HOW GOD MAKES ALL THINGS NEW

Should Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25th?

Every year just before the beginning of winter, we come to the end of a time of great joy and celebration that was held during the Feast of Tabernacles followed by a precious time of giving thanks to God at Thanksgiving. Each seasonal event ends with a grateful heart and wonder at the things God has shown us about life.

Then, just as we are feeling so happy and joyful and so warm and cozy, we have to get hit in the face with that same agonizing question that most Christians fear answering.

Should we, as children of God and born-again believers celebrate Christmas?

MOST PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEMS

Typically most Christian communities do celebrate Christmas; though they know that they have this date in error, and that Christ was probably born in the Fall during the feast of Sukkot, and that Mary and Joseph probably housed him in a temporary shelter called a sukkah that was most likely built for the animals to stay in during the festivities.

A whole lot of people seem to  know that by the time December 25th rolled around on that particular year; baby Jesus was about 3 or 4 months old and not a baby in a manger.

We all know that the pagans (over the centuries) have had so many different deities and false gods that celebrated their birthdays on December 25, (Nimrod, Saturn, Zeus, and many more.)

Most people seem to  know that this is the shortest and darkest day of the year and that witches and warlocks and demons love it for its darkness and the fact that winter is coming when the sun no longer shines so bright and their evil deeds can remain more hidden from the world.

Almost everyone has heard about the sun worship that used to take place even before some of these later pagan activities existed.

We know about the Druids, and basically everyone understands how children have annually been tricked into believing in Santa Clause (same letters in the name Santa as Satan, just rearranged) instead of the Messiah.

It becomes increasingly obvious that the importance of belief in God’s ways have been replaced in a lot of homes by materialism and worldliness and constant bombardment of many customary pagan practices.

We know all of this stuff, and that it has existed in some form, shape or fashion almost since the first sin took place in the garden and Satan was cast to earth.

In this world of constant bombardment of knowledge; we can’t help but to know how some men have willingly or unknowingly been tricked by the devil into observing the wrong times and dates for the birth of Jesus.

THE OLD TRICK OF WEARING DOWN THE FAITHFUL

It is all old news; and every year we come to examining this question all over again; simply because we understand that the things of God cannot be mixed with the things of Satan, and the truth cannot be mixed with a lie. It just would not be right.

This battle is old and tedious; and Satan would love to know that he has finally worn us out from it, and we have thrown in the towel and said “whatever happens – happens!”

Those things are very plain to us; but how plain to us is the fact that The One and Only God of Heaven and Earth is bigger than all of the lies and tricks of the devil?

HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

Who still believes that God can take what men and demons meant for harm and evil and turn those things to good?

I’m standing with Joseph (Son of Jacob/Israel) on this old saying; because in a nutshell; that is what God has put on my heart this year.  The story of Joseph, who was trapped in prison in the land of Egypt long before the Israelites were even trapped into slavery,  has so many great implications for our own lives in these modern times.

Many, many times in life things do come against us that seem and often ARE evil.  Joseph learned that God is able to use even these things intended for evil for good.

Have we forgotten that this can happen?

WE SERVE A GOD OF GREAT REVERSALS

In relation to what we deal with each year at Christmas, have we forgotten to look for this miracle that has happened over and over in almost all of the biblical stories?

It happened in the story of Joseph and his brothers. It happened in the story of Esther. Of course, there was the story of Jonah.   It happened in our history books on that first Hanukkah when the oil for the lamp was only enough for one day but it continued to burn for eight days.  The worst time it happened was when Jesus was crucified on a cross.

God kept changing evil to good and reversing bad situations over and over again.

I’m here to tell you; it has even happened with the whole concept of the season of Christmas!

What?

How so?

GOD’S THINKING IS SO FAR BEYOND OURS

Because when Satan tried to trick and deceive men into believing that Christ was born on a different date and time; God knew something that we didn’t think about. His mind is so far above and beyond our thinking!

