The Doctrine Of Christmas by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Christmas is constantly approached with a carnival mentality instead of a feast mindset. The holiness of Bethlehem has been drowned in the noise of shopping malls. Blinking colored lights replace the star that once pointed unbelieving men to Christ. The filth and humility of the manger is exchanged for the artificial purity of white snow. Carols have become Broadway shows instead of thanksgiving and worship nights. Christ-changing history is now mixed with fantasy, relegating history. The holy is blended with the silly until the message is blurred. This confusion may be innocent, but the enemy is deliberate. It is a deliberate distraction.

When all this noise accumulates, it becomes hard to see what really lies in the manger — not gold or silver, not a lamb, but the Lamb of God. The unimaginable humility of God in poverty.

The Prophetic Case for Christmas

There are hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament — approximately 300 — concerning the first coming of Christ: his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Of those, 40 to 50 specifically concern his birth. Every single one of those birth prophecies was fulfilled.

The mathematician Peter Stoner estimated the probability of one person fulfilling all 48 birth prophecies as one chance in one trillion. Regarding just eight of the prophecies, the odds of fulfillment by coincidence are one chance in 100 million billion — a number far greater than the total number of people who have ever lived (approximately 120 billion). To illustrate: if silver coins were spread two feet deep across the entire state of Texas, and one coin was marked and hidden among them, the odds of a blindfolded person picking that exact coin on the first try equal the odds of one person fulfilling just eight of those prophecies.

It is impossible for this to be guesswork. Either Jesus is who he claims to be — or he is a psychopath. There is no middle option.

Historical Facts About Christmas

• The date December 25 is historical, not scriptural. Scripture does not give an exact date for the birth of Jesus. Based on Luke 2:8, which describes shepherds in open fields by night, most scholars suggest a springtime birth — possibly March or April. The early church settled on December 25 around 120 AD, partly influenced by the ancient assumption that a person's birth and death occurred near the same time of year.
• Some believers celebrate Christmas on January 6. The Eastern Church observes this date. The essential question is not the date but whether Christ is truly celebrated.
• There is no direct scripture commanding the celebration of Jesus's birth. The Bible records the birth but does not institute a feast or holy day to mark it. The word "Christmas" itself comes from Christ-mass — a worship gathering (a mass) specially designated to honor the birth of Christ.
• The claim that Christmas is pagan worship misunderstands the meaning of worship. Worship is intentional devotion directed to a deity. The names of days of the week (Monday, Tuesday) and months of the year (March, July) all derive from pagan or Roman sources — yet no one is accused of worshiping pagan gods by using them. Two events can occur on the same day without one being about the other. If the theology behind a celebration is Christological, the worship belongs to Christ.

The Feast of Tabernacles: A Type of Christmas

Every Old Testament feast finds its fulfillment in Christ. The death of Jesus is typified by the Passover. His resurrection is typified by the Feast of First Fruits. The outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2 is typified by Pentecost. The birth of Jesus connects to the Feast of Tabernacles — not by date, but by doctrine and meaning.

A feast in Hebrew (moed) means a season, a congregation, an appointed time — used as "congregation" 150 times, "feast" 23 times, "appointed time" 24 times. It refers to a gathering of people.

1. The Feast of Tabernacles was about God dwelling with his people

   Leviticus 23:42-43 — Israel dwelt in tents for seven days to remember that God had made them dwell in tents when he brought them out of Egypt. The feast was not about a building. It was about association with God. Redemption does not end at being rescued from Egypt; redemption begins relationship with the rescuer. God did not only bring them out — he stayed with them.

   John 1:14 says the Word became flesh and dwelt (Greek: tabernacled) among us. God pitched his tent among men. This shows that God is not repelled by weakness. He does not save from a distance.

2. The Feast of Tabernacles celebrated God's provision in the wilderness

   Israel remembered God's daily provision: manna, water, protection, and leading. They were weak, dependent, unable to sustain themselves — yet God never failed them. Deuteronomy 29:5 records Moses challenging the people: for forty years their clothes had not worn out and their sandals had not worn from their feet.

   Jesus answers every form of that provision:

   • John 6:35 — "I am the bread come down from heaven." Note that Bethlehem itself means House of Bread.
   • John 7:37 — On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood and cried out: if anyone is thirsty, let him come to him and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. In Jeremiah 17:13, God is described as "the fountain of living waters" — and Jesus was fulfilling that messianic prophecy in the very context of the feast.

   In John 8 — immediately following the feast declaration — a woman is caught in adultery. Jesus writes on the ground, and one by one her accusers leave. What was he writing? Jeremiah 17:13: "Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." He was fulfilling messianic prophecy in real time.

   In the feast of tabernacles, what is found is God dwelling with dust — and that dwelling brings the light of life that releases humanity from accusation.

