December 25th 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. For more Christmas Holiday resources follow this link - http://gciweb.org/2011/07/holidays-resources/ Answer each question True or False
According to the Bible… _____ From it’s first appearance, the star led the Magi directly to Jesus.
_____ Although the Magi found their way to the baby Jesus in quite a miraculous way, there was nothing particularly miraculous about their return home.
_____ The pagan Magi were the only people in the Christmas revelation to hear directly from God.
Keeping Christ In Christmas - Opening Gifts I had long been uncomfortable with the tradition in my family which was also represented on TV and in the movies of having a gift getting frenzy on Christmas morning. The problem was I did not have any alternatives to this. Then “Bingo” when Eleanor was pregnant with our first children I learned of the Baby Shower and the traditions that were part of it. When I asked her about the fact that she brought home all the gifts opened she explained that at a baby shower, like a wedding shower, each gift is opened, admired and passed around. When I asked if this did not take a long time she replied that it was broken up with games and refreshments. When I heard this I knew what was going to be the tradition in our family. We would open each gift and admire it, offer proper thanks to the giver and pass it around. This would be broken up by singing a Christmas hymn, reading a passage of Scripture or breakfast, then continue on. The Christmas morning event would be one of giving, of appreciating the gift and the giver, one which manifested the spiritual virtues of self-control, thankfulness and fellowship. That was and has been our tradition ever sense and I offer it to you as an alternative to what often passes for the celebration of Christmas on Christmas morning.
The Answers to today’s Advent Questions -
59. F - Matthew 2:9 - 11 (From it’s first appearance, the star led the Magi directly to Jesus.) The Magi first went to Jerusalem, not being led by the star but rather as a result of the star’s appearance in the eastern sky. (See question 41) After consultation with the scribes via Herod's court the city of Bethlehem was isolated. It was only after Scriptures were consulted and they continued on their way, south, to Bethlehem that the star began giving them specific help. They were only able to find the specific house Jesus was in by following the star which went on before them and directed them ultimately to the house where Joseph, Mary and Jesus were living. Thus it was by an indirect route and they needed other aides, such as Herod, the scribes and the Word of God to find Jesus.
60. F – (Although the Magi found their way to the baby Jesus in quite a miraculous way, there was nothing particularly miraculous about their return home.) Nothing could be further from the truth. In a mind boggling event recorded in Matthew 2:7 - 12, God personally intervenes by directing the Magi in a dream to ignore Herod’s orders and head home by another route. This type of revelation to a pagan is very rare. It had not occurred since the time of Daniel in Daniel 2:1 – 49 and before that one has to go all the way back to Joseph and Pharaoh (Genesis 41:15, 16 & 25) and even then both these kings needed a man of God’s choosing to interpret their dreams. This revelation however separates itself out from these two events in that it is divine revelation by God, to pagans without the need of interpretation by the people of God. One must go all the way back to the time of Abraham when in Genesis 20:3 God spoke directly to King Abimelech in a dream to find a similar occurrence in Scripture – that of god speaking directly to a pagan.
61. T – (The pagan Magi were the only people in the Christmas revelation to hear directly from God.) In Luke 1:11, Zacharias hears the news from an Angel, in verses 26 – 28, Mary receives word via the Angel Gabriel, in Matthew 1:18 – 20, Joseph gets his information in a dream from an Angel, in Luke 2:8 & 9, the shepherds are instructed by an Angel, in Matthew 2:2 & 3 Herod gets clued in, not by the scribes and priests but by leaders of a pagan cult, this is only later confirmed by the scribes and priests it is only the leaders of this pagan cult who hear directly from God in a dream (Matthew 2:12).
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