The Revelation Genesis Link
An E-Mail Series from Gariel Ministries

January 13, 2007

Subject Area–Christmas Project E-Mail 3 – Conclusion by Dorothy von Lehe

The Celebration of Christmas
Looking Toward the Future

During a recent Christian telecast, a viewer posed a question regarding the different words used for sin in God’s Word. In Pat Robertson’s short response, he referred to three words, sin, iniquity and transgression. Simply put, he said, “sin is missing the mark, transgression is the breaking of God’s law” and he described iniquity as a “twistedness.” My mind focused in on iniquity as a twisted form of reasoning or thinking. It reminded me of what Satan loves to do, twist God’s words and commands. So cunningly did Satan twist the intent of God’s instructions as he went about deceiving Eve in the Garden of Eden. Satan introduced iniquity to this world / a twisted form of reasoning or thinking thus successfully tempting Eve to ‘eat fruit’ from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

As I have struggled with the “celebration” of Christmas, it has come to mind how Satan must be laughing at how easy it has been to fool people professing to be Christians into thinking their participation in the “celebration” part of Christmas is somehow an okay thing to do. Some examples of twisted reasoning for justification of actions: After all, you know it is part of tradition. My church does not say anything about it, so it must be okay. If anything is said from the pulpit, it will turn some away from coming to church. As long as I don’t see Santa Claus as a god, I don’t see what is wrong with making him the bringer of gifts to my children at Christmas time. If I acknowledge (at least with my lips) that Christmas has something to do with the birth of Jesus, it really doesn’t matter how I actually celebrate Christmas. Jesus wasn’t actually born on Christmas Day, so what is the big deal?

In contrast, I picture our merciful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ interceding for His own saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

What form does your reasoning take on as you think about justifying your participation in the “holiday season” and the “celebration” of Christmas? Does it become a form leading to iniquity or a form leading to righteousness?

Purge and Purify

Often as I have been working on this project, my thoughts have turned to Biblical accounts found in the Old Testament. Each time God’s chosen people turned back to God in repentance after turning away from God and participating in idolatry or allowing idolatry to co-exist with them, they went through a process of purging and purification. Altars, idols and sacrifices to idols were destroyed. The Israelites bathed themselves and washed their clothing. They would humbly go before God to seek His mercy and forgiveness.

What to do about Christmas? The bottom line answer is to stop celebrating Christmas and remove it from the church calendar. This is the conclusion I arrived at. However, I believe this would bring about more division within churches and it would be nearly impossible to successfully achieve in the short time remaining before Christ’s return. So, purge and purify is what I will profess as an answer. Purge - remove everything from the “celebration” part of Christmas that is at all questionable. Purify - the thought and reasoning process through absorbing God’s Word calling upon the faithful guidance of the Holy Spirit. And, in humble repentance, go before God to seek mercy and forgiveness, which our God of love will most willingly provide.

Could December 25^th Actually Be The Birth Date of Jesus?

I feel compelled to share an article with all of you. It is titled “Was Jesus Christ Really Born At Christmas? God’s Word Has The Blessed Answer” written by John Stormer. The article is included with this e-mail.

The manner in which God orchestrated the placing of this article directly into my lap, the timing of the placement, the content of the article with fitting confirmations presented and the surprise followed by a sense of delight experience fit so well into the patterns God has been introducing and utilizing with me. Thus, I believe it is essential to pause and to ponder upon the substance of this article.

God provided this surprise followed by a sense of delight experience as I was feeling weighted down by the process of drawing conclusions concerning what can be done about Christmas. Through the persistent thoughtful effort of a small group Bible study leader this article was placed directly into my lap.

Was the article placed into my lap to answer the question as to whether or not God tells us in His Word when Jesus Christ was born; Or, was the article intended to be uplifting by drawing attention to Jesus and who He truly is; Or, was Jesus actually born on or about December 25^th; Or, all of the above and more?

