THE SEASON HAS CHANGED
Lights are appearing all around the neighborhood.
The pumpkins are gone and the angels and manger scenes have come out to greet us. Traffic has picked up on the weekends and people are bustling about. Many of us are very busy but something seems just a little bit happier. Could it be Christmas?
Christmas is in the air and the prince of the power of the air called Satan can’t seem to change it or make it go away.
This may sound strange coming from me; such a Hebraic thinker. If you know me, you know that I live and die by God’s calendar and adore keeping His holy days. Why would I be thinking about such secular things?
Well; just to be honestly specific; angels and Jesus are not secular; nor are they pagan.
SEPARATING THE TRUTH FROM FICTION
It is true that I believe Jesus was born in the season of fall (not winter) and I heartily celebrated that fact this past year at the Feast of Tabernacles. That is how I celebrate the birth of Christ every year.
I love for the things I’m celebrating to be accurate and historically true. It is NOT in my nature to celebrate anything false or wrong. So why would I celebrate Christmas?
Because; I can do math.
DOING THE MATH
If Jesus was born in the fall of the year; that would make his time of Conception (remember when Gabriel came to Mary and said that The Holy Spirit of God would overshadow her and she would have a child from God?) around late December. Count nine months from late December to September and you will be able to do the math too. A Winter conception guarantees a Fall birth.
In the deepest, darkest times of the winter; a young virgin began the task of bringing the Son of God into the world.
Can you imagine what that must have been like?
If you are a Christian; you should be able to easily imagine it because this is the same job that God has given to all of us, just on a spiritual more than physical level. As Mary was bringing Christ into the world to save us; so we who have been saved should be bringing Christ into the world of others. This is the wonder of it all. It is the part of the story we should never forget.
Because He came to live and be as one of us to save us; we called Him Emmanuel.
CELEBRATING EMMANUEL
At Christmas I am celebrating Emmanuel. It isn’t about his birthday; it IS about His every day life on planet earth and beyond.
I am remembering His beautiful life story. I’ll be spending time just thinking of all the miracles that God has provided through Him for His people to be saved. I realize that little baby in the manger would be about three months old in December (or not even born if you want to go back a year.); all the more reason to celebrate that He WAS born and to stop to remember how all of it happened.
WHAT ABOUT HANUKKAH?
Then comes the time men have called Hanukkah. Hanukkah isn’t one of God’s Holy Days either. It is a holiday proclaimed by mankind in order to remember something wonderful that God did.
This mankind-proclaimed historical holiday is typically celebrated in December. Hanukkah is all about the miracle of light that God provided for His people in a time when it seemed impossible to even hope.
Sometimes I think we are in the same type of place today.
If you think even a bit about Hanukkah and the Hanukkah story proclaiming a Great Miracle of Light from God; you begin to realize that Hanukkah was a foreshadowing of Christ or a symbolic prophecy of the coming of Christ. He is, after all; the light of the world. Hanukkah symbolically told the story of Messiah before we even KNEW His story.
The words of a Passover song echo in my mind and tumble down into this present season of Christmas/Hanukkah. They go like this; “there can be miracles; when you believe.” I’ll give that song a great big “AMEN!”
Because I believe in the Holy Days of God and keep them with great intention; a lot of our cherished readers are either Messianic believers or they belong to certain segments of The Church of God. These two amazing groups of people that I highly identify with do not believe in the celebration of Christmas. Because they showed me so many other amazing truths; I used to agree with them. About this time of the year every year I start praying not to lose their readership because some of the things that I believe are “okay” seem pagan to them. I believe the Apostle Paul wrestled with the same such things; so I am in good company here. My desire is not to offend, but to witness. God has shown me a further truth and I simply wish to live it out. I hope to offend no one in doing so.
So what exactly does Christmas mean to me?
CELEBRATING MESSIAH
It means realizing the great miracle of how Jesus came to this earth to save us. THE GOD of Heaven and Earth came to live among us! He loved us so much that He died to save us from our own sins.
On the deepest darkest day of the year, in the winter’s cold and probably in the night, He came to be conceived within the womb of a faithful young virgin.
God came to live as a human!
He went through being formed and growing inside his Mother’s womb just as all of the rest of us. For nine months; the world didn’t even realize that He had come. For a little while his truth was hidden from the world. But now we KNOW that in December His precious life began inside a human womb.
THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
I look at the lights on the tree and I think of Jesus. That thought could never be pagan. Jesus often used the common things of the earth as examples in His parables. The lights of my tree are like a parable that say Jesus is The Light of The World.
