The Roman Republic had just become an empire. Caesar Augustus ruled a nearly uncontested span of territory from Egypt and Syria in the east to Spain in the west and even part of the island of Britannia in the north. In one of Rome's client kingdoms, Judea, a seemingly insignifican event took place that would nonetheless reach over history forwards and backwards and become the most talked about, most debated event in human history: the birth of a child.
Why should the birth of a little boy have such an impact upon mankind? Had this not occurred billions of times in human history?
The story is so familiar and oft-told that we can sometimes grow numb to the real scope of what occurred that day. Mankind, in all its fallenness of sin and strife, was helpless to fix its own predicament. Something was wrong inside people, but nobody could quite put a finger on it. The Greeks had pushed for virtue, the Romans for honor, and all over the earth man worshiped various kinds of gods, as if in his heart he knew there was a being far above him, more powerful, and in authority over him. The Hebrew scriptures prophesied the coming of a deliverer, but who paid attention to that? The Jews were an obscure, powerless tribe in a backwards place.
But Christ's birth was a thunderclap in the saga of mankind. It fulfilled the Jewish scriptures, and the baby boy went on to lead an incredible ministry. Jesus never wrote a book, but millions have been written about him. He never formed any formal organizations, but uncountable are the number that have been formed in his name. He traveled in a very small geographic circle, but his story has been told around the globe. Jesus's ministry itself lasted only about three years, but the reason for his ministry has rung through time.
Jesus's message was profound because He claimed to be the Son of the living God. He went on to work signs and miracles for years, fulfilling hundreds of scriptural prophecies. Utlimately, he died on a cross in a gruesome Roman punishment called crucifixion. Rising from the grave, he appeared for over forty days to people all over Jerusalem, even addressing an audience of over 500 at one time. Later, after His ascension into heaven, one of His followers, Peter, proclaimed to the crowds there assembled, "as you also saw," referring to the risen Jesus walking among them. No one refuted Peter's claim. Jesus's life is not only recorded in the Bible, but is amply supported by contemporary sources. The new testament itself is one of the most supported, well-documented, most-provably-authentic ancient manuscripts known to scolars. For instance, it has hundreds and hundreds of verifiable copies compared to just a handful for the Iliad and the Odyssey (and no one refutes those).
The thing that originally stuck in my mind was, "What if it is true?"
I have studied enough of history to know that the birth of Jesus predominates like an enormous median in the highway. You can drive by it, but you can't say it isn't there. Why such a focus? Why such dominance of one event in an obscure time in a backwater place? Why does all of recorded history seem to hover around the life of Jesus like back-story to the main event?
And finally, why do we celebrate it each year? Is it really more than just a secular holiday with a gift-giving tradition?
If you would like some good reading, which may help fill in some of the fuzzy areas for you, I would suggest the following:
1. Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
2. Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell
3. The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel
4. Deliver Us From Evil, Ravi Zacharias
5. From Nothing to Nature, E.H. Andrews
There are many more I could recommend, but these were very beneficial to me in my own spiritual journey. Of course, I would also encourage anyone to open the Bible for themselves and just read it. If you are like I was, slightly turned-off by "religiosity," "churchianity," and hypocrites who live terrible lives but call themselves Christians, I encourage you to look past all that. Don't let people or tradition or off-track churches turn you away from the truth of all truths.
Jesus Christ was born that day the Son of God, the Savior of mankind. It is the greatest story ever told, and like all of the greatest stories, it is true!
God bless you and your family and friends during this awesome season of celebration of the greatest event in human history. Merry Christmas to you!
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