Tis'' the season for remembering. But what is it that we are to remember? Formany it is the remembering of Christmases past; times of good cheer and familyand friends. But how quickly the societal pressures of season have all buterased the true reason for the season. Having a ''Merry Christmas'' hasslowly but effectively been replaced with the neutral words of ''HappyHolidays''; and the world seems no longer to care.

Even for those who remember it has something to do with the birth of God''sSon long ago in Bethlehem, the memory remains somewhat in the background of allelse that is going on. Like other legends and tales of lore, the reason for theseason has all but been forgotten or reduced to a mere bedtime story. We havedecorations of trees and lights, school plays and musicals, music and song,parties and gatherings, and snacks and goodies to make our belt lines jolly. Allthis we do for the sake of tradition, and we''re not even sure why we do it,beyond the understanding that we always have.

What makes this time of year a celebration anyway? What''s so special aboutDecember 25th that causes us all to stop our normal lives to decorate, buy giftsand spread cheer?

A Child is born

For the Christian this time of year is a wonderful celebration of hope, faithand encouragement. Amongst the hustle and bustle of the secular celebration of ''HappyHolidays''. Christians call to remembrance that 2000 years ago, infulfillment of perfect prophecy, a child was born to a virgin. This child was tobe called Immanuel - "God with Us" and is the real reason whywe traditionally celebrate Christmas.  And although our ''holidays''may indeed be ''happy'' our true joy resides in the promises of the Word ofGod and just who this Christ child was.

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you asign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His nameImmanuel." - Isaiah 7:14

"Then the angel said to them, "Do not beafraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to allpeople. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who isChrist the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrappedin swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with theangel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory toGod in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"" - Luke2:10-14

2000 years ago, the Christ child was born, and the announcement was firstgiven to His earthly mother Mary, and confirmed with the boys father Joseph inan angelic dream:

"And she[Mary] will bring forth a Son, and youshall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." Soall this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lordthrough the prophet, saying: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, ANDBEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which is translated,"God with us." - Mat 1:21-23

This Immanuel - the one of whom John the Baptist would later cry out, "Behold!The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" had agrand purpose in God''s eternal plan. This Christ child who''s purpose wasdeclared to Joseph, "He will save His people fromtheir sins." is the true reason for cheer and worship atChristmas.

But is the point really to celebrate His birthday? Is it simply akin to thegathering of friends around a cake and singing Happy Birthday? Or should itperhaps go deeper in meaning?

Is it about the date? We celebrate His birth on December 25th, but yet,historical and biblical evidences would place His birth more likely in lateSeptember.

History of December 25th

It is very interesting to note that in the first two hundred years of Churchhistory there is no mention given as to the celebration of, nor the date ofChrist''s birthday. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Sextus Julius Africanusgave the first mention of December 25th as being a celebration of Christ''sbirth. This idea seemed to gain popularity by 336 A.D. where we not only findmention of it, but also debates surrounding the issue of the date of Christ''sbirth.

The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church reports,

"Though speculation as to the time of year of Christ''sbirth dates from the early 3rd century, Clement of Alexandria suggesting the20th of May, the celebration of the anniversary does not appear to have beengeneral till the later 4th century. The earliest mention of the observance onDec. 25th is in the Philocalian Calendar, representing Roman practice of theyear 336. This date was probably chosen to oppose the feast of the Natalis SolisInvicti [nativity of the unconquerable sun] by the celebration of the birth ofthe ''Sun of Righteousness'' and its observance in the West, seems to have spreadfrom Rome"¹

Note the words, "probably chosen to oppose the feast of the NatalisSolis Invicti". What was that exactly?

In ancient Rome December 25th was the date of a celebration by the Romans totheir primary god, the Sun, and o Mithras, a popular Persian sun god whosupposedly was born on the same day. Pope Liberius in 354 made December 25th thecelebration of Christ''s birth, and it became the rule in the West in 435 whenthe first ''Christ Mass'' was officiated by Pope Sixtus III. The Roman Catholicwriter Mario Righetti candidly admits that,

"to facilitate the acceptance of the faith by thepagan masses, the Church of Rome found it convenient to institute the 25th ofDecember as the feast of the birth of Christ to divert them from the paganfeast, celebrated on the same day in honor of the ''Invincible Sun'' Mithras, theconqueror of darkness"²

Protestant historian Henry Chadwick sums up the controversy:

"Moreover, early in the fourth century there begins in the West(where first and by whom is not known) the celebration of December 25th, thebirthday of the Sun-god at the winter solstice, as the date for the nativity ofChrist. How easy it was for Christianity and solar religion to become entangledat the popular level is strikingly illustrated by a mid-fifth century sermon ofPope Leo the Great, rebuking his over-cautious flock for paying reverence to theSun on the steps of St. Peter''s before turning their back on it to worshipinside the westward-facing basilica"³

Providing an alternate to the popular Roman holiday that celebrated thewinter solstice as a resurgence of the sun, the casting away of winter and theheralding of the rebirth of spring an summer, certainly seemed to be an easyparallel for the Church to make. It can truly be seen that after thepopularization of December 25th, many Christian writers made the connectionbetween the birth of the sun, and the birth of the Son.

Now many readers may be wondering, "Pagan Festival?! ShouldChristians even be a part of this?"

Special Days of Observance

The Bible gives us no direction for the celebration of Christ''s birthday.Christ himself made no mention of such an observance. He did however call usunto remembrance of His death and sacrifice through the ordinance of communion.

