A virgin gives birth.
Can a virgin conceive? Being a virgin, a woman gave birth to a child. The woman is Mary, and the baby is Jesus. This is the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, we all know that, as its part of history. This virgin birth is so special for this world, which is the reason for the big celebrations in the month of December.
Joyful month
December!!! A wonderful month! It is the month of joy and happiness. It is the month of Christmas!! What a beautiful season and a great celebration of the birth of Christ!
Facts versus Fiction
It will be very unnecessary to mention the date of Christmas. We all know it! But the question is, can anyone find the date of Jesus’ birth from the Bible? Yeah.. I know it’s a very challenging question.
What kind of celebrations are there at Christmas?
Santa Claus, crib, stars, Christmas tree, cake, wine, gifts, reindeer, and many other paraphernalia.
Where is Jesus in this list? Where is love, joy and peace?
Pause and think
Let’s pause at these questions and take a sneak peek at some facts. No worldwide date or even a formal Christmas celebration can be established prior to the establishment of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine in the year 313 A.D. In their listings of feasts and holidays, Origen (d. 255), St. Irenaeus (d. 202), and Tertullian (d. 220), to mention a few, exclude Christmas.
The birth of Jesus is a fact of history, which divided the time into AD and BC. All we need at this time is the wisdom to differentiate facts from fiction and truth from traditions. So the above-mentioned paraphernalia is really captivating. But they are unhistorical and not biblical. You may ask about stars and gifts. Of course, stars are mentioned in the Bible during the birth of Jesus and as gifts for the child. The crib resembles the place where Jesus was born. But I am trying to bring light to the fact which people are forgetting now. The person, JESUS.
“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10,11).
This declaration tells us that the baby born that day, Jesus, was not just another baby boy. The angel is telling the shepherds, and us, that this One who is born is none other than “God [our] Saviour” (Luke 1:47) who has become man, anointed in fulfilment of the Messiah’s prophesied mission “to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Luke 4:18). These are wonderful truths to remember, but even more wonderful is the fact that for this healing to be accomplished, and for the cause of the misery, sin, to be rooted out, it was needful for Jesus Christ to go to the cross, where “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).
How can we forget Christ at Christmas? How can we not be touched by the depths of His love for us? How can we continue to pursue other loves; idols that have no power to save us? Let’s pause and think!!
