15¹ø±Û		Was Jesus born on December 25? by R.B..Quellette		2005-12-15		3534°Ç Á¶È¸
By Rev. R. B. Ouellette Pastor, First Baptist Church, Bridgeport, Michigan There are people to whom the celebration of Christmas, or not celebrating, is a major issue. I don’ t believe this is the kind of issue over which people should break fellowship. It’s not a fundamental of the Faith. We ought to be able to get along with God’s people unless there are substantive scriptural issues on which we cannot agree. However, this is also not an issue on which we have to be confused. Careful study and comparing Scripture with Scripture allows us to arrive at a conclusion based, not on someone’s opinions, but on the Word of God. I. The Common Teaching (Three Erroneous Ideas) The common but incorrect teaching is that we don’t really know when Jesus was born, and sometimes there is a corollary teaching that Christians should not celebrate Christmas. The people who promote this belief say that December 25 is just adopted from a pagan holiday with a veneer of Christianity covering it. This common teaching is not without some basis in historical fact. In the fourth century, the Roman emperor Constantine was facing a large battle against rather significant odds. He claimed he had a vision and saw a cross. A voice said, “In the sign of this cross, conquer!” He went out and won the battle. As a result, he made Christianity the official religion of the empire. But it was not for most people a genuine conversion. Since the pagan priests in their temples were looking at unemployment, they simply added a few rituals, changed a few names and called themselves Christians. They gave Christian names to pagan practices. That is the true beginning of the Roman Catholic Church. It wasn’t started by Peter. And that’s also the source of many of the errors of the Catholics. They worship Mary because pagan priests changed the name of their goddesses and people followed right along. Those who object to celebrating Christmas and declare that we do not know when Jesus was born typically teach the following. Error Number One: December 25 Was Celebrated as the Mithraic Feast Day Mithra was the Persian version of the Hindu sun god Mitra. According to the Zoroastrian religion, Mithra was the god of light, and his feast was celebrated each year on December 25. At the time when Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of Rome, worship of Mithra was very widespread among the empire, particularly among the soldiers of the Roman army. Error Number Two: Christmas Trees and Decorations Forbidden by Scripture People who object to Christmas trees most often refer to Jeremiah 10 as their proof text: “For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. “They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.”—Jer. 10:3,4. They say that this passage is referring to our custom of putting up and decorating Christmas trees. However, if you look at the surrounding verses rather than taking those verses in isolation, the context clearly is talking about idols made from trees. The prophet says that since they cannot speak or move and have no power, there is no need to be afraid of false idols (vs. 5). Error Number Three: Roman Catholic Church Took Pagan Zoroastrian Holiday and Renamed It “Christ’s Mass” The first recorded celebration of Christmas on December 25 in the Roman Empire took place in a.d. 336, twenty-two years after “Christianity” became the official religion. There is no question that much of the timing and some of the elements of early Christmas celebrations came from pagan religions. This association led many Christians to frown on the celebration of Christmas. In fact, in the early days of Massachusetts Bay Colony, a fine of five shillings was imposed on anyone found following the “popish tradition” of celebrating Christmas. II. The Contradictory Truth In contrast to what some teach regarding the celebration of Christmas and timing of Christ’s birth, I believe there is much to be gained by studying history and Scripture to arrive at an honest conclusion. A. The Christmas Tree Has Christian Origin In Dr. John R. Rice’s sermon “Should a Christian Observe Christmas?” which is in the book Great Preaching on Christmas, he recounts the story of the origin of the Christmas tree. In the eighth century, a missionary named Boniface went to Germany to preach Christ. The Germanic tribes worshiped the oak tree. They thought of it as a symbol of deity. Boniface told them the oak tree was a poor symbol for God. It sheds its leaves and appears to die each winter. The tree that should remind them of God, he said, was the evergreen. It is always green and thriving. Christmas trees became popular in England primarily through the influence of the German-born Prince Albert, husband of England’s Queen Victoria. In America they were introduced by the Dutch (German) immigrants to Pennsylvania. Because the Christmas tree has a Christian origin and is not forbidden in Scripture, there is no reason to preach against it and cut people off from what can be a very enjoyable and memorable part of celebrating the birth of Christ. B. The Bible Tells With Great Precision When Christ Was Born It is true that Scripture does not give us an exact date for the birth of Christ. However, through careful study, we can demonstrate that Jesus was indeed born very close to the traditional date of December 25. 