These daily Advent studies are provided for your personal devotionals or for your daily family Advent devotionals during the evening meal. They are an excellent way to introduce daily Bible readings and discussions at the evening meal. Once begun during the Advent season the tradition can become a lifelong practice of your family. They seek to challenge both you and your children beyond the simplicity and often erroneous information provided in so called Advent calendars and children’s Christmas books. May you find it a blessing and may they be a starting point for your family in daily readings, discussions and meditations on the holy, eternal, inerrant written Word of God.
(T = True; F = False)
According to the Bible... 63_____ Shortly after Jesus’ birth they were married and at the ceremony the prophetess Ramona prophesied concerning the death of the baby Jesus.
64_____ Jesus was a beautiful baby who grew into a handsome man with long flowing hair.
63F – Revelation 22:18 & 19 (Shortly after Jesus’ birth they were married and at the ceremony the prophetess Ramona prophesied concerning the death of the baby Jesus.) There is no historical narrative of the wedding of Joseph and Mary. We do know from the lineage of Jesus in Matthew 1:16 that Joseph and Marry were at some point married. We also know that in Matthew 1:24 God the Holy Spirit specifically tells us that Joseph “took Mary as his wife”. This however is all that is known. All non-biblical traditions and speculations of Joseph’s and Mary’s wedding, Joseph’s reaction to Jesus’ Deity, Joseph’s and Mary’s marriage relaltionship, how Joseph and Mary raised Jesus during His childhood and teen years, what became of Joseph during Jesus’ earthly ministry and the state of the marriage of Joseph and Mary during Jesus’ earthly ministry, all these and more are purely fictitious and should be avoided as commanded by the Holy Scriptures in I Timothy 4:7.
624F - Isaiah 53:1-3; Deuteronomy 22:5; Matthew 13:54 – 56; I Corinthians 6:9; 11:14 (Jesus was a beautiful baby who grew into a handsome man with long flowing hair.) The Bible clearly says that Jesus was not of striking appearance and would not stand out in a crowd. (Isaiah 53:1 – 3) His appearance was certainly not of the nature that would strike awe into people. People tended to be impacted by what Jesus had to say. His appearance did not seem to exert any influence upon them in terms of belief in His teachings or acceptance of Him as a great man or teacher. (Matthew 13:34 – 36) The prohibition of God the Holy Spirit in Deuteronomy 22:5 of dressing like a woman, the prohibition of men wearing long hair in I Corinthians 11:14 and the prohibition in I Corinthians 6:9 of being effeminate in appearance or manner, would deny Jesus the long flowing hair and effeminate dress and demure, as is so often attributed to Him in paintings. The actions of God the Son will always conform with both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and it is unthinkable to assume that He would ever be in conflict with the standards put forth by God the Father and God the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. Classic sculptures of the time, which have remained intact to this day, depict men of that period and locale as clean shaven with short closely cropped hair. As a carpenter’s son, Jesus was certainly not the wan, skinny figure depicted in Renaissance paintings. Rather this depiction of Christ reflects the decadence of the aristocracy of the Renaissance period, rather than historical and Scriptural accuracy. Who knows how our continued insistence to depict God in pictures and sculptures, despite the Biblical injunctions to the contrary (Exodus 20:4 & 5), will confuse and muddle the truth of Christ in future generations? Certainly it has already been a great distraction and stumbling block in the modern mission movements as these depictions create a false impression in the minds of Africans, Asians and Middle-Eastern cultures that Christianity is a Western Religion. It is not the Word of God that creates this impression but rather the misplaced zeal of western artists.
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