Are Christians crazy for believing the Christmas story? Did angels really sing to the shepherds? Did a virgin really give birth? Did a heavenly baby really sleep in a lowly manger? Did a miraculous star really guide wise men from afar? Surely these stories are more fairy tale than fact, aren’t they? Well, let’s think about this for a few minutes…

1. Believing in the supernatural makes sense.

For the natural world and the laws of nature to exist, it must have had a beginning caused by forces that exist outside of what we call ‘natural’ and is therefore ‘super’ natural. In fact, to deny the supernatural only leads us believe things that make no sense at all. It’s like someone saying, “The virgin birth is impossible,” yet at the very same time believing that the universe had a virgin birth. “Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle.” (Glen Scrivener). But someone might ask, “How does believing in the supernatural prove the supernatural stories in the bible are true?”

2. Accepting the gospels as an historical account makes sense.

The Christmas story does not start like a fairy tale with the words, ‘Once upon a time.’ It starts with the disciple Luke saying that he has written down the history of Jesus into an ‘orderly account’ (Luke 1:3) which he had ‘carefully investigated’ (Luke 1:3) from ‘eyewitnesses’  (Luke 1:2). Many people say the Bible has been changed over the centuries and so cannot be trusted as an historical document, but is that true? The facts tell a different story – the New Testament has more ancient manuscript evidence than any other ancient work of literature! The gospels have been reliably preserved from 2000 years ago [1]. But some people might ask, “Why should we believe the Bible’s account of history? It’s just a story written by men isn’t it?”

3. Admitting the Bible is supernatural makes sense.

The Bible describes itself as a book written by God through the hand of man – The Bible says, ‘Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.’ (2 Peter 1:21). The supernatural origin of the Bible is clearly seen when you study it; the Bible constantly, consistently, and accurately predicts the future again, and again, and again. We could examine many fulfilled prophecies in the Bible, but today let’s focus on one book of the Bible, Isaiah. Isaiah was written 700 years before Jesus was born, but it clearly prophesies future events about Jesus. The oldest manuscript of Isaiah, that we have today, is called ‘The Great Isaiah Scroll’ which dates from 125 BC. This manuscript can be viewed online with a translation of every word from the Hebrew [2].

Let’s look at some of prophesies about the coming Messiah, found in the book of Isaiah, that are clearly fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Isaiah tells us that the Messiah would…

  • be born of a virgin and Jesus was (Isaiah 7:14 & Luke 1:30-31)
  • be called ‘Immanuel’ (which means ‘God with us’) & Jesus was (Isaiah 7:14 & Matt 1:21-23)
  • perform miracles and Jesus did (Isaiah 35:5–6 & Mark 1:34)
  • be falsely accused, and Jesus was (Isaiah 53:4 & Luke 23:13-14)
  • be without sin, and Jesus was (Isaiah 53:9 & 1 Peter 2:22)
  • be spat on and struck, and Jesus was (Isaiah 50:6 & Matthew 26:67)
  • be silent before his accusers, and Jesus was (Isaiah 53:7 & Luke 23:9)
  • die for sinners, and Jesus did (Isa 53:5-6 & 1 Peter 2:24)
  • die with sinners, and Jesus did (Isaiah 53:12 & Mark 15:27-28)
  • be buried in a rich man’s tomb, & Jesus was (Isa 53:9 & Matt 27:57-60)
  • rise from death, and Jesus did (Isaiah 53:10-11 & Matthew 28:5-6)
  • make people right with God, and Jesus does (Isa 53:11 & 2 Cor 5:21

And this is only a few of the many fulfilled prophesies in the Bible – there are many more. The Bible shows itself to be supernaturally inspired by consistently predicting the future! This shows us that the supernatural is real, this shows us the Bible is more than reliable – it is prophetic, and this shows us that the real God is the God of the Bible who came into the world, slept in a manger, died on a cross, and rose from the dead.

4. Believing in Jesus makes sense. 

The Christmas Story is a story that should change the story of our lives. If Jesus is truly “God with us’, then we need to follow in the footsteps of the Shepherds and the Wise Men, who came as fast as they could to meet Jesus – so we can bow before him, receive new life from him, worship him, and tell others all about him.

1 – Read ‘More than a carpenter’ by Josh McDowell, who became a Christian through examining the evidence for Christianity. 

2 – The Great Isaiah Scroll can be viewed here – http://dss.collections.imj.org.il/isaiah#1:4

© 2022 Roger Tanton