Bible Commentary

Joy is a word that appears in many of our songs, sayings and stories at Christmas. Today’s study is wrapped in joy as an elderly couple experience incredible joy at the birth of a son and the whole world is told the incomparable good news that God's promised Messiah is about to appear.

We study a beautiful song named the “Magnificat” from the first word of the Latin translation of Luke. Note the religious context of this magnificent song, remembering there was no scribe present when Mary shared this miracle with Elizabeth and certainly no electronic recording device.

The first epistle of John was written with two basic purposes — leading the Christian churches to reject the heresy of the Nicolaitans who had left the church, and to teach the believers to love God and to love the brotherhood devoted to Jesus.

This session comes right after the six-week study from the Book of Daniel, which dealt largely with how to respond to opposition from Daniel’s life and ministry.

It has commenced: The constant stream of Christmas music everywhere you go! Once “I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause underneath the mistletoe last night” and “Santa Baby” gets in your head, the soundtrack is hard to stop.

The theme of faithfulness to God is central to the Book of Daniel.

As a new Christian I found a wonderful encourager and teacher in a young Air Force chaplain who guided me in personal Bible study one hour a week for a year. Ken reminded me that God inspired the writing of the Bible through humans who faced the same challenges we all encounter.

My preaching professors in seminary were eloquent in the pulpit and thorough in the study. They demanded that every sermon submitted in class be thoroughly backed by at least five scholarly studies and that the subject and every supporting point rest on scripture.

Ancient kings were quite adept at planning large banquets for a great host of people in order to gain support from these guests.

Can a reigning monarch live humbly? In Old Testament history, at least one monarch is described as humbling himself before God.