Christmas ... The Real Story
(A Bible Study by Jack Kelley at GraceThruFaith)
Celebrating the Lord’s birthday
on December 25th is a tradition
that’s only about 1400 years old.
“Wait a minute,” you say,
“There’s a 600 year gap.
So, what did people do before then?”
Well, let’s find out.
First, the December date came
to be as a result of the integration
of Christianity into the Roman Empire.
Christianity was at first just a permitted
belief, but then later it became the
official religion of the Roman Empire.
Remember that previously, Christianity
was outlawed and its practice was
punishable by death, but the Emperor
Constantine changed all that.
The worship of Jesus was made legitimate,
and in the 4th century AD what was to
become the Holy Roman Empire was born.
Tradition, Tradition, Tradition
We know how deeply ingrained
traditions become, right?
Well, for generations, the pagan Feast of
Saturnalia had been a part of the Roman life.
It was celebrated at the time of
the winter solstice in late December.
So rather than abandon this tradition,
when Christianity was legalized, this
pagan holiday was declared to be the day
of our Lord’s birth and renamed as Christmas.
Now this was not the first time that
traditions from different cultures had
been blended together in the Roman Empire.
When the seat of pagan religion moved
from Babylon, it first settled in Pergamus
(modern Turkey) before moving to Rome.
Traditions from the Babylonian winter feasts
like mistletoe, hot cross buns, yule logs, and
evergreen trees (Jeremiah 10:1-5) were
incorporated into the Feast of Saturnalia
and therefore they later found their way
into the celebrations of Christmas, as well.
Knowing their origins, the early Christians
did not accept this date as our Lord’s birth,
nor did they accept any of the pagan traditions.
These early Christians refused to
celebrate our Lord’s birthday in December.
It was several hundred years before this
custom gained acceptance in the Christian world,
and that‘s why we have a gap of 600 years.
Hence, all the early Christians had died and
new generations were now on the scene.
To discover the Lord’s REAL birthday however,
requires some detective work, and the biggest
clues come to us from John the Baptist.
The Bible tells us that John was six months
old at the time of the Lord’s birth, and
discovering his birthday is somewhat
easier, so let’s start there.
Happy Birthday, John
Zechariah and Elizabeth, John’s parents,
had been unable to have children.
Then the Angel Gabriel visited Zechariah
during one of his tours of duty in the Temple
to inform him that he and Elizabeth were
being given a son (Luke 1:8-11).
Zechariah was a priest and had been chosen
by lot to offer prayers at the Golden Altar
just outside the Holy of Holies.
This was already a once in a lifetime
honor, but Gabriel’s appearance made
it dramatically more unique.
Only twice before had an event like this
taken place, and both times involved barren
women and a Messianic promise; Hannah
was given a son Samuel who later anointed
David King of Israel, and the mother of
Samson was told her son would begin the
deliverance of Israel from the Philistines.
And now, Zechariah was being told
that his son would be the one to
proclaim the coming Messiah.
Now we know from Scripture that
Zechariah and Elizabeth wanted
a son more than anything.
In that era, it was a woman’s crowning
achievement, whereas being barren
was considered a punishment from God.
So, we have to believe that Zechariah
and Elizabeth went about the process of
conception immediately upon his return home.
But when was that?
Choosing Teams
King David had divided the priests
into 24 divisions to serve rotating
one-week periods in the temple.
All 24 divisions served during the
Feasts, and so each one also
served twice a year on rotation.
The religious year began about mid-March
on our calendar and right away there were
nearly three weeks of preparation and Feasts;
Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.
Then the divisions began their rotation.
When we compare Luke 1:5 to
1 Chronicles 24:10, it shows that
Zechariah was of the division
of Abijah, which was number
eight in the weekly rotation.
Counting the time all divisions
were on duty and eight weeks
of rotation, Gabriel’s visit had
to occur about 3 months into
the religious year, which would
be mid-June on our calendar.
Now assuming Elizabeth conceived
shortly after Zechariah returned
home from temple duty, a normal 9
month pregnancy places the birth of
John the Baptist at the beginning of
the following religious year - mid
March, and indeed there are many who
believe that John was born on Passover.
According to Luke 1:26-27,
Mary conceived in the sixth
month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
And based on our discovery of
John’s birthday, that means our
Lord would have been conceived
in late December and born
the following September.
So that means that Christmas really is
just the result of overlaying Christian
beliefs on a former pagan holiday.
Remember, John the Baptist was conceived
in mid June and born the following March.
And according to Luke 1:26-27,
Mary conceived in the 6th
month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
That means that our Lord was conceived
in late December, not born then.
He was born the following September.
