asleep.
However, so the story goes, the poor man had hung up his stockings to dry over the warm embers of the fire, and when Nicholas dropped the purses down the chimney, the purses landed inside the stockings.
You can see how this story about Nicholas has been elaborated to make it look like Santa Claus comes down the chimney and fills your Christmas stocking.
Unfortunately, despite the good Christian legacy of Nicholas, his modern representation as Santa Claus has nothing to do with Biblical teaching, and everything to do with the worldly exploitation of Christmas with modern sales and marketing techniques.
What is Christmas really about?
Perhaps the most astounding book in the whole Bible is also one of the most familiar: the first book of the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew.
Why?
Well, reading the Bible from the start, and having ploughed your way right through to the end of the Old Testament, when you turn the page and start to read the Gospel of Matthew, you realize that the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament are being fulfilled.
Over and over again, Matthew explains how one prophesy after another is being fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is undoubtedly the fulfillment of God's promises and the Old Testament prophesies. God’s promise to send a Savior is truly realized in Jesus Christ.
The arrival of Christ is prophesied many, many times in the Old Testament, such as here in the book of Isaiah, when the prophet states that, ‘the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and call him Immanuel.’ (Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14 - NIV) Isaiah made this prophesy almost 700 years before the birth of Christ.
Immanuel means ‘God with us’. This is a title, it is not a given name. Isaiah also prophesied that Jesus, ‘will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ (Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 - NIV)
Jesus Christ is the Son of God
The Son of God did not begin life as the little baby Jesus who was born that night in Bethlehem. The Son of God appeared on earth in human form as the little baby Jesus, adopting the form of a human to live among us; however, the Son of God already existed before being conceived as a human by his mother Mary.
Jesus Christ plainly states: “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John chapter 8 verse 58 - ESV) Abraham lived about 1,900 years before the time of Jesus.
‘In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.’ (John chapter 1 verses 1 to 3 - NLT)
Here, the Word, with a capital ‘W’ is referring directly to the Son of God, Christ.
‘The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.’ (John chapter 1 verse 14 - NLT)
This clearly explains that the Son of God existed with his Father from the very beginning of forever; the Son of God became flesh, born on earth as a human, and lived among us. The Son of God made this transformation into human form because he was fulfilling the prophesies of the Old Testament.
Christmas is about the arrival on earth of the Son of God in human form. He had to live among us in human form to fulfill his purpose - he could not have fulfilled his purpose in spiritual form, which is why he was born as the baby Jesus.
The birth of Jesus is about the fulfillment of God's promises to send a Savior to save us from our sins.
What are the facts about the birth of Jesus?
Perhaps you have been to a nativity play at school, or seen a nativity scene illustrated on a Christmas card that shows the little baby Jesus in a stable with Mary and Joseph, a bunch of shepherds, three wise men, and a big star in the night sky?
You can read two accounts of the birth of Jesus: one in the Gospel of Matthew chapters 1 and 2; and another similar account in the Gospel of Luke chapters 1 and 2.
Mary was betrothed to be married to Joseph.
In our society you might compare a betrothal to being engaged to be married; however, in the culture of those times a betrothal was a much more formal commitment to marriage. Mary and Joseph were committed as a couple, but they had not slept together as a married couple - this would come later, after a ceremony, and after the birth of Jesus.
Mary had become pregnant. But she had not become pregnant by a man: Mary had conceived Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit: by God.
This is what makes Jesus so special.
This is what makes Jesus, the Christ.
The angel Gabriel visited Mary to deliver a personal message from God: “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke chapter 1 verses 31 to 33 - NIV)
As you might expect, Joseph was not impressed by his betrothed wife’s pregnancy, and he planned to quietly end their marriage because of this.
However, God hadn’t just chosen Mary as the necessary mother to Jesus; God had specifically chosen Joseph to be the earthly father to Jesus.
An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, and told him: “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew chapter 1 verses 20 and 21 - NIV)
Joseph son of David?
Joseph’s father wasn’t called David, but what is meant here is that Joseph’s direct ancestor was King David, (the David who killed Goliath the giant about 1,060 years earlier); God had told David: ‘I will raise up one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house—a temple—for my name. And I will secure his royal throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.’ (2 Samuel chapter 7 verses 12 to 14 - NIV)
The other important point here is that Joseph, through David, is a direct descendant of Abraham, and God had said that, “all nations on earth will be blessed through him [Abraham]” (Genesis chapter 18 verse 18 - NIV)
What this means is that both these promises that God had made in the Old Testament are being fulfilled.
While Mary and Joseph were coming to terms with what was happening to them, the ruling Roman authorities had ordered a census to be taken of the population: everyone was ordered to return to their ancestral hometown to be counted.
Joseph was a descendant of David, so he traveled with his betrothed wife to the little town of Bethlehem in Galilee where his ancestor David had