I think it is important that we keep our heads about this, and not over reactin regards to the concept of a pagan celebration being hijacked by a Christianobservance. I can guarantee you that in human history, on every calendar day ofthe year something evil or some ungodly worship practice has been done. Themeaning of a day therefore must be left t the heart of the observer. I believethe Bible speaks clearly on this.

"One man regards one day above another, anotherregards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. He whoobserves the day, observes it for the Lord…." - Romans 14:5-6

"Let no man therefore judge you…in respect ofan holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow ofthings to come; but the body is of Christ." - Colossians 2:16-17

What matters most is what you do with each day the Lord has given you.Whether you or I had anything to do with December 25th being chosen isinconsequential. The fact remains that Western Civilization has adopted the dateof December 25th for the remembrance of Christ''s Birthday. It is therefore mostimportant as to what we as Christians actually celebrate on that day.

The First Advent

The Christian heart truly sings out in praise and wonder at the words of theangels on the night of Christ''s birth - ''Glory to God in the highest''. Weknow the rest of the story of this once small child. Through His life, death andresurrection we became inheritors and believers unto the glory of our salvation.Through this sovereign act of God, fallen man can once again be justified to Godthrough repentance and faith in the Christ who was born in Bethlehem, died on across and was raised again. What more reason is there for celebrating?

And yet I wonder if we truly are understanding of the wonder of it all. Whatthis birth, life, death and resurrection really means? That we - wretchedsinners - are now made justified before a Holy, just and awesome God; That thecreator died for the creation, so that we could regain what was lost in thegarden of Eden, with the fall of man.

If truly this message is recalled unto remembrance in a Christian heart, itwould seems more akin to the celebration of Resurrection Day (Easter) and notChristmas. But yet we must recall the reason Christ came into the world at hisfirst advent and give glory to God for the sacrifice made. We give praise,thanks and worship to the God that satisfied 300 promises (prophecies) withChrist at His first coming.

But are we truly celebrating Christ through the spreading the hope ofChristmas, or are we just celebrating selfishly amongst ourselves.

Our Blessed Hope

I often wonder if the modern church has not indeed lost site of the ''rest ofthe story'' as Paul Harvey would say. How often we forget the 2nd part of thepromises of the Messiah that the prophets and apostles of old wrote down so manyyears ago.

It may surprise the reader to know that there are over seven times moreprophecies on Christ''s second coming than their were in regard to His first. Aseach of the first coming prophecies were fulfilled consistently in a literalfashion, we must therefore assume that those second coming prophecies willlikewise be fulfilled.

The Bible gives us great promises of things yet to come. We who areChristians know the whole story. We know that Christ has conquered death andthat we have the promise of resurrection. (1 Corinthians 15:51-57, 1 Thess.4:16-18, Rev. 20:6). We know that we are inheritors of the Kingdom. (2 Peter1:11), That Christ will one day rule for 1000 years from David''s throne inJerusalem (Isaiah 9:7, Rev. 20:6), and that Justice will ultimately be satisfiedand the wicked will go to everlasting punishment with Satan the old serpent, theaccuser of the world. (Matt. 25:41, Rev 20:10-15)

The Bible tells us a time will come when there will be doubters. Those thatwould take the hope of Christ from the world.

"knowing this first: that scoffers will come inthe last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, "Where isthe promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all thingscontinue as they were from the beginning of creation." For this theywillfully forget:" - 2 Peter 3:3-5a

But yet we have the promises given to us, that Christ indeed is coming back.

Isaac Watts, a musician and writer of one of the most favorite Christmashymns, "Joy to the Word" obviously had these promises in mind when hepenned the song. What is very interesting is to actually read and pay attentionto the lyrics that we sing. You will be surprised to see clearly that IsaacWatts was not referring to Christ''s first advent when he wrote the hymn. He wasin fact referring to the Second Advent of Christ in the words of ''Joy to theWorld''. It would seem that we have all been practicing for the eventful day ofChrist''s return!

When Christ ascended to heaven after His first visit to earth the angels saidunto those watching, "Men of Galilee, why do youstand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you intoheaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."

My prayer is that in this season of celebration of an advent, we Christianswould stand proud and shout from the rooftops about the true hope of Christmas.

Christ did in fact come to earth once as a baby in a manger. He lived ahumble life of servitude and sacrifice. He died on a cross, like a meek andlowly lamb to the slaughter he left this world as bruised and broken sacrifice.

However when he returns, the picture will be quite different.

"Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a whitehorse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousnessHe judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His headwere many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He wasclothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God…And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads thewinepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robeand on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." - Rev19:11-16

My friends Christ is coming! Our Lord! Our Savior is coming soon!

This holiday season may we all feel the urgency to spread the good news ofthe gospel to a world full of those that are perishing for lack of knowledge ofthe good news. If we truly do love our fellow man and if we truly do loveChrist, Christmas this year will be far more than a casual ''Merry Christmas''or a followed ''Happy New Year''. Like the angels of old that announcedChrist''s first coming, we too are to spread the ''Goodwill to all Men"the gospel of Jesus Christ which has the only power to save man from thesureness of God''s justice. We must declare the saving grace of God.

May we be all be emboldened with renewed vigor, and may we all, in these darkdays on earth, place all our hope and trust in the one who Saved us!

"Looking for the blessed hope and gloriousappearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" - Tit 2:13

Maranatha!

J.R. Hall

References:
1. Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1983 edition, Oxford University Press, New York, 1983, p. 280, "Christmas"
2. Manual of Liturgical History, 1955, Vol. 2, p. 67
3. The Early Church, Penguin Books, London, 1967, p. 126.

Tags: Christ | Christmas | church | hope

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