An Angel Messenger Speaks to Joseph
This is how Jesus was born.
A young woman named Mary was engaged to a man named Joseph. Before they got married, Mary found out she was going to have a baby. She was a virgin—this means she had never been with a man as a wife. The baby came through the power of God.
Joseph was a kind and good man. He didn’t want Mary to feel ashamed, so he planned to end the engagement quietly. While he was thinking about this, an angel messenger from God came to him in a dream.
The angel messenger said, “Joseph, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. The baby inside her came from God. She will have a son, and you should name him Jesus. He will save people from their sins.”
This happened just as God had promised long ago through a prophet. A prophet is a person who listens to God and shares God’s messages with people. The prophet had said, “A virgin will have a baby. He will be called Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel messenger told him. He married Mary. But he did not sleep with her until after the baby was born. Joseph named the baby Jesus.