Comparing The Christmas Story With The Bible Story (2)
Introduction:
A. Christmas and Easter are not the same as the birth of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus.
They are human arrangements to celebrate those things.
B. Matthew 1:18-2:23.
VI. Where Was Jesus Born?
A. You might say, “Well, I didn’t know that was even a matter of controversy.”
B. Matthew 2:1 “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of
Herod the king...”
C. So we’ve got the town. But where in Bethlehem?
D. Luke 2:6-7.
1. Can you identify this object?
2. Don’t feel bad if you don’t recognize it–a Jew from the 1st century would
never recognize the “manger” displayed in the typical nativity scene today.
3. A manger is a feeding trough, generally found in a stable.
a. In Bible times, mangers were made from clay mixed with straw or
from stones held together with mud; sometimes they were carved in
natural outcroppings of rock.
b. That particular picture is taken from the remains of the ancient city
of Megiddo in Israel where this manger was used in the stables of
King Ahab.
D. But where was the manger? We don’t know.
1. Was it right next door to the inn? It could have been a lower-level room or
stall for animals attached to the living quarters of a private residence. We
don’t know.
2. Was Jesus born in a stable? We don’t know.
3. In 160 A.D., Justin Martyr said, “Finding no place in the town, Joseph
took his portage in a certain cave in the village.” We can’t prove that one
way or another; it might have been a cave, but even Justin was more than a
hundred years removed from the actual event.
4. Jerome said that the cave had lain defiled from the time of Hadrian – 135
A.D. – to the time of Constantine.
a. What he meant by “defiled” was that Hadrian’s men had
intentionally gone around trying to defile all of the places loved by
the Christians because he was trying to root out the religion.
b. He would routinely establish pagan altars in the same places.
c. During the reign of Constantine, there was a large-scale effort to
get all of that cleaned up.
5. And today, when you visit Bethlehem you can visit the “Church of the
Nativity,” constructed in the fourth century over a traditional cave site in
Bethlehem. Beneath that building is an actual cave.
6. Is that the place? It could have been a cave used as a shelter for animals.
The bottom line is, we don’t know.
7. It could have been a feeding place under the open sky, perhaps in the town
square. We don’t know the precise location.
E. What we do know for sure is that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Where within
that city is a mystery.
F. We do know that the Lord of glory, the Chosen One destined to take up the
throne of his father David and eventually be seated at the right hand of the God of
the universe, was placed in a common feeding trough somewhere in Bethlehem.
VII. The Biblical Accounts vs. the Christmas Story
A. As we zero in on the actual Biblical accounts, we recognize that there are only
two:
1. The Gospel According To Matthew (tells of the wise men)
2. The Gospel According To Luke (tells of the shepherds)
B. For whatever reason, however, in this day and age, it seems hard to get the two
straight.
C. We begin in Luke’s gospel.
1. Luke 2:8-14.
a. To whom did the angel appear? The shepherds.
b. What did the angel tell them? (Luke 2:11)
c. What were they supposed to look for? (Luke 2:12)
d. What was their reaction? (Luke 2:15-20)
2. What happened next? We don’t know, until Luke 2:21.
3. What happened next? We don’t know until Luke 2:22-24.
a. When would this have taken place?
b. Leviticus 12:1-4, 6-8 indicates that it was to be done when the child
was forty days old.
c. While Joseph, Mary and Jesus were at the temple, Luke 2:22-38...
D. But here is where the typical manger scene begins to make a deviation.
1. Picture in your mind the usual manger scene that you have seen from your
youth.
a. Within that scene you see a place that looks like a stable or a shed.
b. Above it we see the shining star.
c. On one side of it we see the shepherds bowed in adoration.
d. On the other side, we see the three wise men who have come to
bring their gifts to baby Jesus.
e. Mary is there with the child and there is a great halo around her
head, perhaps a halo around baby Jesus’ head.
f. Finally, the angels are singing above them.
2. But what we know, through a careful examination of the Scriptures, is
that such never happened.
3. “Well, are you saying Jesus wasn’t born?”
a. Of course He was. We are talking about a real, historical event.
This is no myth.
b. But what we are saying from the Scriptures is that the shepherds
and the wise men never appeared at the stable together; the star
didn’t shine above the stable; the angels never sang over the stable.
c. The angels sang, but the Scriptures tell us that they announced the
good news to the shepherds in the field.
d. Then the shepherds came to the place where Jesus was laying, they
showed their reverence, and that was it. That’s all that we read.
We don’t even read of a star in connection with the shepherds.
e. That’s the event. Most inauspicious. An exceedingly simple
occasion.
E. Matthew’s account gives us some subsequent details–Matthew 2:1–and as chapter
2 opens, the time frame has jumped ahead upwards possibly of two years!
1. “Wise men,” magi, came from the east–how many were there? We’re not
told. There were at least two, but beyond that, we can’t be sure.
a. Magi is a term used in early records to refer to a priestly caste in
ancient Persia, possibly as far away as Babylon.
b. The Magi were leading figures in the religious court life of their
country, using a variety of scientific (astrology), diplomatic
(wisdom), and religious means to try to understand present and
future life.
2. If they came from the area of Babylon, they would have traveled more than
900 miles.
3. It could have taken several months from the time they first saw the star
until they arrived in Jerusalem.