1. The Hebrew religious year begins with the month Nisan. The Hebrew calendar has 354 days instead of 365 days. So their calendar does not exactly line up with the one we use. The Hebrew month Nisan roughly corresponds with mid-March to mid-April on our calendar. In this month they celebrate the Passover and Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. The first month of the Hebrew religious year is the month Nisan. 2. The priests who served in the temple served after a pattern established by King David. According to I Chronicles 24, the descendants of Aaron were divided by David into twenty-four groups to serve two roles—“governors of the sanctuary and governors of the house of God” (I Chron. 24:5). Each group of priests served according to a schedule drawn up by the casting of lots (vss. 7–18). The system David set in place correlated the courses (groups) of priests to the months. The same pattern was followed for the military and the priesthood (I Chron. 27). This meant that each group knew when they were due to leave their homes and go to Jerusalem for their time of service. According to I Chronicles 24:10 the family of Abijah was assigned the eighth course. That meant that Abijah and his descendants after him would fulfill their duty to serve in the eighth month. 3. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, served in the eighth month. Luke 1:5 says, “There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia [Abijah]: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.” As a descendant of Abijah, Zacharias would have served in the temple in the eighth month of the Hebrew calendar, the month Heshvan. Heshvan corresponds to mid-October to mid-November on our calendar. Zacharias was fulfilling his normal term of service when the angel Gabriel appeared and told him he and Elisabeth were going to have a son. 4. Zacharias would have completed his service and gone home between the middle and end of October. The Bible tells us that Zacharias stayed and completed his normal duties in the temple before returning home (Luke 1:23). It was shortly after his return that Elisabeth conceived as promised by the angel. The most likely date, therefore, for John the Baptist’s conception was the end of October. I first came across this timeline in a study done by John Stormer, a well-known author. We are told that Elisabeth hid herself five months after conceiving John (Luke 1:24). 5. Gabriel appeared to Mary in the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy to announce the birth of Christ. The start of the six month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy would have probably been close to the end of March. It was at that time that Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah. He also told her that her cousin Elisabeth was pregnant (Luke 1:26–36). 6. Normal gestation for a human baby is approximately 270 days. The angel Gabriel made his announcement to Mary somewhere close to March 31 on our calendar. If you add 270 days to that, you come to December 25. We do not know for certain that Jesus was born on that exact day, but a careful study of Scripture gives us good reason to believe that it was very close to that date. C. Lambs Are Born at Christmastime John Stormer talked about a conversation he had with one of his sons-in-law who is an agriculture major. He told his son-in-law about his findings on the birth of Christ, and he confirmed the timing with this additional piece of information. Ewes commonly become pregnant in July, just after the summer solstice. The normal gestation period for a lamb is just over five months. That means the lambs are usually born in middle to late December. Stormer also related his conversation with a rancher’s wife in Montana. When he asked to verify this information, she confirmed it and added that the men in her church who raised sheep hardly ever got to church at Christmastime. The reason for their absence is that they are so busy with the lambs that are being born. Shepherds usually stayed out in the field with the sheep at night during the time when lambs were being born. The shepherds stayed in the field at that time because they wanted to make sure the lambs and the mothers were well taken care of during the birthing process. The shepherds were out in the fields when the angel came to announce the birth of Christ to them (Luke 2:8–12). Thus we have two separate verifications from the scriptural chronology and the account of Christ’s birth that Jesus was born around Christmastime. There are some people who honestly object to celebrating Christmas. But it is not legitimate for them to do so on the basis that Jesus was not born at that time. Certainly there are things associated with Christmas, especially here in America, that are of concern to all of us. Santa Claus is a fictional character about whom I believe you ought to tell your kids the truth. Don’t teach your children Santa Claus brings them presents. Why would you want some stranger to get the credit when you are the one who spends all the money? I never have understood that. It’s dangerous to build up falsehoods. If you lie to them about Santa Claus, eventually they’ll wonder if you lied to them about other things as well. The excessive materialism of our culture can easily overwhelm the meaning of Christmas. But if things are kept in their proper perspective, there is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating the birth of Christ. III. The Consequences Taught Understanding the truth about the birth of Christ from a careful study of the Word of God rather than accepting the traditions of what others teach us is important. From such study we not only learn the truth about Christmas, but we also learn much about the Bible