Watch the video presentation on YouTube at: Old Testament Christmas Video
To purchase slides or handouts, go to: Teaching with Power Etsy Shop
INTRODUCTION
Hello fellow teachers, and welcome to teaching with power. This is Ben Wilcox and I want to welcome you to a special Christmas lesson in Come Follow Me this week. Now typically, I take the week of Christmas off so that I can spend some extra time with my family, but this year I didn’t want to leave you with empty-handed either. So I just wanted to give you some quick Christmas teaching ideas that you may want to try this year with your classes or your families. So this video isn’t going to be focused much on scripture insight, but activities that you could do. Now I have done some Christmas messages in the past, and if you need some ideas on thoughts that you could share, then allow me to provide you with links to those videos from the past. Besides spending some time in Luke chapter 2, one of my favorite things to do at Christmas is to do a retelling of the Nephite Christmas story from 3 Nephi chapter 1. Sometimes we forget that there’s more than just one Christmas story in the scriptures. Something pretty amazing also happened here in the New World at the birth of Christ. If you’re interested in hearing that story, follow the link above to my Christmas message from 2019 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hziQg6lgPuA&t=951s). And then, if you’d like a little more Christmas insight, you could also check out my Christmas message form 2020 where I talk about gifts and the best gift that you could give this year (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc60doRcax4&t=179s). But for the remainder of this short video, here are some quick activity ideas you might want to try.
SYMBOLS OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
The end of the year is always a good time for reflection. And since Christmas time is a time to focus on Christ, we can look back over our study of the Old Testament and think about all we’ve learned about our Savior from this ancient book of scripture. Remember that even though the name Jesus doesn’t appear anywhere in the Old Testament, you can find Him on almost every page. I hope that we’ve all come to know the Savior better this year as we’ve studied. We’ve seen him manifested in numerous different ways. We’ve seen him speak and work directly with his prophets as Jehovah. We’ve seen his character manifest in different people of the Old Testament who act as types of Christ. We’ve seen him in the prophecies of the Old Testament, and we’ve seen him in the symbols of the Old Testament.
So one of the activities I have for you focuses on some of those symbols for Christ we’ve studied in the Old Testament. And it’s a secret phrase handout activity. Try to fill in the empty boxes with the words that go in the blanks of the clue and then match the numbered boxes with those below to discover the secret message. This activity can act as a good review of some of the things we’ve learned about the Savior from the Old Testament this year.
Here are the answers:
LAMB (Exodus 12:21) For the Passover, the early Israelites were to kill a _______ and place its blood over their door. This would save them from the destroying angel.
BRASS SERPENT (Numbers 21:8-9) Moses made a ______ ________ that would save anyone who looked upon it.
GOAT (Leviticus 16:21-22) The sins and iniquities of all the people were laid on the head of this animal which was then left in the wilderness. This was referred to as the scape______.
SHEPHERD (Psalm 23:1-6) In many places in the Bible, Jesus is compared to a good _________.
SUN (Malachi 4:2) But unto you that fear my name shall the ____ of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
STONE (Isaiah 28:16) I lay in Zion for a foundation a _______ , a tried _______ , a precious corner ________. (same word for all three blanks)
BRANCH (Zechariah 3:8) Jesus is referred to as the _________ that grows from the royal line of David.
SHADOW (Isaiah 25:4) For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a ________ from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
WATER (Exodus 17:6) Moses smote the rock of Horeb and this came out. Jesus and his gospel are like ________ from a rock.
ISAAC (Genesis 22:2) This individual was a living symbol of Christ and his sacrifice: _________.
And what’s the final secret phrase then?
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14)
That phrase comes from Isaiah 7:14 which is a direct prophecy from the Old Testament regarding the nativity or the birth of Christ. I think that’s a fitting message for Christmas time.
Now after you’ve completed this activity, to encourage your students to share and discuss, you could ask them which of the symbols for Christ from this year was their favorite and how does that symbol help them to understand the Savior better?
TITLES OF CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
Another activity that focuses on Christ in the Old Testament. We know that Jesus has many different names and titles that come from the Old Testament. If you’d like to focus your attention on those, you could do this crossword puzzle activity. Each of the clues is simply a scripture reference from the Old Testament. Their task is to identify the title for Christ found in those verses.
Here are the answers:
ACROSS 1. Deuteronomy 32:4 ROCK 6. Isaiah 9:6 WONDERFUL 7. Jeremiah 17:13 FOUNTAIN 9. Job 19:25 REDEEMER 11. Daniel 9:25 MESSIAH 12. Isaiah 9:6 the Everlasting ________ FATHER DOWN 2. Isaiah 40:28 CREATOR 3. Psalm 83:18 JEHOVAH 4. Isaiah 9:6 COUNSELLOR 5. Job 32:8 ALMIGHTY 8. Micah 2:13 BREAKER 10. Isaiah 9:6 the Prince of ________ PEACE 11. Isaiah 9:6 the _________ God MIGHTY
And once you’ve completed this activity, to help you students share and discuss you could ask them which of those titles is their favorite and why?
