Study Desk

He has provided for us a mighty Savior, a descendant of his servant David.

"You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God. You will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his road for him,

and while they were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have her baby.

She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger—there was no room for them to stay in the inn.

but the angel said to them, "Don't be afraid! I am here with good news for you, which will bring great joy to all the people.

The shepherds went back, singing praises to God for all they had heard and seen; it had been just as the angel had told them.

A week later, when the time came for the baby to be circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name which the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

The time came for Joseph and Mary to perform the ceremony of purification, as the Law of Moses commanded. So they took the child to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord,

At that time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem. He was a good, God-fearing man and was waiting for Israel to be saved. The Holy Spirit was with him

Led by the Spirit, Simeon went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus into the Temple to do for him what the Law required,

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, "This child is chosen by God for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel. He will be a sign from God which many people will speak against

There was a very old prophet, a widow named Anna, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She had been married for only seven years and was now eighty-four years old. She never left the Temple; day and night she worshiped God, fasting and praying.

That very same hour she arrived and gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were waiting for God to set Jerusalem free.

Every year the parents of Jesus went to Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

they thought that he was with the group, so they traveled a whole day and then started looking for him among their relatives and friends.

They did not find him, so they went back to Jerusalem looking for him.

He answered them, "Why did you have to look for me? Didn't you know that I had to be in my Father's house?"

As it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: "Someone is shouting in the desert: ‘Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!

Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins. And don't start saying among yourselves that Abraham is your ancestor. I tell you that God can take these rocks and make descendants for Abraham!

where he was tempted by the Devil for forty days. In all that time he ate nothing, so that he was hungry when it was over.