THE BIBLICAL LIGHT HAS COME: Why December 25 Belongs to Christ — Even If He Was Born at Tabernacles (the inversion, “the shadow of things to come…”, the photo negative)

Why December 25 Belongs to Christ — Even If He Was Born at Tabernacles**

A theological, historical, and creation-based defense for honoring Christ on December 25 — without surrendering truth, Hebrew continuity, or ancient orthodoxy.

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🌄 1. Where the Controversy Stands Today

Every December, Christians are split:

Both sides fear compromise. Many feel pressured to choose one extreme or the other.

⚠️ But the ancient Church — before Rome — never lived in such false binaries.

Because Scripture — and creation — teach a third way:

Christ owns all days.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (Ps 24)
“From the creation of the world… the invisible things of God are clearly seen.” (Rom 1:19–20)

The question is not:
Did pagans once observe this time of year?

The question is:
Did God Himself inscribe the Gospel into creation — including THIS moment of the year — long before pagans copied it?

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🕯️ 2. Scripture First — The Nativity Timeline

(Shortest possible summary — full chronology in companion article.)

Luke 1 reveals:

• John the Baptist conceived after Abijah’s priestly course (~Pentecost)

• Elizabeth hides herself 5 months

• Gabriel appears to Mary in the sixth month → mid-December

• Incarnation (Conception) = winter

• Nativity (Birth) = Feast of Tabernacles, ~late September

“The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” (John 1:14)

📌 Biblical conclusion:
Tabernacles = Birth
Mid-winter = Incarnation / conception — the Light entering the womb

👉 Full supporting chronology:
“Many Hails on Many Days — Why Tabernacles Was the Original Mainstream in Asia Minor”

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🩺 3. Why December 25 Still Matters — Even If It’s Not the Birth

Most modern debate misses this:

December 25 is about the Light FIRST appearing — the Conception — the invasion of the world by the Word.

God wrote this truth into:

• womb cycles (9-month gestation),

• seasons (darkest → light increasing),

• feasts (death, conception, birth).

Look at the symmetry:

Creation itself preaches the Gospel:

“Unto you that fear My Name shall the Sun (שֶׁמֶשׁ—literal sun) of Righteousness arise…” (Mal 4:2)

Thus —
❌ saying “winter solstice = sun = pagan!”
is to invert the Bible’s revelation.

Pagans did not invent symbolism.
They borrowed fragments — without the Scriptures to complete them.

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🌍 4. Rome, the Heathen — and Why This Actually PROVES the Gospel

Why did Romans celebrate a “birth of light”?

Because nature itself taught them:

• the light returns after the darkest night,

• hope emerges,

• renewal begins.

The Magi — astronomers — also followed creation and found Christ.

Likewise:

• Druids

• Celtic seers

• philosophers

— converted because creation had already prepared them.

🕊 The sun was never the threat — ignorance was.
Christ is the fulfillment.

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🎄 5. The Christmas Tree Question — We Tell the Truth About It

Yes — Israel was condemned repeatedly for groves and “green-tree” rites:

“Under every green tree…” (Deut 12:2; Isa 57:5)

Those practices included:

• sacred groves

• fertility rites

• gifts under trees

• sensual occult worship

Therefore — St. Andrew’s OCC teaches:
❌ do not sacralize trees in the house
❌ do not imitate heathen ritual practice
✔️ keep worship pure — Liturgy, Scripture, Psalmody, Eucharist

The day is not corrupted — the abuses are.

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🕎 6. Was December 25 Ever “Pagan”? — Yes, and That PROVES Something Larger

Yes — the date was used in ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Roman Mithra feasts.
Yes — some even claim it was tied to Nimrod.
We do not need to deny this — because the Bible gives us the interpretive key.

Pagans did not invent the symbols —
they reacted to the sermon of creation without the Scriptures.

