Questions and Answers: Celebrating Christmas/Easter; LUK 18:19; EXO 33:20-23

Narrator: Chris Genthree
Exodus 33:20‑23; Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:11  •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 6
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Ques. 1. is it scriptural for Christians to celebrate Christmas and Easter?
2. If so, why? If not, why not?
Ans. These two questions are answered together. The word translated Easter in Acts 12:4 should be passover. Correctly, in Scripture neither Easter nor Christmas is mentioned. In this day of grace we are told to "stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." Gal. 5:1. The observance of days and months and times and years is called "weak and beggarly elements" in Gal. 4:9 and 10, and the Christian should not be in such bondage. Historically, the origin of Christmas is pagan.
Ques. 3. Why did Christ in Luke 18:19 say, "None is good, save one, that is, God," whereas we know that Christ is the only sinless and perfect man that ever trod the earth?
Ans. Yes, Christ is the only sinless and perfect man and also He is God. Psa. 119:68 says, "Thou art good, and doest good." "The Lord is good.” Nah. 1:7. No mere man was or is good. "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Psa. 14:2, 3.
Ques. 4. How do we reconcile Ex. 33:20-23, where it is stated that "there shall no man see Me [God] and live" with the following passages of Scripture? Gen. 32:30; Ex. 33:11; Deut. 5:4.
Ans. We do not reconcile Scripture but, rather, seek God's teaching from it. First, we notice that in Ex. 33:20 it says, "Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live." John 1:18 tells us, "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." Christ is the Revealer of the Godhead. In Gen. 32:24 it says, "there wrestled a man" with Jacob. It was the Lord Jehovah (who is Christ) revealing God in that way to Jacob and so in Ex. 33:11 and Deut. 5:4. Today Christ reveals the Father. God in His essential being and glory is never seen at any time. All the manifestations of God are in His Son. (1 Tim. 6:13-16.)