[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] FW: [CWWC] christmas

Sat Dec 11 12:33:46 UTC 2021

From: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io [mailto:committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io] On Behalf Of hobkirk keith via groups.io
Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2021 1:45 AM
To: committed-walk-with-Christ at groups.io
Subject: EXT: [CWWC] christmas

   The Real Christmas Story            Matthew 2:1-12

Text: “...Where is He that is born King of the Jews?  For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him.”                                                                            

Matthew 2:2.

Good morning, worshipping Christian!  Not for you the fables of ‘religious’ story-telling, nor the unScriptural accounts of man-made Christmas traditions.  Your regenerated soul needs to feed on the truth of God’s Word, and therefore you need to hear the real Christmas story.  Hallelujah!  Jesus, we worship the REAL You!  (John 8:32;36)

Wise Men: (V.1) Nowhere in Scriptures do we find an account of ‘Three Wise Men’!  This is the first man-made tradition we must seek to discount if the real Christmas story is to be told to our children.

So often at Christmas time we hear of ‘the three wise men’ who came to visit the ‘baby Jesus’ in a stable.  Nonsense!  Just because the three main gifts brought to the Christ-child were ‘...gold, and frankincense, and myrrh...’ should not constrain us to believing that there were merely three wise men who visited Christ as a child.  We must base our beliefs on the facts of God’s Word, not on suppositions made by mere mortals.  We have no other sure foundation than the written Word of God.  Amen?

“To the Law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them.”  (Isaiah 8:20)

“Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.”  (John 17:17) (Jeremiah 23:25-32)

The Stable Fable: (V.8,9,11) Nowhere in Scripture do we find ‘three wise men’ or ‘three kings’ bringing precious gifts to the Christ-child as He lay as a little baby in a manger!  Check it out, dear Christian!  Read what the Gospel account clearly teaches.

It is true that ‘...wise men...’, came from the east, following a sign in the Heavens, to worship a child that they knew from Bible prophesy was born to be King of the Jews.  It is true that these wise men brought the child gifts, among which were ‘...gold, and frankincense, and myrrh...’ - gold, the gift given to kings; frankincense for the anointing of a High priest; and myrrh denoting that Christ had come to die as an Atonement Sacrifice for the sins of God’s chosen people.  Praise God, it is so!

However, we do not learn from Scriptures that these precious, gift-bearing visitors ever entered a stable in Bethlehem, nor worshipped a baby in a manger!  This honour was given to mere lowly shepherds who had been visited by angels as they watched their flocks in the fields around Bethlehem.  It was these faithful shepherds who worshipped the baby Jesus as He was ‘...wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger...’.   Not a ‘wise king from the east, bearing precious gifts...’ in sight!

“And she (that is the virgin, Mary) brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”  (Luke 2:7-20)

The True Story: (Vs.1-12) Wise men from the east did come, but not immediately to Bethlehem, no, they came where any wise man, would come to search for a Jewish king, they came to Jerusalem! 

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.  (Matthew 2:1)

After the evil king Herod was told of the wise men’s mission, he was understandably perturbed, he was quite happy as king and would suffer no other claim to the throne.  Therefore, Herod sought to gain intelligence concerning this new born child, who was to become king of the Jews.  He needed to get rid of this would-be usurper of his kingdom, pronto!  Jerusalem was just too small to have two kings. (Matthew 2:3)

By the time Herod had discovered the possible whereabouts of the child born to be king, the child was probably about eighteen months old, and living in a ‘house’ somewhere in Bethlehem.  How do we know these facts?  Why the Bible teaches us so. 

In our Meditations In Matthew’s Gospel we find that Herod gave the order to slay ‘...all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.’  (Matthew 2:16)

This fact determines the age of the Christ-child at the time of the visit from the wise men, and is further evidenced in the mentions of their visiting Him in a ‘house’.

“And when they (the wise men) were come into the HOUSE, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him…”  (Matthew 2:11)

So often we hear of true Bible stories being corrupted by the traditions of mere mankind.  Too often we Christians pay lip-service to these fables, instead of ‘...earnestly contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints.’. (Jude 3) (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

With the above Scriptural facts of the real Christmas story in mind, therefore, let us try harder to portray the truth of God’s Word, and to hold up God’s Word as our only sure authority for speaking in the service of Christ.

Thought:  If the Bible makes sense, don’t make it nonsense! 

The Bible - Reliable History

by

Art Matthew

The Bible is the only record we have of the life and teachings of Jesus.  And if we are to take Jesus seriously then the Bible must be proven accurate.

The New Testament is not a myth - myth happens ‘once upon a time’ in a faraway place.

The New Testament is written in a space-time dimension.   The context gives specific times, persons, events, and places which offer themselves for verification.  Contemporary documents with the New Testament verify the accuracy in regard to such statements of the culture, politics, morals, and religion of that particular period of time.  Also, archaeology has added its findings to corroborate the accuracy of the New Testament.  The books of the New Testament were written and circulated during the very time the people lived, while they were still able to deny what was written.

The Birth of Christ.  (Matthew 2:1) (Luke 2:1-7)

The specific Names and times.  (Luke 3:1-2)

Luke wrote down the facts in order.  (Luke 1:1-4)

“If the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”  F.F. Bruce compares the manuscript evidence of the New Testament with the evidence for other writings of the same time period.

Caesar’s Gallic Wars (58-50 BC)                           - 10 manuscripts.

Roman History of Livy (59 BC 17 AD)                  - 20 manuscripts.

History of Herodotus (480-425 BC)                        -  8 manuscripts.

History of Tacitus & Annals of Tacitus (100 AD)    -  2 manuscripts.

New Testament                                               - 4000 manuscripts!

The New Testament has 100 times more manuscript support than all the others combined.  Who therefore is parking their brains - the believers or the non-believers?

“About Jesus we have to write not theology but history…”  H. G. Wells.

Will Durant - one of America’s foremost historians: “His source material for the entire chapters on Jesus and the apostles was the New Testament.”

Sir William Ramsey of Great Britain started out as an unbeliever and changed his mind because of his archaeological research on the New Testament.

Think About It:  Why would the Bible writers give so much specific detail, if what they said was not true?

Archaeology supports the New Testament. 

Ancient writers support the accuracy of the New Testament. 

People have been trying to disprove the New Testament for centuries without success. 

Where is the proof that the New Testament is not reliable history? 

Conclusion:  If the New Testament IS reliable history - what are the Eternal implications for you and me?

Dr C.K. McClinton, BA (Hons); MA; Ph.D.; D.Litt.

Ulster/American Christian Fellowship  www.ulsterchristians.org <http://www.ulsterchristians.org/> 

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