Christmas is filled with traditions that help us reinforce our celebration of the
birth of Christ. For example, you have the distribution of gifts that really
symbolize the greatest gift that has ever been given to us by God through
Jesus Christ. You have the fact that we teach our church members, our family and
children, that it's more blessed to give than to receive. We've seen the ancient
hymns in church or out caroling that really emphasize the fact that the Word
of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. Then you have other traditions that
really complement Christmas such as the Christmas tree or putting up a Christmas
wreath, feasting, being with family or even decorating the home with scriptures
pertaining to the birth of Christ and even setting up Christmas lights. These
are all traditions that are completely fine and even enjoyable to practice. But
then there are other traditions that people think complement Christmas but
are actually sinful according to the Bible, such as the nativity scene.
Throughout the Christmas season you'll often have businesses, churches and homes
that will often construct a literal nativity scene. And of course a nativity scene is
referring to the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ. It's often a
centerpiece graven image that includes Mary and Joseph, the angel, you have the
wise men and the shepherd's livestock all looking upon baby Jesus. And although
this tradition may seem harmless and just completely innocent, it's actually
unbiblical and sinful and even forbidden according to the Bible. Now before I get
into the actual scriptures, let me start off by saying that the most common
nativity scene is not only sinful but even inaccurate. And the reason I say
that is because the nativity scene often includes the wise men along with the
shepherds looking upon Jesus. Now this scene actually never took place in the
Bible. You see the events surrounding the nativity scene can actually be read in
the first two chapters of the book of Matthew and the book of Luke. And in Luke
chapter 2 you have the angel coming to the shepherds that were abiding in the
field by night. He says unto them, Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings
of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And you shall find the
babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. So the shepherds were
actually there on the day that Jesus Christ was made flesh, that the Word of
God was made flesh, where he was born. They actually looked upon baby Jesus
whereas the wise men didn't behold Jesus Christ until about two years after
And of course in Matthew chapter 2 you have the story of the wise men coming
from the east to Bethlehem to seek for Jesus. They ask Herod, Where is he that is
born king of the Jews? Of course Herod is troubled by this but he sends them forth
and commands them to go and seek forth diligently for the young child. They
follow the star that they saw in the east until it stands over the young
child. They bring Jesus Christ gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And then
being warned in the dream they go back to their own country another way. King
Herod of course realizing that he was mocked at the wise men sends forth his
soldiers to kill all the children from two years old and under in hopes that he
would kill Jesus. And of course the implication there is that Jesus Christ
was probably approximately about two years old when this took place. So when
we look at the nativity scene that people prop up you see the wise men
along with the shepherds it's obviously an event that never really took place.
They're actually about two years apart from one another. But aside from the fact
that the nativity scene is inaccurate it's also sinful. The Bible says in
Exodus chapter 20 verse number 4, Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image or
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in earth beneath
or that is in the water under the earth. So according to the Bible we shouldn't
make any graven image out of wood or of stone of anything that is in heaven or
anything that is in earth or anything that is in the sea under the earth. But
more explicitly Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 16 says this, Lest ye corrupt
yourselves and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness
of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness
of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air, the likeness of anything that
creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath
the earth, and lest thou lift up thine eyes into heaven, and when thou seest the
sun and the moon and the stars, even all the hosts of heaven, shouldest be driven
to worship them and serve them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all
nations under the whole heaven. So according to the Bible we shouldn't make
any graven image or any similitude of the Godhead but not just of the Godhead
even of celestial bodies in heaven or things that are in the earth such as
males or females. Well the nativity scene violates all of that because you have
Mary and Joseph, the males and females, you have the wise men, you have the
shepherds, but it even says here that we shouldn't make any likeness of any
beasts, right? And you often see manger scenes, nativity scenes with livestock
surrounding baby Jesus, but probably the worst part of the nativity scene is the
fact that there's a similitude of Jesus Christ who is of the Godhead, a graven
carved image of Jesus Christ who is part of the Godhead. Folks according to
the Bible that's called idolatry and the Bible says to flee from idolatry. The
Bible says little children keep yourselves from idols and the reality is
this is though a lot of people think that the nativity scene is simply
innocent, it's not harming anyone, you know the reality is is that it's a
violation of clear scriptures and we need to make sure that we worship God on
his terms and not our own. We can still celebrate Christmas without being
idolatrous, without violating clear scriptures that are clearly laid out in
the Word of God. We can talk about the nativity scene, read about it, preach
about it without actually constructing one. We don't want to make the Word of
God of none effect through traditions that completely contradict the Word of
God. Merry Christmas. Hey thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed the video. If
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