December 18th Family Christmas Questions / Advent Study
Here are the next questions for your family Christmas Study or Advent Study. They are followed by a creative idea on keeping Christ in your family Christmas. The answers to the questions appear at the end of this blog. One great benefit of doing this with your family is that it will become a tradition which transcends the Advent Season whereby you do a short daily Bible study as a family at every meal throughout the year. Answer each question True or False
According to the Bible… 36) _____ At Jesus’ birth a star shown over the manger.
37) _____ In accordance with the scriptural account, “the little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes…”, the baby Jesus did not cry, as many babies do, and as a result began to manifest His deity on the very first night of His birth.
38) _____ At the time of Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph were married.
Around Christmas time the news media (written, radio and TV) seem to take particular joy in sharing gloomy stories and taking the joy out of Christmas. To tell you the truth from Thanksgiving (in America around November 25th to New Year’s) El and I switch from “news” to worship. When we get in the car we put in a worship CD or IPod with Christmas hymns of worship, instruction and praise. At home we keep the worship going through our sound system. When our oldest child was entering her teen years the ear bud phenomenon was taking place. Children were “checking out” by plugging in their ear buds when in the car or in the home. We opted out of this. No ear buds in the car. In fact after a few worship songs I would often turn off the radio or music system. We would sing and worship as a family. When that ran its course we would talk, when that ran its course there would be a period of silence, then, (especially if you are alone in the car) the child will begin to open up. It is a shame when I think on the one hand how many parents complain that their children do not talk with them and then on the other both the parents and the children immerse themselves in the “white noise of the brain” of ear buds, texting and handheld devices. Make the car, the dinner table and the home a place of family communication and interaction. Make the handheld devices for functional use only and not an alternative to family interaction. Set these devices aside at dinner time. Do not allow your children to keep them in their rooms where they can check out of family life. Decide as parents to make Christmas worship and discussions the norm this Christmas and then make it the norm for your family throughout the year.
The Answers to today’s Advent Questions -
36. F - Luke 2:1 – 20; Matthew 2:1,9-12 (At Jesus’ birth a star shown over the manger.) At Jesus’ birth there was no star. The shepherds followed the instructions they were given by the angels (see question 11) in order to ultimately find their way to where Jesus was lying in the manger. The star did not appear until later, most likely more than a year later, guiding the Magi. The common manger scenes sold in stores with the star attached to the pitched roof of stall is fabrication for the sake of convenience.
Authors Note: To ask the rhetorical questions “What is the big deal?” strikes at the heart of reformation Christianity. The “big deal” is that the Bible is God’s Word, it is the Revelation of God the Holy Spirit (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20 & 21) and should be represented to the world in its pure form and truth. The stories of Santa Clause, Ebenezer Scrooge, Father Christmas, Father Frost, Frosty the Snowman, The Snow Queen and others are merely children’s stories – how they are recounted and the liberty taken with the details are of little or no consequence. The Revelation of God the Holy Spirit is another matter. Misrepresenting the Word of God which is the direct Revelation of God the Holy Spirit is of great consequence. Christians everywhere need to return to the truth of Revelation 22:18 and heed it’s admonition, “I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book;” Now think a moment about your own life. Supposing you had gone to great lengths to put together a resume. This resume would impact how others viewed you and in many ways determine if they accepted you. What would your reaction be if those representing you began to embellish, change, rearrange and distort the exact factual data you had taken great pains to record? The application being – “Don’t mess with God’s resume!”
37. F – Luke 2:51 & 52; 19:41; John 11:35 (In accordance with the scriptural account, “the little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes…”, the baby Jesus did not cry, as many babies do, and as a result began to manifest His deity on the very first night of His birth.) The phrase “the little Lord Jesus no crying He makes...” does not come from the Word of God but rather from Lit¬tle Child¬ren’s Book for Schools and Families, by J. C. File (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America, 1885). The author of this song is unknown. John T. Mcfarland later added a third verse, but the author who penned the memorable, yet erroneous phrase, “no crying He makes” is unknown.
