Sunday School Lesson

1. Acts 15:6-11, 24-31
Available To All
December 17, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
http://quotesthoughtsrandom.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/first-things-first.jpg
The Glory of God!
https://forgodalmighty.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/cropped-sunset1.jpg
1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6tzRiT-BrDs/TIGM_Ih3dAI/AAAAAAAAAX0/0AJWPvlAfqw/s640/Gods+Glory.jpg

2. Our Sunday School Teachers
December Memory Verse:
John 1:14 NASB
14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory
as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Acts 15:6-11; 24-31
Available To All
Acts 15:6-11, 24-31 NASB
6 The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. 7 After there
had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know
that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the
Gentiles would hear the word of the Gospel and believe. 8 And God, Who knows
the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us;
9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by
faith. 10 Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck
of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the
same way as they also are.”
24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no
instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed
good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our
beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves
will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 “For it seemed good to the
Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials:
29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things
strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you
will do well. Farewell.”

3. 30 So when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch; and having
gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 When they had
read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
Acts 15:6-11, 24-31 NASB
Isaiah 7:10-14 NASB
10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 11 “Ask a sign for yourself from the
Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as Heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will
not ask, nor will I test the Lord!” 13 Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is
it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the
patience of my God as well? 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name
Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:10-14 NASB
Luke 2:6-20 NASB
6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she
gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a
(“the”) manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and
keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly
stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were
terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I
bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in
the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.
12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a
(the) manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the
heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on Earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.”
15 When the angels had gone away from them into Heaven, the shepherds
began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this
thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they
came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He
lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement
which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at
the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these
things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and
praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
Luke 2:6-20 NASB

4. God had foreseen this, and He had always intended that Jesus was a son of
Abraham, He was from the tribe of Judah, He was from the family of David, He
was the fulfillment of the 300 Hebrew prophecies for the Messiah.
It was always intended (Genesis 3:15) that He would bring God’s salvation to the
ends of the Earth.
The Tower of the Flock
Micah 5:2 NKJV [1]
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth have been from of old,
From everlasting.”
Surrounding the town of Bethlehem grazed flocks of sheep tended by shepherds
trained by the Levitical priesthood to provide the lambs for Temple sacrifices. [2]
Temple sacrifices used only perfect lambs, without spot or blemish – and the
sacrificial system needed lots of lambs: two lambs a day for the daily sacrifices,
and many thousands more for holidays, individual sacrifices, etc. [3]
From all accounts it appears that Bethlehem was a special place for raising
sheep, unlike other areas where they were raised in the wilderness.
The Bethlehem sheep stayed in the fields at night under the guard of shepherds,
rather than being moved into a sheepfold, as was typical. [4]
When the ewes were ready to deliver, the shepherds moved them inside the
manger.
The place these special Temple sheep used for delivery of their lambs was the
‘tower of the flock,’ located close to the road between Bethlehem and
Jerusalem.
In Hebrew, the name of the tower is “Migdal Eder.”
At Migdal Eder the ewes delivered in a clean environment (as specified by
Rabbinic regulations for these special Temple animals) and their lambs were
sorted and immediately inspected for ‘spot or blemish.’