God knew when the Christ child was conceived!

On the darkest, most evil of all nights; God sent down hope and placed His only begotten Son inside the womb of a young virgin named Mary.

Nine months before the time of the harvest; in late December the power of God overshadowed Mary and formed a child inside her womb that would grow for the next nine months into the Savior of the world.  He would be born in a sukkah (a temporary dwelling place) and laid inside a feeding trough during the late Fall while the whole world was busy celebrating the blessings of the harvest in Jerusalem.

In that little town called Nazareth, in the dead of winter, on a dark, dark night that seemed hopeless; God came to Mary and placed a holy child inside her womb.

EVEN IN NAZARETH

When evil was so rampant that God should have destroyed the world as He had done in the days of Noah; God decided to take another route.

He decided to send down love in the form of Christ.

God lit the spark that would grow into The Light of the World, and for nine long months Mary waited patiently and lovingly to see what else God would do when she introduced His Son into the planet that needed Him so desperately.

Today, we know what Mary held in her heart for all those months.

Now we know that Christ came down to live in the flesh and walk among us and redeem us.

This was the time of His conception; which is more importantly called The Incarnation.

Should we celebrate this?

According to all above logic; it probably happened around December 25th!

How could we NOT celebrate such a miracle?

If we are following the months of a typical year in the life of Christ, by now in that first year of his life (if the child was born in late September/early October) he would be three of four months old.

By now the wise men would be making their way toward the star; following it patiently in search of the promise of God.  They won’t arrive at their destination until the baby is about 18 months old; but by now they would be on their way because by now they would have seen the sign in the sky and they would have made preparations and would have begun their journey.

IT WASN’T ABOUT THE BABY; IT WAS ABOUT THE KING

Should we not celebrate that our King has come to us in the lowly form of a child?

The Pharaoh’s celebrated their birthdays because they were kings.  They commanded that the people do so.  Not Jesus; He came humbly as a child to His birth; but in actuality He was the ONLY REAL KING that ever came to earth.

Would this not be the REAL time to celebrate with joy?

Whether the child was one day old or eighteen months old; He was the King of Heaven!

Did not the angels sing for joy?

Do we not realize that the shepherds bowed in awe?

Did not the wise men start their journey?

Don’t you know that Mary and Joseph basked in the wonder of how great and wonderful God was to bring this child to their little home?

Yes!

We can shout a loud “Yes” to all of the above, BUT we celebrate that in the Fall when it actually happened!  Our family conforms to the correct calendar and celebrates the birth of Christ during The Feast of Tabernacles.

THE MOMENT OF INCARNATION

Yet; a great miracle happened in late December before that Fall birth.

Was it not a night in late December that Mary had first heard the voice of Gabriel say to her: “Greetings favored one! The LORD is with you!”

Mary trembled when she heard those words; for she knew of them from the scriptures. Those same words “The LORD is with you” were the ones that were given also to Moses at the time that he discovered God in the burning bush. (Exodus 3:12)

Perhaps Mary had studied the scriptures; after all she was a daughter of Abraham, and a descendant of King David.

Even though she had such a great heritage; she also appeared to be quite poor and lacking in many of the finer material things of life.

She came from Nazareth, the place of no prophets, no kings, no one worthy of note at all. Nazareth was just a little place in the Galilee region that was full of every-day common people living out their every-day, common lives.  Everyone knew and noted this about Nazareth.

THE POOR DESCENDANTS OF KING DAVID

Most have noted that Mary was probably poor, though we do not know for sure. She did eventually share the income from Joseph’s carpentry work. Joseph was a descendant of King David too, but by this time in history the Jewish people were living under the Roman occupation. The glory days of being a descendant of King David were long over.

It seems that Joseph was just an ordinary man who earned his living by working as a carpenter. This work might have been hard to find in those days. He was not living among the wealthy who could pay high prices for his labor.

