Lesson video

Hi everyone and welcome to today's lesson on Christian beliefs.

Thank you for joining me today, my name is Mrs Day and I'm going to teach you about the incarnation in today's lesson.

So, get ready to learn and we will start.

The first thing that you need to do today is to make sure that you have the right equipment to prepare for the lesson.

So you need to find pen or pencil and a piece of paper that you can write on.

It would be great if you can find another colour pen so that you can mark and correct your own work.

If you need to pause the video now, please do that and run to find the equipment.

What are we learning about today? So if you look at what's on the screen, you can see our agenda.

So firstly, we will look at some key definitions.

So what does the word incarnation actually mean? Then we will look at the nativity story, which I'm sure lots of you know about from primary school and then finally, we will look at the importance of the incarnation for Christians.

So why is the nativity story so important for Christians? So that is the plan for today's lesson, that is where we are going.

Let's think about our key definitions.

Firstly, what does the term incarnation actually mean? It simply means becoming flesh or taking human form.

So if we apply this to Christianity, it means God taking human form.

So God coming from heaven to earth and taking human form.

So God in the form of a human being.

If you get confused, look at the word N at the start of incarnation.

So it think it's incarnation, God in human form.

That's my little tip on how to remember this.

So, when do Christians believe that God took human form? I'm going to give you five seconds and I want you to think about this question.

So when do Christians believe that incarnation happened? God in human form happened.

You can write it down or you can say it out loud.

When do they think that this happened? Well done, I'm sure lots of you got that and obviously, the answer is at Christmas time, the nativity story.

So even if you've never studied Christianity before, I'm sure you've heard of the nativity story, because at Christmas people still celebrate this.

You might see an image like this on the front of Christmas cards that people send.

So I'm sure that lots of you recognise this scene.

And we're going to look at the story, the nativity story of when Jesus came into the world.

That was gold and human form.

Before we start, it's really important to remember that when Jesus came into the world, it was God in human form.

Jesus was fully human but also fully God.

So this is when the incarnation happens.

We're going to go through some of the key parts of the story, so that you're really clear on what happened.

As we do this, I would encourage you to look at your mind map and you can add extra notes or you can take certain things you've got that would be really helpful.

So first of all, have a look at this picture on the screen.

What is it? Yeah, absolutely, so this is a stable and you can see the animals in it, you can see the hay on the floor, it doesn't look like a really nice place to sleep, does it? And this is where Jesus was born.

If you think of the Saviour of the world, you might imagine that they should be born in a nice hotel.

But when Jesus came to the world, he was born in a stable, which meant there were animals around, meant it was quite dirty.

It's not really a luxury place for the Saviour to be born.

But this is where Jesus was born.

This is where God in human form was born.

The incarnation was born in a stable.

And secondly, we can see that Jesus had lots of visitors.

So the first script that the Bible tells us who visited Jesus, were the shepherds and if you look at this picture, you get an idea of the shepherds coming to the stable to visit Jesus.

Now why did the shepherds come? Good question, because an angel appeared to them in the field and told them that a saviour been born.

If someone came to you, an angel and told you that a saviour had been born, I think you'd probably go and see what all the fuss was about.

But I think it's interesting that these people were shepherds, because as we've said before, if the Saviour of the world is born, I would expect someone really important to be sent to go and see them first.

I probably wouldn't expect the shepherds.

So this really interesting that God selects shepherds to go and see Jesus and Christians believe that this is because God loves his people.

God is this humble leader.

Jesus is this humble figure who came to save everyone, not just the important people.

So Christians believe you can see that right from the birth narratives, where Jesus is born in a stable and the first people to visit him are shepherds, interesting.

So there are then another group of people who come to visit Jesus and they are completely different.

You might have wrote some of this down, the next visitors were the wise men or the Magi and the wise men, the Bible says they followed a star to visit Jesus.

They brought Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

So we can see they are very different to the shepherds and they're probably quite wealthy and they're quite important but they come from a really long way away to visit Jesus by following a star.

So that's some key points in this nativity story.

Remember, this is when God came to earth in human form.

I'm not sure if this is how you would picture God coming to earth in human form but this is what the Bible says happened.

So now let's see what you can remember.

So I would like you to either write down your answer or point at the screen.

I will give you a few seconds to do this.

So number one, select the time that Jesus was born in.

Is it Nazareth or is it Bethlehem? Five, four, three, two and one.

It is Bethlehem.

Well done if you've got that, remember Joseph and Mary travelled to Bethlehem and that is where she gave birth to Jesus.

They're from Nazareth but he was born in Bethlehem.

Secondly, select the group who brought gifts for Jesus.

So was it A, the wise men or B, the shepherds.

So A, the wise men or B the shepherds.

Five, four, three, two and one.

It was the wise men, well done if you got that.

Bonus point if you remember what those three gifts were.

Gold, frankincense and myrrh, well done.

Thirdly, what did the wise men follow to find Jesus? Your options are sunshine, rainbow, star or moon.

Five, four, three, two and one.

The answer is a star, well done.

My apology for writing stars, it was one star.

And fourthly, where was Jesus born? Was it an inn, a palace, a hospital or a stable? You could all get this one.

Five, four, three, two and one.

The answer is a stable, well done.

Remember we said the Bible teaches that Jesus was born in a stable, with the animals, hay around, a stable.

Not somewhere fancy but a stable.

Well done on those questions.

So what I would like you to do now is to correct the following statements.

So you've just tested your knowledge.

I am confident that you all know lots of information about the nativity story.

So I would like you to pause this video and to correct the sentences that I have wrote down.

