what does the bible say about celebrating jesus' birth

Finally, there is the appearance of first one angel, than a multitude of angels to the shepherds as they were in the fields around Bethlehem. Christ was born to save! It also teaches us of God's power, for an incarnation is beyond our ability even to conceive, let alone to bring into being. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. But in changing the line, the editors of the hymnbooks have probably missed the main point of Wesley's thinking. 2. A Psalm of David. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. M Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Jehoshua, meaning "Jehovah is salvation." However, by the late fourth century it was generally celebrated in churches. Thus, the message to Joseph centers primarily on that great work which Jesus, the Messiah, was to do. If you have, then you understand your need of a Savior and are at the place where you can receive Jesus as the One who died to save you. I have known people who have had deep and fervent prayers answered after the better part of a lifetime has gone by prayers for the salvation of a son or a daughter, prayers for success in some worthwhile endeavor, prayers for reconciliation with an erring wife or husband. Joyful and triumphant, C On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. Blog, A And "you will find rest for your souls." Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. This holy amazement is closely melded to adoration. Of course, you can and you should! But what does the Bible specifically say about your day of birth? He answered, "That old threadbare message of peace on earth, good will to men." Christmas Is Rooted in Paganism In addition to Christmas having no Scriptural basis, it is important to note that the celebration of this holiday did not stem from Christian or Church-based doctrines. It is not this way with joy. 10. - Sort By Book Order. Trust Him! The passage begins by speaking of the shepherds. OpenBible.info The other kind of amazement is a holy wonder in response to those acts of God which are beyond human comprehension. "Everything" leaves nothing out. you are asking. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), page 166. Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. The world of the shepherds' day was much like our world today, in which the lamps of knowledge and culture seem to be slowly flickering out. 8. But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod. "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" Words: Heinrich Suso (?-1366); translated from Latin to English by John M. Neale in Carols for Christmastide (London: 1853). Sol Invictus was a pagan god who was believed to be the unconquered sun. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 1 Billy Graham Parkway, Charlotte, NC 28201 He came to earth and became a man but kept fully the divine nature in Himself. There are many reasons why Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Crashaw wrote of this wonder: This is why the wonder of children seems so appropriate at Christmastime. I know that Christmas is a busy time. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Helpful Not Helpful Praise the Lord! Many of you might have heard that the wise men did not appear during the night of Jesus' birth, no matter what nativity scenes may try to tell you. Keiper asked what he meant. How could their tongues be silent when they had heard such music? And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So he told them this parable: What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? This is the first message that I would leave with you. Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Third, there is the suggestion of the work of a mediator who makes the reconciliation possible. "He was born like us as well as died like us. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). "The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology" explains that the earliest Christians did not have a time when they regularly observed Christ's birth. We learn of His mercy. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! The Bible tells us that the birth of Jesus was unlike all other births in that Jesus existed before birth as the second person of the Godhead and He became man, not to provide us with a sweet story to tell children each winter or even as a theme for our greatest musical compositions, but in order to grow to maturity and then to die for our sin as a means of our salvation. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. of So do that. Taken together, therefore, the Greek and Latin definitions imply, first, that peace is not primarily a state of mind or an individual virtue but rather a state existing between two or more persons. It is based upon what God has done, and it is given to the Christian by God and is sustained by God. And there is peace with one another. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found . And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord., For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.. Notice that this verse does not say, "In everything present your requests to God. Christians are to be active in many efforts to achieve social justice, improve the life of the poor, minister to the needy. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The verse quoted was translated from Latin to English by Frederick Oakeley, 1841. There is peace with God. Now it is true that this new line is less likely to be misinterpreted. Our children's gift to us is their example of amazement which will lead us to recapture our own sense of amazement at the incarnation. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Another example of modern tendencies to reduce biblical salvation to human dimensions is the increasing emphasis upon the social aspects of the Christian gospel conceived in opposition to evangelism as traditionally understood. Love never ends. