We all know that Jesus' life is the most significant life ever lived.  We all know God intervened before Jesus was born by sending an angel to Mary and Joseph.  In today's Scripture we see that God continued to intervene in Jesus' life AFTER He was born by sending messages in dreams:  ¹²When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.    ¹³After 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.” ¹⁴That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, ¹⁵and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

The wise men received God's warning in a dream not to return to Herod.  This contributed to Jesus' deliverance--it gave Him and His family time to escape from Herod's wicked plan to kill Him.  Joseph received another message from an angel in a dream.  This time the message was urgent  We see that Joseph acted on the dream THAT NIGHT.  Just as before, Joseph responded to the angel's message with obedience and action.  This dream also contributed to Jesus' deliverance from Herod's plan to destroy Him.  It meant that Jesus had to grow up as a refugee, but when God becomes a person and is willing to be born in a stable, His willingness to live as a refugee isn't surprising.  It reminds us once again, though, that Jesus came to be the Savior of ALL people, not just the well-positioned, or the "religious."  As we count down the hours until Christmas, let's pause and remember the dreams God sent, and the deliverance it brought to Jesus, didn't just change His destiny, it changed OURS, too.  Because Jesus lived to become the sacrifice for our sins, our lives having meaning and purpose today--and forever.

Take some time over these next couple days to say, "Thank You!" to God for all He has provided, most of all for providing Jesus to give us the life that is truly life!

Let's pray:  Heavenly Father, Thank You for protecting Jesus so long ago, that He would be delivered to become our deliverer!  Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may share that deliverance with others to Your glory!  This we pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.