Symbols Of Christmas

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