F. Matthew 2:2-6.
1. A quote taken from Micah 5:2.
2. It will be in Bethlehem.
a. It was a small and seemingly insignificant village.
b. But it was noted as the home of Ruth and Boaz, the ancestors of
King David, and the birthplace of David himself.
3. It was part of a fairly widespread Jewish expectation (John 7:40-43).
G. Matthew 2:7-11.
1. They are sent to Bethlehem–six miles south/southwest of Jerusalem.
2. What they find is that the baby is now a “child.”
3. The family is not in a stable still entertaining shepherds; the family is in a
“house...in Bethlehem of Judea.”
H. And the wise men brought gifts into that house–when you approached royalty or
someone of high religious, political, or social status, gifts were often brought to
demonstrate humility.
1. Gold–valued throughout the ancient world as a medium of exchange as
well as a precious metal for making jewelry, ornaments, and dining
instruments for royalty.
2. Incense or frankincense was derived from an amber resin, producing a
sweet odor when it was burned. It was used a perfume.
3. Myrrh was a mixture of resin, gum, and oil; it was used in incense, as a
perfume.
I. And when they had done what they came to do – Matthew 2:12-16...
1. Herod had wanted to know exactly when the star appeared, and he was
told.
2. Then, when he discovered that he had been deceived, he went out and had
all of the male children up to 2 years of age killed.
a. Doesn’t that tell us something about what he had heard?
b. It’s been considerable time since Jesus was born and laid in the
manger.
3. Then the wise men came, and as we read the story, it was in a house that
they found him. Much time has passed. We don’t know how many there
were.
J. But what we do know is that it DIDN’T happen the way so many millions in
the world take for granted.
K. What a shame that so many, at least for a season, would be willing to acknowledge
such a wondrous event, but fail to open their Bibles and tell the story the way it
has been recorded for nearly 2,000 years!
Conclusion:
A. We will close our study with the words of the heavenly host in Luke 2:14.
B. “Glory to God in the highest.”
1. Realize that the whole task of religion is to elevate and exalt God.
2. Recognize that He is the One who has achieved this great redemption.
3. Therefore, it goes without saying, as we approach Him, as we think about the birth
of Jesus into this world, that everything we do ought to glorify Him.
a. And the only way to truly do that is to do what He says.
b. 1 Peter 4:10-11–let us say and do what God has instructed us to do.
C. “And on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
1. We hear from our youth that Christmas is a time of good will, “tis the season to be
jolly.” Christmas is an occasion when we need to be at peace with each other.
2. But notice that this peace is not first, in principle, about peace among the nations,
peace among coworkers or neighbors, etc.
a. It has to do first and foremost with my peace in relation to God.
b. Above all else, it is necessary for us to come and be reconciled to Him.
c. Why? Because there will be no real, lasting peace for anybody who is not
reconciled to God.
1) Sure, if men are reconciled to God, it will have a result in the
community, there wouldn’t be such hellish things going on all
around us, etc.
2) But the angels, on that night, are presenting the possibility for a
change, an alteration, in the disposition of mankind’s attitude
toward God.
D. How strange, how ironic, that in celebrating the birth of Jesus, instead of glorifying God,
we glorify our own traditions.
1. Instead of being concerned about being reconciled and well pleasing to God...
2. ...we’re concerned with being well pleasing to ourselves and to our fellow man.
E. It’s a beautiful story.
1. Isaiah 7:14
2. Isaiah 9:6
3. It’s a wonderful story, fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
a. Galatians 4:4-7
b. We’ll always remember this.
F. We remember–just as we remember all of the stories of Jesus, all of the things He said and
did–that ought to be such a joyful part of our very lives!
G. It’s fine to get together with family and to do those things that families do to show love to
each other; but it doesn’t inherently have anything to do with some special celebration of
the birth of Jesus. And anytime we slip into that, we have moved off of the Bible story
and into the Christmas story.
1. If you want the Christmas story, then you want all of this other attendant
traditionalism that goes with that; all of the ways of men that have developed
through 19 centuries of history, rather than the ways of the Lord.
2. The critical issue is that we come back to this and truly say “glory to God.” Let
His word rule over all, His way be our way so that we can be men and women
pleasing to Him. Isn’t that all that really matters?
H. Have you dealt with the sin problem?
1. Realize that His birth never was the focus of the entire gospel story, even though
the focus of many in our society is just that.
a. Many believe it’s nice to keep Jesus a little baby. He is so innocuous, so
manipulatable.
b. But the baby became a Man. And the Man suffered the horrors of the
cross.
c. The baby doesn’t speak about sin. The baby speaks of things being quiet in
Bethlehem, and peace in the world. Some have taken that to mean, “All
that we need is a little good will and all of our problems will be solved.”
2. But Jesus was born...to die.
a. He had to die because if He didn’t die, you and I would die.
b. If the judgment and the wrath of God didn’t come upon Him, it would
come upon you.
3. Am I reconciled? Am I well pleasing? Have I come to celebrate God’s Son as the
Lord, my Lord? Am I willing to yield my will to Him, to be baptized into His
death and raised up even as He was raised? Am I living in accordance with this
great principle of truth?
4. Colossians 2:12
Posted by: Men Mark Tumandan
Jomari Francisco
Shamin Camlian
Justein and Julius Mission
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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