The Arvada enterprise., 1917-12-20

LESSON FOR DECEMBER q
THE STORY OF THE FIRST
CHRISTINA.


LESSON TEXT-Matthsw .:1-12.
,his Az N ~. a,,v 40 a.. Sorn 20 gov
who Is Christ the Lord.-Luks .:i1 '''''
The story OF the birth of Jesus Ia
recorded In three Of the four Gospels,
Matthew, Luke and John, each of
which contributes some feature essen.
tial to complete the picture. No one
should teach this lesson who does
not have good Harmony of the
Gospels" Every year for the 45 years
Of the International Sunday School
Lessons, we have had tho Christmas
lesson taken from these three Gospels
one ut time. This year in closing
the present series, we unite all three
Gospels in one complete story, 1.-THE
Story Of the First Christmas"
The order of events should clearly
be kent in mind as follows: "Tbe
angelic announcement to Zacharias.
the priest. while in the exercise of
his ministerial office. The angelic an.
nouncement to Mary. the mother of
Jesus. and to Joseph. her espoused
husband. Mary's visit to her cousin.
Elizabeth. and the birth Of John the
Boptist The birth Of Jesu. and his
circumcision on the eighth day (Luke
Q :21). His REDEMPTION some 81 DAYS
later. introducing Simon the priest
duke 2:22), and the publication Of
the mother. H..
The coming of Jesus was at the most
opportune time In all the history of
the world. for Palestine was the CEN
tral region of the Roman empire. The
whole civilized world was subject to
Roman domination, He was born
while the entire world was at peace,
for once in its history. Travel was
Mt Its best. for the Roman military
roads all centered In Rome and ex-
tended throughout the empire. The
Greek language was spoken every
where, along with native languages,
so that the Gospel could readily be
heard In all parts Of the empire. The
Old Testament was translated into
Greek. The Jews were scattered
throughout all lands, carrying this Old
Testament with them, and had estab-
llshed their synagogues In nearly ev.
cry city and town. There was also
a widespread intellectual and moral
awakening, and there was widespread
religious unrest and hungering for
something better.
I. The ssareh. Notice TINT he who
was born on this first Christmas, was
the "onlv beeotten Of God" This div.
inc beIne became flesh. 4 strange and
seemineiy impossible union, but only
.nch : nn,on of the human and divine
could dr,v man 70 God. II Jesus
h,I mt heen Ident,aed with the divine
nature n God all the love. honor and
devotion which We give to him. would
lead M into idolutry. ~ Wisdom
seeking wv. 1. p. See also Acts 10 q.
Who these men were wa do not know,
They were evidently students of the
stars. and perhaps came from Persia
whittier Balaam went. Numbers
23:7: Numbers 24:l7.10.) They may
hnye known Of Daniel's prophecy.
They came because they had seen .
star. A little light. only a small star.
and We may have the sun. (John
s:l2.) The highest wisdom IL to know
God. prov. 0:1O) We do not have
to seek far to ind him. The highest
wisdom IL also teachnble: "Where ID
he that II bOrnT These wise men
were not the iirst ones to seek him,
for the humble shepherds who had
heard the angelic host (Luke 2:lo,
10). Immediately went to Jerusalem
to make sure that the good news was
true. Tradition only gives US the
names Of these men. They typify the
world. the first Gentlles wh" came 10
seek Jesus. (2) WickedneSs seeking
". 3-S). Il II Interesting to note
the alarm Of Herod, his susp''
cion nnd Jealousy. Why1 Note the
carefulncss Of lierods search. First
the chief priests, who were the
ologians: then the scribcs and
lawyers, who were the historians:
then the common people who were
familiar with the traditions: and.
anally, the wise men ". y.