Adapted from the Christmas IQ test by Baptist pastor David Langerfeld, feel free to give yourself partial credit as I certainly needed it.
- According to the Bible, which animals were present at the birth of Jesus?
- a. Cows, sheep, goats
- b. Cows, donkeys, goats
- c. Sheep and goats
- d. All types of barnyard animals
- e. None of the above. No animals are specifically mentioned.
- Who made the requirement that Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-5)?
- a. The chorus of angels
- b. Mary’s mom
- c. Herod
- d. The shepherds
- e. Caesar Augustus in that he is the one who gave the order for the census to be taken.
- How many wise men came to see Jesus?
- a. Three
- b. Six
- c. Nine
- d. Twelve
- e. We do not know. These men often traveled in caravans of 12 or so during ancient times but they would have also traveled with an entourage for protection.
- How many angels spoke to the shepherds (Luke 2:10)?
- a. One. Only one angel spoke to the shepherds, but this can be misleading since what the angels proclaimed as they praised God is recorded in the same chapter.
- b. Three
- c. Many
- d. Twelve
- e. None of the above
- Who saw the star in the East?
- a. Shepherds
- b. Mary and Joseph
- c. Three Kings
- d. Both A and C
- e. None of the above. We only know the magi saw the star. We know they were not kings, and we have assumed there were three of them because of three gifts, but the Bible does not give this detail.
- What does the Bible say that the innkeeper said to Mary and Joseph?
- a. “There is no room in the inn.”
- b. “I have a stable you can use.”
- c. “Come back later and I may have some vacancies.”
- d. Both A and B.
- e. None of the above. As described in Luke 2:7, the words are not recorded, and it was probably more likely regarding a room in a house.
- The term heavenly host refers to the following:
- a. The angel at the gate of heaven
- b. The angel who serves foods and beverages
- c. An angel choir
- d. An angel army. There may have been 100,000 angels there, hence the shepherds’ fear.
- e. None of the above
- The first chapter of Matthew lists the following women in the genealogy of Jesus:
- a. A widow who disguised herself as a prostitute before seducing her father-in-law (Tamar had been twice widowed by Judah’s sons yet was childless until she conceived Perez with Judah).
- b. An adulteress (Uriah’s wife who married King David after the king had her husband killed in battle; though Bathsheba is not named, she is identified as the wife of her first husband).
- c. A prostitute who sheltered spies (Rahab was a prostitute, but would later become the mom of a righteous man, Boaz)
- d. None of the above
- e. All of the above (proving that even the most unlikely can be used by the One who made them).
- When Joseph found out Mary was expecting a baby, what happened?
- a. They got married.
- b. Joseph wanted to break the engagement.
- c. Mary left town for 3 months.
- d. A and B.
- e. B and C. But we know that they later married, so A was also correct eventually, but E seems to be the most correct.
- The wise men stopped in Jerusalem for what purpose (Matthew 2:2)?
- a. To inform Herod of Jesus
- b. To find out where Jesus was. They assumed Herod would know. Interesting to recall that the magi would not have known his name, the One born ‘King of the Jews.’
- c. To ask about the star
- d. To go shopping
- e. None of the above
- What did the angels say/sing (Luke 2:14)?
- a. “Glory to God in the highest”
- b. “Alleluia”
- c. “Unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given”
- d. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come”
- e. “Glory to the newborn King”
- How did Mary and Joseph get to Bethlehem?
- a. Camel
- b. Donkey
- c. Walked
- d. Joseph walked and Mary rode a donkey.
- e. Who knows? Unfortunately, we are not given those details.
- The following statement(s) regarding the “star in the East” are true:
- a. Stayed in the same place for their entire journey.
- b. Disappeared and reappeared.
- c. Moved ahead of them and stopped over the place where Jesus was. The magi saw the star, knew from their prior study that THE Baby was to be born in Bethlehem. They journeyed across the desert and the star reappeared to them there, as described in Matthew 2:9.
- d. Was just a mirage.
- e. None of the above
- What approximate age was Jesus when He met the wise men (Matthew 2:11)?
- a. A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.
- b. A young child
- c. A boy in the temple
- d. A grown man
- e. None of the above
- Originally, Joseph was from the following (Luke 2:3):
- a. Bethlehem
- b. Nazareth
- c. Hebron
- d. Jerusalem
- e. None of the above
- On the very first Christmas, there was snow:
- a. All over Israel
- b. Nowhere in Israel
- c. Somewhere in Israel
- d. Only in Bethlehem
- e. Who knows? Though it does snow in Israel during winter, some scholars believe that Jesus was not born in December since it would have been too cold for shepherds to be in the field then.
- Where did the wise men find Jesus (Matthew 2:11)?
- a. In a manger or a stable
- b. In Saudi Arabia somewhere
- c. In Nazareth
- d. In a house (with his mother, Mary).
- e. None of the above
- A manger is best described as:
- a. Stable for domestic animals
- b. Wooden hay storage bin
- c. A feeding trough interesting fact…these were typically made of stone during Jesus’ time.
- d. A Barn
- e. None of the above
- In the gospel according to Matthew, the term ‘magi’ or ‘wise men’ refer to whom?
- a. Men of the educated class (true as described in Daniel 5:11)
- b. Eastern kings
- c. Men who studied the stars (perhaps the most correct answer)
- d. Sages (also true)
- e. None of the above
- At the time of Jesus’ birth, myrrh was primarily used as this:
- a. Middle Eastern money
- b. A drink
- c. A malleable metal
- d. A spice used for burying the deceased. John 19:39 tells us that Jesus’ body was buried with about a hundred pounds of myrrh and aloes.
- e. None of the above