5. Clean cloths cleaned off the lambs, after which they were wrapped in swaddling
cloths to keep them warm.
It was in this special ‘manger,’ Migdal Eder, that Jesus was born after Mary and
Joseph could not find other lodging. [5]
They were on the road traveling south between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, trying
desperately to get to their relative’s house before Mary’s time came.
There must have come a moment on that road when they realized they could
not make their destination.
The Tower of the Flock was perhaps the only structure available on the long road
through the fields of sheep between the two cities.
When the shepherds heard the spectacular announcement by the “multitude of
heavenly host praising God,” they knew exactly where to go to find the baby,
wrapped “in swaddling cloths,” just like the newborn Temple lambs. [6]
In fact, the angelic message did not say, “You will find a Babe wrapped in
swaddling cloths, lying in a manger” as the story is told in our English Bibles, but
rather, “lying in the manger.”
This is like the difference between telling someone that you are visiting ‘a white
house’ rather than visiting ‘the White House.’
To these shepherds, the manger meant a specific place.
In addition to the more commonly known prophecy of the Messiah’s birth in
Bethlehem cited above from Micah 5:2, there is a more specific reference to
Migdal Eder, also in Micah.
This parallel passage is part of an extensive section of Micah dealing with the
first advent of the Lord. [7]
The ancient rabbis referenced this passage in the writings of the Mishnah and
Targum. [8]
In Micah, after the prophecy of the coming Messiah Who “In that day … will
reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever,” referring to the
Kingdom of God and the Lord’s rule of the Earth, there is this prophecy of the
“first” appearance of the Lord: [9]

6. And you, Migdal Eder [tower of the flock], hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it
shall happen and shall come, the first [or beginning] dominion, the kingdom of
the daughter of Jerusalem. [10]
The first appearance of the Messiah was to be at the ‘tower of the flock.’ The hill
of the ‘daughter’ of Zion, the ‘daughter’ of Jerusalem – was this a reference to
Mary, that long awaited ‘daughter’ of Eve, whose ‘seed’ was promised in
Genesis 3:15-16 after the fall of mankind?
Genesis 3:15-16 NASB
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”
16 To the woman He said,
“I will greatly multiply
Your pain (sorrow) in childbirth,
In pain you will bring forth children;
Yet your desire will be for your husband,
And he will rule over you.”
Genesis 3:15-16 NASB
Although prophecy called for the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem,
understanding of the connection to these lambs came much later, when the
disciples realized that Jesus came to end His earthly life like one of the lambs –
the only difference being that He was the perfect, final sacrifice.
But how do you get a descendant of King David to be delivered among the
Passover lambs of Bethlehem?
Nothing is too difficult for God!
When Caesar Augustus issued his decree to register “all the world” of the Roman
Empire, we can be sure he thought this was his idea, not knowing that God
works even through pagans. [11]
His decree moved Mary and Joseph, at a time close to her delivery date, “from
Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is
called Bethlehem” since Joseph was of the “house and lineage of David.” [12]

7. References
[1] Micah 5:2
[2] The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book II, Chapter 6 (This 1883 book by
Alfred Edersheim is available online, but that makes referencing a page number
difficult.)
[3] Exodus 12:5, Numbers 28:3, and elsewhere.
[4] See Part 3, Raising Lambs.
[5] Perhaps there was no room due to the impending holiday, which many
traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate. One other possibility: Mary would be
‘unclean’ for seven days following a male birth, potentially affecting those
around her and their ability to celebrate the holiday. Only the Passover made
an exception and allowed the unclean to keep the holiday (Numbers 9:10-13).
References
[6] Luke 2:12-13
[7] The Micah prophesy starts in Micah 4:6 and continues through 5:5; see
explanations and structure in the Companion Bible.
[8] The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, Book II, Chapter 6 (This 1883 book by
Alfred Edersheim is available online, but that makes referencing a page number
difficult.)
[9] Micah 4:6-7
[10] Micah 4:8 – composite translation, also uses definitions from Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance.
[11] Luke 2:1
[12] Luke 2:4
This entry was posted in Day Five by PC Cavagnaro. Bookmark the permalink.
Migdal-Eder – Tower of the Flock
Dr. Charlie Dyer, who is the speaker on the Land and the Book Radio, was asked
a question about Migdal-Eder, mentioned in Micah 4:8.
This was Dr. Dyer’s response:
As far as Midgal Eder is concerned, there is no universal identification of the site,
but I do believe it was a real site.
He consulted Alfred Edersheim’s The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.
(You can find Alfred Edersheim’s complete work online at Google Books.)
Jewish tradition may here prove both illustrative and helpful since the Messiah
was to be born in Bethlehem, was a settled conviction.
Equally so was the belief, that He was to be revealed from Migdal Eder, “the
tower of the flock.”

