A Special Christmas Video from ‘The Biggest Story’
“A New Baby and a New Beginning”
Gather your family together and watch this special Christmas video titled “A New Baby and a New Beginning” featuring chapter 53 of The Biggest Story Bible Storybook based on Matthew 1. Provided below is the “Gospel Connection” for this story from The Biggest Story Curriculum. Merry Christmas!
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook
Kevin DeYoung
This beautifully illustrated book by Kevin DeYoung combines 104 easy-to-read stories from Scripture with artwork by Don Clark, helping children ages 6–12 learn the unified story of the Bible.
Gospel Connection
On Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. You know that. But you may not know the strange way Matthew begins the story of Christmas. He starts with a long list of names, called a genealogy. Genealogy is just a fancy way of saying family tree. Why would he tell the story of Christmas with a genealogy? When we read the long list of names, we’re reminded of how sinful people are. There are some big-time sinners on the list.
What does all this have to do with Jesus? Well, Jesus wasn’t a big-time sinner. Instead, he was a big-time Savior from sin. Even though he was fully human, he was also fully God. And even though he came from a long line of sinners, he was born in a special way so he could do some special rescuing: he was from God. And since God is without sin, Jesus could be born free from the sin that marked his genealogy.
Now here’s where the story gets really interesting. Mary was engaged to Joseph. He was shocked to find out Mary was pregnant! He decided the best course was to quietly break up with her. But God sent an angel to let him in on what God was doing. “Joseph,” the angel told him, “Marry Mary, for the baby in her has been conceived from the Holy Spirit” (see Matt. 1:20). Joseph listened. The angel continued, “The baby will be a boy. When he is born, your job is to name him Jesus.” Joseph must have wondered, “Why that name? It’s not a family name.” The reason was that the name means “Yahweh saves.” The angel explained, “Call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (see Matt. 1:21). Joseph and Mary obeyed the angel’s orders. They got married, she gave birth and Joseph called the baby Jesus.
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