Christmas: According to the Scriptures

As the song says, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” I love this season, all the decorations, the lights, the festivities and the family time. There is a lot to be thankful for.

Growing up in a Christian home, Christmas was always a part of my life. My parents made sure that every Christmas we spent time together as a family, typically by candle light, reading the Biblical account of Christ’s birth. Admittedly, as a child I wanted to rush through the story so I could get to my presents faster, but in time I began to treasure the time we read together more and the presents became less important.

I thank God for giving me a childlike faith very young to hear the words and receive the gift of Christ. I am grateful for being blessed with two godly parents who shared the Word of God with me continually as they raised me. I became acquainted with the amazing stories of the Bible, from creation, to the flood, to the crossing the Red Sea, David and Goliath, the virgin birth, the life of Christ, and the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord, just to name a few.

As an adult looking back I realize that I grew up believing some amazing and fantastic things. It wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I encountered a “crisis of belief” season, where I continually asked, “do I really believe this stuff.” But at the core of the questioning there was a foundation of faith that never wavered from accepting the biblical account.

What if I grew up in a non-Christian home and didn’t hear the story of the Bible, the true story of Christmas, the resurrection, until my mid-twenties, or even my forties? Would I just accept all the stories as I did when I was child? Or would I wrestle through tough questions?

As Christians, we tell a fantastic story, with supernatural events that contradict our perception of reality. It’s not a story we made up, but one given to us by our Creator. It’s not a human myth, but a divine plan. The Bible is clear that our eyes, ears, and hearts have to be made alive to understand the glorious Gospel. So we should not be surprised when someone says, “I don’t believe the virgin birth, that is borrowed from pagan myths!” Or, “I don’t believe miracles exist, I only believe in what science can prove.”

But God, in His wisdom, provided a resource for everyone who desires to know the truth when He gave us the Bible.

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:30–31)

“that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:4)

The Bible has been written that you may believe, and have certainty in the things that it teaches us. Which means, we can be confident in what God’s Word says about Christmas!

Briefly I want to give a few reasons why we believe the biblical account about Christmas:

The Birth of Christ was Expected:

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: (Matthew 1:22)

Fulfilled Prophecies

The story of Christmas doesn’t begin in a small Israeli town 2,000 years ago. No it begins much earlier than that, even “before the foundations of the world.” When God spoke the world into existence, He already planned to send His Son to redeem a fallen world. All throughout the Old Testament are lamp posts pointing to the coming Messiah (or Christ), Savior and Redeemer of His people

Immediately we see in the first few chapters of the bible that man messes up God’s perfect creation. But instead of getting angry and destroying man, God provides a covering for Adam and Eve and initiates a promise that the offspring of the woman will crush the enemy (Gen 3:15). This was spoken 4,000 years before Christ.

Fast forward to when the nation of Israel was divided and in captivity, Isaiah prophecies even more specifically that the sign of the Messiah’s arrival is that a virgin will give birth to a son and call his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14 cf. Matthew 1:23), some 700 years before Jesus.

Micah prophesied that the Messiah would come from a little town called Bethlehem (Micah 5:2 cf. Matthew 2:6) 700-750 years before Jesus came.

A hundred years later (600 BC), Jeremiah prophesied that there would be a great sorrow for the loss of children in Israel, which was fulfilled when Herod massacred the children 2 yrs old and younger (Jeremiah 31:15 cf. Matthew 2:18).

And Hosea, (700 BC) prophesied that God would call his son out of Egypt, which was fulfilled when Joseph to Mary and Jesus to Egypt so Jesus wouldn’t be murdered by Herod (Hosea 11:1 cf. Matthew 2:15).

I could go on, but the point is clear, books written hundreds of years before Jesus was even born gave specific prophecies that were fulfilled when Jesus was born. These were not obscure writings, as the magi came across prophecies in the East and traveled to see their fulfillment.

One special account is given in Luke 2:25-32, where an faithful older man waited upon the Lord for years, and the Spirit revealed to him that he would live to see the Messiah born. Read the text as he sees the baby Jesus and worships God.

The Birth of Christ was Historic

The biblical account does not make up characters, but includes real people, who really lived and were really in Israel. Joseph and Mary and Zacharias and Elizabeth and Simeon and Caesar and Herod and Quirinius (Cyrenius) are real people, and Bethlehem and Jerusalem and Nazareth are real places, and all these events happened in real time.

The biblical record was given by eye witnesses during the life time of other eyewitnesses. So if Matthew was making something up, there were eye witnesses who could call him out or correct him. So, when you are bored of looking at all the names in Scripture, remember that at one time those people were alive to testify to the events written.

The Birth of Christ had a Purpose

Jesus didn’t come to the world just so we could set aside a few days to exchange presents. His purpose was much bigger and grander than our imaginations can comprehend. As we saw earlier, the story of Christ began before time began, God had a plan.

Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

The virgin birth and incarnation of Christ that first Christmas was so essential to everything the Bible teaches. Jesus was born of a virgin, without sin. He lived a perfect life in complete fulfillment of the Law and therefore was the perfect sacrifice for fallen humanity. His resurrection was evidence of the payment being received.

