In a Dream - Word Foundations

Mary was pregnant, so apparently she had been unfaithful to Joseph, to whom she was engaged. Joseph didn’t want to drag Mary through anything that would make things more difficult for her, but he didn’t see how he could marry her now—so he decided to end their engagement quietly. Then “an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to him in a dream” (Matt. 1:20) and explained that Mary’s pregnancy was engineered completely by God. Joseph could be confident about marrying Mary. She had indeed been faithful, not only to Joseph, but more importantly, to God. She would give birth to God’s Son, whom Joseph was to name Jesus (vv. 20-21). This is the first of five instances in Matthew in which God sent an important message in a dream about the birth and safety of the young Child Jesus. The other instances are as follows.

After the wise men had come to Bethlehem in search of the newborn King of the Jews and worshiped Jesus, they were “warned in a dream” (Matt. 2:12) to avoid Herod. So they took a different route home, bypassing him altogether.
After the wise men left, “an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream” (v. 13). He told him to escape with his family to Egypt so Jesus would be safe from Herod’s efforts to “destroy Him.” Stealthily, Joseph fled with his family in the middle of the night. They made their way to Egypt and stayed there until Herod was dead (see vv. 14-15). This set the stage for a Messianic prophecy to be fulfilled: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (v. 15; see Hosea 11:1).
Following Herod’s death, an angel came to Joseph in a dream once more. The family was still in Egypt at the time. The Lord let Joseph know that he, Mary, and Jesus could return to Israel, “because those who sought the child’s life are dead” (v. 20). After arriving in Israel, Joseph heard that Herod’s son, Archelaus, was ruling in Judea, so he hesitated to go there. Another dream would confirm to Joseph that he was right to be concerned (see vv. 21-22).
Again “being warned in a dream, he [Joseph] withdrew to the region of Galilee” (v. 22). He and his family settled in Nazareth. This happened to fulfill the prophecy “that He will be called a Nazarene” (v. 23). No Old Testament prophecy explicitly said the Messiah would be called a Nazarene, but Isaiah wrote, “a shoot” would grow from Jesse’s stump, “and a branch from his roots will bear fruit” (Isa. 11:1). The Hebrew word for branch has consonants similar to those in the word “Nazarene.” Also, the word conveys the idea of having an unimportant, negligible start.

One more time in his Gospel, Matthew would relate an incident in which an important message had been communicated through a dream. When Jesus was on trial before Pilate, Pilate’s wife told him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for today I’ve suffered terribly in a dream because of Him!” (27:19).

On numerous occasions in the Old Testament God either explicitly or apparently spoke in dreams. Genesis 20:3-7; 28:10-22; 31:10-13; 37:5-11 (see 42:9); 40:5-23; 41:1-36; Judges 7:13-15; 1 Kings 3:5-15; Daniel 2:1-45; 4:4-27; 7:1-28 provide examples. Dreams also are mentioned in Joel 2:28. We are reminded that while God can reveal Himself any way He chooses, “in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son” (Heb. 1:1).

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations in this article are taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.