“The heavens declare the glory of God…
Day unto day utters speech…
Their line has gone out through all the earth.”
— Psalm 19:1–4

“That which may be known of God is manifest in them —
For God has shown it unto them…
From the creation of the world His invisible things are clearly seen.”
— Romans 1:19–20

Nature preached the Gospel before missionaries did.

The darkest point of the year…
the turning of the light…
the rebirth of the sun…

— all these were shadows.

“For the feasts are a shadow of things to come,
but the substance is Christ.”
— Colossians 2:16–17

Thus:

• Pagans imitated the shadow

• Scripture reveals the substance

• Christ is the true Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2)

And look at the divine inversion — like a photo negative:

He who is the Light enters the world precisely when creation’s light is least.

And by the rhythm of God’s calendar:

December stands at the mathematical hinge of Incarnation —
the hidden beginning of the Light.

Therefore:

We do not “borrow” December 25 from pagans.
Rather — pagans borrowed the faint outline of a truth that God placed in creation.

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🏴 7. Celtic Christianity — The Missing Witness Rome Couldn’t Erase

The Celtic, Gallican, and Mozarabic traditions preserved what Rome later forgot:

• A 40-day Advent fast beginning Nov. 11 (St. Martin’s Lent)

• December 18 Annunciation (Conception) feast

• Christ’s Birth at Tabernacles

• Sabbath continuity

• Hebrew feast memory

• A Christianity never conquered by Rome
  (Hadrian’s Wall marks the boundary they could never cross)

As Augustine admitted to the Pope:
➡️ The churches of Gaul and Britain were older than Rome
➡️ They did not keep Roman customs
➡️ They kept ancient feasts, older than Western calendars

Therefore:

A Celtic-Orthodox believer may say without shame:

“We keep December as the holy season of His Incarnation —
and Tabernacles as His Nativity —
because that is the continuity of the apostolic Church before Romanization.”

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🤝 8. Unity — A Better Way for the Body of Christ

Instead of:

“Pagans!”
or
“Legalists!”

Let us say:

Many hails on many days — Christ is King.

🕯 If a brother keeps Dec 25 unto Christ — bless him
🕎 If another keeps Tabernacles — honor him
🔥 If one keeps BOTH — he reflects fullness

Let ALL days bow to Jesus.

🕊️ 8.5 “Are extra feasts biblical?”

Jesus Himself foretold that after His departure, His disciples would enter a season of many fasts and many days of remembrance:

“The days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.”
— Luke 5:35 (cf. Matthew 9:15 / Mark 2:20)

The Apostle Paul teaches that believers are free to sanctify days unto the Lord:

“One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.”
— Romans 14:5–6

Paul further commands that honor itself is a biblical duty:

“Render therefore to all their dues:
tribute to whom tribute is due; honor to whom honor.”
— Romans 13:7

If Scripture allows us to esteem others, even the least —
how much more may we honor Christ Himself with commemorative days,
especially the day of His first coming into the world?

“Each of you in humility esteem others better than yourselves.”
— Philippians 2:3

Scripture even recognizes days of memorial for the departed righteous:

“The memory of the just is blessed.”
— Proverbs 10:7

→ If remembrance of saints is righteous,
→ and honoring earthly rulers is commanded,
→ then honoring the King Himself — on the day His light entered the world — is the highest obedience.

Therefore:

Commemoration is not Roman invention.
It is Biblical.
It is apostolic expectation.
And honoring Christ on multiple anchor-days — conception and birth — is not adding to Scripture,
but living its fullness.

 

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🔚 9. Final Exhortation — Claim the Day for the King

No one today worships the physical sun.
But all creation still proclaims the Son.

Therefore:

• Let December 25 be restored as Incarnation Feast (Conception — Light enters the womb)

• Let Tabernacles remain Nativity Feast (Birth — Light dwells among men)

• Let every believer rejoice — and cease arguing dates

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.” (Romans 11:36)

Amen — and Many Hails to Our King.