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 Christmas Thoughts

A very personal thing....


 

 The Christmas holidays are a strongly embedded fact of American culture.  That is true of almost all of the western world.  Even if the reason for the celebration is not acknowledged, the vast majority of households and individuals celebrate Christmas in one form or another in both Europe and in America, and many other countries as well.

     Many of us know Christmas is celebrated at the end of December because in millennia past leaders of the church replaced pagan winter solstice celebrations with honoring the birth of Christ instead.

     My brothers and sisters and I grew up in a world where Christ was the center of this celebration. Oh we did go to the department store and sit on Santa Claus' knee and tell him what we wanted for Christmas, but Santa Claus was only a fun fairy tale, very secondary to the reason for the season.

     It was as an adult that I became aware of the evidence that strongly suggested Jesus was not born in the winter, but rather in the spring during lambing season.  Over the years as more knowledge is accrued about the life and culture of Israel at the time of his birth,  and this knowledge is compared to the Bible and to the Talmud, this is almost a certainty.  

     There are further wonderful details that have come to light, which fulfills Old Testament prophecies and enhances understanding about God's Son being born of a virgin to become Emmanuel, God with us. 

     Dirty stable or cave full of manure, and rags to use as swaddling? Not so. 

     The shepherds were in the field abiding that night in early spring to be there when the ewes dropped their lambs. But the lambs that were born for the purpose of being the Passover sacrificial lambs had to be without spot or blemish. They were carefully tended and wrapped in clean white swaddling cloth.  The hay in that manger was clean and sweet, and when Mary wrapped her newborn son in swaddling clothes, he was being lovingly attended to as all sacrificial Passover lambs were. The Lamb of God laid in a manger, Emmanuel God with us, to become the perfect sacrifice for sin over 30 years later. 

     Time, history, and imagination, have changed many of our perceptions of what happened that night so long ago. We have a bare outline of the facts related to us in the New Testament. But what facts they are! Old testament prophecies fulfilled!
How worthy of celebration is the birth of the King of Kings! 

The Most Joyful and Blessed Christmas Celebration Wishes To All Of You!

 


 

 


 

 


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