The purpose is to provide the way to forgiveness and reconciliation with God for all who believe.

The Birth of Christ has Impacted all of History

 What kind of impact has Jesus had on the last 2,000 years of history? What sets His story apart from other religious myths or legends? Consider the fact that our historical calendar is divided by His birth: BC (before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini, meaning “the year of our Lord”).

Dr. James Kennedy wrote a book called, “What if Jesus had never been Born?” In it, he writes,

But what if Jesus had never been born? What difference would it have made if a Bethlehem stable had never served as a makeshift deliv­ery room? A great deal. Jesus, the greatest man who ever lived, has changed virtually every aspect of human life. Much of what we take for granted — our high regard for hu­man life, the elevation of women, education, science, charity, hospitals, capitalism, the abolition of slavery, representative govern­ment, literacy, and the development of art and music — all find their roots in Christ and His teachings.

Perhaps the most convincing evidence is the power of a transformed life, when one sinner comes to repentance and truly follows Christ. When we encounter Christ and surrender to His loving embrace, and allow His Spirit to guide us, we become a beacon to this lost world that Jesus lives.

Have you encountered Christ? Do you know that you are loved by God and that Christmas is the story of how God is pursuing you?    

Scandal: The Kindness of God

Have you ever received a good grade when you deserved a bad grade? Maybe your teacher graded on a curve or was feeling generous, you just knew you deserved a worse grade than you got.

One paper I wrote in seminary (school for Bible studies) I was particularly fond of. I won’t bore you with the title and topic as it was, or at least I thought it was, some deep theology. I spent well over 30 hours crafting this paper, I used more than 50 sources and it was over 30 pages long. I thought my professor was going to read it and be like, “this is the best paper ever!” Was I ever wrong.

When I received my paper back it became very evident that my professor didn’t not agree with my assessment. Instead, he marked up everywhere I was wrong. To this day, I still think he used all the ink in two red pens! It was awful. One look and I dreaded looking at the grade. Somewhere around half way through the paper he stopped grading and wrote, “well I think you got the point.” That point being that this was an inferior paper!

So, I turned to the last page expecting a failing grade, but I was surprised to see that I received a “B”! How is this possible? From the markups, I certainly deserved an “F”, so how did I get a “B”? His response was, “when I am forced to read inferior work, I go into conflict mode and I am mad at you for making me read this, so I markup everything. Then when I finish, I consider my emotions and have grace upon you.”

When we come to the end of Hosea, a book that is about God’s anger against sin where God points out the depths of Israel’s sin in the story of Gomer. If you skipped the story and just read the judgment against sin, you’d expect the final report card to be destruction. But chapter 14 reveals a different response than anticipated.

God calls out to Israel to return to Him, an invitation to repent, and find grace. The book paints the picture that they deserved judgement and hell. But God’s response is full of grace!

Allow me to paraphrase: “I will heal them, I will love them, my anger has turned away, I will refresh them, I will protect them…” God sees their unfaithfulness, their rebellion and their sins, and they were warned about the judgment, but He offers kindness, mercy and grace!

Paul tells us in Romans 2:4 that the “kindness of God leads us to repentance.” When we understand that we are sinners and we deserve judgment for our sins, but we hear about God’s demonstration of His love toward us, we are drawn to repentance because of His kindness and goodness. The truth is this, without the commandments of God and His declaration of judgment, we would not know the kindness of God that leads to repentance.

I thought my paper was good, well written and deserving of praise, until I saw my professor’s remarks. Then I felt like they were worthless and deserved a bad grade. Much like our lives, we think we are overall good and deserve good things, until we are confronted with the Law of God and the judgment on sin. You and I are underserving of God’s grace, we deserve just punishment for our sins, BUT God is gracious and kind and has made a provision for our sins. He turned away His wrath by sending His Son to take our place on the cross. Jesus’ sacrifice opened the doors for us to receive forgiveness of sins, healing to our brokenness, refreshment to our weariness and protection from the judgment to come!

When Gomer hit rock bottom, Hosea’s love appeared all the greater. When we see, and understand our brokenness, the kindness of God draws us to Himself. Our response is then repentance. Genuine repentance is simply a change of heart and mind that leads to a change of action.

Listen to the my paraphrase of their prayer of repentance: “God take away our sins, we will sacrifice bulls to demonstrate our seriousness, we know that Assyria cannot save us, we will stop trusting in them, we will stop worshiping gods of our own creation, for in You we will find mercy.”

For us, it would be more like: “God, please forgive my sins, I am trusting in you and I want my life to reflect my seriousness to follow you. I will stop trusting in human effort and my own control to save me. I will stop pursuing my sinful desires, for only in Your Son will I find mercy.”

Hear the story of Hosea’s love for Gomer, hear the story of God’s relentless pursuit of Israel, and know that He loves you so much! Allow the understanding of judgment on sin to magnify the kindness of God that will lead you to repentance. Turn from your sins and trust Him.

As you do that, remember the importance of telling others about God’s goodness and kindness toward sinners. I still to this day tell others of the kindness of my professor on me, how much more should I tell others of God’s kindness toward all unbelievers?