Whatever Mary and Joseph lacked in the form of physical blessings was compensated for by their spiritual blessings.

They had God and they had each other. That was quite enough.

Mary was pledged to Joseph; but they were not yet living together.

A TROUBLING GREETING

It was during this time that Mary was visited by Gabriel bringing those troubling words “Hail Mary, full of grace; the LORD is with thee!”

Many seem to think Mary was troubled by the fact that an angel was standing before her; but that wasn’t what bothered her so much; it was that greeting; those haunting words – “the LORD is with you!”

Why was this young girl not just pleased to know that the LORD was with her?

We have to wonder; why did this cause her to feel so troubled?

Then we learn from her fear, that Mary knew the Torah.

We begin to grasp the fact that she had studied it extensively.

How could that be?

Women were not taught to read back in those days, nor did they have the opportunity to go to school like the men did.

Mary grasping the significance of these particular words from the scriptures being repeated in her ears was very unusual for a woman of her position in life.

Perhaps she had somehow come to sit at the feet of the great teachers when no one was paying attention. Maybe she was listening as she went about her chores when the boys were being taught Torah, which they always had to memorize.

Can’t you just see Mary un-obviously soaking in every word that they were being taught?

A WOMAN WHO LOVED THE HOLY SCRIPTURES

Perhaps she had also learned much from her cousin Elizabeth, whose husband was a priest at the Temple.

Elizabeth seems to have loved and mentored Mary.

Perhaps Elizabeth had learned from her husband and had patiently mentored Mary from what she had been taught. Mary’s life was full of family that were full of the Spirit of God and perhaps she had just soaked it into her subconscious at random family times and conversations around the table as they grew up together.

All we really know is that Mary KNEW.

We don’t know why Mary knew these facts; but it is obvious that she KNEW the Torah because she had astutely recognized the fact that any time someone was being called out by God to do a daunting task those very same words “The LORD is with you” were always spoken.

These same words had been repeated to great servants of God over and over, like a pattern neatly laid out by God. When Mary’s ears and heart heard the angel proclaim “The LORD is with you” she probably knew instantly that she was about to receive an invitation from God to play a major role in His plan for mankind.

Do you see anything pagan about this?

Can you REALLY see any reason at all as to why we should not celebrate this very crucial moment in history?

THE ASSURANCE OF GOD’S PRESENCE

Mary instantly recognized these words that God had spoken to Moses.

She knew the whole story. Moses had considered himself unworthy and unequipped to carry out his mission. He was afraid. God had assured Moses by stating that He would be with him. Now, God was doing the same thing for Mary.

Moses could not have faced Pharaoh and led the people out of bondage without God’s supernatural help. Mary could not give birth to the Savior of the Word by herself; but she had faith in a supernatural God. She knew enough to realize that with God all things are possible.

These things were not just words from the Torah to her. Her love and devotion to God had prepared her heart for this day. She had been listening to God, praying, learning and leaning into God’s will all along; from the very beginning of her young life.

Mary knew and loved the story of Moses. She had considered the details. These details of that story helped her to know and recognize the weight of her own moment of destiny.

Perhaps that is what helped her to give the answer that she gave; the answer that greatly pleased God so much that He proclaimed her blessed above all women.

THE WEIGHT OF RESPONSIBILITY

Though Mary sensed and knew what the greeting meant; she also knew that such divine callings through history usually came with the need for great sacrifice and held great challenges for the one who was being greeted.

Mary realized she was about to be drawn out of her comfort zone.

She would go from a cozy, simple life to a very challenging and complicated life.

Mary must have felt her life that required the simple day-to-day faith for small things was quickly moving to a life that would require faith of eternal consequences.

In just one tiny moment things went from very, very simple to very, very complicated.

This is life.

It happens to all of us in different ways at different times.

With Mary’s answer to God the most significant moment of all time was confirmed.

God was with Mary, as He is always with all of us when we come to those tough times when our answers to His questions are all that will ever matter again.