Personally, I prefer the Rosh Hashanna
date for our Lord’s birth because of it’s
historical significance, but the point here
is that our Lord was born in the early fall,
not the dead of winter and we should not
be celebrating our Lord’s birth on one of
the year’s most significant pagan holidays
because it just didn’t happen then.
According to Hebrews 4:12-13 the
Lord judges us by the motives of our
heart, because that’s where sin begins.
He knows whether we’re focused
on expressing our gratitude for
the gift of His Son, or if we
are indulging in pagan revelry.
I think Christians everywhere should
give the winter and spring solstices back
to the pagans and celebrate the Lord’s
birth and His resurrection on the actual
anniversary of their occurrence.
That would go a long way toward
restoring the original meaning to the
two most important events in human history.
We could stop spending money we
don’t have at Christmas time, and we
could stop teaching our kids pagan
fertility rites instead of the wonder
of the Lord’s resurrection at Easter.
The Lord’s birth and His resurrection
are cause for extraordinary celebration
on the part of all who understand
their significance to humankind.
And if the focus of our celebration
is on that significance instead of some
meaningless pagan ritual, wouldn’t we all
approach our Holy Days with a lot more
reverence and celebrate them with
a lot more gratitude?
And wouldn’t the non-believers who
know us be a lot more curious as
to why we’re so grateful?
And wouldn’t that lead to more
conversations about our eternal
destiny, and theirs?
Certainly some of them would be saved
because of this, and wouldn’t the
Lord be blessed by all of that?
Tell me this doesn’t make sense.
Many Christians are increasingly offended by
the commercial excesses of Christmas anyway,
and if all of its original purpose is just about
lost anyway, what’s the point in continuing it?
It would be best to just abandon it altogether
and have a real Happy Birthday Jesus celebration
in the early fall when He was actually born.
And as for Easter, let’s call it by its real name,
Resurrection Morning, and celebrate it on the
Sunday morning after Passover when He
actually rose from the grave.
Researching the origin of the two most
important Holy Days in Christianity, you’ll find
that right from the beginning the motivation
had more to do with profit than piety.
There were already pagan festivals in place
on these dates that involved celebrating,
exchanging of gifts and riotous public
banquets, all of which generated lots
of income for merchants.
Superimposing Christian customs upon
these pagan festivals was an accommodation
to commercial interests, pure and simple.
It allowed them to keep selling stuff
to their customers as in the past,
just under a different banner.
Isn’t it about time we abandon this offense
to our Lord, and begin paying Him the homage
due Him as our Saviour and Redeemer?
The anti-Christians have just about succeeded
in stripping away every last vestige of religious
meaning from these holidays anyway, and
the Lord permits it because they’ve been
counterfeit right from the beginning.
Let’s let them have their way, and
follow the example of our Christian
ancestors who for 400 years or so,
refused to participate in what they
knew were really pagan celebrations
re-packaged as Christian Holy Days.
They were no more fooled
by this than the Lord is.
Over the years there’ve been several
attempts to steer us back toward
the original purpose of the holidays
without abandoning them altogether.
I remember an effort to
“put Christ back into Christmas.”
And a few years ago a clever marketing
strategy reminded us that “Jesus is
the Reason for the Season.”
Neither of these attempts were successful.
It’s time for something more dramatic,
like starting over from scratch.
One thing we could do is start celebrating
the Lord’s birthday on Rosh Hashanah, the
Jewish New Year, usually mid to late September.
That’s the most likely time of His
birth, when the God of the Universe
became a man and dwelt among us.
We could start reading the “Christmas Story”
then, and exchange gifts within our family and
circle of friends that sincerely express our joy
that our Saviour came into the world on that day.
Instead of telling our little ones that their
gifts came from an imaginary person called
Santa Claus, we could tell them they came
from a real person named Jesus.
Then we could tell them who Jesus is, and why
we’re so happy to know Him. We could explain
to anyone who’ll listen what we’re doing and why.
Christians need to learn the origin of
pagan symbols like the Christmas tree,
Santa Claus, mistletoe, etc, and begin
eliminating them from your traditions.
Within a year or two, you’ll be placing more
emphasis on the Lords’ birth and less on the
material excess we’re accustomed to seeing.
The truth is that Christmas began as a pagan
holiday that was “papered over” with
Christian meaning when Rome converted
to Christianity in the 4th century.
And for a long time Christians refused
to recognize it because they knew Jesus
wasn’t born on December 25 and because
nearly all the signs and symbols had
recognizable pagan origins.
It took over 200 more years for it to gain
acceptance and be viewed by Christians as
a celebration of the Lord’s birth.
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