<\/p>\n
Nativity scenes, artwork, and popular films attempt to retell the incredible story behind Christ\u2019s birth. But there\u2019s sometimes a disconnect between these depictions and the biblical details.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s start with the popular belief that three wise men, or magi, visited Jesus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great to go to scripture and start with the magi,\u201d Jesse Bradley, pastor of Grace Community Church,\u201d told CBN News. \u201cYou know, when you think about what\u2019s the message \u2014 well, there\u2019s three of them. Where do we find that? Not in the Bible.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, where did people get the idea that there were definitively three wise men?<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s three gifts,\u201d Bradley continued. \u201cThere\u2019s frankincense, myrrh, and gold. But, again, it doesn\u2019t say three wise men.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pastor and author Max Lucado agrees. Watch him discuss in the first segment of this \u201c700 Club\u201d episode:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not know if it was a trio of travelers or if there was two or 10,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we do know that they came in search of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s another misconception \u2014 the magi met Jesus on the night of His birth.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid they show up on the day Christ was born?\u201d Lucado rhetorically asked. \u201cOdds are they did not. It would have taken quite a while, but we don\u2019t know when they started and when they arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n
Historian William Federer said King Herod\u2019s decree documented in Matthew 2 provides important clues about the wisemen\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know the exact timing, but, based on Herod \u2014 when he inquires of the wise men, when the Messiah was born, based on that, he decides to kill all babies two years and younger. And, so, it could have been up to two years after Jesus\u2019s birth that the three wise men came.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plus, there\u2019s some ambiguity surrounding Mary\u2019s and Joseph\u2019s trip to Bethlehem before Christ\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/strong>We love to fill in the blanks\u2026 sometimes there\u2019s creative license,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cWhen people think about Mary and Joseph, there are some perceptions. You know, Mary was either on a donkey or a camel, but the Bible doesn\u2019t say that.\u201d<\/p>\n Lucado affirmed that we\u2019re simply \u201cnot told,\u201d though he said it would make sense Mary, being \u201cso heavy with child\u201d would have needed the help of a wagon or animal to make the trip.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s not all. While retellings often show Mary giving birth right after reaching Bethlehem, Pastor Shane Idleman offers a caveat: we simply don\u2019t know how long they were in Bethlehem before having Jesus.<\/p>\n \u201cWe assume that right when she got there [she said], \u2018I feel the contractions\u2019 \u2026 But it doesn\u2019t really say that \u2026 Of course, there\u2019s no lodging, the place is full, and, so, that\u2019s when they find themselves basically in a stable, and we don\u2019t even know the condition of the stable, but that\u2019s how they ended up there.\u201d<\/p>\n And yet another depiction in popular and church culture shows the baby Jesus surrounded by farm animals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe arrive at that because Jesus was born in a cave,\u201d Lucado said. \u201cWe call it a stable, but it was most likely a cave \u2014 a place where the shepherds would come out of the weather at night. And, so, odds are pretty good that there were other animals in the vicinity. It\u2019s not too far of a stretch to think that there were animals in the cave.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, Luke 2:7 also tells us Mary wrapped Jesus in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. All of this brings us to our final point of discussion: whether December 25 is truly the date of Christ\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very interesting historically and \u2026 dive into the research,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cThere\u2019s a range of opinions, including March, April and May. We certainly don\u2019t celebrate Christmas in May. But how did we end up in December? It wasn\u2019t until about 300 years later that we landed on that date.\u201d<\/p>\n The date issue has sparked no shortage of debate and conversation throughout Christian history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just don\u2019t know. Ancient Christmases would bounce from date to date before landing on December 25th,\u201d Lucado added. \u201cSome of the early church fathers really promoted dates in March and, for centuries, the Eastern Orthodox Church celebrated on January 6th and some still do.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless, Lucado, Bradley and others agree it\u2019s the intentional worship and remembrance of Christ\u2019s birth \u2014 and not the precise date \u2014 that truly matter.<\/p>\n \u201cOur heavenly father is really focused on the fact that the word became flesh \u2014 He became flesh,\u201d Lucado said. \u201cHe became just like us.\u201d<\/p>\n None of these misconceptions take away from the central message of Christmas \u2014 that God sent his son to save humanity from our sins. Still, it\u2019s helpful to know what Scripture truly details.<\/p>\n ***As the number of voices facing big-tech censorship continues to grow, please sign up for\u00a0Faithwire\u2019s daily newsletter\u00a0and download the\u00a0CBN News app\u00a0to stay up-to-date with the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.***<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nativity scenes, artwork, and popular films attempt to retell the incredible story behind Christ\u2019s birth. But there\u2019s sometimes a disconnect between these depictions and the biblical details. Let\u2019s start with the popular belief that three wise men, or magi, visited Jesus. \u201cIt\u2019s great to go to scripture and start with the magi,\u201d Jesse Bradley, pastor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[434,2992,2032,481,3841,820,3839,3840],"class_list":{"0":"post-13347","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jesus","8":"tag-biblical","9":"tag-birth","10":"tag-details","11":"tag-jesus","12":"tag-kings","13":"tag-surrounding","14":"tag-totally","15":"tag-wrong"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}