8. This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured
on the barren sheep ground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town, on
the road to Jerusalem.
The flocks, which pastured there were destined for Temple-sacrifices, and,
accordingly, the shepherds who watched over them were not ordinary
shepherds.
The latter were under the ban of Rabbinism, on account of their necessary
isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict
legal observance unlikely, if not absolutely impossible.
The same Mishnaic passage also leads us to infer, that these flocks lay out all the
year round, since they are spoken of as in the fields thirty days before the
Passover—that is, in the month of February, when in Palestine the average
rainfall is nearly greatest.
Thus, Jewish tradition in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of
the Messiah from that Migdal Eder, where shepherds watched the Temple-flocks
all the year round.
Of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence, it is needless to
speak.
—Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, pp. 186-87
A key point here. Edersheim indicates that Migdal Eder was an actual spot, but
he is not saying it was a town or village. Rather, the name means “watchtower of
the flock” which seems to identify it as a specific pasture area for sheep.
The sheep that grazed here were those specifically destined for Temple
sacrifice. In that sense the shepherds keeping watch over the temple sacrifices
were the ones to whom God announced the birth of the ultimate “sacrificial
lamb.”

9. This next commentary is compiled from Jack Kelley’s www.gracethrufaith.com
and from a lecture on “Migdal Eder” by Dr. Mark Bailey, President of Dallas
Theological Seminary.
Migdal Eder – “Tower of the Flock”
MIGDAL (Tower) of EDER (Flock)
The Place Beth • lehem: (House) of (Bread)
The Bread that came down from Heaven.
John 6:51a NASB
51a I am the Living Bread that came down out of heaven;
Genesis 35:19-21 NKJV
19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
20 And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this
day.
21 Then Israel (Jacob) journeyed and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder”.
Ephrath was the ancient name of Bethlehem.
It was there beyond the tower of Eder that Jacob buried his beloved Rachel after
she died giving birth to Benjamin.
It was also the birthplace of David and where he was crowned as king of Israel
by Samuel.
It came to be known as the City of David.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, the Roman government had recently ordered
everyone to their ancestral hometown for census and taxation, which is why
Joseph and Mary, David’s descendants, were in Bethlehem.
Jesus was a direct descendant from the line of David.
The Prophecy
Micah 5:2 NKJV
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me,
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”

10. Micah’s prophecy was written down 700 years before the most important event
in all of history: that Christ the Savior would come from the tiny town of
Bethlehem in Israel.
When Herod was asked of the wise men, “Where is He Who has been born King
of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship
Him” (Matthew 2:2), it was already known from prophecy, it was a settled
conviction from the days of eternity, regarding the place in Israel where the
Ruler would be born.
Matthew 2:4-6 NKJV
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people
together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to
him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
But to get a better understanding as to why Bethlehem was chosen, we need
to go back to Micha 4:8.
Micah 4:8 NKJV
8 And you, O tower of the flock,
The stronghold of the daughter of Zion,
To you shall it come,
Even the former dominion shall come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
The Mishnah, Jewish sacred writings which include the Torah, describes Migdal
Eder as the watchtower of the flock; the flocks that were specifically destined for
the Passover sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem.
Special shepherds, hired and taught by the Temple priests, cared for these
flocks.
The regulations specified that the flocks had to be within 5 miles of the Temple.

