Christmas Special 2024
Birth of Jesus Foretold
Luke 1,26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[5] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
Matthew 1,18-25
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
Luke 2,1-21
1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
6 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
The Shepherds and the Angels
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. 21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
John 1,4-5
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Hello everyone, I am the host Kiki.
Today is the 2024 Christmas special program. I wish all listeners peace and joy in 2025.
Now let’s talk about the birth of Jesus.
Slightly different from the previous program, the following is Ingrid sister’s explanation of this important historical moment of the birth of Jesus, and then following is my interview with sister Ingrid on related issues.
Everyone is welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion!
Summary of Ingrid Sister:
Today we have looked on the text of several evangelists for to get the whole story about the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, Judäa.
First, the angel Gabriel came to Maria and announced her, that she will become pregnant and the Messiah will be born of her
Here we have a very important detail, that we already read in the Gospel of John: Jesus Christ did not begin to exist, when the Holy Spirit came over her and the Power of the Most High will overshaddow her.
We learned, that Jesus Christ has no beginning and we learn both in the Gospel of John and in the Epistel of Paul, that Jesus was there when the earth was created. When he came down on earth, he was incarnated and John says it clearly in his epistel, everyone, who does not confess that Jesus Christ came in flesh is a deceiver and the Antichrist, who is the enemy of God. So when we look around on earth:
We have the stable, we have Mary and Joseph and the little Jesus boy in the manger. But if we don t confess, that this little boy came from heaven, we are a deceiver and we are not a child of God. Well, today a lot of people reduce Christmas on Santa Claus, which has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.
Mary agreed with the angel, that she will be the mother of the Messias without asking, what will be with her, when her fiancee finds out, that she was pregnant. She overlefted all worries and questions to God who always has a perfect plan:
Let us go on with the story in the Gospel of Matthew: While Joseph considered to leave Mary in secret, God send an angel to talk to Joseph in a dream, that he should take Mary home and live with her. So they got married but Joseph did not touch her until Jesus was born. After the birth of Jesus, the had a normal marriage with more children, not only Jesus. The interessting in this part of the story was, that God gave the instruccion to Joseph, not to Mary, what they shall do and what will happen. In a household always the man is the husband is the most responsible and that is why God talked to Joseph, what he should do with Mary and later, that they shall flee to Eigypt.
We return to the Gospel of Luke, there we get more information about the night, when Jesus was born.
In the old profecies, it was written, that the Messias has to be born in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary came from Nazareth in Galiläa , but just in the time, when the Messias was to be born, there was a sensus in Bethlehem, there Joseph and Mary had to go to be registrated, because they were desendents of king David.
There was no space in the hostal, so she had to give birth in a stable and Jesus was layed in a mager.
First of all, this show how much God humbled himself, second Jesus was the lamb of God, so he was there in a stable when the other sheep had gone out.
The sheep were with their shepherds on the field and when the angels announced the birth of the Messias to them with the words “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”, they came to the stable for to see what happened. They saw the little family and the Messias in the manger and returned gloryfying God for what had happened.
So it is up to us: Will we take this Messiah as our personal saviour and become a Child of God and live in the light even we never will be perfect here on earth or will we remain in the darkness and move our back to the newborn Jesus who has died 30 years later for us on the cross for to be God s lamb that washed away the sin of the world.
Q list part: base on Christmas Birth items:
Okay. Base on above bible study content, now let me ask sister some related questions.
We hope the following questions can be helpful to our brothers and sisters who have just become Christians.
Who announced the birth of Jesus to Mary, and what was Mary’s response?
The angel Gabriel announced to Mary the birth of Jesus and Mary said in other words, God I am your servant, do with me like you would like to do.
How was Mary chosen to be the mother of Jesus? Why chosen her no other women?
It was important that she was a descendent of king David and her fiancée is descendent of King David, too.
To King David in the Old Testament was promised, that his throne will last forever.
Of course, his throne here on earth terminated, because the time of the kings of Juda in the Old Testament terminated with the destroying of the temple of Salomon and the exile in Babylonia.
But when God promises something, he fulfills it. So, when there was no throne of King David on earth, Jesus, the Messias as a descendent of King David will sit on the throne in heaven forever.
Another thing is, that God said to one king: You never will have more children on the throne of David and this was one of the kingly linages. But God is almighty: Joseph did not get the blood of David directly, he inherited from Mary, who was direct decedent of the throne of David.
To proof all this, the evangelists Mattew and Luke wrote down the geological tree both from Mary and Joseph.
The Gospel of Matthew was written for the Jews, so we find the geological tree from Abraham to Mary.
The gospel of Luke is dedicated to the gentile people, so we find in Luke 3 the geological tree from Joseph back to Adam.
So, the couple of Joseph and Mary matched exactly to the requisites that the prophets spoke before and so Mary became the mother of Jesus.
What did the angel tell Joseph in his dream about Mary and her child?
Joseph thought why is his fiancé pregnant? It is an obvious, that he thought, that Mary has been unfaithful and his plan was to leave Mary. That is why the Angel had to talk to him and to explain what happened.
What name was Mary and Joseh instructed to give their child, and what does it mean?
They were instructed to give the name Jesus, because he will save his people from sin. Another name for Jesus is Immanuel which means: God is with us.
Why did Joseh and Mary travel to Bethlehem before Jesus was born?
In those days was a decree from Cesar August, the governor of the Roman empire. All people had to go to their own city. Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, in Galilea, but her city was Bethlehem, the city of David since they were descents of David. There they had to go for to enroll themselves.
We see here again, an event, that occasional happened, but has a higher plan, because the Messiah was poeticized to be born in Betlehem, but be called the Nazarene. Everything that God does has been planned exactly with all details before.
Where was Jesus born, and why was he laid in a manger?
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. There was no place in the inn, so they had to spend the night in a stable and put the baby in a manger.
But there is a higher meaning: Since Jesus is the lamb that takes away the sin of the world, he was put in a place, there animals were put. And of course, God humbles himself so much, that he agreed with a manger as his bed when he was born.
How did the shepherds learn about Jesus’ birth, and what was their reaction?
Angels appeared on the field; there they were pastoring their sheep. So, they said: Let us go and see what happened in Bethlehem.
What was the significance of the angel’s announcement to the shepherds?
At the moment Jesus was born, mankind had no peace with God, because sin stood between them. The angels announced that the Messiah has come, that will bring peace to everyone who receives him as his savior.
What did Mary do when she heard everything that the shepherds shared?
She kept the words in her heart.
What does John say about Jesus being the light of the world? And why he thought like that?
Jesus is the life and the light. When we come to Jesus, the darkness cannot overcome him.
On that day when Jesus was crucified, it seamed that the darkness had won, but the truth was, that Jesus arose again and has overcome the darkness.
If we choose to live with Jesus in the light, the darkness has no power over us.
Often people think, that it is a fight between God and the devil. But no. God is almighty and the creator of all. The devil is a created being, too and even he is smart, he does not have such power as God.
All is our decision: Are we walking in the light and be save in Christ or are we staying in the darkness and go at the end of time to hell with the devil and his angels.
This will be the loneliest place we can meet in universe, because love and fellowship and peace, all those things, that make our soul happy belong to God, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
I wish all our listeners a merrily Christmas and that they learn to live in the light in the presence of God father, Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit who remains us on Jesus words.
