Christmas according to the patriarchs and the prophets

Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 7:14, 9:1-7, 40:1-5; Micah 5:2

To know the signs and messages that God showed his people throughout history, with the purpose of making known the coming of the Savior

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, NIV*).

Abraham. In this passage, we start the story of one of the most famous men in humanity: Abraham, God’s friend (James 2:23); who started with the name Abram, which means “father is high” or “exalted father”.

God’s promise to his friend was clear: “I’ll make you into a great nation and I’ll bless you. I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I’ll bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I’ll curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

It is true that his promise was clear, but at the same time, it resulted in something absurd. Who would have thought that Abraham would start the line of descendants that would produce Jesus, the Savior of the world? (Look at Matthew 1 at the genealogy of Jesus.) Who could have imagined this, knowing that Abram and his wife Sarai could not have children? But God always keeps his promises, and Abram believed God.

Isaiah, called the prophet of faith, started his prophetic ministry in the year 740 B.C. This date is important because it shows us how God, almost three quarters of a millennium before Jesus was even born, reminded us through his prophet of the covenant of salvation he made with Abraham.

God’s promise through Isaiah about the virgin birth of a child whose name would be Emmanuel, “God with us,” reveals that he had a plan of salvation for his people all along. Even with Israel’s disobedience, God’s love was always present, and the biggest expression of love was the presence of his son in the world. Isaiah’s prophecies are directly fulfilled by Christ’s birth.

In the book of Micah appears a message from the Lord that records the promise made to his servant David: “You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel” (1 Kings 2:4).

Micah does not mention “Emmanuel” like Isaiah, but he does reference the Lord of Israel: “He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God and they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be our peace.” (Micah 5:4-5)

From the descendants of David would come the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1).

Why did God give some “clues” to his servants like Isaiah and Micah about his plan of salvation?

If something could assure us, it is that man fell in Eden, and since then God had a plan to save us all. He had chosen us even before he made the Earth (Ephesians 1:4).

The loyalty of God will be forever, even though his time is not the same as ours (Psalm 90:4). In his time, he keeps his promises, like he did with his greatest promise: the Promised Messiah.

Friendship and review

Give the children an opportunity to share their testimony about how they showed compassion to someone last week. Ask them, “How many of you showed compassion to someone?” “How did you feel before?” “How did you feel after?” “How was it received?”

Interviews for Christmas

Prior to this session assign children for each of the roles of this drama.

Reporter: God has been planning Christmas for a long time. Peter said that Jesus was chosen to come to this world before it was even created (Peter 1:20). After Jesus came, God helped the writers of the New Testament find the clues in the Old Testament. We are going to talk to one of the most well known patriarchs and a couple of prophets who personally received hints or clues from God.

Abraham: Okay, who would have thought? Everything I know is what God told me: “I’ll make you into a great nation and I’ll bless you; I’ll make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I’ll bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I’ll curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:2-3).

You guys can imagine how crazy this sounded in the beginning. I mean, my wife and I did not even have children! Generations later, out of my family, Jesus was born. He is the Son of God. This is the most amazing thing I could have ever imagined!

Reporter: I can imagine! Thank you, Abraham. My next guest is Isaiah, the prophet. Welcome, Isaiah!

Isaiah: It is incredible to see the way that God moves and acts, I knew of Abraham, I am one of his descendants. God let his family grow and become many large nations. When I was ministering, the people were always scared that they were going to be destroyed. The Lord inspired me to speak to them about hope. So I told them: “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) And he also said, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Reporter: I have heard of these in stories and Christmas songs.

Isaiah: And you can see why. They describe Jesus perfectly! He came hundreds of years after my time. God used my messages to give hope to his people during this time! If we would turn towards God, he would protect us. But, there is something even better! My words were used to help other people recognize that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies in a special way.

And one more thing! The people of Israel were told about a man who would prepare the way for the coming King. This person would say, “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).

Reporter: Many years later, Matthew saw that these words described John the Baptist, who prepared the people to hear the message that Jesus Christ brought. Thank you, Isaiah. My last guest today is the prophet Micah.

Micah: Thank you! It is a pleasure to be here. Is not it amazing how great God is? Just like Isaiah, I also lived in times of trouble. Israel had divided into two nations. I warned them that their sin would destroy them.

Reporter: How terrible!

Micah: Yes, it was. God was tired of us wandering away from him. But he gave us an opportunity to return to Him. Bethlehem was a tiny town, but important people came out of it, like Naomi, Ruth and even David! I said, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).

Reporter: So you were the prophet that gave Herod’s men the idea to look for Jesus there!

Micah: All of that happened a long time after my time on earth. But I was the one who prophesied about where Jesus would be born.

Reporter: Incredible! It is no surprise why Matthew and the other New Testament authors were so excited about what they found in the Old Testament. They found the clues that helped people see that Jesus really is the Son of God. His coming to Earth was the last piece of our puzzle.

After finishing the drama, ask the children “Why do you think these passages talk specifically about Jesus?”

Emphasize to the children the importance of carrying out promises that they have made to others or to God.

In this moment, they can comment about some promise that they made to someone that they did not keep so they can realize their emotions with respect to this situation. They can also talk about a promise someone else made to them that they did not keep.

You can remind them of some promises that Jesus made and kept, like the coming of the Holy Spirit, his presence will be with us to the end of the world, and others.