Christmas Facts

Preliminary:

Luke 1:1–4 KJV 1900

1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, 2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; 3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, 4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Luke 1:3 KJV 1900

3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

Luke 1:4 KJV 1900

4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

Some interesting Christmas themed trivia

NORAD’s “Santa Tracker” was born from a misprint in the newspaper. A 1955 Sears ad was supposed to print the number of a store where children could call and tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. The number printed was to the hotline of the Director of Operations for the U.S. Continental Air Defense. Colonel Shoup ordered his staff to give the children updates on the flight coordinates of Santa.

“White Christmas”, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, “Winter Wonderland”, “The Christmas Song” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” plus the melody for “O Holy Night” were all written or co-written by Jews.

Talking about Christmas Songs: If you gave all the gifts listed in the Twelve Days of Christmas, it would equal 364 gifts. If all of those items were purchased in the Twelve Days of Christmas according to a 2022 article it would cost $34,558.65. - The Twelve Days of Christmas was also a coded catechism written to teach and symbolize important truths of the Christian Doctrine.

In 2010 during the Christmas season, the Colombian government decorated jungle trees with lights. The trees lit up when the guerrillas (terrorists) walked by and banners appeared asking them to surrender their arms. The campaign convinced 331 guerillas to re-enter society and also won an award for strategic marketing excellence.

Almost 28 sets of LEGO are sold every second during the Christmas season.

A law in Britain to this day forbids you from not visiting church on Christmas day. And you cannot visit the church on a vehicle. However, this law is just sitting on a piece of paper and is not followed actually.

The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the US by the French on Christmas day in 1886. It weighs 225 tons and thus you could consider it as the biggest Christmas gift in the world.

The Statue of Liberty may be called the biggest Christmas gift - but the greatest gift in all the world is Jesus Christ.

In Luke’s gospel he writes with the presupposition (i would argue reality)

That there were several writings of the Life of Christ

Luke uses the word “many” in verse 1 which means “multitude”

While he doesn’t disparage or reject those writings that he would have access to, but he hints that perhaps some of them are not fully accurate to reality and he is setting out to write an accurate and historical account of Christ’s life.

He claims to have a “perfect understanding of all things”

and writes with the purpose of creating “certainty” or to remove doubt.

Sometimes I think we feel we have it all figured out as well. Especially when it comes to the birth of Christ.

I want to give us a quiz tonight to check our knowledge of Christ’s birth and surrounding events to evaluate how much we have been influenced by opinion or the Scriptures.

Don’t worry I’m not keeping a record or even going to make you tell us what your score is.

I am passing out an index card and I am going to give you a series of seven statements. I just want you to number lines 1-7 and then answer simply true or false to the corresponding question.

Lets try to keep from giving any answers to others - no phones or Bibles, and no talking or sharing

You ready?

-True or False The Bible says the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph to inform him that Mary was with child.

(Matthew 1:20 “20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” )

-True or False The Bible says that three wise men came to to the manger to worship and give gifts to Jesus.

Unbeknownst to most theologians, there was a fourth wise man, who was turned away for bringing a fruitcake.

(Matthew 2:1 “1 Now when Jesus was born in Beth-lehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,” )

-True or False The Bible says that an unknown number of wise men came to the manger to worship Jesus.

Matthew 2:11 “11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

-True or False The Bible says a bright star appeared in the sky and led the shepherds to the manger.

Luke 2:9 “9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.”

-True or False The Bible says a bright star appeared in the sky and led the wise men to the manger.

Matthew 2:10-11 “10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

-True or False The Bible says the shepherds and the wise men were present on the night of Jesus’ birth.

Luke 2:16 “16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”

Matthew 2:11

-True or False The Bible says an innkeeper told Mary and Joseph that there was no room in the inn, thus Jesus was born in a manger.

Luke 2:7 “7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Lets see how we did...

If you marked any of them as True - mark those incorrect - all seven are false -

Lets go back through and talk about them briefly