CHRISTMAS JEOPARDY
Another activity that I’ve enjoyed doing with my classes at Christmas time, although it isn’t centered on the Old Testament, is to play a round of Christmas Jeopardy. There are five categories and five questions in each. If you’ve never played jeopardy before, the concept is quite simple. You have three players or teams select different squares from the board and behind each one is a clue. The team that raises their hand first is given the chance to answer the clue. Now you can play it this way or not, but technically, the answer is to be given in the form of a question. So the clue is more of an answer or description, and your job is to come up with the question that the clue could serve as an answer to. But if you find that gets in the way of the fun of the game, you can just have them provide simple answers as well. You may find that it’s difficult to judge who really has their hand up first, and sometimes I’ve had players raise their hand immediately, then hem and haw and think of the answer after they’ve been called on. So one way around that is to provide each of the teams or players with a small whiteboard and a marker. The first team to write the correct answer on the white board and raise it up gets the points. I’ve found that works well also. So, if a team gets the correct answer, they’re awarded however many points are attached to that question. However, if they get the answer incorrect, that number of points is deducted from their score. So that discourages guessing. One more detail, the questions are intended to get harder as their point values increase. So the 100-point questions are going to be the easiest, while the 500-point questions are intended to be quite a bit more difficult. Although, difficulty of questions I know is a little subjective, but I’ve tried to make it follow that pattern. And on some of those more difficult questions, sometimes I’ll remove the deduction penalty for guessing just for that question and allow teams to guess until somebody gets it right.
But here are the five categories. You have “Christmas Hymns”, in which a line from a well-known Christmas hymn is given and you have to name the hymn it comes from. “Luke 2,” which is, of course, the story of Christ’s birth in the New Testament. You have “A Nephite Christmas” which is the story of what happened here in the New World when Christ was born in the old. You have “Christmas Symbols” which asks questions about the meanings of different symbols we use around Christmas time. And then finally, Miscellaneous Christmas trivia which, just for fun, has some more secularly themed clues surrounding Christmas, not necessarily religious in nature, for just one category.
And if you plan to host the game, allow me to go through each of the questions for you so that you’re aware of the answers.
Christmas Hymns
Clue
Answer
All is calm, all is bright
Silent Night
Let earth receive her king
Joy to the World
The stars in the heavens looked down where he lay
Away in a Manger
Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled
Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay
The First Noel
The Nativity
Clue
Answer
The city where Jesus was born
Bethlehem or The City of David
What Jesus was wrapped in
Swaddling Clothes
The name of the angel that announced Jesus’ birth to Mary
Gabriel
What the angels brought the shepherds in the fields
Good tidings of great joy
The Roman Emperor at the time of Christ’s birth
Caesar Augustus
Christmas Symbols
Clue
Answer
What the wise men followed, or the highest ornament on the tree
Star
Reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world
Candles, or Christmas lights
These tasty treats remind us that Jesus is the Good Shepherd
Candy Canes
The color Red at Christmas reminds us of this
Christ’s blood
Symbolizes the crown of thorns Jesus wore
Wreath
A Nephite Christmas
Clue
Answer
The prophet who predicted the sign of the birth of the Savior from the walls of Zarahemla five years before
Samuel the Lamanite
The penalty of belief
Death
The sign of Jesus birth in the New World (besides the new star)
Three days of light
The prophet who prayed all day for the sign to come
III Nephi
The chapter in the Book of Mormon where you find the Nephite Christmas story
3 Nephi 1
Miscellaneous Christmas Trivia
Clue
Answer
Mexican plant popular at Christmas
The Poinsettia
The gift given on the seventh day in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”
Seven swans a swimming
The name of Ebenezer Scrooges dead former partner in “A Christmas Carol”
Jacob Marley
The tradition of the Christmas tree started in this country
Germany
The modern-day country where St. Nicholas was born
Turkey
Well there you have it. One full round of Christmas Jeopardy questions. I’ve always had a lot of fun with this game with my seminary classes each year. And if you wish to have a Final Jeopardy round, here is one more question that you could use for that. And the way Final Jeopardy works is that each team, after seeing what the Category of the question is, wagers how many points they are willing to risk either winning or losing based on whether they get the question right. They can only wager as many points as they have. And the Category is “The Nativity”. And here's the question: What country did Joseph, Mary, and Jesus flee to from Bethlehem? Answer: Egypt
LUKE II VIDEO
Another idea that I can suggest for you would be to show the following video to your classes and family. What this video does is it takes the Church produced nativity video from the Bible videos and sets it to a beautiful Christmas song sung by Amy Grant called Breath of Heaven. I can’t show it here, but I can link you to a version that someone has made of it at the following link above. I’ll also place a link in the video description below (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf-JFYn0un0) . It’s really beautiful and creates a nice spirit. Before showing it, you could talk to your students about how the birth of Christ came in fulfillment of all the things we’ve been studying this year in the Old Testament. The people and prophets of the Old Testament were always pointing forward to the coming of the Messiah and found hope and joy in the promise of his life, teachings, and atoning sacrifice. We, in the latter-days do just the opposite. We look back to that event and find hope and joy in the life, teachings, and atoning sacrifice of our Savior. So Christmas acts as a wonderful bonding and unifying experience between dispensations. As they looked forward, we look back, and we meet together at Christmas, at the birth of Christ. I pray that our hearts can be knit together with theirs, these people that we’ve spent all 2022 with, and find a common bond with them.