The article clearly shows that God’s Word does indeed tell us when the birth of Jesus Christ took place. The timing of the birth of Jesus is told through the story of the conception and pregnancy leading to the birth of John the Baptist. What could be more uplifting to realize and more fitting than for God to use John the Baptist whose destiny was to prepare the way for Jesus Christ to also prepare the way that reveals to us when Jesus was born? The timing is spelled out in Luke 1. The difficulty is accurately determining when Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, executed his duties as a priest in the temple. The author, John Stormer presents a detailed examination and arrives at a solid conclusion as to when Zacharias executed his duties thus providing us with the needed information to determine the approximate birth date of Jesus, which would calculate to being on or about December 25^th.

The article points out that “shepherds” would have been “abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (Luke 2:8) because lambs are born in December. I find it such an uplifting delight to think about the author’s statement “Isn’t it natural that the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world would be born when all the other lambs are born?” To me, it adds to the possible reasons why shepherds were chosen to be the first to receive the announcement of the birth of Jesus.

As I read the confirmation about Jesus being the “light of the world” and how appropriate it is for Jesus’ birth to take place during the darkest days of the year, I took such delight in thinking about how fitting it would be for Jesus, the true God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords to literally have been born during the period when pagan winter solstice religious festivals took place. Thinking of Scripture passages that tell us all knees shall bow to Jesus! Yes, Yes, Yes! Bow to Jesus, the “light of the world” instead of false gods and idols.

This article has caused me to pause and to ponder. God’s Word does not clearly tell us exactly when Jesus Christ was born. I believe the reason for this is:

God desires that each of us celebrate the birth, life, teachings, sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus and ponder what this means in our hearts each and every day of our lives.

WAS JESUS CHRIST REALLY BORN AT CHRISTMAS?

~ GOD’S WORD HAS THE BLESSED ANSWER

By John Stormer of Understanding The Times, December, 1993

IS CHRISTMAS DEAD? That question was asked in a pre-Christmas editorial by a Bible-believing pastor in a widely distributed evangelical newspaper. He charged that an active campaign is underway to take God away from the next generation of Americans.

To support his premise he recounted the removal of the Bible, prayer and the Ten Commandments from the schools. He added, “The purging of God from society is continuing with an attack against Christmas.”

Along with banning traditional carols and the name of Jesus from school “Christmas” plays, many schools which earlier replaced the Easter vacation with a “spring break” now schedule a “winter vacation” at Christmas time. And, of course, the courts, prodded by the ACLU, have ordered manger scenes and other public recognitions of the birth of the Lord Jesus banned from public property.

In most circles Santa Claus and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” are given more prominence at Christmas than the Lord Jesus Christ whose birth should be being observed.

Acknowledging the trend, one court recently approved public displays recognizing Christmas. The court ruled that Christmas displays are now OK because “Christmas has become a secular holiday which no longer means anything.”

What a commentary! Tragically, some Christians are contributing to this “Death of Christmas.” For too many years pastors and teachers have said, “Of course we don’t know when Christ was actually born—but the time of year is not really important.” Jehovah’s Witnesses and others have taught that Christmas was “invented” in the 4^th or 5^th centuries. The supposed goal was giving a “Christian” façade or influence to the wild pagan or Satanic holiday observances during the-winter solstice (the shortest days of the year).

What’s the real story? Is there any real evidence that Jesus Christ was born at Christmas? A careful examination of a number of seemingly unrelated Bible passages give clear indication that the Lord Jesus was indeed born at Christmas. Such study will give new emphasis to what Christ came to do. It will also provide a much deeper appreciation of all that is hidden in the Word of God, which can be discovered by those who prayerfully search the scriptures.

Every word in the Bible is there because God put it there. He has a purpose for every one of the words He gives us. Therefore, seemingly casual listings of periods of time, genealogical references, etc. have significance, which can be discovered through prayerful study.

In Luke Chapter 1, the Bible records seemingly unimportant details about what a priest named Zacharias was doing when the angel announced to him that he and his wife were to have a child. The child was to be John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Bible further records that the Lord Jesus was conceived in the sixth month after John the Baptist was conceived. Therefore, if the time of the conception of John the Baptist could be determined, the birth date of the Lord Jesus could be calculated.

