Sunday School Lesson
Beginning Where Ton Are
The Gospel of Matthew was
originally addressed to the Jews.
Matthew as a Jew was writing
to other Jews in the effort to
convince them that Jesus was
the Messiah. ("Messiah" is from
the Hebrew word for "the ano
inted one"; "Christ" is from the
Greek word that means the
same.)
As the Scripture passage for
this lesson illustrates, Matthew
wanted to show how Jesus' life
and ministry, his death and res
urrection, fulfilled the prophe
clea In the Old Testament about
the Messiah. A few of Matthew's
examples of fulfillment of pro
phecy may be found in 2:14-15;
2:16-18; 2:23; 21:3-5; and 27:35.
Matthew believed that the
prophets in the past had provid
ed many details of the Messiah's
life. If the prophets had truly
spoken for God, then the Messiah
would fulfill what they had
spoken. Matthew believed that
Jesus did fulfill the prophecies
of the past. He believed that j
when other Jews came to recog
nize this fact, they too would
believe Jesus was the Messiah. |
Rereading the Christmas story j
should be the occasion of our
own searching about the manner
and meaning of his birth. What
were the prophets trying to tell
the people when they spoke of
the coming Messiah? How does
this Gospel account, writtei? long
ago for Jews, become meaning
ful to Christians living centuries
after it was written? Can and
should Christians today regard
fulfilled prophecies as decisive
evidences of the deity of Christ?
Christians today are divided
on how to answer these ques
tions. Perhaps the members of
your own group differ among
themselves regarding the im
portance of belief In the Virgin
Birth. Some regard belief in it
as essential for all Christians;
others think it is not.
The purpose of this session is
to help us think together about
the coming of Christ and to help
us understand better how to live
with our differences in belief.
Searching the Scriptures
The Scripture for this lesson
is Matthew 1. Selected verses
are printed below.
Matthew 1:1, 18-25
1 The Book of the genealogy
of Jesus Christ, the son of David,
the son of Abraham.
I 18 Now the birth of Jesui
Christ took place in this way.
When his mother Mary had
I been betrothed to Joseph, be
! fore they came together she was
found to be with child of the
Holy Spirit; 19 and her husband
Joseph, being a just man and
unwilling to put her to shame,
resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered this,
behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream,
saying, "Joseph, son of David,
do not fear to take Mary your
wife, for that which is conceiv
ed in her is of the Holy Spirit;
(Continued on Page 6)
Don't send your wile out into winter again.
Give her an electric dryer for Christmas.
Now that the cold wea
ther is here, give some thought to
giving your wife a really warm pres
ent for Christmas.
An electric clothes dryer.
Ifs a gift that's not as
expensive as you might think ? con
sidering how useful and convenient
it will be for your wife.
Electric dryers cost much
less than other kinds of dryers.
Thaf s one reason that 95
out of 100 dryers bought in the Car
olinas are electric.
Of course, another reason
they're so popular is the low cost of
the electricity that runs them. And
because they're electric they dry
cleanly with no flame.
Like the idea? Talk it
over with your favorite electric ap
pliance dealer. Or see us.
Duke Power