What is Christmas?

Christmas is a holiday celebrated around the world each year by some one billion people. But what is it? Where did it come from?

According to Webster’s, the English word “Christmas” is from the Old English Cristes mæsse, which means literally, “Christ’s mass.” In short, it describes a religious celebration honoring Jesus Christ.

The manner in which this celebration is observed has varied widely, both over time and from place to place. In fact, the profound reason for the celebration is often lost in all the trappings surrounding it. Yet as the word itself reveals, the reason for the holiday is the remembrance of the birth of Jesus Christ as Emmanuel; that is, “God With Us.”

Although we don’t know for certain the actual date of Christ’s birth (see The Physical Evidence), history indicates that His birth was celebrated as far back as the year 200, as recorded by Clement of Alexandria. The present Western date of December 25 for the celebration was established in the fourth century by the Emperor Constantine.

Whatever the actual date, it is noteworthy that the Western calendar itself is centered on the birth of Christ: The date on each day’s newspaper marks the time from Christ’s birth to the present.

Such a significant event—alleged by Christians to be the only historical, personal visit of God to earth—bears consideration by everyone.

How can we know it is true? We will briefly review the following:

• The Historical Records
• The Physical Evidence, and
• A Gift Just for You

1. The earlier the manuscripts, the greater confidence of their integrity.
   
   In contrast to all other ancient writings, the New Testament has manuscripts that date very close to the originals. The John Rylands fragment of the Gospel of John is dated about A.D. 120. The Apostolic Fathers (students of the eyewitness apostles) quote extensively from New Testament writings before A.D. 110. Some scholars date the Magdalen manuscript (a fragment of Matthew) to about A.D. 66, within 35 years of Jesus Himself!
   
   Conclusion: The early manuscripts of the Gospel records demonstrate that our New Testament has eyewitness integrity, and eliminate the theory that it was derived from later legends.
   
2. The more manuscripts, the greater confidence of their integrity.
   
   The number of hand-copied manuscripts of all other ancient literature ranges from 1–1,757. Archaeologists have found 24,406 New Testament manuscripts from many sources and languages! They are continuous from the first to the fifteenth centuries.
   
   Conclusion: The Gospel records we have today are the genuine articles, transmitted by thousands of manuscripts from the eyewitnesses to the printing press—and to us—making them the most reliable historical writings of antiquity, bar none!

Jesus: The Focus and Fulfillment of Prophecy

There are at least 456 Old Testament prophetic references that pertain to a future person which all were fulfilled in the life of Jesus.

The most common objection is that the fulfillment of these prophecies was by chance. Science and mathematics professor Peter Stoner estimated a reasonable probability that one man might have fulfilled just 8 of these 456 prophecies at one chance in 10¹⁷.

1 chance in 100,000,000,000,000,000

Take 10¹⁷ silver dollars and cover the state of Texas two feet deep. Mark one and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and have him pick up only one silver dollar and hope it to be the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one? This is the same chance the prophets would have had of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in any one man… (Peter W. Stoner, Science Speaks, Moody Press, p. 107).

And these odds don’t account for the other 448 prophecies also fulfilled in the person of Jesus!

The Physical Evidence

The Roman Census

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria” (Luke 2:1-2).

• Papyrus census forms have been found dating from the first centuries B.C. and A.D., proving the practice was common during Jesus’ lifetime and in His locality.
  
• A recently discovered coin bearing the name Quirinius identifies him as proconsul of Syria and Cilicia from 11 B.C. until after 4 B.C. This places him on the scene for the biblical Roman census, thought by many to have taken place from 8-5 B.C.

Date of Jesus’ Birth

“And she gave birth to her first-born, a son…” (Luke 2:7).

• Herod the Great died in the spring of 4 B.C., yet he was very much alive when Jesus was born. Based on this fact, the date for the Roman census (above), and Jesus’ age when he began His ministry in A.D. 26–27 (“about 30” in Luke 3:23), Jesus’ birth must have been in the winter of 5–4 B.C.
  
• A sixth-century Roman monk placed the Nativity in the 753rd year from the founding of Rome, but his chronology was off by four to five years. His errant chronology was adopted in the Gregorian calendar, which is still used today.

James, brother of Jesus

“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” (Matthew 13:55)

• A bone box used for secondary burial at the time of Jesus was recently found in Jerusalem. Engraved on the side of the box was: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Determined recently to be authentic, and likely to refer to the biblical Jesus, this inscription is an enormously important affirmation of the historical truth of both Jesus and His family.

This and other physical evidence surrounding the birth of Jesus fully supports the biblical and historical records.

We conclude that, even today, there is no objective reason to doubt either Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, or the record of His life. Neither should we ignore the free gift He offers to each one of us.

Jesus is more like the gift of a great fitting pair of gloves than an ornament to admire. You have to “wear Him” to best appreciate His value. That’s why Jesus Himself said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, NASB). The truth about Christmas is all about living life to the fullest.

The problem with most Christmas gifts is that they don’t last. And we don’t either! The gift of Jesus carries a guarantee: the truth about Christmas—God with us—is that recipients are promised life with God after death.

The Bible says, “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b).

The Bible also says that “all have sinned” (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23a). 

But the gift of Jesus is about love and hope: “…God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). 

The day comes when the gift under the tree marked with your name becomes truly yours. When the gift is distributed, you receive and unwrap it, and discover its contents are just your size!

Likewise, we invite you to unwrap the truth about Christmas—God with us—to discover the peace and joy the gift of Jesus can bring to your heart. You’ll find it’s just your size! The Bible says that “as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12, NASB).

Let the Truth of Christmas set you free (John 8:36).

Do it now with this simple prayer:

We hope this brief FaithSearch content stimulated your thinking, and that it helped you to “unwrap” the truth about Christmas. We would love to hear from you if this material was helpful, or if you have any further questions. Don’t hesitate to CONTACT US here.

Taking the Next Step

If you have made a faith commitment to Jesus for the first time in your life, or if the Bible Learning Center has helped you to renew your faith in Christ, this is good! We encourage you to consider two matters of great importance to your future spiritual confidence and fulfillment in life:

First, the Bible says very clearly, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11,12). You have God’s promise that your eternal life began the very instant you received His free gift by placing your faith and trust in Jesus. Turn to this promise often for assurance.

Second, we also encourage you to grow in your relationship to God by getting to know Him more each day. The difference between a “so-so” existence and the abundant life Jesus promised is found in building your relationship with God through the study of His Word, the Bible.

“And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust Him, too, for each day’s problems… See that you go on growing in the Lord, and becoming strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught” (Colossians 2:6,7, TLB).

FaithSearch has prepared a book to help you do just that, called Growing Faith. It is available from our office, and we are offering this valuable resource FREE of charge to anyone who has made a faith commitment to Jesus Christ for the first time as a result of the Bible Learning Center. Simply Contact Us.

You can also take the self-paced course, FREE right here in the Bible Learning Center. We look forward to hearing from you.

If you would like more information, we encourage you to contact us as well. We offer a number of publications and events that may help you find answers to life’s most important questions.

For example, the book Surprised by Faith, by former skeptic and Ph.D. biologist Dr. Donald A. Bierle, tells the story of his personal, life-changing discoveries about God, the Bible and personal fulfillment. The information in the book is also offered as FaithSearch Discovery, a live event, video series or self-paced FREE course.