3. The Feast of Tabernacles points to God's permanent dwelling with redeemed humanity

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   Zechariah 14:16 — Everyone left of all nations will go up year by year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

   Revelation 21:3 — "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God."

   The feast of tabernacles makes us his people and makes him our God. Christmas is the beginning of that story. The incarnation is the first step toward eternal dwelling. God did not visit humanity temporarily — he came to stay.

Why Was Jesus Born?

Jesus was born for two reasons: to save humanity from sin, and to deliver humanity from itself.

To save us from our sins

Matthew 1:21 — "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

God's own character, declared in Exodus 34:5-6, establishes that he is merciful and gracious — but also that he by no means clears the guilty. He punishes sin. So what did God do? Since humanity could not be set free without punishment, God came in human form and absorbed the punishment himself. The guilty was punished — but God was gracious, because he bore it in their place. This is not pardoning sin. This is justice satisfied by God himself.

This is why the Christian worldview is the only balanced and trusted worldview pertaining to salvation. Other worldviews have gods who pardon sin. In the Christian worldview, God punishes sin — and then takes the punishment himself. That means sin was paid for. God will not punish twice what has already been judged. This is the ground of assurance of salvation.

Philippians 2:5-8 — Jesus, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to hold onto, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant. This is not saying he ceased to be God. Theology calls this the hypostatic union — 100% human and 100% God simultaneously. A prince traveling incognito does not cease to be a prince. Jesus veiled his divine privileges but retained his divine nature. Why does this matter? Because a mere man cannot die for other men — man has sin. God had to come in the form of man to redeem man.

To deliver us from the darkness within ourselves

The historian and skeptic W.E.H. Lecky wrote in History of European Morals: the simple record of three short years of active life has done more to regenerate and soften mankind than all the dispositions of philosophers and exhortations of moralists.

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Importance Of Proper Bible Interpretation

by Apostle Emmanuel Iren

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Nothing has killed human beings like human beings. Adolf Eichmann, mastermind of the Jewish Holocaust, was put on trial in 1961. A death camp survivor named Yehiel Dinur was brought in to testify and collapsed dramatically upon seeing him. Twenty-two years later, when Mike Wallace interviewed him on 60 Minutes and showed him the footage, Dinur explained: he did not collapse from hate or fear. He collapsed because he suddenly realized — Eichmann was not a demon. He was an ordinary man. And if Eichmann was capable of this, so was he. "This man is in all of us," he said. "I collapsed because I was looking at myself."

That is how dark a human mind can be. Albert Einstein said: "I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." His meaning: humanity will self-destruct so thoroughly it will have to begin again.

Christmas came to deliver us from ourselves. Imagine a world without the teachings of Jesus — no framework for forgiveness, no principle of mercy. Without him, the world would be a jungle.

How to Celebrate Christmas

1. Prioritize family — especially estranged members

   The Hebrew word for redemption is gaal — to buy back a lost relative. If Christmas is about redemption, it demands reconciliation. It is not possible to celebrate Christmas while keeping malice with family. That is not Christmas. That is Xmas — the Christ removed.

2. Do not celebrate doing the things Jesus came to save us from

   Our generation has developed a vocabulary for rebranding sin:

   • Intolerance rebranded as avoiding toxic people
   • Correction rebranded as being judgmental
   • Pride rebranded as high self-worth
   • Greed rebranded as being ambitious
   • Laziness rebranded as protecting your peace
   • Unforgiving hearts rebranded as boundaries
   • Ingratitude rebranded as knowing your worth
   • Self-centeredness rebranded as self-love

   Do not turn Christmas into this. He left heaven, endured the shame, grew from infancy to adulthood as a man, and died — not so that his birthday could be celebrated with the very things he came to save us from.

3. Do not pressure yourself over material expectations

   We are not the celebrants. There is no obligation for new clothes, new shoes, or a fancy Christmas tree. Financial pressure at Christmas is a symptom of comparison — and those who compare themselves with themselves are not wise. Social media projects a false abundance. Many people enter depression and even suicidal ideation in December and January because they are measuring their private reality against someone else's curated performance.

   The loneliness of singleness is nothing compared to the pain of being with the wrong person. Favor gravitates toward those who recognize favor on others, not those who resent it. If God wants to do something grand in a life, he will first do it for someone nearby — because John the Baptist manifests before Jesus.

4. Rest in the revelation of God as Father

   Matthew 11:28-30 — "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The context of that rest is given in verse 27: no one knows the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. The rest Jesus offers is not sleep — it is the revelation of God as Father.

   In the Message translation: "Are you tired? Worn out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you will recover your life. I will show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace."

   He said: walk with me, not walk for me. The distinction between the Old and New Covenants is not in the standards but in the relationship. We are not relating with a boss. We are relating with a Father. Receive this season. Receive God's love, God's rest, God's peace. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.