Christmas is celebrated once a year all over the world. It is not celebrated by Christians only. Non-Christians, people of other faiths, even people of no faith at all, also celebrate it. In some countries, it is celebrated nationally. In some others, it is celebrated as a national holiday. It is quite correct to describe Christmas as an inter-faith, international celebration.

But while it has become a worldwide, universal celebration, there are many all over the world who neither know its real reason nor the one in whose name it is celebrated.

This article seeks to explain the real reason behind the event and to help point to the one whose birth more than two thousand years ago is the real reason for the celebration.

There is indeed a real reason behind Christmas celebration. The Scripture is trite in this regard.

First ~ Christmas is a time of real good news. When the angel first brokered the news of the birth which has come to be celebrated as Christmas, he described it as good news (Lk. 2:10-12). According to him, the good news was that a Saviour was born to the world (Lk. 2:10-12). The Saviour’s birth which we now celebrate as Christmas is good news indeed (Lk. 2:10-12). Christmas is therefore a day of good news, that the world has one who is her Saviour (Lk. 2:10-12). Therefore, as we celebrate Christmas, we must never forget the good news behind the celebration.

Second ~ Christmas is a time when God fulfilled His promise to send the Messiah to redeem the world. This promise is stated in several ways in the Scripture (see Gen. 3:15; Is. 7:14; Is. 9:6-7). According to the Scripture, the birth of Jesus which the world celebrates as Christmas actually fulfils a messianic promise that God had made (see Matt. 1:22-23). As we celebrate Christmas all over the nations today, we should remember that we are actually celebrating the fulfillment of God’s messianic promise. In other words, we are really celebrating the arrival of the world’s promised Messiah more than two thousand years ago. This means that Christmas is nothing but a messianic celebration. The messiah is already available. To lose sight of this in our Christmas celebrations is to celebrate meaninglessly

Third ~ Christmas is a time to celebrate God’s love. By the birth of Jesus, God demonstrated His love for fallen humanity (see Jn. 3:16; cf. Rom. 5:8). This love is both universal and unconditional (Jn. 3:16; cf. Lk. 2:10-11). This love must be received to justify God giving it (see Jn. 6:40). When received, this love results in everlasting life (Jn. 3:16). Christmas celebrations must therefore remind us of the birth of God’s love more than two thousand years ago. It must also remind us that not only that love but its result is still available to all mankind today. To celebrate Christmas properly today we must take due account of God’s love which is still available to every human being right from the first Christmas celebration more than two thousand years ago.