II Corinthians 9:15

II Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. We celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25, but when was Jesus really born? Well, no one really knows. So, let’s look at the evidence. Today is the winter solstice – the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. When Constantine, the Roman Emperor, was converted to Christianity in 312 A.D., he probably wanted Christ’s birthday to be celebrated today, the winter solstice, in order to counteract the pagan festival of Saturnalia that was celebrated on the same day. But we don’t really know. We do know that the early Christians celebrated Easter much more than Christmas. Christ’s death and resurrection was more important to them than His birth. The actual day of Jesus’ birth is not as important as the fact that He was born. My father’s mother, Granny Whitely, had a hired hand named Hyder Chapman, who worked for her in West Virginia years ago. When he reached retirement age, he had a problem. He didn’t have a birth certificate! He was one of several children who were born at home and no record was entered at the courthouse of his birth! He knew that he was about 65 years old, but he didn’t know the exact day when he was born. But there was never a question of if Hyder had been born, it was just a question of when he was born. That is the same with the birth of Jesus. We know that He was born! We just celebrate his birth on December 25. Oh by the way, Hyder’s older sister told him when he was born and signed a document to that effect and Hyder got his retirement money.