Except for two events, the Bible is completely silent about the specifics of Jesus’ life from the period birth to the beginning of His earthly ministry as an adult. The two exceptions are, First: His dedication at the Temple (Luke 2:1 – 39) and later the incident at the temple when He was 12. (Luke 2:41 – 52). Beyond these two events, all that God the Holy Spirit reveals to us about Jesus is given in broad generalities. We know that... He lived in subjection to His parents and grew in wisdom, stature and favor with God and man. (Luke 2:51 & 52) He experienced all the temptations of childhood, yet lived a sinless life. (Hebrews 2:14 – 18; 4:15) As God incarnate He did not become God by not sinning but rather did not sin because He was God. We also know that in His adult life He cried on more than one occasion (Luke 19:41 & John 11:35) and there is no reason to believe He did not cry as a baby. There is no Biblical teaching that it is sin for babies to cry. We do know that Christ was sinless (Hebrews 4:15) and as a result, since Jesus did cry and yet did not sin, crying can take place without there being sin. From these passages we may affirm that any crying Jesus did as a baby would be communication or sorrow, but never temper tantrums, sinful anger or selfishness.
All mythological stories concerning Jesus’ childhood and mythical miracles associated with Jesus, Joseph or Mary during his childhood years should be categorically rejected. In His adult ministry Jesus condemned, in Mark 7:8, those who were overly fond of myths and apocryphal sayings with His rebuke “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." Again God the Holy Spirit warns us in I Timothy 4:7 “But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. ...” We should be careful not to be found in this class of people – those who stray from the exacting Word of God and into myths and fables. Where the Bible is silent, we too should be silent (Deuteronomy 29:29) and reject all myths and traditions as handed down by man and not God.
38. F - Luke 2:4 & 5; Matthew 1:18 & 25 (At the time of Jesus’ birth, Mary and Joseph were married.) At the time of Mary’s Immaculate Conception Joseph and Mary were engaged, or betrothed to one another. Matthew 1:18 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit.” Although stronger and more binding than the engagements of our culture, never-the-less it was not marriage. Joseph had not yet finalized the engagement or betrothal. (Matthew 1:20 “But when he had considered this, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”) As such, in terms of marriage, in the eyes of God, the law and of the Jews, Mary was a single mother.
It must be emphasized, though, that she was not an unwed mother. She was a virgin mother, which is completely different from an unwed mother. As virgin mother Mary was in a state of special grace, while an unwed mother carries the stigma of the sin. In the sin of adultery or fornication both the mother and the father carry this stigma. In the case of rape, the mother is free from any guilt or stigma, yet sin is still present - though not associated with the mother but rather the male rapist. No sin was involved in Mary’s pregnancy, neither on the part of Mary nor on the part of Joseph, nor on the part of any other male. To make Mary's situation an allegory and life lesson for unwed mothers is wrong both morally and doctrinally. The Revelation of the Divine conception of Mary is not a morality play on the treatment of unwed mothers but rather the doctrinal Revelation of the Incarnation of Christ apart from the sin of Adam. (Romans 5:12 - 19). - Matthew 1:18 states clearly that Mary became pregnant during the betrothal period, e.g., their engagement before any sexual activity had taken place between Joseph and Mary. - Luke 2:4 & 5 states that at the time that Joseph and Mary went to be registered they were still engaged. - Matthew 1:24 & 25 clearly states that Joseph took Mary as his wife. This reading does not necessitate that the wedding was immediately after he arose. Rather, he made his intentions clear to all and did indeed follow through and at some point married Mary. She was to be made his wife and Joseph did fulfill his word and take her as his wife. He may have wakened the family and made his honorable intentions immediately known but the actual wedding did not take place till after the birth of Jesus. - Luke 2:4 & 5 places the date of the official marriage after the birth. (Luke 2:4-6 “And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.”) - In addition to the doctrinal necessity of Christ's birth through immaculate conception, it is important that Mary was a virgin at the birth of Jesus and not just His conception because of prophetic Scripture. Isaiah 7:14 clearly states, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” - Joseph did indeed marry Mary at some point for in the lineage of Matthew 1:16 he is referred to as “Joseph the husband of Mary” but he kept Mary as a virgin until after the birth of Christ and then at some point after the birth of Jesus they were married.
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