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...Or Is It? |
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Attention is annually called to this season of the year. Hence, it is a good time to reflect
seriously on this occasion. The good will, cheer, fellowship, spirit of giving, visiting loved
ones, strengthening ties of friendship, forgetting unpleasant things, and many other things may
be commended at this season. But the carousals, drunkenness, dissipation, recklessness,
gluttony, gratification of the flesh, and such like, are to be condemned. Many things that are
practiced at this season of the year should be condemned. They should not be practiced at any
season of the year, much less when people are claiming to celebrate the birth of Christ.
More than 700 years before Christ was born, the prophet Isaiah said, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanual" (Isa. 7:14). "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (Isa. 9:6). Matthew quotes this prophecy and applies it to Christ (Matt. 1:23). The God-given promise of the virgin birth of His Son was fulfilled when Mary brought forth her first-born. To deny the virgin birth in the face of this prophecy is to deny the fulfillment of a God-given promise. To doubt it is to doubt the truthfulness of the prophecy of Isaiah and the truthfulness of the Holy Spirit who guided the pen of Matthew. The assertion that the word "virgin" may mean only "a young unmarried woman" is to deny the truthfulness of the translators of the Septuagint, who knew the Hebrew language and rendered it into Greek with the word that signifies only a "virgin." In all extant manuscripts of Matthew, this passage or quotation applied to Christ is found. If Jesus of Nazareth was not born miraculously of a virgin by the Holy Spirit, we must draw one of two conclusions: Either Matthew was a thoroughly incompetent historian, not guided by the Holy Spirit, or he was a fraud, publishing that which he knew to be utterly false. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the truthfulness of Isaiah the prophet, and of Matthew the historian. It is to deny that Isaiah spoke by the Holy Spirit and that Matthew was guided by the Holy Spirit. "Christmas" comes from the Latin words, "Christ" and "mass." "Mass is from the Latin which means "to send." Hence, "Christ-mass." or "Christmas," literally means "Christ-sent." But there is absolutely no evidence that Christ was born on December 25. The evidence that we have rather condemns the idea that He was born at this season of the year. The scriptures say that at the time of His birth, "there were... shepherds abiding in the field" (Luke 2:8). December 25 does not fall within the season when shepherds watch their flocks in the fields by night. The fields in Palestine at that time of the year were without food for sheep or cattle. The early Christians knew these facts. They lived back close to the time of our Lord's first advent and possessed much information that we do not now have. None of the early Christians taught or believed that Christ was born on December 25. Moreover, if God had wanted His people to celebrate the birth of Christ, He would have given that instruction. The very fact that we have no instruction in the word of God to celebrate "Christmas," or the birth of Christ, is proof that God did not want His people to do so. All who are familiar with the prophecies and the New Testament records know that nothing is said about the date of the birth of Christ. Nothing is said about the day of the week, the day of the month, or the month of the year when He was born. The Bible is silent with respect to this date. Hence, man should not presume to teach anything about the date of Christ's birth, nor should he celebrate the birth of Christ. The custom began many centuries ago. It originated with man and is perpetuated by man. The good things which are said and done at this season of the year may be, and ought to be, said and done at any and all seasons of the year. The evils that go with the custom should never be practiced. |