We don’t set apart December 25th as a special day.
We do celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (Yeshua haMashiach)!
We would have gone on forever and never said a word to anyone, but after a while the family notices that there is no tree in your house like there was in years past, and the questions commence … so here is my attempt at an explanation.
If you have a minute, go read Revelation 17 and 18.
Now what do those chapters have to do with Christmas? Everything! Let me explain:
God created man and gave him a home in His own household. Then Adam bowed his knee to the enemy, and long story short, mankind departed from God’s house and from His presence to do their own thing. (The parable of the prodigal son is a mini picture of the history of the world in summary). And everything in the history of the world since that act has been about God restoring us to His household once again. Why? Because that is what Fathers do when their children are seduced away from them by a terrible enemy who only wants to destroy them.
So God gave Adam and Eve the hope of the Promised Seed to come (Gen 3:15), who will set matters to right and restore man to God’s house once again. Long story short, man sank into deeper and deeper depravity until the only option left for God was to start over with the one family who hadn’t gone that route (Gen 6-7).
When Noah and his family emerged from the ark in the world washed clean of corruption, God entered into a covenant with him (Gen 8-9). Noah and his family worshiped and served the Creator of heaven and earth, and the Creator of heaven and earth blessed and prospered them. From them came all the fathers of the nations of the world (Gen 10).
God’s wonderful plan was to fill the earth with peoples of the nations, who served and worshiped Him, restored to His household for their blessing and benefit. But Nimrod, a descendant of Noah who did not wish to bow his knee to God or even to any other man, but who wished to be king himself over man, built Babel and reigned over it (Gen 10:8-10), to keep men in one place (Gen 11:4), in defiance of God’s command to spread abroad in the earth (Gen 9:1). He set himself up as king in Babel, and enslaved men to serve and worship him rather than the Creator of heaven and earth. Nimrod styled himself as the first incarnation of deity (you can read more about Nimrod in the first book of Josephus’ Antiquities). Of course he was inspired in all this by the enemy, who had not left off trying to corrupt the worship of God in the earth.
The old history books all point to Nimrod as the author and founder of paganism. Paganism is that religious system which makes nature God and Creator, and not YHVH. In classical paganism the elements of nature are elevated to positions of deity and worshiped, thus there is a sun god, a moon god, and so on and so forth. Modern darwinism is just paganism in a lab coat: they hold the same belief that nature is our creator and our god, although an evolutionist will argue the point with you. All pre- darwinian historians agree that paganism was birthed from Nimrod and from Babylon.
Babel is a Hebrew word. Babel was built, not only as a city, but also as a religious and political system, to slap God in the face – to deny Him His sovereignty, His kingship, His worship, His glory, and His praise in the earth. This is why the Tower of Babel incident recorded in Gen 11 is one of the most pivotal events in history, and is known as the Great Rebellion. Adam might not have intended to slap God when he took a bite of the apple. But Nimrod (as a tool of the enemy) did intend to slap God, with full knowledge and intent of malice.
“Babel” in Greek, is “Babylon.” Babel is Babylon, and Babylon is Babel.
So instead of every nation, tongue, tribe, and family worshiping and serving YHVH, the true Creator and true God, now every nation, by the midpoint of Gen chapter 11, has Greatly Rebelled against God, and no one is serving and worshiping Him. His worship and His truth have been corrupted in the earth. God searched for one man who would preserve His truth, who would preserve His worship, and who would walk in His way (in His torah, His path, direction, instruction, or teaching, Gen 26:1-5). Thus Gen chapter 11 closes with the introduction of the one man, Abraham, who is the father of all who believe in God, and who believe God – who live their lives as if His words were true.
christmas and babylon, part two 2010 dec 21
christmas and babylon, part three 2010 dec 22
christmas and babylon, part four 2010 dec 23
christmas and sabbath-keeping (or, how to set apart a holy day) 2012 dec 31
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