The Importance of the Birth of Jesus Christ | Grace New Testament Ministries

Howard Katz

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Notes: The Importance of the Birth of Jesus Christ

Matthew 13:54–58 (NKJV)

⁵⁴When He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?

⁵⁵Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

⁵⁶And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?”

⁵⁷So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”

⁵⁸Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Jesus returned to the place where He grew up as a boy.

The people had seen him grow from a child into a young man and finally into a man.

Now Jesus returns back to His hometown not as a carpenter but as the Messiah, performing miracles and preaching the Good News.

“But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” – The people’s response is not totally unusual, because they saw Jesus from their natural perspective, as just another boy who had grown up among them, no matter how well behaved and pious He had been.

“Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” – Not only did the people not receive His ministry but because of their response the power of God was hindered from being manifest in their midst.

Christ was not hindered by the doubts of the people but their unbelief.

Doubts are a product of uncertainty and a questioning if something is really true and possibly struggling to believe even when one wants to.

Unbelief is not struggling to believe, but a position of rebellion where one chooses not to believe and thus it opposes faith.

“Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?” – The people did not deny the wisdom or the miracles of Jesus. Their unbelief was not rooted in questioning the reality of the miracles that Jesus performed.

“Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us?” – The root of their unbelief, or unwillingness to believe, was rooted in that they saw Jesus as a mere man and not the Son of God and that they denied His miraculous virgin birth which they would surely have heard about.

1 John 4:2–3 (NKJV)

²By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

³and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

One of the definitions of the spirit of Antichrist is every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.

The Greek word for “Christ” and the Hebrew word for “Messiah” both have the same meaning, “the anointed one.”

Is it any wonder that the people from Jesus’ hometown saw few miracles, because they were operating in the spirit of Antichrist by denying the deity of Jesus Christ and thus opposing the anointing and the Anointed One?

The people in Jesus’ hometown saw Jesus as a man, but refused to believe the reports that He had been born miraculously of a virgin.

One of the foundational beliefs that separates the apostate church from the true Church is the belief in Jesus Christ’s divinity as proven by His virgin birth.

The birth of Jesus Christ is one of the cornerstones of the Christian Faith.

1 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)

¹⁶And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

“without controversy” – There is no question and it is uncontestable that the great mystery of godliness is Christ and His redemptive work.

“Great is the mystery of godliness” – The English word for mystery has the underlying meaning, “a secret which people have tried to uncover but which they have failed to understand” but the Greek word μυστήριον (mystērion) means, “‘that which was not known before,’ with the implication of its being revealed at least to some persons”.

“Great is the mystery of godliness” – The Greek word for godliness refers to living a life that is devoted to God, victorious and is pleasing to Him in every way.

Receiving the mystery for living a godly life begins with “God was manifested in the flesh,” His miraculous birth, and concludes with “received up in glory,” His redemptive death and glorious resurrection.

The great deception of modern liberal Christian theology is that it is not Christian.

The entire Old Testament has been crafted around the truth that God the Father was going to send His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to be born of a virgin and to redeem mankind through His sinless life, His sacrificial death, and His victorious resurrection.

The profound importance of Christ’s birth can be seen by the details and numerous prophecies given in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.

Jesus was to be a descendant of Abraham. Prophesied in Genesis 12:1-3 and fulfilled in Matthew 1:1-2; Luke 3:3:34

Jesus was to be a descendant of the tribe of Judah. Prophesied in Genesis 49:10 and fulfilled in Luke 3:33

Jesus was to be a descendant of King David. Prophesied in Jeremiah 23:5 and fulfilled in Luke 2:4

Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem. Prophesied in Micah 5:2 and fulfilled in Luke 2:4,5,7

The timing of Jesus’ life on earth. Prophesied in Daniel 9:25

Jesus was to be born from a virgin. Prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 and fulfilled in Luke 1:26-31

The killing of the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding region. Prophesied in Jeremiah 31:15 and fulfilled in Matthew 2:16-18

Jesus escaped to Egypt as a young child. Prophesied in Hosea 11:1 and fulfilled in Matthew 2:14-15

If Christ was not born as a man He could not be our Redeemer, because His sinless life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection would have only been an illusion.

If Jesus Christ was not born of a virgin, He would be fully human, but He would not have been divine, and thus incapable of being the Redeemer.

Jesus Christ being born of a virgin points to the reality that He was both fully human and fully God.

1 Timothy 2:5 (NKJV)

⁵For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

“the Man Christ Jesus” – the humanity of Jesus Christ is essential for Him to be our Mediator.

To be a mediator one has to be able to converse and relate to both parties and thus Christ as the Son of God could approach God His Father and as a Man Jesus could reach out and sympathize with our humanity and frailties.

Satan tried throughout history to stop the birth of Jesus and having failed he has tried to invalidate Christ’s birth in the minds and hearts of people.

Numerous times throughout the Bible it has been recorded how Satan has tried to destroy the lineage of Abraham and Israel in order to stop the possibility of Jesus Christ’s birth.

Satan, having failed to stop the birth of Christ, through Herod attempted to destroy Christ as a child by killing every male child in the region of Bethlehem.

Through paganism Satan has tried to dilute and obscure the reality and significance of Christ’s birth.

