Messages for Pilate’s Wife & Joseph | Matthew 27:19, Matthew 2:13, Matthew19-23

Lord, are you sure? This is the series you want me to do this week? Do you want me to talk about dreams on the podcast?

This was me on Sunday, not feeling well, sitting in my recliner, talking to the Lord quietly; silently really. And then my husband walks into the room and puts on The Chosen, season three. One of the episodes begins with Pilate’s wife having a dream… In the Bible, there are 21 recorded dreams, and only one of them written down in the Word of God was from a woman. And that’s where we begin today. So, join me in our new series on Dreams, beginning in Matthew 27 verse 19.

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Transcription:

Lord, are you sure? This is the series you want me to do this week? Do you want me to talk about dreams on the podcast? This was me on Sunday, not feeling well, sitting in my recliner, talking to the Lord, quietly, silently, really. And then my husband walks into the room and puts on The Chosen Season three. One of the episodes, if you haven’t seen The Chosen by the way, I highly recommend it. It’s a TV series about the followers of Jesus, and they’re not portrayed as stain glass perfect figures. You see their flaws. You see how much they love Jesus and want to understand what he’s saying. Does that sound like anybody you know? Sure sounds like me. And then the guy who plays Jesus, Jonathan Roumie, he just exudes hope and love. He’s wonderful. You can find The Chosen on Netflix and there are ways to watch it for free, but it’s just, it’s wonderful. I really recommend it. So, the episode begins with a dream. Pilate’s wife. Yeah, the guy who sentenced Jesus to be crucified. His wife had a dream, and we’re going to talk about that in a second here on the Bible for Busy People. Yes, I said yes to the Lord. So we are going to do a series this week about dreams. In the Bible, there are 21 recorded dreams. Only one woman had a dream that was written down in the Word of God, and that’s where we begin today. So, join me in Matthew 27 verse 19. This is a very short story.

Just then, as Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Leave that innocent man alone. I suffered through a terrible nightmare about him last night.”

Wow. This says so much in just a couple of sentences, doesn’t it? What does it all mean? Sometimes God speaks to us through dreams. God will warn us through dreams, as we’re going to see in just a moment, and God will deliver important messages through dreams. You and I have a choice whether or not we pay attention when he reaches out to us, and sometimes we do. Like Pilate’s wife paid attention. She sent a message to pilot and said, Hey, don’t do this. Don’t have Jesus crucified. But Pilate did not pay attention to the message that God sent through his wife. And right there, there’s so much you and I can learn from that. I wonder if it’s an indication that Pilate and his wife, whose name we don’t even know, went on to find a relationship with Jesus. Maybe they became Christians. I often marvel at how Jesus engaged Pilate, the man who had sentence him to death in conversation. When Jesus was brought before Herod, he didn’t even dignify any of Herod’s questions with a response. He was silent, but it was like he knew that Pilate was maybe a seeker. Now, I’m not a theologian, so I’m not sure if that’s true. I guess it’s me hoping that it’s true. So, that’s an example of somebody who tried to share God’s message with the right person, but the right person didn’t listen.

Now we’re going to move on to a man who did listen to God, a man who found himself squarely placed in the middle of a divine dilemma. Join me now a few chapters back in Matthew chapter one, beginning in verse 18.

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.

Joseph received the message from God that was sent through an angel in a dream. And after taking what must have been the hugest sigh of relief in human history, Joseph obeyed God. He did everything he was supposed to do, and that was just the first message God gave Joseph through a dream. Let’s go to the second one, Matthew chapter two, verse 13. It’s after that first Christmas. Jesus is born and the three kings had come. You could still sense the frankincense and myrrh hanging in the air. When we get to verse 13,

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Can you imagine how terrifying? And again, Joseph received the message and obeyed God. It makes me wonder if Joseph ever felt confused. Did he think, maybe I’ll just go to sleep and an angel will bring a message? That would be pretty funny. Maybe it happened. Matthew chapter two, now verse 19.

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. 20 “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.” 21 So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother.

One more dream. Now we pick it up in verse 22.

But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there. Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee. 23 So the family went and lived in a town called Nazareth. This fulfilled what the prophets had said: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

What a powerful story. And I think what you and I can draw from this beautiful well of Joseph’s life is that when God gives you an assignment, and let’s face it, Joseph’s assignment was one of the most sacred in human history. He’s not going to leave you alone to complete it. He is going to lead you every step of the way by the Holy Spirit. All right, until next time, we’ll get into some more dreams together. You are loved.

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