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago)" (Luke 1:68-70). Nor am I referring to happiness. Many people believe that the celebration of Christmas is rooted in the pagan holiday of Saturnalia, which honored the god Saturn. Does the Bible Condemn Using Tarot Cards? Now I am an old man, and I haven't any reason to believe that there is any truth in that text at all. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. In all that he does, he prospers. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Why? Why not join every year with the shepherds on that first Christmas, "glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen" (Luke 2:20)? They would readily tell you that the Bible commands us to celebrate Jesus' birth - that it is a time of rejoicing for the coming of the Savior of the world. Then take time each day to draw strength from His Word, the Bible, and to pray, and to have fellowship with other believers. On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. In the birth we see God's wisdom. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. We cannot understand it but it is true, and we should marvel at it. Christmas time is a few days away. 1. Y And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. 3. There is a clue to what peace means in this verse in the way the word is used in the earlier chapters of Romans. Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. Second, there is the strong possibility that the persons may not be in harmony but that they will want to make a pact between themselves in order to settle their differences. The world won't let us miss the holiday. One day just before Christmas vacation, the professor said, "Well, Keiper, are you going to preach that old Christmas farce again?" For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. Nothing destroys joy except sin. Not only did these men have something to tell, as we do, they also knew of a world that needed desperately to hear their message. This is exactly what we have in Christianity. There are three instances. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. In the New Covenant, he has given us the Lord's Supper and baptism. If God did that, He would soon make a muddle of our Christian lives because "We do not know what we ought to pray for" (Romans 8:26), and we pray with wrong motives. Now this is what the shepherds did. Mary and Joseph were far from home, in a strange town without even a room to themselves in which Mary could give birth to the Child. Both of these ideas are related to the idea of a mediator who brings irreconcilables together. Be patient! It was dying because it had no adequate cause for which to live. L Salvus means "healthy" or "whole." The shepherds, wise men, and angels celebrated the birth of Jesus with gifts, songs, and prayer. But not once in the Bible does God tell us to celebrate Christmas" (1). Music: Adeste Fideles, attributed variously to John Wade, John Reading or Simao Portogallo. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! We see His grace. Why not join every year with the shepherds on that first Christmas, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen (Luke 2:20)? You quarrel and fight. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, Amen. Solicitation Disclosure Statement We see His disposition to use little things, to exalt the humble and to subdue the proud. Come to Him now! The professor replied that he thought he had. It is in this sense a doxology, which means to express a right opinion of God verbally. If anyone would argue in this way, he should notice that the shepherds had the most important authorization of all possession of good news which had been revealed to them by God. We need to think about each of these ways. From beginning to end, God's dealings with our race are cause for amazement. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. Can you do that? Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. Proud member Here is a rest that is given and a rest that is found. In other words, what they had been told coincided with their own experience, and they could not resist speaking of such things. Quite obviously, the fact that the world often celebrates the day in non-Christian ways is no excuse for Christians to either neglect or misuse it. And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. Jesus is coming! It is the message of Christmas. How can this be? And God has not forgotten you! . As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. Happiness is related to circumstances. Jesus Christ does not thus become some magical wand which causes all our troubles to disappear. Moreover, since acknowledging His true worth is the essential meaning of worship it means to acknowledge God's worth to glorify God is to worship Him by words. Does God Really Work All Things Together for Good? For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. Then out of the darkness we hear God speaking to call forth life and order. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. One person who has been responsible for watering down the biblical meaning of the word "salvation" is Paul Tillich, the German-born American theologian. But how should a Christian celebrate Christmas? If these four means of celebrating Christmas are new to you and if you are now desiring to put them into practice, I suggest that you begin not with the first verse, verse 17 of Luke 2, but with verses 18, 19, and 20. U Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. He loves you so much that He gave His life for your salvation. We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Will you take me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band. And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. This is the peace spoken of by the Apostle Paul in the first verse of the fifth chapter of Romans: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." God gave Israel many celebrations in the Old Covenant such as the Feast of Booths, year of Jubilee, etc. This central event in history divided the calendar into BC (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini - "In the Year of Our Lord"). She would have wondered how she could have conceived without having slept with a man. But if that is true, why do we not see peace today? Toll Free: 1-877-247-2426. