Central Thought: The Birth of Jesus Christ brought redemption to mankind.<\/p>\n
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Text: Luke 2:1-20<\/p>\n
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Every birth is a miracle and every child is a gift from God.\u00a0 Over twenty centuries ago, there was a truly miraculous birth as the Son of God was born a man.\u00a0 With a divine Father and a human mother, Jesus entered history as God in human flesh.<\/p>\n
Luke began his story with angels appearing to Zacharias and then Mary, telling them of the birth of their son, Mary would conceive by the Holy Spirit and bear Jesus, the son of God.\u00a0 To help fulfill God\u2019s promises concerning His birth place, Caesar Augustus declared a census which made Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem where the child Jesus was born.\u00a0 Angels announced the joyous event to shepherds who rushed to see for themselves, praised God and spread the news.<\/p>\n
In this study, we shall be looking at where he was born and his mission on earth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Questions & Answers<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Where was Jesus born and what does this reveal about his nature and character? Luke 2:7; Micah 5:2; Zechariah 9:9<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Luke 2:7 we read, \u201cAnd she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus was born in Bethlehem as was foretold.\u00a0 Bethlehem which signifies the house of bread was the proper place for the one who is the bread of life to be born.\u00a0 Swaddling clothes were strips of cloth used to keep a baby warm and give it a sense of security.\u00a0 They were believed to protect its internal organs.\u00a0 He was born in a stable.\u00a0 Stables were often caves with feeding troughs carved into the rock walls.\u00a0 The surroundings were dark and dirty, an atmosphere the Jews least expect to be the birth place of the Messiah king they expected to be born in a royal surrounding.\u00a0 His birth depicts humility.<\/p>\n The baby Jesus in a manger lived an amazing life, died for us, ascended to heaven and will come back to this earth as king of kings.\u00a0 He will rule the world and judge all people according to their decisions about Him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Why did the wise men visit the baby Jesus? Matthew 2:1, 9-11<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although not much is known about the wise men as per where they came from or how many they were, they were men of high position from Parthia near the site of ancient Babylon.\u00a0 These men from a faraway land recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but most of God\u2019s chosen people in Israel did not.<\/p>\n The wise men said they saw Jesus\u2019 star.\u00a0 In Numbers 24: 17, we read in part \u201c. . . .there shall come a Star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, . . .\u201d.\u00a0 This star out of Jacob is often thought to refer to the coming Messiah.\u00a0 These wise men may have been Eastern astrologers who studied ancient manuscripts around the world to know what is said about the Messiah.\u00a0 The Jews did not regard Christ, but these Gentiles enquired Him out.\u00a0 They travelled a long distance searching for a king and they found Him.\u00a0 Today, the wise are still seeking, finding and worshiping Jesus not for what they can get but for who He is.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is the purpose of Christ\u2019s birth? \u00a0John 1:14, 17, 18; 1 John 3:8; 1 Timothy 2:5<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Christ\u2019s birth was to achieve many purposes which can not be exhausted in a study.\u00a0 One on such purposes is to make God known to His people.\u00a0 Before His coming, people could only know God partially, but by His coming, God became visible and tangible in Him.<\/p>\n He came to bring God\u2019s grace and mercy.\u00a0 Moses emphasized God\u2019s law and justice, but Jesus Christ came to highlight His truth, mercy, love and forgiveness.\u00a0 Before the coming of Christ, there was none righteous, but Christ came to impute righteousness on men and reconcile us back to God with whom we were at enmity.<\/p>\n In 1 John 3:8 we read, \u201cHe that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning.\u00a0 For this purpose the Son of god was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil\u201d.\u00a0 Christ came to destroy the works of the devil and give us victory over all the activities of the devil.\u00a0 Also, Christ came as the bridge to the gap that existed between god and man as we read in 1 Timothy 2:5.\u00a0 Without Christ\u2019s coming, there would have been no salvation for mankind.\u00a0 Thus Christ\u2019s coming is the way to God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How should we celebrate or not celebrate the birth of Christ?<\/p>\n The celebration of the birth of Christ should be to show love and share with one another.\u00a0 It is a time to let people know the reason why He came to the world.<\/p>\n It should not be celebrated continuing in sin.\u00a0 Some people use the occasion of the celebration of the birth of Christ to commit more sin than at other times.\u00a0 They use the period to get themselves drunk, fornicate and some even kill themselves prematurely trying to enjoy themselves all in the name of celebrating the birth of Christ.\u00a0 This is how the birth should not be celebrated.<\/p>\n As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we should understand the essence of His coming and share this truth with others as we have the opportunity, to enable them to have the real reason to celebrate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Daily Living Application:<\/p>\n The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest event in human history.\u00a0 The great God, the Creator of heaven and earth and all things contained in them, became human in order to identify with a fallen humanity and be its Savior.\u00a0 Let Jesus Christ be born into your heart today because a life without Christ is a waste and ends in hell.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Memory Verse: Matthew 1:23 \u2013 \u201cBehold, a virgin shall be with a child, and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Central Thought: The Birth of Jesus Christ brought redemption to mankind. Text: Luke 2:1-20 Every birth is a miracle and every child is a gift from God.\u00a0 Over twenty centuries ago, there was a truly miraculous birth as the Son of God was born a man.\u00a0 With a divine Father and a human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sundayschool"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3208,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/3208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mzgtiglobal.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}