Bible Application Class



CHRISTMAS LESSON

This lesson is designed for your personal study this Christmas. We will not discuss this lesson in small groups, and there will not be a lecture for this lesson. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out at info@. Consider using this lesson over the week leading up to Christmas. Also consider completing this lesson with a partner (in person or on the phone), so you can read the scripture passages and lyrics aloud to each other and share your answers. Before you begin, make sure you have the document with Christmas hymn lyrics close by because the last lesson question refers to that document. May God expand your holy imagination this Christmas!

1. As always, begin your study with prayer. Matthew 1:1-17 records the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Take time to read these verses aloud. Even if you can’t pronounce the names, try to say them out loud. These names are included in God’s Word, the complete canon of scripture. These names represent humans that lived and walked the earth thousands of years ago, a family that played a unique role in God’s redemption of humanity. Consider writing these names in a list and allow yourself to meditate on the detailed record of God’s faithfulness.

2. Read Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 1:18 through 2:12 aloud.

3. List something about each of the following characters in the Christmas story (for example: a fact about them, something new to your understanding, something that stands out to you – anything that comes to your mind as you study this story).

Gabriel (Luke 1:26-28)

Mary (Luke 1:26-56, 2:19, 33)

Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:33)

Angels of the Lord (Luke 1:20-21, 2:9-12)

Multitude of the heavenly host (Luke 2:13-14)

Shepherds (Luke 2:15-18, 20)

Wise Men (Matthew 2:1-12)

Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45)

Zechariah (Luke 1:5-25, 57-79)

John the Baptist (Luke 1:15c, 41, 44, 80)

Simeon (Luke 2:22-35)

Anna (Luke 2:36-38)

4. In September, retailers begin turning their displays and products to Christmas celebrations. Sometimes, neighborhood Christmas decorations are displayed the week of Thanksgiving. Seasonal Christmas cards depict snowy scenes, and cheerful Christmas songs on the radio allude to coziness and comfortable family time. In sharp contrast, the biblical story of awaiting Christ’s birth and the actual story of his birth involve Jesus emptying himself to be born as a human for the purpose of making atonement for the sins of the all humanity through death on a cross. Take time this week to celebrate Advent, the waiting that came before Christ’s birth. In your heart, prepare the way of the Lord and treasure Christ above all this Christmas.

Four episodes of praise are quoted in the Christmas story. Read the four passages of scripture listed below. Record your thoughts and the verses that stand out to you. Consider your study of the Book of Hebrews and note if or how your understanding of these passages has changed.

Luke 1:46-55

Luke 1:67-79

Luke 2:13-14

Luke 2:29-32

5. The goal of Bible study in BAC is to know God better. We want to be transformed by the living and active power of God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12-13). We believe that when you have been in God’s presence in and through His Word, you cannot walk away unchanged. In our study of Hebrews, we took a good, long look at our Savior Jesus Christ. Consider reading aloud and meditating on 1-2 hymns per day from now until Christmas (see hymn lyrics in the supplemental document). Many of these hymns were written as poems years, even decades before they were put to music.

After your own meditation, consider the following lines with your study of the Book of Hebrews in mind and record corresponding verses from the Book of Hebrews (this is not an exhaustive list, just intended to help you connect your study of Hebrews to some of these lyrics).

“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (1): Verse 1 lines 1-2; V. 2 lines 1-4; V. 3 lines 2-4; V. 4 lines 1-2; V. 5 lines 1-5

“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” (2): Verses 3-5

“O Come, All Ye Faithful”: Verse 1 lines 3-4; Verse 2 lines 3-4; Verse 4 lines 3-4

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”: Verse 1 lines 3-4; Verse 2 lines 7-8; Verse 3 lines 5-8

“Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus” (Charles Wesley)

“Angels From The Realms of Glory”: Verse 5

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

1 Peter 2:9-10

Merry Christmas!

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