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Advent Lessons

Lesson 3 · April 17, 1909

Birth of John the Baptist—Birth of Jesus

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Lesson Scripture: ; .

Genealogy of Jesus: ; .

The apparent difference between these two genealogies is best explained by the supposition that Matthew gives the royal descent of Jesus through the males, while Luke gives the descent from Mary through Joseph the son, or son-in-law, of Mary's father, or Heli. Men only are mentioned because according to Jewish law the descent of genealogy is so reckoned.

Lesson Helps: chapter 4; chapter 10, pages 100-102.

Time: B.C. 4, birth of Jesus. "It is very perplexing to many to find that Jesus was actually born four years before the time from which we count His birth. The simple reason is that no one calculated dates from the birth of Christ until centuries after He was born, and then Dionysius Exiguus, the monk who published the calculations in A.D. 526, made a mistake of four years. . . . Since it is impossible to rectify the dates in all books and records over the world, we simply apply the true dates to the life of Christ. He was five years old at the close of A.D. 1."—Peloubet.

Places: Jerusalem, Nazareth, Bethlehem.

Persons: Elizabeth, Zacharias, and John; Mary, Joseph, and Jesus; Cæsar Augustus, emperor of Rome; Quirinus, Roman governor of Syria. Look up the biography of those persons in a Bible dictionary or an encyclopedia.

Questions

#### Birth of John the Baptist.

  1. 1.When the time for the fulfilment of God's promise to Zacharias came, what occurred? .
  2. 2.How was the name of the child selected? .
  3. 3.What blessing came to Zacharias? How were the people affected? .
  4. 4.What additional great blessing was bestowed upon Zacharias? .
  5. 5.What was the burden of his prophecy? . Note 1.
  6. 6.What is said of the early life of John? .

Notes

#### Birth of Jesus.

  1. 7.What announcement was made to Joseph concerning Mary? .
  2. 8.Of what would this birth be a fulfilment? .
  3. 9.What is the meaning of the word Emmanuel? . See also . Note 2.
  4. 10.What decree went forth about the time of John's birth? . Note 3.
  5. 11.What persons are especially mentioned as meeting the requirements of this decree? To what place did they go? Why? .
  6. 12.What occurred while they were at Bethlehem? .

Notes

1. The prophecy of Zacharias may be summed up in the following: Redemption to Israel; the appearance of the Saviour in the house of David as predicted of old; the remembering of God's holy covenant to Abraham; deliverance from our enemies in order that we may serve God; John the forerunner of David's son to give knowledge of salvation from sin, light to those in darkness, and to guide us in the path of peace.

2. Jesus—Saviour; Emmanuel—God-with-us. Thus was salvation brought to us. "The Word was made flesh." He became one with poor, lost humanity, that every lost soul might be saved and become one with God.

3. The word "enrolled" (see margin) is better than "taxed." This was a register preparatory to the taxing. This decree was given by Augustus Caesar in his twenty-eighth year, under the Roman governor Quirinus. Both Joseph and Mary, being of the seed of David, went up to Bethlehem.

Bible texts in this lesson

Luke 1:57-80 · Luke 2:1-7 · Matthew 1:18-25 · Luke 3:23-38 · Matthew 1:1-17 · Luke 1:57 · Luke 1:58 · Luke 1:59-63 · Luke 1:64-66 · Luke 1:67 · Luke 1:68-79 · Luke 1:80 · Matthew 1:21 · Matthew 1:22 · Matthew 1:23 · John 1:14 · Luke 2:1 · Luke 2:2 · Luke 2:3-5 · Luke 2:6 · Luke 2:7

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