Berean Break
December 13, 2015 broadcast
A New Testament Christmas — part 1
by George Sinkie

[printable PDF of part 1][audio MP3 of part 1]
[advance to: part 2]

     Good morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George A. Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us here this morning.  If you enjoy studying simply the word of God and are tired of all the confusion and error taught by denominationalism, then you will truly enjoy this program.  These lessons are non-denominational, because they are based directly out of the word of God.  I encourage you to pick up your Bible and check out what is said here, I believe you will find the truth is taught.  If you believe that an error is taught then please contact me and show me from the word of God my error.  As we begin this morning let’s have a prayer:

Great God in heaven, We praise You and thank You for this day in our lives.  Help each of us to open our hearts and our minds to Your will.  Help us also to trust You, to trust that You revealed all of Your will for us to us in Your word.  We thank You for Jesus and for the sacrifice He made that we can be saved.  We also offer this prayer in Jesus’ Name, AMEN!!

     Today I would like to look at Christmas in the New Testament.  Christmas is claimed by many to be the birthday of Christ.  In the denominational realm this is one of the two most widely recognized religious holidays.  Along with Easter, Christmas is considered the beginning and Easter the end of Christ’s life here on this Earth and then the resurrection of Christ from the grave.  Most people are surprised to find out that neither of these holidays have their origin in the Scriptures.
     First off, I want you to know that I do appreciate that so many people are thinking about Christ at this time.  It would be great if Christ would be in their thoughts all year long.  What would be even better is if the truth about Christ was what they were seeking.  Let’s consider some ideas about Christmas at this time.

     Since we can read the history of the church of Christ in the New Testament, what is the historical celebration of Christmas within the Lord’s church.  As always when we are looking for the Lord’s will and instruction on a topic we must turn over to the Scriptures to see what God tells us.  Since Christmas is to be the celebration of the birth of Christ, what instruction is there in the word of God for birthdays?

     The Bible mentions the celebration of two birthdays; neither of them were Christ’s, and perhaps alludes to others.  First let’s look at the possible allusion.  Turn with me over to Job 1:4, where it says, “
And his sons (that is referring to Job’s sons), And his sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
     The phrase “
each one on his day,” may have reference to their birthday.  This is not an absolute, but we do see some type of partying going on here.
     There are two references to a birthday in the Scriptures though.  One in the Old Testament and one in the New.  First, let’s look at the Old Testament mention of someone keeping their birthday.  Turn over to the book of Genesis with me to chapter 40.  In Genesis 40:20-23, “
Thus it came about on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.  And he restored the chief cupbearer to his office, and he put the cup into Pharaoh’s hand; but he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.  Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
     This passage in no way indicates that we need to celebrate anyone’s birthday — especially not Christ’s birthday.
     Let’s consider the birthday in the New Testament.  As we turn over to Matthew 14, we read about Herod’s birthday in verses 6 and following.  Let’s read Matthew 14:6-10, ‘
But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.  Thereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.  And having been prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests.  And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison.
     Again this passage doesn’t give the indication that we ought to celebrate the birth of Christ.  There is nothing at all in the Bible about celebrating the birthday of the King of kings, the Prince of Peace.

     From the Scriptural standpoint the early Christians did not celebrate the birthday of Jesus at all.  No such thing was ever practiced until long after the last apostle died.  In about 354 A.D., Liberius, called by some, a Roman Catholic, decreed December 25 as the “official” day of Christ’s birth.  What was the basis of this decree?  Not the Bible, because God’s word doesn’t even hint at this date.  He was influenced by the pagan religions of Rome who celebrated the Sun-god at this time of year.  His selection of December 25 was purely arbitrary.  It has no biblical basis.

     In a Family Circus one time, the kids had set up a typical nativity.  The dad notices that there is a Spiderman figure in it and says he doesn’t remember reading about Spiderman being there.  That is true, but there were a number of other problems shown as well.  Now let’s consider some of the myths that surround this holiday.
     The first one, we already considered a little bit, but let’s look at it more, was Jesus born on December 25th?  We are not told what day of the year Jesus was born.  There has been dispute among the teachers of these myths that it was December 25th through the early part of January.  One thing that kind of dates what time of year Jesus was born is in Luke 2:8, “
And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night.
     Shepherds stayed out in the fields with their flocks during the spring and summer, not during the middle of the winter.  The winter or colder time of their year run from about October to February, so during these months they would not have been out in the fields with their flocks.  So we see that December 25th is not revealed to us nor does it fit with what we are told, therefore it is a myth.

     The next myth concerns the wise men or Magi that came to give gifts to and worship the king of the Jews.  There are actually a couple of myths here.  First, how many wise men were there?  Well if you drove around town and looked at what are called nativities almost without exception you would think that there were three.  If you asked people on the street how many there were, again almost without exception you would hear three.  This is a myth, because the Bible does not reveal how many there were.  Consider Matthew 2:1-2, as a typical example of how the Bible speaks of them, ‘
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.”
     Magi is a plural word and some translations use Wise Men, which is what they were.  All that we can accurately say from this is that there were more than one.  There may have been two or three or a hundred, we simply are not told.  I suppose most people think that there were three because they brought three gifts but that is not sound reasoning.  Three is possibly the correct answer but it does not have to be the right number.

     Another myth concerning the Magi, is also depicted in many nativities.  If I were to ask you, “where was Jesus when the Magi visited him?” what would you say?  Many would answer in the manger — after all look at the nativities — but that is a direct contradiction of the word of God.  By the time the Magi come Joseph and Mary and Jesus have been to Jerusalem for the purification process of the Old Law.  As we read about in Luke 2:22, “
And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
     From Leviticus 12 we learn that for a male child this purification took place when the child was 40 days old.  Let’s read Leviticus 12:1-8, ‘
THEN the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her menstruation she shall be unclean.  And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.  Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed.  But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; and she shall remain in the blood of her purification for sixty-six days.
     ‘And when the days of her purification are completed, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting, a one year old lamb for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering.  Then he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood.  This is the law for her who bears a child, whether a male or a female.  But if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’

     This offering has already taken place when the Magi arrive in Bethlehem, because after the Magi leave Joseph is instructed by God to flee to Egypt.

     Unfortunately our time is up for this week.  I hope you have enjoyed our study on Christmas, and I how you take some time to check it out in the Scriptures.  Lord willing we will continue this study next week.

     This Berean Break is brought to you, in love, by the pre-denominational and non-denominational church of Christ that meets at 1600 East First Avenue in Mitchell SD.  You are welcome to meet with us at 10:00 Sunday mornings for our assembly followed by a time of Bible Study, also on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 for an additional time to study God’s Word.  If you have a comment or a sincere Bible question, please phone us at 605-770-5555.  We want to remind you of the non-denominational TV program, “KNOW YOUR BIBLE” on KDLT-TV at 9:00 on Sunday mornings.  This is George A. Sinkie for the Lord’s church, here in Mitchell, good-bye for now.  Remember that we care about you and may God bless you as you do His will.

[printable PDF of part 1][audio MP3 of part 1]
[advance to: part 2]



      © George Sinkie; used by permission. rev.151209
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