Through liberal theology Satan has tried to deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

Through secularism and hedonism Satan has tried to have man ignore Jesus Christ totally by denying our need for salvation and make people believe that the only purpose in life is self-fulfillment.

What can we then know about the date of Christ’s birth?

By studying Scripture we can determine that Christ’s birth occurred sometime during our month of September and probably coincided with the Hebraic Feast of Trumpets.

However, even with all these detailed calculations we are not able to determine the exact date of Christ’s birth.

Many times we focus on the things that are written in the Bible, but we sometimes failed to notice the things that are not written.

It is significant to take note that the exact date of Christ’s birth is not given!

The New Testament does not record the early Church celebrating the day of Christ’s birth and this in itself speaks volumes.

I don’t believe it was God’s intent that the Church develop a specific day to celebrate Christ’s birth.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-17 Paul gives us an interesting perspective on how to relate to the fact that Jesus Christ came as a Man.

2 Corinthians 5:14–17 (NKJV)

¹⁴For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;

¹⁵and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

¹⁶Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

“that those who live should live no longer for themselves” – Because Jesus Christ died for our sins we are no longer to live for ourselves, but to live for Him who died for us and rose again.

“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh” – Since we have a new life in Christ we are no longer to look at one another in the light of our past failures or successes or our human existence, but to see each other now as spiritual beings.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” – Those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour are now a new creation and the old has passed away so that we have a new identity and a new future.

“Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer” - Paul makes a very important statement about how we are to relate to Jesus Christ.

What does it mean, “yet now we know Him no longer according to the flesh?”

John 7:3–5 (NKJV)

³His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing.

⁴For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.”

⁵For even His brothers did not believe in Him.

We see Jesus’ half brothers not only did not believe in Him but also ridiculed Him.

Galatians 1:19 (NKJV)

¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

However, later we see that one of His half brothers even became an apostle!

Mark 3:21 (ESV)

²¹And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

Jesus family along with Mary thought that Jesus was out of His mind and was going overboard with His ministry and wanted to seize Him and taking Him away.

Mark 3:32–34 (NKJV)

³²And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.”

³³But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?”

³⁴And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers!

When Jesus’ family arrived to seize Him He defined His family from a spiritual perspective and not a natural one; those who were related to Him through faith and not by flesh and blood.

After Christ’s resurrection we see Mary numbered with those waiting in the upper room.

What enabled Mary and Jesus’ family to put their faith in Him and receive Him as God?

“Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer”

All those who came to faith in Christ, even those of His own family or those who knew Him when He walked upon the face of the earth had to recognize He is God.

Romans 1:4 (NKJV)

⁴and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

At the resurrection of Jesus Christ it became apparent to all who witnessed His glorious appearing that He was truly the eternal omnipotent Son of God.

All those that had known Jesus in the flesh knew Him no longer after the flesh but as the Son of the Living God and they worshipped Him.

Mary was not known as the mother of God but a humble faithful woman who had been a willing vessel to be used by God to incarnate His own Son Jesus Christ so that He could be the Saviour of the world.

Mary needed to be redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as much as any other human being.

“Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer”

The Roman Catholic Church began to mix paganism with the Gospel Message and began to add to what God’s Word said, and began to obscure the simple and clear focus from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christmas began to be about a baby in a manger and Easter pictured Jesus on the cross but the reality is Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God is no longer in a manger and He is no longer hanging on a cross.

The Lord Jesus Christ is resurrected and is seated at the right hand of God the Father.

How should we as Christians then remember and celebrate Jesus’ birth?

I am confident that the early Church did not have any manger scenes, or Christmas trees, or mistletoe, or Santa Claus with gifts.

How did the early Church celebrate Christ’s birth?

Communion.

How does Communion remember Christ’s birth?

Communion not only celebrates Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection but stirs up an expectation of His return.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 (NKJV)

²³For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

²⁴and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²⁵In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes.

“that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread” - The Lord’s Supper first of all reminds us that He was born as a Man because He actually lived among them and ate the last supper with them.

“Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you” – The Lord’s Supper reminds us that Christ died for our sins and became that sacrificial Lamb.

“you proclaim the Lord’s death till He comes” – The Lord’s Supper not only reminds us that He has been resurrected and alive because He is coming back but it also reminds that He is coming back.

The early Church was filled with anticipation of Christ’s return and every revival has been marked by a reality of the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

We are not to be lulled into seeing year by year as the status quo, but our hearts are to be filled with an expectation Jesus will soon be returning.

We take so much for granted because we do not daily meditate upon all that God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ.

Our remembrance of all that Christ has done for us is something that we should dwell on constantly.

There is nothing wrong with us having family gatherings and celebrations, but let us not think that this is service to God, or something God has ordained us to do.

We can decorate our homes and enjoy the blessings of culture but none of these things are biblical mandates but simply an expression of community and will differ from culture to culture and nation to nation.

Christ is no longer a babe in a manger or hanging on the cross but He is our resurrected Saviour and Lord.

For those who have never received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour today you can come and surrender your life to Him.

If we have been taking for granted what Christ has done for us and allowed the mundane things of life to choke out the wonderful revelation of Christ has done for us, we have an opportunity to repent and ask Him to renew our first love.

If we have been growing in our ability to enjoy Christ’s presence daily then let us give thanks and ask that we will continue to grow in His grace.

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