Christians around the globe celebrate Christmas this week, what they believe to be the miracle of the Incarnation—that God came into this world by being born as a baby, and living a human life on this earth, believing this to be the fulfillment of centuries of prophecy.
Jesus of Nazareth was born around 4 B.C. in Bethlehem, a small town in Israel about five miles south of Jerusalem. Christians believe that he was born to a virgin named Mary. She would likely have been around 13 to 14 years old, and was formally engaged to Joseph, who would have been around age 15 or 17.
Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus had decreed a census of the Roman Empire, and Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to register as descendants of King David, who hailed from that town. And so Jesus was born in a stable, because there were no rooms available at the inn in which they sought to stay.
But followers of Jesus believe that far more happened that night. There are dozens of prophesies recorded over the centuries in the Old Testament of the Bible that speak of a Messiah (or “Christ” in Greek), meaning an “Anointed One” chosen by God to deliver his people and rule over them.
The Christian faith teaches that Jesus’s birth fulfilled several of those prophecies. Among those is the one written by Isaiah seven hundred years before Jesus. In Isaiah 9:6–7, the prophet wrote:
“6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
These verses speak of a king who will sit on the throne of Israel and references the biblical promise that Jews and Christians alike say God gave to King David: that the Christ would be one of his descendants.
But Christians point out that these verses speak of more than an ordinary political leader. While a title like Prince of Peace might belong to a leader who ushers in a period of peace and harmony, the title Everlasting Father sounds like one of divinity, and Mighty God is literally a title of deity.
Beyond that, these verses say that this Messiah’s government will have no end – that God would give him a rule that would last forever. Thus, Christianity believes that this ruler is immortal and is God himself.
And so on Christmas followers of Jesus celebrate Almighty God coming as a child and taking on a human nature. Christians believe in a triune God – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit – as three distinct persons comprising one eternal God. Christians believe that God the Son was born as the baby Jesus to Mary in that small Israeli town more than 2,000 years ago.
That is just the beginning of the story. The New Testament records the life of Jesus, one that changed the world. And Christians believe that 33 years later, at the end of a perfect life, he would be betrayed, arrested, slandered, tortured, and then die hanging on a cross outside Jerusalem.
But Jesus’s followers believe that in that death he paid the price for the sin of all who would find forgiveness through the ages, and on the third day Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead, and that he gives eternal life for all who turn to him in faith.
Historians and philosophers will readily acknowledge that no figure in world history was more significant than Jesus. Literally billions of people throughout the ages claim his name. The world even dates its calendar from his birth.
But those who call themselves by Jesus’s name believe that those undisputed facts – as extraordinary and unparalleled as they are – pale in comparison to the rest of his story. In short, Christians celebrate Jesus’s birth on Christmas, but that he was born to die – that his birth was the beginning of a rescue mission for the human race.
So while countless people say “Merry Christmas” this week, for many millions of them it is a celebration of what many call “the greatest story ever told.”
“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.”—Charles Wesley, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”
Listen to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”:
Breitbart News senior legal contributor Ken Klukowski is a lawyer who served in the White House and Justice Department under President Donald Trump. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @kenklukowski.
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