December 10th 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. 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… 9) ______ His role (Gabriel) continues in that he also announced the coming birth of Jesus to both Mary and Joseph.
10) _____ At the time of Christ’s birth many Gentiles were also waiting expectantly for a Messiah. Among these were Wise Men, righteous god seekers , skilled in the interpretation of God’s working through the stars and signs. These were the Wise Men who came to Jesus bearing gifts 11) _____ The Magi, although Gentiles, were familiar with the Biblical prophetic texts and no doubt kept them among other sacred religious and mystical writings in their libraries. They recognized the star as the fulfillment of these prophecies and, as a result, headed out for Bethlehem to offer their gifts to the new born king.
Keeping Christ In Christmas - There are many great doctrinal teachings that can be taught during the Christmas celebration. Let me encourage you not to confuse your children with the existence of Santa Clause. We taught our children that Santa Clause was just pretend, like the Smerfs, Ronald McDonald and the veggies in Veggie Tales. (It is a little hypocritical to forbid Santa Clause once a year and allow Cucumbers to teach Biblical truths on a daily basis). Don't go overboard, don't go on a Santa witch hunt. Allow the cartoon but teach the Biblical truth. We did this for two reasons. First we wanted our children thinking about Jesus, not about toys. To tell you the truth the second was more practical. Eleanor and I sacrificed a great deal to make Christmas special and we wanted the children to know it was their Christian parents who were blessing them and not some mysterious Elf-King. It is important for children to have a humble, thankful heart towards their parents at Christmas. Have fun with Santa Clause but from the beginning make sure they know that Christmas is about Jesus and not about fantasy and gifts. Along these same lines do not “dumb down” Christmas. Your children are being challenged to the max at school (or will be) concerning truth, cognitive thinking and decision making skills. Make sure your teaching of Scripture at home is more challenging than what they are getting at school. These Christmas questions are a good way to start. Discuss them, look up the passages and then teach the truth. When they ask why the school, the greeting card companies or even their church presents a different historical account than the Biblical account answer them honestly and keep the Biblical account accurate and truthful.
The Answers to today’s Advent Questions - 1. F – Luke 1:26; Mathew 1:20 (His (Gabriel’s) role continues in that he also announced the coming birth of Jesus to both Mary and Joseph.) In Luke 1:26 the Angel Gabriel is sent to Mary but in Matthew 1:20 the Angel who appears to Joseph is not designated but simply called “an Angel of the Lord”.
2. F - Matthew 2:1 – 6; Acts 13:6 – 8; Mark 1:24; 3:11; 5:7; James 2:19 (At the time of Christ’s birth many Gentiles were also waiting expectantly for a Messiah. Among these were Wise Men, righteous god seekers , skilled in the interpretation of God’s working through the stars and signs. These were the Wise Men who came to Jesus bearing gifts.) The origin of these men is not known. The Greek word for these men is MAGOS and in all other Scriptural passages it is translated “Magician” or “Sorcerer”. If this class of men were indeed considered “wise” (thus the sometimes used transliteration “Wise Men”) their wisdom was in the magical arts and not in academic studies. The Greek word for “wise men” – PHRONIMOS ((I Corinthians 10:15) is not used in this passage, rather the word MAGOS meaning Sorcerer. These men should not be confused with the classical Greek and Roman philosophers and scholars of the day. These men were not from the West, rather they were Sorcerers from the East. It is a great leap from Greco/Roman Mathematical Astronomy to Eastern Occult Astrology. These men were of the latter class, they were pagan sorcerers. In every other passage of Scripture where the word MAGOS is used it is in the context of spiritual conflict (Example Acts 13:6 – 8) and should not be romanticized. The fact that they did homage to Christ is no indication of their righteous character nor that they somehow had special insight into God’s plan hidden from His elect, unrevealed in His holy Word, yet revealed to these sorcerers through their incantations or profane writings. Throughout the Word of God both demons and those demon possessed fear Christ and pay him homage. This began here at His birth and continues throughout His earthly ministry (Mark 1:24; 3:11; 5:7; James 2:19). The actions of these Magi, these Sorcerers should be neither embellished nor romanticized at the expense of holy Scripture.
3. F – Micah 5:2; Isaiah 7:17; Matthew 2:1 - 6 (The Magi, although Gentiles, were familiar with the Biblical prophetic texts and no doubt kept them among other sacred religious and mystical writings in their libraries. They recognized the star as the fulfillment of these prophecies and, as a result, headed out for Bethlehem to offer their gifts to the new born king.) There is no prophecy concerning a star and the coming of Christ in the Bible. In the Scripture the word “star” is often used with a figurative meaning. (In Numbers 24:17, II Peter 2:1 and Revelation 22:16 the word “star” has Messianic symbolism. Contrastingly, in Isaiah 14:12 the word “star” represents satan. In Amos 5:26 and Acts 7:43 the star is the symbol of a demonic cultic pagan god. None of these nor any of the others can be construed to be a prophecy calling the reader to look for a star in the east which would in turn signal a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.) It is not known why the Magi associated the star with the birth of Christ. It is not known why they would associate the birth of Christ to be of such importance that they should travel to Him brining Him gifts. Although the Magi responded to the appearance of the star and presupposed the birth of a king, there is no evidence whatsoever of their having used the Holy Scriptures to ascertain this. The Bible contains no prophecies concerning a star as an indication of the coming of the Messiah. If you will carefully read Matthew 2:1,2 you will find that upon their arrival the Magi made no claim of prior Biblical research which resulted in following a star to Jerusalem, what they said was, “we have seen His star in the east” nor did they reference any special revelation nor any pagan writings. There is absolutely no evidence for the teaching that pagan writings and prophets foretell divine Scriptural prophetic events such as the coming of Jesus the Messiah. Such superstitious teachings lower the value of Scriptural prophecy and assume a level of validity for other pagan mythologies which are never granted by God nor His Holy Word.
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