11. The male sheep was a ‘burnt’ (sin) offering and the female was for a ‘peace’
offering.
These watchtowers of the flock (Migdal Eder) were agricultural “forts” where the
shepherds would watch over their flock from the second story and where they
birthed the newborn lambs in the lower portion of the towers in the fields of
Bethlehem.
The migdal offers its inhabitants a place of refuge, splendor, and vantage.
Early Christian testimony refers to this area below Bethlehem as “the shepherds’
place” or the place of the “sheepfold.”
This outlying area of Bethlehem is where the ‘angelic announcement’ took
place.
There are to this day numerous documented towers in the hills around
Bethlehem.
The shepherds would wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling ‘cloths’ to protect
the body of the lambs which would be offered as sacrifice at the Temple just five
miles away in Jerusalem.
Wrapped in swaddling cloths to keep the new lambs without spot or blemish,
they would be laid in a manger until they had calmed down.
The ‘special shepherds’ keeping watch over the Temple sacrifices were the ones
to whom God announced, through His angel, the birth of the ultimate “sacrificial
Lamb.”
These priestly shepherds knew the ‘swaddling’ procedure and, when told it
would be a sign, they recalled Micah 4:8 and, with haste (Luke 2:16) ran to see
the newborn Jesus, the Son of God.
There was no need for the angel to give these shepherds directions to the birth
place because they already knew.
They who raised the sacrificial lambs for the Temple, knew exactly where to go,
as Luke 2 indicates, for the sign of the manger could only mean a manger at the
tower of the flock in their fields.
They made the connection to Messiah, just as it had been told them. Then, they
made known everything they had seen and heard.

12. Luke 2:12 NKJV
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling
cloths, lying in a (the) manger.”
Typology In Scripture
A foreshadowing through people, events, or institutions of history in the Old
Testament that will be fulfilled in the ministry of Christ as explained in the New
Testament.
Wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger unblemished, spotless, without
sin.
Passover sacrifices must be born within 5 miles of Jerusalem.
Male sheep a ‘sin’ offering.
Lambs born to die as an offering for the sins of the people.
The Lamb born to die for the sins of the whole world.
A flock, God’s people, are but a remnant, a small number in comparison with
the many that are left to perish.
They are the remnant of Jacob, a people in covenant with God, and in His favor.
The Wise Men From The East
Two hundred years after Micah identified Bethlehem as the Messiah’s birthplace,
the Lord told Daniel the time of His death.
It would be 483 years after the decree to rebuild and restore Jerusalem following
the Babylonian captivity, but before an enemy army came to destroy it again
(Daniel 9:24-27).
This places the Messiah’s death somewhere between 32 and 70 AD according to
our reckoning of time.
Daniel formed a group of Persian priests to pass this information down from
father to son, and according to tradition, set aside the bulk of his personal
wealth as a gift for them to present to the Messiah when the time came for His
birth.

13. He apparently also gave them a confirming sign to look for from Numbers 24:17,
later known as the Star of Bethlehem.
At the time of Jesus’ birth, the descendants of these priests were now a very
influential political force in Parthia (as Persia came to be known).
They remained true to Daniel’s commission, and upon seeing the star set out for
Jerusalem.
Arriving there they sought an audience with King Herod, asking for the
whereabouts of the one born to be King of Israel.
Summoning the chief priests, Herod repeated the question and was referred to
Micah 5:2 where Bethlehem is identified.
The Parthian priests, or Magi as we call them, went there and found the baby
Jesus.
The field of candidates for Redeemer of Mankind, the Seed of the Woman, the
Descendant of Abraham, the Lion of Judah, the Son of David, the Messiah of
Israel, had been narrowed down to one.
His name is Jesus, Son of God.
Just as the shepherds made known to others as it had been told them, will you
make it known to others as it has been told to you?
†††

14. Sunday
http://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.YeZK4m9R0ZovA7PRca4vag&pid=15.1
No Sunday School
December 24, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 NASB
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 14:6 NASB
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father but through me.”
Romans 3:23 NASB
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NASB
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second death explained in
Revelation 21:8.
Revelation 21:8 NASB
8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and
immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the
lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b NASB
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

15. Romans 5:8 NASB
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us.
Revelation 21:7 NASB
7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be
My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.
Romans 10:9-10 NASB
9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person
believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NASB
13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Have questions or would like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/