Every 25th of December, we stop and celebrate. Celebrate what? The astounding and unbelievable mystery that defines the Christian faith: the Incarnation. God become man – the divine takes on flesh. Stop and think what an amazing thing that is. God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, leaves the exalted and perfect glory of the heavens above and takes on humanity and all the things that set it apart from its Creator. Things like changeableness - Jesus aged, after all. Things like weakness, as he grew tired and hungry. Such a condescension – such a humiliation.
And he did so not out of curiosity, not out of selfishness. He did so in order to give himself as a sacrifice for others. He did so to pour himself out as an offering for our sins, to suffer the ultimate indignity on our behalf.
Without the Incarnation, we would have no Mediator between God and man, no perfect and sufficient propitiatory sacrifice for our sins. Without the Incarnation, we would bear our own burdens and have to stand before a wrathful and holy God with the full weight of our sins on our own backs alone. Without the Incarnation, we would have no hope at all, no salvation.
That’s what we celebrate the 25th of December. Only Easter stands as such a distinctively Christian observance. And yet, the Bible says nothing, commands nothing, about Christmas observance. You’ll find no detailed instructions in the New Testament about observing Christmas like the list of procedures for the Passover or the Feast of Booths in the Old Testament. You don’t find anything relating to Christmas, even like the quiet, subtle example of Lord’s Day worship in the Scripture. Simply put, Christmas is not required of the Christian. It would fall neatly under the issue treated by Paul when he said, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind” (Romans 14:5).
Yet if it is not required, in light of Paul’s instructions, it is not forbidden either, and so most Christians celebrate the Incarnation on the specific day of the 25th. Why then, and not another day? It’s pretty certain that Jesus was not actually born in December; I read an article some years ago arguing that it was likely in April or May, and the hard fact is that we cannot know the exact date for certain. That stands in contrast to Easter; scholars can determine with great accuracy the probable date of Jesus’ death on the cross.
So God in his wisdom declined to reveal the exact date of the first Christmas. That’s interesting, but there are practical, devotional applications we can draw from this. First, it reminds us that the true miracle of the Incarnation happened before that night in the stable; that the true wonder isn’t the virgin birth but the virgin conception of Christ. Put another way, the Incarnation happened before Jesus was born. So in the midst of all the focus on the birth of Christ, let’s not forget that God’s gift was really given nine months beforehand and that his gift was far more than the safe delivery of a child in a stable. The Incarnation is bigger than Christmas, going back in time as well as forward.
And second, the fact that the 25th is not really Jesus’ actual birthday and that, for all we know for certain, his real birth date could really have been any day, can serve to remind us that our wonder and thankfulness for Jesus’ condescension should not be confined to one special day. The life and death of Christ supplies our righteousness, saves our eternal lives, and should increasingly be reflected in our daily walks. There is a real and an important sense that every day should be Christmas for us – we should constantly remember, every day, the mercy and grace shown to us by God in giving Christ to live as a man for us.
So I hope and pray you all enjoyed the day, and that you all took time to meditate on the sheer grace we have been shown by God in the Incarnation. Merry Christmas – today, tomorrow, and year-round.