SYMBOLS OF CHRISTMAS
BY
DR. JERRY FALWELL
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Last week I spoke on two Christian symbols of Christmas, stars and kings. I preached on “His Star” and the kings asking, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews?” (Matt. 2:2).
2. We have a star on the top of the Christmas tree and kings in our nativity scene. Let’s put other Christmas symbols in place. I have five more Christmas symbols to discuss.
B. SYMBOLS OF CHRISTMAS
1. ANGELS: GIVING THE MESSAGE OF SALVATION
a. What can we know when angels appear?
(1)God is working.
(2)They are God’s messengers, “Are they
(angels) not ministering spirits, sent forth to
minister for them who shall be heirs of
salvation?” (Heb. 1:14).
When you read about angels in the Bible, they
are doing God’s work in the world.
(3)At the first Christmas, angels are singing,
bringing a message about Jesus. They are
bringing joy. The Christmas angels were
beautiful, but their appearance scared some
who saw them. Zacharias was afraid, so were
the shepherds. The angels greeted people,
“Fear not.”
b. The angel announced to Zacharias that his wife
would give birth to a son when she was too old to
have children (Luke 1:13).
c. The angel announced to Mary that she would
supernaturally conceive a child and His name was
to be called Jesus.
d. The angel announced to Joseph that the child Mary had conceived was of the Holy Spirit and that he
should take Mary as his wife and call His name
Jesus.
e. What should you think when you see an angel on a Christmas tree, or angels on Christmas decorations?
Think,
Angels are messengers of salvation.
2. SHEPHERDS: WITNESSING
a. What do you think when you hear about shepherds? Calm . . . doing their job . . . watching sheep . . . faithful.
b. Why were the shepherds the first to be told God’s Son was born? Why not sheep keepers?
Politicians? Soldiers? Priests?
1) Shepherds learn from their sheep the following:
patience, gentleness, longsuffering,
self-control, goodness. Some of God’s
greatest leaders learn to lead people by leading
sheep--David, Moses, Jacob, were all shepherds.
(2) Shepherds were faithful. They were probably
the only ones working at night. Everyone else
had gone to bed. God was looking for people
who worked faithfully to represent His
message faithfully.
(3) Shepherds were responsive. They immediately
said, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see . . .”
They didn’t study it, pray about it or seek
God’s will to do it . . . they just did it. They
immediately got up and went to see Jesus.
(4) Shepherds were responsible. “Let us go to
Bethlehem and see this thing which the Lord
had made known to us.” Since the angel had
told them a message, they felt responsible to
do something about it.
c. What will you think when you see shepherds under a Christmas tree? Think,
Shepherds were faithful witnesses.
When Christ came the first time,
He found faithful shepherds.
When Christ comes the second time,
Will He find faithful shepherds?
3. GIFT: TO HONOR AND LOVE
a. What do you think when you are about to receive a gift? Something good . . . anticipation . . . love . . . relationship . . . appreciation . . . you must say “Thank you.”
b. I heard about an employer who stopped giving
Christmas bonuses because the employees
complained and were ungrateful. The workers
didn’t understand gifts. I like what Dr. Towns says
over and over in his classes:
Gratitude is the least remembered of all virtues,
and is the acid test of character.
c. The wisemen/kings - “Then they presented unto
Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”
d. What should we think about when we see gifts
under the tree? Think,
Gifts means honor and love.
4. MANGER: AN UNLIKELY PLACE.
a. What do you think when you hear the word
manger? Stable . . . animals . . . no room in the inn
. . . not a nice bedroom or hospital room . . .
humility.
b. A manger was an unlikely place to lay the new born Babe. However, when you think he was the Lord
of the universe and the God of the Ages . . . being
born in human flesh . . . no place is worthy of Jesus
Christ.
Neither the finest hospital or manger in an inn is worthy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
c. If the Lord Jesus Christ couldn’t come into a stable, where else could He come?
(1) Into your heart. “But as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of
God” (Jn. 1:12).
(2) Into your home.
(3) Into your problem or sinful habit. A stable is
not a clean place. If Jesus could come there,
He can come into your situation. He could
come into your filthy place and clean it up.
d. What do we think about when we see a manger in a nativity scene? Think,
An unlikely place.
5. VIRGIN - THE SINLESS SON OF GOD
a. What do you think when you hear the word virgin? Honored . . . pure . . . simple . . . hard role to play . . . holy.
b. In Seattle when children in school were asked
“What is a virgin?”, they answered, “A girl who
had not had a baby.” That’s not right. Mary asked
the angel, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a
man” (Luke 1:34)?
A virgin is a girl who holds herself pure for a
particular man . . . the man she is going to marry.
c. By a virgin birth, the Eternal Son of God became flesh.
The greatest statement - “The Word became flesh
(tabernacled) among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory of the only begotten of the Father” (Jn.
1:14).
d. What do we think about when we see a virgin in a nativity scene?” Think,
The entrance of the sinless Son of God into the
world.
The keyword is sinless. He had no sin, He did no sin, in Him was no sin. He was not born with a
sinful nature and He did not commit sin. Why?
Jesus had to be sinless, to become sin for us that we
might be made righteous before God.
6. REVIEW: Let me review. What do these Christmas symbols mean to us -
The Star . . . Guiding us to Jesus.
The Kings . . . Wisemen still seek Him.
The angels . . .Giving out the message of Christmas.
Shepherds . . . Faithfully witnessing.
Gifts . . . Means honor and love.
Manger . . . An unlikely place.
Virgin . . . The entrance of the sinless Son of God into the world.
If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart:
Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I believe Jesus died for my sins on the cross, and rose again the third day. I repent of my sins. By faith I receive the Lord Jesus as my Savior. You promised to save me, and I believe You, because You are God and cannot lie. I believe right now that the Lord Jesus is my personal Savior, and that all my sins are forgiven through His precious blood. I thank You, dear Lord, for saving me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, God heard you and saved you. I personally want to welcome you to the family of God.
