Learning More About the Birth of Christ

Studying Luke 2 and Matthew 2


Almost everyone knows the basics about the birth of Jesus. It is portrayed in cartoons, live action movies, plays, as well as being discussed in Church. Many people might think at this point that they know all about it.  That exact reason is why we have been told by the Prophet and the Apostles to study the scriptures, which is not the same as just reading them. And that is what I did, in doing so I found something I never expected.

Lets start with Luke chapter 2:11-16 which is the angels and the shepherds

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

Now lets compare this with Matthew 2:7-13 when the Wise Men search and found Jesus

Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

In most depictions of the birth of Jesus the angels, shepherds, and wise men are all in the stable at the same time. Studying this we realize that in Luke we are looking immediately after his birth. They are in the stable, He is laying in the manger, and is referred to as a babe (baby).  In Matthew Mary and Joseph are now in a house. Jesus is referred to as a young child. It is likely that they have been in Bethlehem for at least 18 months perhaps longer. The word toddler had not been coined but even today a child is a baby when they can not walk, while a young child is able to walk and might even be referred to as a young child up to around school age.

The wise men arrived in time to fiance the flight to Egypt when Jesus was old enough to travel safely.  It is amazing how events were orchestrated by Heavenly Father to fulfill the prophecies.

Realizations Upon Reading

Mary and Elisabeth-  © 2015 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mary, Elisabeth and the Line of David

The Gospel According to St Matthew starts with the genealogy from Abraham through Joseph. These are names of people whose stories are in the bible and we know their stories. A few stories in here stand out to me, the first is the realization after reading this chapter many times over the years that this is the line of Joseph. It is a amazing line going back to Abraham, and while Joseph is not blood related to Jesus he is still his father. He raised Jesus, taught him his trade.  Reading this genealogy also made me wonder about Mary's line I don't recall that Marys line was ever discussed but I would hazard a guess that to be married to Joseph her line goes back to Abraham as well.  We know from Luke that Mary and Elisabeth were cousins, hence John the Baptist was a cousin of Jesus. There are great lessons in obedience and faith that we can discuss involving Mary, Joseph, Elisabeth and Zacharias.  Zacharias is especially interesting in his crisis of faith after speaking directly to the angel Gabriel! 

All Things Work to the Glory of God

As interesting as the discussion of Zacharias and faith is, a second realization occurred to me while reading the genealogy of Joseph, and its the thought that has consumed me since reading it.

Matthew 1:6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;

We have all heard this story - David saw Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11) became enamored of her, lies with her, and arranges for her husband to be killed in battle. The child of this union is King Solomon who built the Temple, who is known as the wisest king, who furthered the line and went down to Joseph. 

The scriptures don't tell us a whole lot about Mary and Joseph, but this line (Matt 1:19) is so telling the more you think of it 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily.

Joseph would be within his legal rights to take this public, to state how he had been wronged by his bride to be. But even before the angel appeared to him he was noted as a just man and did not want to take the issue public, after the angel appeared to him he took Mary as his wife, and knew her not until she gave birth. Then he raised that child as his own.

Our Heavenly Father took Davids sins of adultery, lust, and murder and used them to bring forth King Solomon, the Temple of Jerusalem, and the man who raised the Son of God as his own. To me that is proof of all things working to the glory of God.

It was only a four year hiatus...

New Year- New Start

According to my published posts the last time I actually posted anything was May 2015. Well, its been a while - I didn't forget but also didn't get any writing or posting done. Let's start again and see where we go from here.

We are Responsible For Our Own Learning

This year my Church as started a new learning program - well, perhaps not so new as a shift in emphasis. For those of you who followed me through what I posted while an online student at BYU-Idaho (Graduated!!)

You may remember that BYU (on all campuses) follows something called Disciple Leadership along with the honor code. As a student, as a member of the Church and as a responsible person you are responsible for your own learning, your own actions, your own walk with Christ and your own life.  That doesn't mean that you are not going to learn from teachers, but it does mean that how much and how well you learn is up to you.  You are also encourage to not only learn from your peers but to teach your peers. It is a great way to learn lifetime learning skills and to carry them into the real world.

The Church as taken that and applied it to our weekly church schedule.  Our new books are entitled Come Follow Me and it lays out the lessons for the entire year and it is our job as members to read and study before church and to be ready to discuss during Sunday School, Relief Society, Priesthood or Primary (whichever group you are in). It think its a great way to reinforce the fact that we are suppose to be studying the scriptures on our own, it helps focus the discussion in class because its not the first time seeing the material and really allows for in home discussions about the material because we are all doing the same lessons!

This year we are studying the New Testament. I am making it my goal to post every week, because of our church schedule along with the New Testament you will see posts about our Relief Society talks, possibly Primary class tie ins.

I want to extend the invitation to anyone who wants to study as well- here is the online link for Come Follow Me  I hope some of you will follow along.  Finally, of course I will discuss LIFE. This is a blog about Life, and my life also includes family, hobbies, cooking, activities and all the normal stuff.

Once again, sorry about the long break, as we go along I'll try and catch you up with what happened over the last 4 years- its allot :)

The Miracles of the Lord through Elijah

The Miracles of the Lord through Elijah

In 1 Kings 17 -2 Kings 1 we see many miracles performed by the Lord though Elijah. We are used to the word miracles always meaning happy occurrences, resurrections, the feeding of the 5000, healing and so forth. A close examination of Elijah shows that the miracles are not always happy. 