THE WHOLE WORLD CAN CHANGE IN JUST ONE MOMENT OF TIME

We can always be assured in these life-changing moments that God is there and He is with us.

The angel; Gabriel, continued to reassure Mary. “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Once again we see Mary’s insight into the Torah. She knew that one of the first people to find favor with God had been Noah.

Noah had found so much favor with God that God saved him as well as his family and allowed him to be the father of a whole new world.

God used Noah to make all things new.

Then God covenanted with Noah in the midst of a world full of evil and sin.

Mary knew this was a covenant moment in her own life.

She might have pondered the situation and asked herself if God was going to use her life to make all things new.

Mary must have also thought of Abraham.

Because Abraham was favored by God he had received a covenant from God that brought blessings to all the nations of the earth. God had surely used the life of Abraham to make all things new.

GOD IS CONTINUALLY MAKING ALL THINGS NEW

Mary must have sensed this great responsibility that went along with finding favor with God.

She must have known that if the person whom God favored did not follow through with God’s plan and keep the task that God had required of them, even when favored, that the whole world might lose the chance for hope again, and the newness of life would possibly be lost forever.

The young virgin must have felt this heavy responsibility before her answer.

WHEN YOUR FAITH IS LARGER THAN YOUR FEARS

Mary’s faith was bigger than her fears.

This young girl’s God was larger than any earthly troubles that she would have to bear.

She gathered all the courage within her soul and said those beautiful words: “I am a servant of the LORD, let it be done unto me as you say.”

Once again God used one of His faithful servants to make all things new.

THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

This probably happened on the deepest, darkest night of the history of mankind. God came down in the form of flesh to live inside the womb of Mary.

Christ came to earth in the form of Immanuel – God with us.

This is what I celebrate on December 25th each year.

I’m thinking of the miracle of Incarnation.

My heart is pondering the miracle of God coming to live with mankind.

I’m celebrating the darkest night turning to the brightest light of the world; Jesus!

This is the time of the year that I’m pondering hope, and how it springs eternal into our hearts because Mary was a woman of great courage; and God was a God of the greatest love ever spent.

I’m considering the REAL moment that God Himself decided to reset history.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE DATES

The dates are right.

All of the truth is there.

If Elizabeth was six months pregnant at the time that Mary went to her right after the conception of Christ; and if Zachariah had been serving his priestly course in the Temple as history records in the first few weeks of June, that would make the time that Mary went to Elizabeth (six months after Zachariah’s course was up) right around late December.

Most likely the CONCEPTION of Christ took place on December 25th.

God loves to perform great reversals.

He loves taking what was wrong in the sight of men and intended for evil and making it right.  If you don’t believe this; read about Esther, read about Joseph (Son of Jacob), read about Daniel, read about Nehemiah, study the life of Paul, or almost any other famous biblical character that ever lived.

God is always bringing great reversals and replacing what men meant for evil with God’s goodness and mercy and grace.

On December 25th; the date that so many pagans say their gods were born; God sent The TRUE Light of the World down to live inside the womb of a young virgin.

I do not speak of the BIRTH of Christ; but I speak of the CONCEPTION of Christ.

This act of God which Gabriel announced to Mary in the Annunciation became the greatest reversal of all of human history.

Nothing could ever top this!

Once again God had overcome evil and wickedness with His love and grace and mercy.

It was the greatest miracle that has ever happened; or ever will happen again.

SHOULD WE NOT CELEBRATE MIRACLES OF GOD?

Should we not celebrate the miracle?

The timing is RIGHT for the miracle of CONCEPTION.

What do you think we celebrate at Passover?  Why would coming out of Egypt be okay to be celebrated; but not the REAL MESSIAH coming to earth to bring us out of even greater bondage and slavery to sin?

They did celebrate deliverance at Hanukkah.

Also; they celebrated deliverance in the story of Esther.

