Yeshua’s Birthday

For believers in Yeshua, celebrating the birth of our Messiah should be (and is) a great and wonderful event. What greater occasion could be lifted up than a festival honoring the deliverance of our redeemer, our intercessor, our earthly manifestation of the Lord? He chose to come and dwell among us! But what about this holiday?

I think most scholars and students of the Scriptures agree that we don’t know exactly what day Yeshua was born. And this very uncertainty may have given the grinch a way to try to sneak off with the celebration, or at least have a few of us feel guilty about it.

But when was this great day? I’ve run across three concepts.

1. Recently our local newspaper, The Daily Oklahoman, printed local astronomer Wayne Wyrick’s view of the situation. He references orbits, time, "sliding equinoxes" and other astronomical phenomena to conclude that "Jesus was born in the spring, when new lambs were born, and the flocks had to be watched all night". Well, perhaps?

2. In his book "The Seven Festivals of the Messiah", Edward Chumney states that "the Scriptures seem to indicate to us that Yeshua was born during the fall festival season of Sukkot". He offers compelling reasoning and support for this view. Well, maybe?

3. Now, what about the mid-winter date of December 25? Where did this come from? Apparently, the early church father Hippolytus declared that Jesus was born on or about that day. Fourth-century Roman emperor Constantine declared and validated this date, and this tradition is in place to this date. But is it the real one? Well, probably not?

That covers spring, fall and winter. Summer anyone?

Our astronomer, noted above, suggests "For the early Christians, celebrating the birth of Christ was a major event in their lives. But they lived in an empire ruled by pagan Romans who strongly discouraged the new religion." So he theorizes that "the new Christians decided that Rome wouldn’t notice them if they celebrated their holiday during the Saturnalia [solstice celebration], so Dec.25 was chosen." Now this sounds plausible.

David Brickner, the Executive Director of Jews for Jesus, in the December 2000 newsletter, asks, "Could such traditions in Christmas celebrations be the devil’s plot to sow paganism into the body of Christ?" Indeed, there are those who believe the pagan roots and even some contemporary traditions (Santa comes to mind) are so pervasive that Believers ought not observe Christmas at all. The early-American Pilgrims and Puritans held this view. Brickner also wrote, "?we need not hold such a dark view of Christmas. It seems likely that the December celebration was promoted in order to replace pagan celebrations. It would have been a good choice on the part of early Christian leaders who wanted to establish Christ’s preeminence in the hearts of people from a wide array of cultures. If some of these people adapted familiar customs to worship Emmanuel, shouldn’t we rejoice? As long as the customs are not immoral, unbiblical or idolatrous, why not worship the Lord in ways that are meaningful within the context of one’s culture?" Well put, I think!

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Speaking of traditions, Hanukkah should also have an equal place in our hearts and home. After all, it came first. Hanukkah is about the miracle of one day’s worth of lamp oil lasting eight and the commemoration of the cleansing of the temple by Judas Maccabees. 1 Maccabees 4:30-59 tells the wonderful story of this restoration and the original celebration. The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) is a good opportunity to reflect on your own personal dedication and service to the Lord. Consider 1 Corinthians 3:16 - "Don’t you know that you people are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?"

There are distracters that say that this holiday has also been subverted by commercialism and mimics some of the pagan elements of Christmas. But does this mean that we should abandon this holiday also? I think not.

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In summary, the whole "point" of the positive traditions of the winter holidays is to summon meaningful and beneficial imagery. God gave us the ultimate gift, his son Yeshua. He was and is the unblemished sacrifice for our sins. He is our way of salvation. So, clean your temple and dedicate it to the Lord, open your heart and let the Holy Spirit enter in.

May God bless you all! Have a wonderful holiday season!