CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS Are They Christian? - Birth of Jesus According to the Bible

Birth of Jesus According to the Bible

You will find reliable information about Jesus' birth in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.  They show that the angel Gabriel visited a young unmarried woman by the name of Mary in the Galilean town of Nazareth.  What message did he deliver?  "Look! you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus.  This one will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as kin g over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his Kingdom." -Luke 1:31-33.

Mary was very surprised by this message.  Not being married, she said:  "How is this to be, since I am having no intercourse with  a man?"  The angel answered:  "Holy spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God's Son."  Mary, recognizing that this was the will of God, said:  "Look! Jehovah's slave girl!  May it take place with me according to your declaration." -Luke 1:34-38.

An angel told Joseph about the miraculous birth so that he would not divorce Mary, which he was planning to do after he learned of her pregnancy.  He was then willing  to assume the responsibility of taking care of the Son of God. -Matthew 1:18-25.

Then a decree from Caesar Augustus forced Joseph and Mary to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, the city of their forefathers to be registered.  "While they were there, the days came to the full for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her son, the firstborn, and she bound him with cloth bands and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the lodging room." -Luke 2:1-7.

Luke 2:8-14 describes what followed:  "There were also in that same country shepherds living out of doors and keeping watches int he night over their flocks.  And suddenly Jehovah's angel stood by them, and Jehovah's glory gleamed around them, and they became very fearful.  But the angel said to them:  'Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born  to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David's city. And this is a sign for you: you will find an infant bound in cloth bands and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there came to be  with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying: Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of goodwill.' "

Next time: CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS Are They Christian? -The Astrologers

The Watchtower, 2000