The Christmas Story in Your Language
by Paul GrantIf you would like to read the Christmas story in the Bible, Click Here.
You can also read this passage (Luke chapters 1 and 2) online in several languages, provided by Gospelcom.net:
Arabic - Chinese - French - German - Haitian Creole - Italian - Korean - Portuguese - Russian - Spanish - Swahili - Tagalog
Christmas is the traditional Christian day to observe the birth of Jesus. We do not know the exact day of his birth (he was born in a barn into abject poverty), but Christians have celebrated his birth on December 25 for more than
1700 years.
It is one of the three most important Christian holidays, along with Easter and Pentecost, but Christmas has become widely celebrated among non-Christians in the West. In light of the multiple meanings of Christmas in today's religiously pluralistic America, the following constitutes a brief scetch of the Christian meaning of Christmas.
Christianity started as a sect of Judaism in the days and years immediately following the public life of Jesus, which ended around the year 29 in our calendar. Jesus had proclaimed himself the son of God, or the messiah. In the Old Testament, which Christians largely share with Jews, sin separates humans from God, which leads to death. The Old Testament prophets proclaimed God's promise to take the reconciliation of humans to God upon himself, by providing a savior to take the punishment of sin on behalf of those who cry out for his mercy.
Jesus called himself the Son of God, and supported this claim by rising from death three days after his execution at the hands of Roman authorities. He taught that he had the authority to forgive sin - something only God can do - and that when he was tortured and executed, God poured upon Jesus all his anger at human sin. Jesus now sits at the right hand of God, and intercedes on our behalf when we cry out for mercy and forgiveness for sin.
Christmas is the day when Christians celebrate God's sending his Son to become flesh and blood. This is called the incarnation, which is Latin for "entering into flesh". Muslims and Jews often misunderstand the incarnation - which is admittedly a confusing event. They will say "a man cannot be a God," but Christians will agree. Christians teach that Jesus was 100% God, and 100% man, which makes no mathematical sense, but is understandible nonetheless. The book of John in the New Testament describes it thus:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the
Word was with God. He was with God in the beginning. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life, and that life was the light of all people. The light shines
in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,
the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace
and truth.
(John 1:1-5,14)
Jesus is the Word of God, the Word made flesh.
Easter is the celebration of Jesus' rising from the dead, and Christmas is the celebration of his arrival in a human body. Thus, Easter is the celebration that Jesus was able to conquer death, and that we can therefore rely on his promise of salvation.
Christmas is the celebration that God cared at all. It is a time to thank God for rescuing us, for sending us his Word.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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