They did celebrate deliverance when the whole city of Nineveh bowed their knees to God because of that gospel message from a reluctant prophet named Jonah.

IF YOU THINK IN TERMS OF ANNUNCIATION AND INCARNATION; WHAT IS NOT TRUTH?

This is the truth of the season that mankind has called Christmas.

Is there any reason not to celebrate such an awesome, glorious impossible miracle from Heaven?

I don’t think so.

The Incarnation truly happened; and it seems that the date concerning Christ’s conception is biblical and accurate for December 25th on our present calendars.

We are witnesses of the results of this one moment of history that  lives on in a million different ways. It was a holy moment in time that should never be forgotten.

So why did God not tell us to celebrate it in the scriptures?

SOME THINGS DO NOT REQUIRE WORDS

Did you not hear that the angels sang?

Were you not aware that the shepherds came?

Did you not realize that within nine months the child was born?

Have you not read about John leaping for joy in the womb of Elizabeth when Mary walked into the room with Christ?

Was John not celebrating even before he was born that The Son of God was coming to redeem mankind?  Wasn’t John the one to prepare the way for us to believe?

Some things do not require words.

Such things must come from deep and silent from the heart.

DID YOU HEAR THE WORDS OF MARY’S SONG?

If you were not listening to all of the above celebrations; did you not know that Mary sang her song called The Magnificat?

Here are her words and they are recorded in the scriptures in Luke 1:46-55:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord.  And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.  For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden.  For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.  For he that is mighty hath magnified me and holy is his Name.  And his mercy is on them that fear him; throughout all generations.  He hath showed strength with his arm, he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.  He hath put down the mighty from their seat: and hath exalted the humble and meek.  He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.  He remembering his mercy hath helped his servant Israel.  As he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed forever.

Do you not hear in the words of Mary’s song of joy how God has brought down the proud and elevated those who serve Him?

Is this moment in history not God breaking pagan altars and smashing sacred stones?

Also; is this moment in history not The Only God bringing His good into an evil world and reversing the acts of pagans?

On December 25th each year; I choose to rejoice with Mary!

THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLE

If you can’t celebrate this moment of history with God; you can’t celebrate any of it.  All of the rest spun out from this very moment in time.

Don’t let anyone rob you of December 25th and the final summation of what it held for us in history.

All of the bad, the pagan dates and births and myths, were overcome with one young girl’s willingness to be a servant of God and a Mighty God doing the impossible gloriously!

One little moment in time reversed all the evil that ever existed.

God once again used one of His faithful servants to make all things new.

Most likely the conception of Christ happened on a very cold, dark night in December.  The shadow of the great light that was celebrated at Hanukkah had grown into an even greater miracle; Emmanuel – Christ with Us!  Hanukkah could have been going on; but this was ONE dark December night; only one night.

Nine months later, in the Fall and most likely during The Feast of Tabernacles; Jesus was born!

LIFT UP YOUR VOICE AND SING YOUR SONG

Moses had a song.

Hannah had a song.

Mary had a song.

Shall we not all sing and give glory to God for this miracle?

Let God do in your heart what He did in the heart of Mary.  Do not be afraid.  Leave the old bad behind and come into the new good of God’s truth.

God has come to live among mankind; let the whole earth rejoice and be glad!

The most evil of all nights has been replaced by a bright and shinning light called Christ The Lord.

And that my friends is how God convinced me to once again begin to participate in the joy of the season of Christmas; even with all the knowledge about paganism that I had gained.  I learned something very important:

God is bigger than anything that satan can do!

He can reverse it all in just one dark winter night.

With God all things are possible; and he used this night of December 25th even with all of its ugliness and evil to bring us the most beautiful gift ever given to mankind.

All of the pagan things were totally reversed with this great miracle; just as the Temple was cleansed and the miracle of the light came during the dedication of lights on that long ago Hanukkah which followed close after the miracle of the Conception of our Savior.

Do not be afraid!

Christ has overcome the world!