Have you ever noticed the many mysteries that center around Christmas? Children anxiously wonder and anticipate what they are going to get for Christmas. Millions of shoppers wonder how they are going to pay for the gifts they have bought. Others are mystified by the “magical feat” of getting millions of shoppers in only hundreds of thousands of parking places at the malls.
Where are all the new “after Christmas items for sale” kept before Christmas? Why do people send Christmas cards to people that they don’t like? Why is mistletoe used by lovers at Christmas and not on Valentine’s Day? What happened to celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas? Why do we not hear the old traditional Christmas carols being sung and played like we used to? Why do people promote the myth of Santa Claus and reject the truth of Christ? Why do parents spend more time and energy having their children photographed with Santa than involving them in a Christmas play or pageant? Why doesn’t the spirit of Christmas continue throughout the entire year?
One of the first Christmas mysteries is that of the virgin birth! What did Isaiah’s proclamation mean that “a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son …?” Did the people understand the nature of that “conception?” How did that young woman conceive a son before she got married? How did that son become the messiah? How did that virgin experience the creative power of God acting within the biological process of natural procreation, and fertilizing an egg in her womb, and specifically conceive a son – not a daughter – all without human sexual involvement?
Several factors help make this biblical understanding of the virgin birth a real mystery. In the normal human process, the fertilizing of an egg takes place in the fallopian tube, and not in the womb. The prophecy of Isaiah clearly states that the virgin shall conceive in her womb. Watch out, mystery buffs.
Keep in mind that the normal biochemical conditions for union of the human seeds are best achieved in the fallopian tube, not the womb.
Isaiah’s declaration suggests that that specific egg had been released into Mary’s fallopian tube and was taking its normal menstrual journey. At that point in divine time, Mary experienced the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit acting physiologically in her very being, causing that specific unfertilized “dying” egg to be fertilized as a “living being” in her womb.
That divine act rejects the idea of the Christ child being conceived by any other human being, and that prophetic declaration of a “virgin” – non-sexually active female – being with child.” It also answers Mary’s question to the angel Gabriel as to “how can this thing be?”
The mystery unfolds! God the creator is able to affect whatever changes in his creation and his creatures – within the context of his created order – and still allow things to operate in a normal fashion. Recall those folk whom God has healed when the doctors were at their wits end.
Since the conception of Mary did not involve the seed of man, how could that prophecy assure that a “son” would be conceived, and not a “daughter?” After all, it takes the seed of the man to determine the sex of the child. But when the power of the spirit of God became the catalyst of this miraculous event, that same God, who fashioned and shaped the first Adam from the dust of the ground, and then fashioned and shaped the woman from a rib of the first Adam, now that same God was fashioning and shaping the second Adam within the womb of God’s chosen vessel, the Virgin Mary.
If sinful men can manipulate the genetic material of a human cell in a test tube today and affect the conception of a male or female child, why is it so hard to believe and accept the fact that God the creator moved upon and within the genetic substance of that egg in Mary and conceived “his son,” whom he told Mary to call Jesus, and for us to call Savior! “The power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God.”
The miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary validates his name being called Immanuel – God with us!
Another Christmas mystery focuses on the ignorance of the birth of Christ among the religious leaders. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a group of shepherds experienced a special and personal birth announcement from the angel of the Lord. That announcement included an Invitation to visit that holy child and also a means for recognizing him. A host of heavenly beings joined the angel of the Lord, affirming his declaration with praise of God’s mighty act in Bethlehem.
Following those shepherds’ experiences with the angelic host, their encounters with Mary and Joseph, and of the Christ child’s birth, they excitedly shared their eyewitness reports to others.
An old man named Simeon also encountered the Christ child and his parents in the Jerusalem temple some eight weeks after his birth. Simeon, taking the Christ child in his arms, publicly declared that God had answered his prayer to see the “messiah of God” before his death.
Before Mary and Joseph could leave the temple, Anna, a centenarian prophetess, came in and affirmed the baby Jesus as the “redeemer of Israel,” and she began spreading the word to others who were also anticipating the fulfilment of the divine promise of the coming of the messiah.
With all of those public displays and declarations of the messiah’s birth in the temple, another great Christmas mystery occurred. The mystery of the ignorance of the people about the savior’s birth.