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Born the King of angels; But there is a second way also. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. This is connected with amazement, but it also goes beyond amazement as an attempt to understand it or figure it out. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. This is a cause for amazement. If you and I and all others who call upon the name of our God should do it, I suppose that the whole world would then rightly resound with His praise. It was confused because it lacked revelation and, therefore, also an awareness of truth. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate. It involves an effort to enter into the heart and counsels of God. You can sharpen up your affections; indeed, you must, for it is a terrible thing to have your love for the One who is the Lord of love grow cold. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 9. That is the Christmas story God became man! "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" Words: Charles Wesley, Hymns for Those That Seek and Those That Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ, 1747. For there are many references to salvation as deliverance from disease (Matthew 9:21; Luke 6:19; 18:42; James 5:15), captivity (Philippians 1:13,19), or physical death (Mark 13:20; John 12:27; Hebrews 5:7). Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Is there such a verse? There will always be wars and rumors of wars. "Hark! And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6-7). He would have simply thought her unfaithful. The first of these important appearances was to Mary. "Joy to the World" Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David, 1719. Grosart. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants. Once more they cried out, Hallelujah! The Greek word for peace is eirene. (Revelation 22:17). Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Peace on earth. This passage suggests four ways of celebrating Christmas: Tell others about it. But at the same time, the one who will come to Jesus Christ will know a great peace even in a world that denies it. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! How do you celebrate Christmas? Finally, when you have done these things and are truly qualified to speak, go back and tell others what you know. After this type of amazement has run its course nobody gives the cause of it a second thought. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. So the question is not "where did God say not to ." It is always the question "where did God say to ." See: Holiday Observances. His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. Answer: Your question is backward. The shepherds took this message, in the only form they knew, to their contemporaries. (Great Neck, NY: Doniger & Raughley, 1955). It comes from a Latin verb which means "to make a bargain" or "to make an agreement between contracting parties." For praising God is essentially an act of glorifying God with the whole being and, in this, music quite naturally takes a part. Let your prayer be the cry of the publican: "God be merciful to me, a sinner!" I doubt if this was what he meant. As you pray that prayer, you will find that God has already been merciful in Jesus. Have you seen that truth in the story? What are they? "The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told" (v. 20). What we sow we shall reap." My family likes to read these together on Christmas Eve, right before we go to bed. "O Come, All Ye Faithful" Words: John F. Wade, circa 1743. ( John 19:14-16) Jesus was about 30 years old when he began his three-and-a-half-year ministry, so he was born in the early fall of 2 B.C.E. Luke 3:23. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. W The meaning of His name is "He will save His people from their sins" Here then is the first lesson Luke teaches us on celebrating Christmas. We are told of them that they "returned glorifying and praising God." This combination, when truly grasped, produces witnesses. Music: In Dulci Jubilo, 14th Century German melody; harmony from Christmas Carols Old and New, 1871. He makes me lie down in green pastures. They had seen the angels and had come to worship the angels' King. It is a temporary fascination with something unusual. The Truth! Anyone can understand Christmas in just three sentences: I am a sinner. Tillich developed his understanding of salvation from the meaning of the Latin word salvus, which underlies it. If we are honest, we must admit that many persons, even Christians, celebrate it most by buying presents, decorating their houses, visiting relatives and friends, or watching football games on television. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Well, they had been out in the fields of Bethlehem in the middle of the night, watching over their sheep as they had for many hundreds of nights previously and as their fathers undoubtedly had before them. 7 This basic approach to salvation has been picked up in an avalanche of books on pastoral counseling, Christian psychiatry, and the cure of souls. F God did not forget! Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. That is the question. That is what Jesus Himself said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Together these verses teach that men are not naturally at peace with God but that God has acted to make peace through the Lord Jesus Christ. God has not forgotten. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Is Clifford Friend Still In Jail, Winchester, Ma Police Scanner, Schizencephaly Life Span, Cruise Ship Killer Vincent, Articles W