“Good Tidings of Great Joy”
December 18–24
FAIR Faithful Resources for Come, Follow Me 2023 December 18–24. Christmas: “Good Tidings of Great Joy.” Find answers to difficult questions to help you in your learning and teaching. Here is a collection of reliable resources to supplement your study as we prepare for Christmas. FAIR Resources link to relevant questions which have been answered on the FAIR website. Under Church Resources you’ll find links to the different Come, Follow Me manuals, as well as other helpful links as applicable. Other Resources link to resources outside of FAIR that are trustworthy and helpful.
Main points to ponder
The lesson invites us to focus our study this Christmas season on this question:
“Christmas is not only a celebration of how Jesus came into the world but also of knowing who He is—our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ—and of why He came” (Craig C. Christensen, “The Fulness of the Story of Christmas”). With that question in your mind and heart, the following sources may be helpful.
What do you know about who Jesus Christ was before He was born?
How does this knowledge affect the way you feel when you read about His birth?
What do you know about why Jesus Christ came to earth?
How does this knowledge affect the way you feel about the Savior? How does it affect the way you live?
- Christmas Advent Calendar
- The Book of Mormon as a Second Witness to the Divinity of Jesus Christ
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints believe that Mary was still a virgin when Jesus was born?
- Fox News, “21 Questions Answered About Mormon Faith”
- Improvement Era, “Peculiar Questions Briefly Answered”
- Faith and Reason 28: Nephi and His Asherah
- Question: How did Christ achieve deification before mortality?
- The relationship of Jesus Christ to His Father and to humanity
- Question: Do Latter-day Saints worship a “different Jesus”?
- Evangelical Questions: Is Jesus God?
- Question: Do historical challenges to The Doctrine of Virgin Birth towards the Bible present challenges for the Book of Mormon as well?
- Peter and Paul’s Paradoxical Passages on Women
- Do we believe that Jesus Christ was begotten by the Holy Ghost
- Come, Follow Me—For Individuals and Families
- Come, Follow Me—For Sunday School
- Come, Follow Me—For Primary
- The Christ Child
- An Angel Foretells Christ’s Birth to Mary (Luke 1:26-38)
- The Nativity (Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-19; Matthew 1:20-21)
- Mary, the Mother of Jesus (Luke 1:26-35)
- Glad Tidings of Great Joy: The Birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 2:1-20)
- Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem (Luke 2:4-7)
- Shepherds Learn of the Birth of Christ (Luke 2:8-18)
- The Wise Men Seek Jesus (Matthew 2:1-2,11-15)
- Churchofjesuschrist.org: Christmas Videos in Media Library: Christmas Messages
- Churchofjesuschrist.org: Media Library, Christmas Music: Christmas Music
- Scripture Central, Lynn Hilton Wilson: Priest & Priestess: New Testament with Lynne Wilson
- LDSLiving.com Christmas Ideas: Our ultimate list of ideas for your Christmas lesson, talk, or family study
- Come, Follow Me Study and Teaching Helps — Lesson 52: December 18–24, Jonn Claybaugh
- The New Testament in Context: Come, Follow Me Lesson 52
- A Comet, Christ’s Birth, and Josephus’s Lunar Eclipse, Charles Dike
- Christmas and a Condescending God, Daniel C. Peterson
- Christmas as Devotional: A Time of Commitment, Cherry B. Silver
- Light Began Once More to Grow, Daniel C. Peterson
- Christmas in Transition: From Figgy Pudding to the Bread of Life, Spencer J. Condie
- Christmastime: When Our Souls Can Sing, Jenny Oaks Baker
- The Song I Cannot Sing, Sharon Eubank
- “He Did It”: A Christmas Message, Clayton M. Christensen
- Christmas Is About a Baby, Orson Scott Card
- The Christmas Quest, Hugh Nibley
- Audio Roundtable: Come, Follow Me New Testament Lesson 49 (Christmas)
- There are Many Witnesses to the Birth of Christ, Hales Swift
- No Room for an Inn, John Gee
- Matthew 1 and Luke 1. Testimonies of Jesus, Taylor Halverson
- The Psalm of Mary, or Mary’s Magnificat, Taylor Halverson
- Scripture Roundtable: New Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 2, “My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord”
- Scripture Roundtable: New Testament Gospel Doctrine Lesson 3, “Unto You Is Born … a Saviour”
- Why Was the Birth of Jesus Glad Tidings?, Book of Mormon Central
- Why Didn’t Nephi Mention Mary’s Name?, Book of Mormon Central
- What Do We Know about the Wise Men?, Book of Mormon Central
- Our Savior in the Gospels: Luke 1-2 and Matthew 1-2: The Birth of Jesus
- Our Savior in the Gospels: John 4: Woman at the Well
- Come Follow Me 2019: Christmas, Book of Mormon Central
- Come Follow Me Christmas (Dec. 16-22), Don’t Miss This
- Come Follow Me Podcast #49—“Good Tidings of Great Joy”, Meridian Magazine
- Come, Follow Me for Individuals and Families: Christmas, Meridian Magazine
- Come, Follow Me for Sunday School: “Hope Where Once Was None”, Meridian Magazine
- Christmas – “Good Tidings of Great Joy”, BYU Studies
- “Come, Follow Me” December 16–22: “Good Tidings of Great Joy”, LDS Living
- “Come, Follow Me” FHE: Family Christmas Study Through Hymns, LDS Living
Be sure to listen to Jennifer Roach’s presentation for this week!
