Daniel Darling - The Characters of Christmas: The Unlikely People Caught Up in the Story of Jesus

We get to enjoy Christmas only once a year, so lets enjoy it to the hilt! Daniel Darling will help you savor your Christmas more richly with The Characters of Christmas. What I love about this book is how Dan helps us get past the Christmas story stereotypes. Instead, he shows us something wonderfully ordinary about each person in the storyexcept for Jesus, the extraordinary Friend of ordinary sinners like us.

RAY ORTLUND

Renewal Ministries, Franklin, TN

An elegant, rich mixture of how almighty God used common people with uncommon faith to invade humanity and display His grandeur. The Characters of Christmas provides a fresh introduction to those who helped make Christmas famous. Youll never think of Joseph, Mary, Herod (The Monster of Christmas), and the surprising members of Jesus family in the same way. Several of Dans chapters would make dinner table reading in the weeks leading up to the celebration of Jesus arrival.

DENNIS RAINEY

Cofounder, FamilyLife

This book offers fresh insights on a familiar story that will bring meaning to the season.

NANCY GUTHRIE

Author and Bible teacher

One of the most wonderful qualities of Scripture is how utterly human its characters are. People with complex stories of deep sorrow and unquenchable hope are pursued and found by the God who made them, and restored by the Messiah who redeems them. Dan Darling does a wonderful service here to both the biblical text and the reader by mining the details and illuminating the significance of the key figures found in the story of the Saviors birth. Read this one every year.

RUSS RAMSEY

Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville
Author of The Advent of the Lamb of God

In The Characters of Christmas, Daniel Darling invites us to look fresh at the Nativity story through the stories of the ordinary characters who represent each of us so well. Pick up this book and put yourself in the shoes of Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, the shepherds, and others, and youll find your gaze redirected to the One who brings meaning to our Christmas: Jesus.

ASHERITAH CIUCIU

Bestselling author of Unwrapping the Names of Jesus and founder of One Thing Alone Ministries

Often the personalities in Scripture we think we know the best are the ones we least understand, most especially the characters of the Christmas stories. Dan listens to their lives in a fresh way in the pages of this book and every Christmas from now on will be better for it.

MICHAEL CARD

Songwriter, Bible teacher

Daniel Darling retells the familiar Christmas story with wonderful freshness and warmth, relating how the characters to whom we point are themselves pointing to Another. This is more than another sentimental reimagining of shepherds in bathrobes and angels with plastic wings; it is a celebration of the glory of God being poured out of earthen vessels that make His grace shine by the reality of how unlikely they are to be carriers of it.

BRYAN CHAPELL

Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church (PCA), Peoria, IL

2019 by DANIEL DARLING

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture versions marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible, Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright 1996-2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth & Associates

Edited by Elizabeth Cody Newenhuyse
Interior design: Puckett Smartt
Cover design: Thinkpen Design
Cover illustration of noble men copyright 2019 by ArtMari / Shutterstock (646858039).
Cover illustration of bearded men copyright 2019 by ArtMari / Shutterstock (1164512443).
Cover illustration of gold background copyright 2019 by Phatthanit / Shutterstock (1243028935).
Cover illustration of ladies copyright 2019 by ArtMari / Shutterstock (1029493684). All rights reserved for all of the above photos.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Darling, Daniel, 1978- author.

Title: The characters of Christmas : the unlikely people caught up in the story of Jesus / Daniel Darling.

Description: Chicago : Moody Publishers, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: Learn something new this Christmas as you explore the oft-overlooked characters behind the Christmas story, like the wise men, Simeon, Anna, and Herod. Characters of Christmas will show you a familiar Jesus from a fresh perspective-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019022933 (print) | LCCN 2019022934 (ebook) | ISBN 9780802419293 (paperback) | ISBN 9780802497949 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ--Nativity--Biblical teaching. |

Christmas--Biblical teaching.

Classification: LCC BT315.3 .D37 2019 (print) | LCC BT315.3 (ebook) | DDC 232.92--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019022933

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019022934

ISBN: 978-0-8024-1929-3
eBook ISBN: 978-0-8024-9794-9

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Dedicated to Brian Yagoda

Thank you for being a selfless, compassionate uncle, a loving husband, and a devoted father. You always made Christmas so special.

Friend,

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