Chapter 77—Christmas
Christmas as a Holiday—“Christmas is coming,” is the note that
is sounded throughout our world from east to west and from north
to south. With youth, those of mature age, and even the aged, it is a
period of general rejoicing, of great gladness. But what is Christmas,
that it should demand so much attention? ...
The twenty-fifth of December is supposed to be the day of the birth
of Jesus Christ, and its observance has become customary and popular.
But yet there is no certainty that we are keeping the veritable day of
our Saviour’s birth. History gives us no certain assurance of this. The
Bible does not give us the precise time. Had the Lord deemed this
knowledge essential to our salvation, He would have spoken through
His prophets and apostles, that we might know all about the matter.
But the silence of the Scriptures upon this point evidences to us that it
is hidden from us for the wisest purposes.
In His wisdom the Lord concealed the place where He buried
Moses. God buried him, and God resurrected him and took him to
heaven. This secrecy was to prevent idolatry. He against whom they
rebelled while he was in active service, whom they provoked almost
beyond human endurance, was almost worshiped as God after his
separation from them by death. For the very same purpose He has
concealed the precise day of Christ’s birth, that the day should not
receive the honor that should be given to Christ as the Redeemer of
the world—one to be received, to be trusted, to be relied on as He
who could save to the uttermost all who come unto Him. The soul’s
[478]
adoration should be given to Jesus as the Son of the infinite God
The Day Not to Be Ignored—As the twenty-fifth of December
is observed to commemorate the birth of Christ, as the children have
been instructed by precept and example that this was indeed a day of
gladness and rejoicing, you will find it a difficult matter to pass over
this period without giving it some attention. It can be made to serve a
very good purpose.
1
The Review and Herald, December 9, 1884
.
364