and how God works as well. A. The Bible Adds Up It’s fascinating to me that I can take what the Bible gives me and arrive at a logical conclusion. Even if people hadn’t been celebrating Christ’s birth on December 25 for centuries, we would still have the record of the shepherds in the fields with their lambs and the calendar calculations from Zacharias’ service that would establish that as the time of year Christ was born. You could study the Bible for ten hours a day for the rest of your life and never run out of things to learn. God has given us a wonderful Book. If you find something that doesn’t seem to add up, it’s your adding, not the Bible’s numbers, that is at fault. If you don’t see how something in the Bible could be true, don’t assume that the Bible is wrong— it isn’t. Be patient and be attentive. Eventually somebody will figure it out. Skeptics used to criticize the Bible account of the birth of Christ because Luke talked about it being “when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.” They said Cyrenius wasn’t governor of Syria until years later. When they dug a little deeper into the archaeological record, they found that twice Cyrenius had been governor of Syria. The first time he was governor was when Christ was born, and the second time was later. I’ve yet to see any published articles in any of the national news journals admitting that the skeptics were wrong and the Bible had been proven right. But the Bible record stands every test and challenge. People used to criticize the Bible because there was no evidence of the race called the Hittites. Through the years the archaeologists continued digging. Ultimately they found ample proof of the existence of the Hittites. Given enough time the scientific investigators will usually catch up with the Bible. B. The Bible Has Much More to Tell Than What Has Been Learned Have you ever thought, I’ve read the Bible so much, there’s nothing new for me to learn? That’s wrong. I had a man tell me once, “I’ve been in church so long, there’s no sermon I haven’t heard. I’ve heard all the sermons there are to preach.” I said to him, “I haven’t even heard all of my sermons yet.” We always have more to learn. I read the Bible through several times each year. Every two months, I read through the New Testament. Every three months, I read through the Old Testament. I do not discover deep and wonderful truths every day, but I’m always seeing things I had not seen before. For example, I preached a sermon once about Phinehas. He was Aaron’s grandson who stopped a plague by killing the Israelite who brought a Midianite woman into his tent (Num. 25:6–8). I mentioned in passing in the message that later on in his life Phinehas made it into the Promised Land (Josh. 22:13). Someone came up to me after church and said he must have been under twenty because all the men twenty years old and up died in the wilderness except for Caleb and Joshua. I read more carefully and found that the death penalty pronounced on all the men twenty years and older did not apply to the Levites. They were not counted when the people were numbered (Num. 26:62,63). The Levites all got to go to the Promised Land, regardless of their age. It was there all the time in the Word of God. I just hadn’t seen it before. C. The Bible, Therefore, Is Worthy of Careful Study I believe you should read the Bible like a person who is mining for gold. I have a chunk of gold ore in my office that somebody gave me. Everything in that rock that looks like gold isn’t gold. The sparkly stuff is fool’s gold. The real gold looks more like rust. It would take fifteen tons of ore like the rock I have to get one ounce of pure gold. When you read the Bible for your personal devotions, look for gold. Don’t try to examine every rock. Don’t try to pulverize it and do a chemical analysis. Just look till you find some gold. Look for nuggets. Don’t get stuck on something that you don’t fully understand. H. A. Ironside was once asked, “What do you do with all the hard parts in the Bible?” He said, “I do the same thing I do when I’m eating fish. I put the bones on the side of the plate for someone else to choke on, and I eat the rest of the fish.” When I’m having devotions, I don’t try to do an in-depth analysis. But there should also be times when you study in depth. When something arrests your attention, make a note of it so you can follow it up at a later time. Study the Bible, just as we did with finding the timeline for the birth of Christ, until you come up with the answer. You’ll find fascinating and amazing truths as you carefully study the Word of God. D. God’s Timing Is Perfect Isn’t it interesting that the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29) was born at the same time the lambs out in the field were being born? Paul said that Jesus was born, “when the fulness of the time was come” (Gal. 4:4). God never does anything accidentally. Bethlehem is only a few miles from Jerusalem. It’s very possible that the shepherds to whom the angel announced the birth of Christ were the same shepherds who kept the sheep for the temple to provide the lambs for the sacrifices. The symbolism associated with the birth of Christ is very powerful. We can always count on God to work at exactly the right time in exactly the right way. One of the things that careful study of God’s Word does for us is to build our faith by showing us how God makes “every thing beautiful in his time” (Eccles. 3:11). Return to the Sword Home Page View Other Sermons in our archives
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