The scriptures say (relevant passages are underlined):

There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia; and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course, According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. (Luke 1:5,8,9, 11-13)

At this point Zacharias demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to his duties as a priest. Even though he had been given the wonderful news by the angel that he and Elizabeth would have a son, Zacharias stayed in the temple until the days of his course were completed. The scripture says:

And it came to pass that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house. And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months…(Luke 1:23-24)

The passage in Luke then goes on to describe how and when the angel came to Mary to announce that she was to be the virgin mother of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. The scripture says:

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary….And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou has found favour with God; And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus…And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-27,30-31,38)

And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost; And she spake out in a loud voice, and said….And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. (Luke 1:39-44)

Contained within these quoted passages are scriptures, which point to the exact time when Jesus was born. (Remember that God puts every word and every detail into the Bible exactly as He wants it and for a purpose. God doesn’t engage in idle chatter or superfluous details.) The underlined words in the quoted passages are the key.

In Luke 1:5 and Luke 1:8, we are told that Zacharias was a priest of the course of Abia and that he fulfilled his priestly duties in the order of his course. To understand the importance of the course of Abia and its bearing on the date of John the Baptist’s conception, it is necessary to turn to I Chronicles 24:1-10. This passage describes how a thousand years before Christ, King David established the courses for priestly service in the temple, which was to be built. Twenty-four courses were established and numbered by drawing lots—twelve courses for the government of the sanctuary and twelve for the government of the house of God.

Members of each course would serve during a month starting with the Hebrew month of Nisan (Because of the way the Hebrew calendar fluctuates, the month Nisan can start anytime between early March and early April.) The sons of Abijah (the Old Testament spelling for Abia) were in the eighth course. Priest of Abia like Zacharias would, therefore, have ministered for a time during the eighth month, which usually corresponds to our month of October. Zacharias would have returned home when his days of service were accomplished and John the Baptist would have been conceived sometime between October 10^th and the end of the month.

After conception the scripture says that Elizabeth hid herself for five months. Then in the sixth month of her pregnancy (which would have been between March 10 and April 10) the angel announced to the Virgin Mary that the Lord Jesus would be conceived in her womb by the Holy Ghost. This could have taken place on or about April 1. A “normal” gestation period of 270 days would have then had the Lord Jesus born on December 25. How about that!

There are other scriptural and natural indicators that confirm that the Lord was born at Christmas time. In the account of His birth in Luke 2, the eighth verse tells us:

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

My son-in-law, who has a degree in agriculture, after hearing the above presentation told me, “Certainly, the Lord Jesus was born at Christmas. The only time shepherds spend the night in the fields with their sheep is during the time when the lambs are born. The ewes become “attractive” to the rams in the month after June 21, the longest day of the year. The normal gestation period for sheep is five months so the ewes start lambing about mid-December.” He added:

Isn’t it natural that the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world would be born when all the other lambs are born?

This “coincidence” was too amazing for me to accept until I checked it out. A former teacher from the school where I am the administrator is married to a Montana sheep rancher. She confirmed what I had been told. She said, “Oh, yes! None of the men who have flocks are in church for weeks at Christmas. They have to be in the fields day and night to clean up and care for the lambs as soon as they are born or many would perish in the cold.” Isn’t that neat? God’s Lamb, who was to die for the sins of the world, was born when all the other little lambs are born. Because He came and died the centuries old practice of sacrificing lambs for sin could end.

There is another neat confirmation that God had His Son born at Christmas. The days at the end of December are the shortest (and therefore the darkest days) of the year. Jesus Christ said, “I am the light of the world.” So at the time of the year when the physical darkness is greatest, God the Father sent His Son to be the light of the world.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a sinless life and was therefore qualified to pay the penalty for the sins of all mankind (which is death). He paid it all—but all do not benefit from the wondrous gift God bestowed on mankind at Christmas. In John 1:11-12, the scriptures tell us:

He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

Each of us individually and personally must come to see our need of God’s gift of salvation and then by faith invite the Crucified and Risen Saviour, Jesus Christ, into our hearts to be both Saviour and Lord. Christmas is a good time to thank the Lord Jesus for taking our sin and giving us the gift of eternal life.

Go To Christmas E-Mail 1

Go to Christmas E-Mail 2 Part 1

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E-Mail 2 Part 3

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