Christmas Worship and the Birth of Our Savior

By Dr. Bur Shilling

Christmas is perhaps the most treasured Christian holiday and at the same time, one of the least understood. Research suggests that large numbers of Americans are confused about the central reason for the holiday. Even evangelical believers cannot agree that the birth of Jesus is the most important factor of this national observance. Modern American culture has challenged the religious importance of Christmas. The media and retail stores have helped suppress the religious emphasis by asserting "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas."

So, the question is, "What is the truth about Christmas?" Is it found in the season's holiday music? Is the meaning in decorated trees and lighted city streets? Does commercialized gift-giving explain the purpose of the holiday? Perhaps it resides in Santa Claus and his magic-flying reindeer. So, where do we find the value in a holiday titled Christmas? The truth is found in the pages of the New Testament. Angels, shepherds, magi, a Jewish king, and the Roman Empire all play a part in the validity of the holiday.

How was Christmas planned in heaven? What does Scripture say about the incarnation? How did the shepherds find the Christ child in the darkness of a city without streetlights? How many magi arrived in Jerusalem to seek the new king? Where did they travel from? Why did they make the journey? What binds all these issues together around the birth of a baby in a small insignificant village? This volume presents the truth about an event the entire world uses to date its calendar.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888510926

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Preface

You Shall Call His Name Immanuel

How My Soul Praises the Lord

Heaven's Preparation for Christmas

Christmas Shepherds

Three Wise Guys

What is Christmas Worship?

Glossary

References

About the Author

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Christmas Worship and the Birth of Our Savior

Dr. Bur Shilling

ISBN 979-8-88851-091-9 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88851-092-6 (Digital)

Copyright © 2023 Dr. Bur Shilling

All rights reserved

First Edition

Scripture from English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise stated.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books

11661 Hwy 707

Murrells Inlet, SC 29576

www.covenantbooks.com

Preface

Over the years there have been repeated efforts to remove Christ from Christmas. Society seems more concerned about being politically correct than spiritually correct. Attempts have been made to remove Christmas carols from the public schools, to ban nativity scenes on the public property, to take the name of Jesus out of any connection with Christmas in public life. It has been a persistent and unrelenting push to remove any influence God may have on this holiday.

In a 1996, Barna Research Group sampling from a national survey¹ (where 88 percent identified themselves as Christians) found that of all the options possible only 37 percent of adults said the birth of Jesus was the most important aspect of Christmas. In the same poll, only 75 percent of evangelical Christians placed Jesus' birth as first importance on Christmas. Additional findings included; only 32 percent of those who identified themselves as fundamentalists gave that answer, only 29 percent of Catholics placed Jesus' birth first, and only 24 percent of theological liberals said the birth of Christ made Christmas important for them.

Bill O'Reilly says the American War on Christmas began in December 2004.² At that time, many businesses reflected the absence of Jesus at Christmas. Most retail stores replaced Merry Christmas with the more politically correct Happy Holidays. Land's End and Sears took Merry Christmas from the cover of their Christmas catalogs. Lowe's began selling Holiday Trees and Target refused Salvation Army kettles to appear in front of their stores. In recent years, O'Reilly and President Donald Trump did much to reverse this trend. In the past half-decade, Merry Christmas has reentered the vocabulary of many American citizens and businesses.³ Actually, there was no Merry Christmas celebration 2000 years ago. Most people didn't have a clue about the eternal drama that was being played out in the quiet streets of Bethlehem.

The question remains: What is the truth about Christmas? There are many parts of today's Christmas celebration that have nothing to do with the actual events. What is Christmas in American society? Is anything about the commercialized holiday truly authentic? What about the date, December 25th, is there anything Christian about this date? In the Roman Empire, there was a pagan observance on this date that celebrated the birthday of Mithra, the god of the unconquerable sun that bursts forth anew each morning. Mithra, an infant god, was believed to be born of a rock.⁴ The birthday was celebrated with two weeks of parades, feasts, special music, lighted candles, and green trees. Christ's birthday was not celebrated by the early church, but at some point, the Roman Christians decided to celebrate Christ's birth as a challenge to the Mithrain celebration. In AD 336, Emperor Constantine, having established Christianity as the religion of the Empire, declared Christ's birthday a Roman holiday.⁵

The date of Jesus' birth is not found in the gospels or any other historical record. Some have suggested September based on a calculation of the birth of John the Baptist in the gospel of Luke.⁶ This certainly fits Luke's record that the shepherds were in the fields. Fall nights are mild and pleasant on the Judean hillsides, however, December can be cold and even include snowfall.⁷ Flocks were protected under cover during the winter months but were taken into the open air from the week before Passover (late March) through mid-November.⁸ This would allow the shepherds to be in the fields during the spring and summer. Other scholars believe Jesus was born in April during the spring lambing season, when nights would have been balmy and shepherds would have needed to be awake, tending the ewes.⁹

We really don't know when Jesus was born. It is celebrated December 25 (Western Christianity and part of the Eastern churches), January 6 (Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Evangelical Church, and some Anabaptists), January 7 (Most Oriental Orthodox and part of the Eastern Orthodox churches), and January 19 (Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem). So Christmas is not the date. December 25 has no historical or biblical significance.

What about the name Christmas? Is the name significant? Christmas comes from the combination of the words mass