So there's something wrong with all of these sentences, so just pause this video, take a minute to two and add your corrections.

Well done on that.

So let's go through these together and see if we can correct them.

So number one, Jesus was born in Nazareth.

We all know by now that it wasn't Nazareth, it was Bethlehem, okay? So it wasn't Nazareth, it was Bethlehem.

Give yourself a mark if you got that.

Number two, Jesus was born in an inn.

We all know that Jesus was born in a stable, so not an inn, an inn is like a BNB, it's quite nice.

Not an inn, a stable.

You can give yourself a mark if you got that.

Thirdly, Mary gave birth to Jesus in the town she lived in.

Slightly trickier question.

If you're correct in that, I would change it to Mary did not give birth to Jesus in the town she lived in but in Bethlehem.

Remember they had to travel to Bethlehem and they lived in Nazareth.

That one's slightly trickier.

And finally, Jesus was visited by shepherds and fishermen.

So he was visited by shepherds but then it was wise men.

So not fishermen but wise men.

You can give yourself a mark out of four.

Well done on that section.

So now we move on to a really big question.

So the Bible gives us this story about Jesus's birth.

You have probably seen this story acted out in primary school in nativity plays, you've seen it all over different things at Christmas time but why does Jesus' birth matter to Christians? Why does it matter? Lots of people are born all the time.

Why is this birth any different? If you have a look at this little picture, this is a baby who has been born.

I don't know who the baby is, you probably don't either.

Why do we not? Because babies are born every single day.

Lots of babies are born all the time and we don't hear about them.

They have birthdays every year but we don't celebrate them.

So why was Jesus's birth so different? Jesus was born hundreds of years ago and Christians today still celebrate that every year.

They still tell the story all the time, so why? I would like you to pause for two seconds and see if you can come up with any ideas.

Why does this matter? Why does Jesus's birth still matter today? What's the big deal? Surely, it's just another baby.

What's the big deal? Hopefully, you all got a few ideas.

We're going to talk about that now in more detail to see why does this matter? And we're going to look at two verses in the Bible to do this.

So firstly, the verse in the green box says, "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." And that's from John 1:14.

And when it says the Word, that's talking about God, saying God was made flesh and dwelt among us, us being human beings.

So God was made flesh.

That just means into human and dwelt among us.

The second verse we're going to look at is, this very day in David's town your Saviour was born, Christ the Lord.

David's town here is talking about Bethlehem.

So in Bethlehem, your Saviour was born.

That's a massive statement.

So Luke is saying that Jesus is the Saviour.

The Saviour of human beings was born.

That's pretty important.

So Christians believe that this is when God became flesh.

So God became a human being and lived among humans.

But they also believe that when God became flesh in the form of Jesus, he was to be the Saviour of human beings.

So what I would like you to do is you can pause the video here for a minute or two and I would like you to try and fill in this table.

So you're going to explain what do each of these verses mean and why does it make the incarnation important? Remember, the incarnation is God in human form.

So what does it mean? Why does it make the incarnation important? Those are the two things you are doing.

Okay, so pause it here for a moment or two and have a go at that.

You can just bullet point your ideas if that is easier.

Great, so I hope you have all had a go at that.

So the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

What does that mean? That literally means God became human and lived among human beings.

So God became human and lived among human beings.

Flesh is like skin.

So our flesh, God became human and lived among human beings.

Why does that make the incarnation important? Why is that important? Christians might argue that it's so important that God was a human being, because God has experienced life as a human being, he can then understand what humans go through.

He can understand pain and joy, he can understand sadness, laughter.

If God has lived a human life, then he understands the struggles of a human being.

Secondly, let's look at the second verse.

This very day in David's town your Saviour was born, Christ the Lord.

What does it mean? It means that Christians believe that Jesus's birth was so important because he was to be the Saviour of the world.

So this was not just any other birth, not just another baby, this is the Saviour of the world.

Why does it make the incarnation important? Because God has come to earth in human form and this is his plan to save the world.

This is where this plan starts.

We're going to look at this plan over the next few lessons but this is where the plan begins.

When the incarnation happens, when God comes to earth in human form.

Really well done if you got that.

What I would like you to do now is to use everything that we've just discussed and to put it into an exam answer question.

So you will see the question here.

It says explain two reasons why the incarnation is important to Christians.

We have just talked about two reasons that you can use.

So feel free to look back at your notes, go through them again and if you would like, you can use these three sentence starters.

So one reason is.

So I might say one reason that the incarnation is important is because God came to earth in human form and can understand what humans go through.

For example, in the Bible it says, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, so you can get the quote there.

And then this means that.

So that's where you explain it.

So I would say, this means that Christians believe that God took on human form and therefore can understand what humans go through.

So you've got your point, your evidence and your explanation.

Okay, have a go at this, pause the video and then you can click resume once you are finished.

Really well done.

I'm sure that your answers are excellent.

You can take a picture of them and I will show you how to upload those in social media in just a few moments.

Really well done, I am very impressed with all the work you have done today and I hope that you now have an understanding of what the incarnation is talking about.

Tricky word but now we are all experts on what the incarnation means.

Hope you also understand the nativity story and the key parts of the story and why it matters.

So why the incarnation matters.

Why Christians care about it and why they still celebrate Christmas.

Really well done today.

And finally, if you would like to share your work with us, please do ask a parent or carer to share it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter on tag OakNational or LearnwithOak and that would be really great and I would love to see all the hard work that you have been doing.

Again, well done, thank you so much for all your effort and I will see you again soon for our next lesson on Christianity.

Have a great day.