Christmas the real story!
So because there are so many things that people do during this time I thought it necessary to bring some clarity to what the Christmas holiday really represents. For many it represents an opportunity to give gifts and to participate in the whole idea of what has become commercial success. Capitalism has come and made the entire holiday about buying gifts, gift exchanges, mystical figures, and for the most part doing good during one time of the year. The reality of this entire season that is known as the Christmas holiday is that it was set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ.
Some history;
Christmas comes from the Old English words Cristes moesse, 'the mass or festival of Christ'. The first celebration took place in Rome about the middle of the fourth century. The exact date of the Nativity is not known, but even in pre-Christian times the period between December 25 and January 6 was considered a special time of year - now known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas". The abbreviation Xmas, thought as sacrilegious by some, is entirely appropriate. The letter X (chi) is the first letter in the Greek word for Christ.
I thought I would bring this up because many don’t know where it comes from although most could see the word Christ in Christmas. Secondly many people have gotten upset and been in an uproar over the x being put in the place of Christ in Christmas including myself at one time. The reality in life is that as we get older we should get wiser and I have done so. There is no excuse for any of us in this world to be ignorant of any history including origins and symbolic celebrations when we can simply look them up for ourselves and come to our own conclusions.
I wanted to bring some clarity to what we have been told and how many people have wrongly interpreted the nativity scene for years. Unfortunately including many biblical teachers and scholars have also done this and I want to bring clarity so that we can move forward. I want us (myself and those who read) to move forward in truth and a clearer understanding of what scriptures say and meant. There are many skeptics that already think that the bible is a book full of fantasy and fairytale stories that are not factual. So as a teacher and one who has studied scripture I feel it necessary to disarm those who would try to discredit the bible and to arm those of us who believe word of God to be truth. Let’s look at the story of Christ and what it says about his birth,
Luke1
Announcement of the Birth of Jesus.*26In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,27to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.l28And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.”m29But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.30Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.31n Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.32o He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,* and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,33and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”p34But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”*35And the angel said to her in reply, “The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.\q36And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived* a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;37for nothing will be impossible for God.”38Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth.
39During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah,
40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit,
s42cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
3And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord* should come to me?
44For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
45Blessed are you who believed* that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
The Canticle of Mary.
”u6v And Mary said:*“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
w47my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
y48For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;
behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
y49The Mighty One has done great things for me,and holy is his name.
z50His mercy is from age to ageto those who fear him.
a51He has shown might with his arm,dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
b52He has thrown down the rulers from their thronesbut lifted up the lowly.
c53The hungry he has filled with good things;the rich he has sent away empty.
d54He has helped Israel his servant,remembering his mercy,
e55according to his promise to our fathers,to Abraham and to his descendants forever.
”f56 Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
The Birth of John.*
57When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son.
58Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.
g59* When they came on the eighth day to circumcise h the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father,
60 but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called John.
”i61But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.
”62So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called.
63He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed.
64Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God.
j65Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea.
Luke 2New King James Version (NKJV)
Christ Born of Mary
2 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.
So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,[a] who was with child.
6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Glory in the Highest
8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And behold,[b] an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”[c]
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.
17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely[d] known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.
18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
Take note here that only the Shepard’s where the ones who came to see the baby in the manger. There was no one else there at that time and this was around the eighth day after Jesus’s birth. Remember that only the Shepard’s were there at birth not wise men or gifts.
Circumcision of Jesus
21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child,[e] His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
In different accounts we hear about the wise men being led by the star at night to find out where Jesus was. What people don’t realize is that the baby was born in a manger but by the time the wise men arrived Jesus was a young child not a baby anymore. When it says wise men came from the east it was Far East as turkey and so that journey back then took about two years to make on foot. So there is no way the Shepard’s who were right there in the land were not the same as the wise men who came from the east to see the small child.
Another huge misconception is the gifts that were brought to the new king it was: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Matthew 2:1-12New King James Version (NKJV)
Wise Men from the East
2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “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.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 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.’”[a]
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
There are two points I want to make about this passage. The first is that the gifts that they brought were three of the most expensive items at the time. Gold speaks for itself! Frankincense was a very expensive fragrance, and myrrh was like an embalming fluid which also was very expensive. They brought the best of the best for the king. The second thing to note is that the wise men at the time who came from the far east and in between were considered the wises men of that time and they were hundreds of them who brought the same three gifts not three wise men bringing one gift each. So it must be said that for years even amongst the wisest and the learned have gotten this wrong in our teaching and in our displays each year of the nativity scene. There was no way according to scripture that the wise men were at the birth of Christ. Neither were there three wise men when they finally arrived. So while we are trying to reenact what took place around Christs birth we must be accurate.
The last thing I want to address is the date in which Jesus was born. Although we celebrate it in December it is pretty clear when you read about the journey of the wise men and them being led by the light from the star that took them roughly two years to get to him. They came from as Far East as Turkey that with this type of travel it was probably done during the spring months like right around the time we celebrate his resurrection today traditionally. So when it comes to being accurate and presenting the story of Christ it is important that we do so properly. It is and has been presented incorrectly for years. If you walk in to any card shop or live nativity scenes today I guarantee that you will see the Shepard’s and wise men together and remember if so that this is incorrect.
I wanted to bring some light to this issue as people will try to make this season all about everything else but as a follower of Christ I want to be as clear and knowledgeable as possible for those who don’t know the story. As I stated earlier there is absolutely no reason why we can’t go and find the information we need to be as clear and confident about what we believe.
As always have a great day and happy holidays everyone!
God bless ya, D