Your Twenty-Fifth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts to Christmas. Merry Christmas, you’ll enjoy this Christmasy excerpt from my non-fiction book, The Gospel Medley.

What happened between the visit of the shepherds to the manger and the visit of the wise men to the house? In this last of a two-part series, you’ll find out! Another momentous prophecy and testimony about Jesus soon after His birth.

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My past gifts to you are here:

• 25 Days to Christmas – 25 Literary Gifts for You
• Your Second Literary Gift! – 24 Gifts to Christmas.
• Your Third Literary Gift! – 22 Gifts Until Christmas
• Your Fourth Literary Gift! – 21 Gifts Until Christmas
• Your Fifth Literary Gift! – 20 Gifts Until Christmas
• Your Sixth Literary Gift! – 19 Gifts Until Christmas
• Your Seventh Literary Gift! – 18 Gifts Until Christmas
• Your Eighth Literary Gift! – 17 Gifts Until Christmas
• Your Ninth Literary Gift – A New Book! – Is it Christmas?
• Your Tenth Literary Gift – More from My New Book!
• Your Eleventh Literary Gift – My Non-fiction Book
• Your Twelfth Literary Gift of My 25 Gifts to You
• Your Thirteenth Literary Gift of My 25 Gifts to You
• Your Fourteenth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts
• Your Fifteenth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts
• Your Sixteenth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts
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• Your Nineteenth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts
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• Your Twenty-First Literary Gift of 25 Gifts
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• Your Twenty-Fourth Literary Gift of 25 Gifts

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Your Twenty-Fifth Literary Gift: From The Gospel Medley

 (After Simeon’s prophecy in the previous post)

36 There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, 37 and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshiping with fastings and petitions night and day. 38 Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem. 39 When they [Joseph and Mary had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.^[1].

[1] Joseph and Mary eventually returned to Nazareth but moved to a house in Bethlehem by the time the wise men visited. Since Herod died in March of 4 BC, this episode had to take place before then but after Jesus’s birth. “All these things” included the circumcision (nine days) and the purification (thirty days) plus at least three days for travel and three days back. At least two months passed before they fled to Egypt. We know the wise men visited them while they resided in Bethlehem. After their flight to Egypt, they returned to Nazareth.

The Next Episode in Jesus’s Life

The Flight to Egypt

Matthew 2:13–23 

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.”

14 He arose and took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod;

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”^[1]

Herod’s Slaughter

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”^[2]

19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 20 “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”

21 He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee, 23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Footnotes from This Section

[1] Hosea 11:1 – “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

[2] Jeremiah 31:15 – Yahweh says: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.

Your Twenty-Fifth Literary Gift Concludes

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