By the time the wise men appeared on the scene, no one seemed to know anything about the birth of the baby Jesus. When the wise men arrived and began to ask about his birth, even King Herod became troubled along with the rest of the people of Jerusalem.
This mystery is not quite as complicated as that of the virgin birth, for when one considers the human factors involved, the explanations become rather obvious and believable. One aspect of this mystery might be called the “forest for the trees” phenomenon.
The priests who were assigned to offer up the sacrifices on that day when Mary came to offer her “purification after childbirth sacrifice” were no doubt so caught up in the details and technicalities of offering the sacrifice that they may not have concerned themselves with the persons making the offering. Sometimes the process of what we do becomes more important than the people who are involved in the process. They have gotten caught up in their routine. Why should they be sidetracked by two old people who were always hanging around the temple, day after day after day after day, and always talking about some messiah who was yet to come.
Every Jew was looking forward to the messiah’s coming. But as an infant? Maybe they thought that surely those two old folks had lost what little minds they had. Senility must have really hit both of them hard.
Some things even about the church and the kingdom of God may be a mystery to us simply because we have preset notions and expectations about what we think ought to be, or how things ought to go? And when God acts in ways different from what we anticipate, or understand, we may become confused by, disenchanted with, disbelieving or even rebellious against the very things that we may be confronting? And it becomes a mystery as to why we can’t see what God is revealing right before our eyes.
With all the folk testifying to God’s power in our lives, why is that many of us are still resistant to their words of witness, rather than the facts that God is moving in our lives?
The mystery of the ignorance and resistance of people to God’s work in the world is realized in mankind’s simple unconcern about God’s plan in their lives.
Our last Christmas mystery focuses on the response that you will make to Christ coming into your lives. How do you really celebrate the coming of the Christ child into this world? The real answer to that question will depend upon what, and how much, you really believe about Jesus. Even the nature of your receptivity and relationship to Christ Jesus in your life.
Mary and Joseph believed the angel’s messages and surrendered to God’s will for their lives. They accepted the fact that God wanted to use them as agents in his divine salvation plan for mankind.
The shepherds believed the angel’s messages and made personal efforts to experience Christ for themselves. The wise men searched for the true meaning of God’s enlightenment to them, and committed themselves to personally encounter God’s solution to mankind’s spiritual dilemma. Simeon and Anna patiently waited to experience God’s fulfillment of his promise to his chosen people.
But what about you? What are your Christmas mysteries? Have you let the Christ of Christmas come into your life? Have you truly accepted God’s plan of salvation for your soul? Are you really searching for the savior? Is mistletoe over your head more important than the master’s presence in your heart? Do you feel like singing Christmas carols in the springtime like you do in the winter? Has the star of Christ moved you to search the scriptures for God’s revelations to you? How much more of God’s gift of love must you experience before your giving back to God reflects your love for him?
The biblical meaning and purpose for Christmas does not have to remain a mystery to you! These personal mysteries have divine solutions! The presence of Christ in your heart does not have to be mysterious. The converting power of the spirit of Christ can overcome the power of sin in your life. The cleansing blood of the sacrificial lamb of God can mysteriously remove the stains of sin in your soul.
The mystery of the son of God’s birth in Mary’s womb also solves the problem of our being conceived of the spirit and born as sons of God. Christ’s coming into the world also solves the mystery of you getting to heaven.
And the mystery of what we shall be like in heaven is also solved by the image of Christ, for the Bible says that “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” The mysteries of Christmas are solved in the person and presence of Jesus Christ.
We are called to help others solve the mysteries of Christmas by our sharing the Christmas message wherever we go. If Christmas is still a mystery to you, then follow the shepherds’ examples. Make your personal effort to go to the manger of God’s word, and be fed and nourished in God’s truth. Then get ready to witness the solutions to the mysteries of Christmas in Christ Jesus.
The Christ of Christmas challenges and commands those who have personally encountered him to become witnesses of him all over this world. So “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere.” The true meaning of Christmas is not really a mystery for anyone anymore. Hallelujah!
Pastor Samuel W. Hale Jr. is the former pastor of Zion Missionary Baptist Church and president of J.L. Powell Mission Ministries.
This article appears in Asking the public for help.
