LESSON FOR THE JUNIOR CLASSES
STUDY SCRIPTURE:
LUKE 2: 1-16
Key Verse
“When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem, then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us”.
Luke 2:15
INTRODUCTION
God had told the people of Israel over 2,000 years before Jesus was born that He would be born in Bethlehem and He would rule the nation and deliver the people from the oppression of their enemies. One would have thought that a ruler of the nation that God loved would have been born in a palace surrounding by servants and well- wishers, but God had predicted that the Messiah that would deliver Israel would come out of the family of King David, a family which would have seen very hard times, and which would have fallen out of favour with the rulers. The family would be poor and subject to disrespect. The Bible stated in poetical language that the family would be like one cut down to a stump of a tree, and the son to deliver Israel would be like a root out of a dry ground.
The Emperor ruling the world at the time of Jesus’ birth was name Augustus Caesar and he was regarded a a deliverer of the Roman nation and a god, a divine person whose father Julius Caesar was called a god.
But God the Father was now to fulfill His promise made in Genesis 3:15 and show the world that He was the One who determined where the world would go and what would happen. He would send down the true Deliverer and the true God. God sent two poor people, Mary and Elizabeth, as parents and they dutifully went down to the city of David known as Bethlehem to register in a census ordered by the Roman rulers. Something ordered by the pagan Romans for their own benefit was used by God to have Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem as they were required by law to do. There in Bethlehem, the house of Bread, the place where King David was born, the Messiah and Saviour Jesus Christ was born.
But note that Jesus had left the incredible glory of heaven and came down to earth to be born in a cattle’s feeding trough which we call a manger. Nobody respected these descendants of King David. The Bible had predicted that. So Mary and Joseph had to deliver their baby without help and wrapped Him in strips of cloth to protect Him. It was incredible that God allowed His only begotten Son to enter a time of “humiliation” in order to be born as a human being, live with them, share their troubles, teach them, heal them, do a lot of miracles to make their lives better, and then finally to die on the Cross of Calvary to bear their sins. He was sinless but only He could bear the sins of men. Read the prophecy in Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53.
But the birth of Jesus brought joy in heaven. An army of angels came down to earth and praised God for the beautiful show of love for human beings God had demonstrated. Some shepherds were out in the fields looking after their sheep and the angels told them of the birth of the long-promised Messiah who was promised to deliver Israel and invited them to go to see the child and His mother Mary and the child’s father Joseph. They did as commanded and the lowly shepherds who were in a job that people did not think highly of, were happy and went and told everyone that the promised Messiah was finally born. The Study shows us the promises of God are true and firm. God will fulfill His promise. You can trust His words. He loves you just as He loved the people of Israel and He will deliver all of us from death and place us in His family. There we will receive blessings so rich and abundant we cannot even dream about them. We will have eternal life because of this beautiful person Jesus who left His throne in heaven to cone to live with us and give His life to save us. He died and He was resurrected and He ascended up to heaven to sit in the place of power and do everything necessary to save us and take us to be with Him. God clearly is not biased and He does not favour the rich and the powerful. He often uses the poor and the humble who are obedient to His word to work with Him in His plan of salvation. God loves you no matter what your situation. He is merciful and forgiving and does not make what you think about yourself to turn Him away from you.