“What is so special about the birth of Jesus Christ?”
I. His Birth is a true historical occurrence that took place in real history. It is not a myth.
“Since many people have attempted to write an orderly account of the events that have transpired among us, just as they were passed down to us by those who had been eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning, I, too, have carefully investigated everything from the beginning and have decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4). “Now in those days an order was published by Caesar Augustus that the whole land of Jews (see Luke 21:21,23,26) should be registered. This was the former census before the governing of Syria of Cyrenius. So all the people went to their hometowns to be registered. (Luke 2:1-3)[1]”
“William Ramsay discovered several inscriptions that indicated that Cyrenius was governor of Syria on two occasions, the first time several years prior to A.D. 6. According to the very papers that recorded the censuses, (see Ramsay, Was Christ Born in Bethlehem?[2]) there was in fact a census between 10 and 5 B.C. Periodic registrations took place every fourteen years. Because of this regular pattern of census taking, any such action was regarded as the general policy of Augustus, even though a local census may have been instigated by a local governor. Therefore, Luke recognizes the census as stemming from the decree of Augustus”[3] "The actual site believed to be the stable of Jesus' birth was identified relatively shortly after His resurrection. Early authors (Jerome and Paulinus of Nola) indicate the site was `marked' about the time of Hadrian... and archaeologists have never seriously disputed it. The site is a cave located beneath the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem." [4]
It is not true that the virgin birth was taken by Christians from pagan religions. Bart Ehrman, a famous agnostic-atheist New Testament scholar who doesn’t believe in Christ’s virgin birth, “In none of the stories of the divine humans born from the union of a god and a mortal is the mortal a virgin. One has simply to diligently compare these myths to the virgin birth of Jesus to see that they lack any useful comparison. [5]
II. Jesus of Nazareth has had real impact – He was Immanuel – God come to be with us!
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. [Jhn 1:1, 14 KJV]
Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village but one prophesied to be the birth place of the promised Messiah (Micah 5:2). He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is a traveling preacher, proclaiming a message of God’s Kingdom and living a life of perfect love. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born.
He speaks to large crowds, does amazing miracles which includes raising people from the dead and gathers a little group of friends about him teaching them the “gospel of the Kingdom of God”. While still a young man, the tide of popular feeling turns against him. One friend denies him; another friend betrays him all his best friends desert him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed to a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend.
Then Messiah Jesus rises from the dead! Today we look back across 2000 years and ask; “What kind of impact has Jesus left across the centuries?” When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely of very little importance in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life…. (One Solitary Life. (based on an original by Dr. James Allan Francis)
I. You really need HIM! - Will you really celebrate the birth of Messiah Jesus this year?
A. No I don’t
B. Yes I do but …
C. No I don’t – I have HIM already – But does HE have you?
D. Yes I need HIM
For further reading, processing and meditation
A. The Case for Christmas: A Journalist Investigates the Identity of the Child in the Manger Lee Strobel
B. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F. F. Bruce
Down Load a Free Copy https://cob-net.org/compare/nt-documents-reliable-bruce.pdf
C. What Really Happened Christmas Morning? Ralph O. Muncaster (Author)
D. When was Jesus born? - http://chronicon.net/blog/chronology/hippolytus-and-december-25th-the-birthday-of-christ/
E. Free Down Load – Was Christ Born in Bethlehem - http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ramsay/bethlehem.pdf
F. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus ; Gary R. Habermas , Michael Licona
http://www.doxa.ws/Bible/Luke.html
[2] http://www.ccel.org/ccel/ramsay/bethlehem.html - Free down load of Dr. Ramsey’s book
[3] Anckerberg Institute: Norman Geisler
[4] What Really Happened Christmas Morning?; Pg 18 Ralph O. Muncaster (Author)
[5] https://www.josh.org/jesus-virgin