BIBLES * Bulldogs * & Beards

Disagree, agree, or have a question: Contact us through the contact page on our website; http://www.biblebulldog.com Matthew 2:13-23 Long Journeys For many of us, Christmas is a time for making long journeys. Timeline. 1.Joseph and Mary journey to Bethlehem. 2.Jesus is born. 3.Shepherds from the fields come to see Him. 4.A week later Jesus is circumcised and officially name. 5.A few weeks later a visit to Jerusalem takes place for Mary’s purification. 6.They return to Bethlehem and find a house to stay. 7.The wise men arrive. Do you agree with this timeline? Luke 2:34-35 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” How do these verses apply to the Christmas story? “The wise men and the parents shared one thing in common: knowing Jesus means taking up the cross and following Him.” Do you agree? For Mary and Joseph, could life ever be the same? “Each of the people gave Jesus all they had.” How can Christians apply this to our current lives? Out of Egypt Matthew 2:13-14 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt Is Matthew’s point to evoke pity for this little family or to shame governments into doing more for today’s refugees? How easily do we sometimes miss the point? Matthew 2:15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” Are there echoes of the story told in Genesis and Exodus? Was Jesus taken into Egypt simply for His own safety? Is the Christmas story all about salvation? The Child Pogrom Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Does this part of the Christmas story leave a bad taste in our mouth? If we skipped this part, would we be missing something that Matthew wants to tell? “This was the opening of a war that would be waged against our Lord for the rest of His life.” Revelation 12:1-5 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,