:

• 1 Kings 17:1 : there will not be dew or rain but according to my word, this was the start of a over 3 year drought
• 1 Kings 17:2–6 : the ravens feed Elijah bread and flesh morning and evening
• 1 Kings 17:8–16 : the widow woman feed Elijah the last of her oil and meal, her oil and meal never run out until the end of the drought
• 1 Kings 17:17–22: Elijah brought the son of the widow back to life
• 1 Kings 18: 31–38 The fire of the Lord consumed a burnt offering that had been soaked in water, and consumed all the water that had soaked it as well. 16 barrels of water
• 1 Kings 21:17–19; 22:34–38 :Elijah was given knowledge of events both past and future  which he did not see and could not know, the death of a man –and they are fullfilled
• 2 Kings 1:9–14 : Elijah destroys 2 regiments of 50 men and their Captains, saves the regiment of the Captain that bows before God

(b) Write a paragraph that gives examples from what you read of how the sealing keys can both bless and curse.

The Prophet Elijah held the keys and his obedience to the Lord allowed him to work miracles. This was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing Elijah was able to save the lives of the widow, her son and those she was able to help. A curse in that many of the miracles that Elijah wrought were responsible for the deaths of many people and brought loneliness to Elijah himself. The life of this Prophet was often a lonely existence filled with the memories of death and people who hated him. Elijah was faithful and as a reward was eventually translated directly to Heaven.

Elijah and Solomon

Elijah and Solomon

In 1 Kings this week two separate characters keep coming to mind to ponder.

Elijah who was angry at the Children of Israel for not keeping their covenants- again. For destroying the alters and killing the prophets. That was the order he listed them in. Elijah who fled into the wilderness and was fed by angels and when God asked Elijah, what are you doing?  Answered upfront and honest. Lord I am mad for you. A righteous anger. Elijah was then taught about the Holy Spirit and how to find it and guess what? He was still mad, but he still obeyed and returned.

When we have truly righteous anger, not petty anger, not selfish anger the Lord does not chastise us for that, but neither does he excuse us from our duties.

Solomon has quite a duty to perform as well, as King over the Israel he had to rule and in addition was in charge of building the temple. It took Solomon 7 years to build the Temple and it was beautiful. Yet he spent 13 years building his “house” that can only be described as a mansion. While building this mansion did not stop his work on the temple the elaborate mansion that took nearly twice as long to complete as the temple and was larger than the temple makes you wonder what was going through Soloman’s mind.

When we look back at our life we can often see the roots of our decisions both good and bad crystalized as moments of time. By listening to the Holy Ghost we can recognize those times and make the better or best decisions and not regret later.

What doest thou here, Elijah?

Answering the Lord and Finding the Spirit

In 1 Kings Chapter 19 Jezebel finds out about Elijah facing down the prophets of Baal and killing them. Her response to the deaths of the false prophets is that she wants Elijah to be killed also.

When Elijah hears of this, he disappears into the wilderness, first stopping to sleep under a juniper tree a day’s journey in (v 4) and asked the Lord to die.  His request was not granted and an angel appeared to him and brought him food and water. After eating, he slept again. The angel returned with more food and bid him to eat warning him that the journey would be too great for him. The food the angel feed him sustained him for a 40 day and night journey to Horeb where he stayed in a cave and the Lord found him and asked him a question “What doest thou here, Elijah?”

The modern interpretation of this would be “What are you doing here Elijah?”

Elijah doesn’t get sulky or petulant. He is very self-aware

v 10 “And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”

It is worth noting that jealous in this case means resentful or angry.  

Elijah who is the prophet who is to be speaking with the Children of Israel is angry with them for forsaking the covenants, destroying the alters, slaying the prophets until he is the only one left. I personally, don’t blame him a bit. I faced similar feelings just reading about it last semester over 3000 years later. The Lord tells Elijah to go stand on the mountain and sends the wind and earthquake against the mountain and then a fire. He shows Elijah how to find Him. That He is not in the wind, the earthquake or fire, He show Elijah the Holy Spirit –the still small voice.  What an amazing gift. And the Lord asks him again what he is doing here- it is remarkable the answer does not change. He is still angry with the Children of Israel, and the Lord sends Him back with instructions.

There are some great lessons in this interaction between Elijah and the Lord. Elijah fled in part because his life was in danger but mostly because he was angry. The people he was trying to teach who were supposed to be following the covenants were forsaking their oaths, destroying the alters and killing the prophets. When asked by the Lord he owned up to his anger and was rewarded with a great gift, learning of the Holy Spirit.

Many people today mistake the Spirit, and 1 Kings 19:11-12 show us without a doubt that the Holy Spirit is not in the wind, it is not in any natural disaster that befalls the earth be it fire, flood, or earthquake. The Holy Spirit is a still small voice. D&C 8:2-3 explains further that the spirit of revelation is the Holy Spirit, which will come upon you and dwell in your heart. The Spirit is in your heart. Some people feel it as a burning in the heart (Luke 24:31-32) others may feel it as a prickling (Acts 2:37) I personally have also felt goosebumps when in the presence of truth.  The Holy Spirit communicates with you, but you have to listen but without a doubt, He is within you not in the wind and fire.