Christmas Devotionals
- Churchofjesuschrist.org: First Presidency Christmas Devotional Archive: Christmas Devotionals
- The Living Christ: The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
BYU Devotionals
- Neil L. Anderson: Time for the Savior at Christmas Neil L. Andersen | BYU Speeches
- D. Todd Christofferson: A Message at Christmas – D. Todd Christofferson – BYU Speeches
Lesson Devotional
Hailing from Bonners Ferry, Idaho, Robert Swanson got his BA in History at Brigham Young University and his MA in History from Rutgers University–Camden, and he is currently a History PhD student at the University of Missouri focusing his work on abolitionism in the Early American Republic. He is married to his best friend, Bridget Garner Swanson, and they have two little girls who have made life even more of a fantastic adventure than they thought possible.
Lesson devotionals are provided by the Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation. Its mission is to digitally preserve and publish Wilford Woodruff’s eyewitness account of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ from 1833 to 1898. It seeks to make Wilford Woodruff’s records universally accessible to inspire all people, especially the rising generation, to study and to increase their faith in Jesus Christ. See wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.
“The Glorious Gift”
By Robert Swanson
On Christmas Day, 1865, Wilford Woodruff noted the following in his journal: “25 Christmas I spent the day at home & took supper then went to the Theater in the Evening.”1
This small and plain entry is very similar to other Christmas day entries throughout the 1860s. When first reading entries such as the one above, I was confused by how a man who loved and served Christ with all his heart could write so little on one of the holiest of days in the Christian calendar. Yet, as I read and reread the simple entries throughout the 1860s, a thought struck me. This simple entry, as well as its fellows scattered throughout Wilford Woodruff’s journals, contains a simple sermon that is profound and beautiful. His small entry reminded me of the importance of family during the Christmas season.
This week in Come, Follow Me we have the wonderful opportunity to study the story of Christ’s birth and the miracles that preceded the arrival of the Babe of Bethlehem. It is a season of joy, a season of gladness, all surrounding one little baby boy who came as God’s Only Begotten Son to a fallen and sinful world. With no room in the inn, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords drew His first breath in a stable. His first cradle was a manger—yet He was not alone.
While the veil was rent and heavenly hosts sang and shouted for joy before the shepherds, the baby Jesus was cradled and held by Mary and Joseph. Envisioning this close familial scene, it is touching to contemplate how Jehovah’s first moments on earth were with his mortal family. Helpless and fragile, the great I Am was protected and loved by a simple family who was called to raise the heavenly child.
Christmas has meaning because Christ finished his mission of atoning for all of mankind, as President Russell M. Nelson recently taught.2 Because of Jesus Christ, every son and daughter of God has a chance to return to our heavenly home and live with our heavenly parents. And, perhaps even more incredibly, the Lord in His infinite mercy provides a sealing power, which binds our families together for eternity. Without Christ, the family ties would be shattered—but because of Him, families can be together forever. Even broken things in this life can be healed and become perfect in the next. Because Christ was born and lived for all mankind, we can have hope, peace, and joy.
Wilford Woodruff recorded little on Christmas Day, 1865, but his simple words, “at home,” provide a valuable lesson to us all. Let us all find ways to bind together our families in love a little more this holiday season and remember the precious and glorious gift of the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
1 Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, December 25, 1865, p. 14, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/journal/1865-12-25.
2 Russell M. Nelson, 2023 First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional, ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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