What does Christmas mean to you?
When did Christmas begin?
Ancient Roman pagans had a festival called Saturnalia, a celebration dedicated to the deity Saturn. It was a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25, aligning with the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice is the longest night and shortest day of the year. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
During the 2nd or 3rd century, the Church father Cyprian remarked: "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born." In other words, the Savior's birth was being observed at the Winter Solstice.
In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.
The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
Prior to this there were different dates believed to be Jesus birthday, including: January 5th, January 6th, March 25th, March 28th, April 19th, April 20th, May 20th, August 21st, November 17th and November 19th.
When was Jesus born?
While history paints a fair suggestion of the year that Jesus was born, we really have no agreed upon month and day for Jesus birth.
What do we know about Jesus birth?
We know only what God has revealed to us, but He has revealed a great deal to us, and He wrote revealed it long before Jesus came in the flesh.
Prophecies of the events of Jesus birth, given and fulfilled:
Born of the Seed of Woman
GEN 3:15
GAL 4:4
Born of a Virgin
ISA 7:14
MAT 1:18; MAT 1:24-25
Son of God
PSA 2:7
MAT 3:17
Seed of Abraham
GEN 22:18
MAT 1:1
Son of Isaac
GEN 21:12
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:34
Tribe of Judah
GEN 49:10
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:33
Family Line of Jesse
ISA 11:1
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:32
House of David
JER 23:5
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:31
Born at Bethlehem
MIC 5:2
MAT 2:1
Presented with Gifts
PSA 72:10
MAT 2:1; MAT 2:11
Herod Kills Children
JER 31:15
MAT 2:16
How does knowing and understanding these prophecies help to grow or sustain your faith?
When did Christmas begin?
Ancient Roman pagans had a festival called Saturnalia, a celebration dedicated to the deity Saturn. It was a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25, aligning with the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice is the longest night and shortest day of the year. The festival began when Roman authorities chose “an enemy of the Roman people” to represent the “Lord of Misrule.” Each Roman community selected a victim whom they forced to indulge in food and other physical pleasures throughout the week. At the festival’s conclusion, December 25th, Roman authorities believed they were destroying the forces of darkness by brutally murdering this innocent man or woman.
During the 2nd or 3rd century, the Church father Cyprian remarked: "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born...Christ should be born." In other words, the Savior's birth was being observed at the Winter Solstice.
In the 4th century CE, Christianity imported the Saturnalia festival hoping to take the pagan masses in with it. Christian leaders succeeded in converting to Christianity large numbers of pagans by promising them that they could continue to celebrate the Saturnalia as Christians.
The problem was that there was nothing intrinsically Christian about Saturnalia. To remedy this, these Christian leaders named Saturnalia’s concluding day, December 25th, to be Jesus’ birthday.
Prior to this there were different dates believed to be Jesus birthday, including: January 5th, January 6th, March 25th, March 28th, April 19th, April 20th, May 20th, August 21st, November 17th and November 19th.
When was Jesus born?
While history paints a fair suggestion of the year that Jesus was born, we really have no agreed upon month and day for Jesus birth.
What do we know about Jesus birth?
We know only what God has revealed to us, but He has revealed a great deal to us, and He wrote revealed it long before Jesus came in the flesh.
Prophecies of the events of Jesus birth, given and fulfilled:
Born of the Seed of Woman
GEN 3:15
GAL 4:4
Born of a Virgin
ISA 7:14
MAT 1:18; MAT 1:24-25
Son of God
PSA 2:7
MAT 3:17
Seed of Abraham
GEN 22:18
MAT 1:1
Son of Isaac
GEN 21:12
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:34
Tribe of Judah
GEN 49:10
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:33
Family Line of Jesse
ISA 11:1
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:32
House of David
JER 23:5
LUK 3:23; LUK 3:31
Born at Bethlehem
MIC 5:2
MAT 2:1
Presented with Gifts
PSA 72:10
MAT 2:1; MAT 2:11
Herod Kills Children
JER 31:15
MAT 2:16
How does knowing and understanding these prophecies help to grow or sustain your faith?
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