I celebrate Hanukkah and keep the same traditions that He kept when he was a young boy growing up and also later as He grew into a man. The stories blend right in with the meaning of the miracle of Christmas.
For all of these things I imitate Him; and I remember Him. It is a pure form of worship. My meditations during these days are strictly Christian in every way.
Mary and Joseph, the wise men, the shepherds and the angels; they ARE all parts of His life story. It wasn’t a story that lasted for just one day. It was a story that lasted for 33 years. Then; the miracle within the miracle was the fact that His story has actually lasted now for over 2000 years. All over the earth it is still being told. Name one other story that has lasted that long in the history of mankind. I don’t think you will be able to do so.
A SEASON DEDICATED TO JESUS
So when you see me celebrating Christmas; know that I’m putting God’s Son’s Name upon a season dedicated just to Him. It is not taking His name in vain to honor and adore Him. That is worship in its truest form.
I know that Christmas isn’t actually the correct time of His birth; but His birth was only the beginning of SO MUCH MORE. Actually; I’m going back BEFORE His birth to His very moments of Conception. That was the true time that His life as a man that was still God began.
By honoring Him at Christmas I’m celebrating all that He did as He lived and walked among mankind. Further; I’m thanking Him for the bravery and the courage it took to become like us and to live among us in the flesh. To be human; yet to be God. So many had to know how human He was before they could even begin to see how God He is.
JESUS IS THE REASON
So when my friends who are very educated in the things of God but yet aren’t educated about this whole truth say “Jesus is the reason for the season” I have to agree! He is the reason for EVERY season of our lives.
Morover; I know that God is the great reverser. He is always taking something that Satan meant for evil; (the lies and deceptions about the story of Christmas) and turning them to good. Like in the stories of Esther and Joseph and so many others. God has taken the fact that men have changed dates and times and used the dates and times they changed as the hidden time for His Son’s Conception. God lives outside of time, so it is so easy for Him to do this. We have trouble grasping it.
So what could be more joyful?
Did Esther and the Jews not celebrate when the things of the evil Haman were turned around at Purim? When God freed the people by providing the king with the hidden truth; did they not celebrate?
CELEBRATING THE HIDDEN TRUTHS
The part of Christmas that is worldly; the commercialism and the superficial things that are not true or worth rejoicing over are still put aside at our house. I’ve written articles in the past about how we have handled these situations. I’ll link them here for anyone who is interested:
If you have never pondered such things before, you may find these articles to be very eye-opening. I’m not just writing the words; but I am sharing my life journey with you in hopes that it may be meaningful or provide some answers to questions you might have pondered.
REMEMBERING JESUS
One of the last things Jesus said to his followers as He made His way to the cross was “remember me.” This season called Christmas is only a time of remembering ALL of Jesus, past, present and future and celebrating His Conception. We think a lot about the Annunciation and the journey of Mary as she carried God inside her womb for nine months.
What could be more of a miracle than that?
Christmas is a time of celebrating God’s miracles to us. So many of those miracles started out as something that was hidden.
We think of how God loved us so much that He chose to dwell among us.
THE GIFTS OF LOVE
He gave us everything; and we love to imitate this fact by giving to one another. This giving of gifts isn’t the main point though; it is more about being together with our hearts in tuned to God and each other. We like to give the gifts of time and service more than the packages under the tree. The greatest gift of all is love. That is ever on our hearts and minds during this season.
God is love.
If you are one of those people who still believes that Christmas is wrong and pagan you may be interested in all of these other seasonal articles that I’ve written on this subject. I admire your determination to always do the right thing; but make sure it IS the right thing. I spent eight years of my life giving up these things that celebrate true life and Emmanuel.
GOD TEACHES US AT OUR OWN PACE
One day God showed me the truth; then I understood the reversal of the facts and how He played on the facts given from a world gone wrong. It opened my heart to celebrate Christmas again and I’ve not looked back.
I will say the years I did not observe DID teach me so much about not being worldly and not being caught up on the ways of men instead of the ways of God. Something good usually comes from everything. When the time is right; God teaches us. When we mature He brings us into a place of balance and even more truth than we knew before.
Only God can open your eyes. Pray for Him to lead you in the right paths. I am not trying to convince anyone to go against God’s will for them. I can simply testify to the fact that keeping the Holy Days of God along with celebrating His Conception in December when the world is doing its own version of the day; has brought so much joy and balance into my own life.
After many years of knowing the further truth – I can joyfully say “Merry Christmas!” again.
I have no guilt; only joy.
Also; I pray that God will lead you to that place of balanced truth and peace. It is a wonderful place to live.
Welcome to the Christmas Season!