Dr. McKellar’s Lesson for December 24, 2023

Christmas Message

First Christmas Comprehension

Luke 2:1-15

1. Historical Setting 1-5

• acknowledgement of earthly governmental activity
• from Nazareth to Bethlehem with his betrothed, who was pregnant

2. Holy Birth 6-7

• the time came for Mary to give birth to her firstborn son
• wrapped in cloths and placed in a manger
• an ancient “no vacancy” issue

3. Heavenly Announcement 8-15

• singling out the shepherds
• angelic appearance and shining of glory
• fear acknowledged and addressed with the ultimate birth announcement
• peace for whom?

4. So What?

• Because of the first Christmas, sinners like us can know true liberation that leads to lasting celebration.
• “God of God, Light of Light. Lo, He abhors not the virgin’s womb; very God, begotten not created…” (F. Oakeley, verse 2 of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”)
• “The very mention of the cross should be far removed not only from a Roman citizen’s body, but from his mind, his eyes, his ears.” (Roman orator Cicero in a speech to the Senate a 100 or so years before Paul penned Phil. 2:5-11 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit)
• “He was poor, that he might make us rich. He was born of a virgin, that we might be born of God. He took our flesh, that he might give us His Spirit. He lay in the manger, that we may lie in paradise. He came down from heaven, that he might bring us to heaven…that the ancient of Days should be born… that he who thunders in the heavens should cry in the cradle…that Christ should be made of a woman, and of that woman which himself made, that the branch should bear the vine, that the mother should be younger than the child she bare, and the child in the womb bigger than the mother; that the human nature should not be God, yet one with God. Behold love that passeth knowledge! Come and worship!” (Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity)