It’s a historical event like no other. When mankind fell into sin through the disobedience of Adam, humanity was cut off from being in a right relationship with God. Sin separated us from our Maker, and we became rebels at enmity with Him. We were lost and without hope in both our unwillingness and inability to be restored in the fellowship that humanity experienced before the Fall. Yet God, because of His great love and mercy, chose to redeem a people for Himself, and as Paul described, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5). This “fullness of times” in human history, when God took on human flesh, was so significant that our modern calendar is based on it! I am writing this blog in the year AD 2024, with “AD” being an abbreviation of the Latin expression “anno domini”, which translates to “in the year of our Lord”. Every time we think about or write down what year it is, we are reminded of how many years it has (roughly) been since the day that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

With such a climatic event in human history as the birth of Christ, comes the inevitability of many misconceptions about it to arise over time. In today’s blog, we will explore a select few of these claims people have made concerning the nativity, and compare them to what we can safely conclude from the biblical account.

Claim #1: There were three magi present immediately after Christ was born.

Reality: We’ve all seen the typical nativity scene depiction. There they are, three wise men kneeling down beside the newborn King with gifts in their hands. But in reality, we don’t know how many magi came to Bethlehem to worship Jesus. We often assume the number was three because the magi presented to Him three distinct gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11). Given how far the magi would have traveled from their homeland, and the dangers of traveling such distances in ancient times, it is highly unlikely that there were only three magi present. There could have been as many as several dozen. Additionally, according to Matthew 2:3, King Herod “…was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him”. Three men showing up at Jerusalem would hardly cause an entire city and its leader to respond in this way. But an army of magi would certainly give their claim that much more credibility and would better fit with what the narrative describes. Furthermore, no magi were present immediately after Christ was born. A superficial reading of the opening verses of Matthew 2 can make it seem as though these events took place very closely together, but a closer look at this passage in its totality indicates that Jesus could have been up to 2 years old already by the time the magi arrived. In verse 16, we read, “Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.” Essentially, Herod was determined to kill this young challenger to his power, even if it was at the expense of all other male children age two and under who were in the general vicinity, because he knew Jesus was the true King of the Jews and he didn’t want his throne taken by anyone. The fact that Herod believed Jesus could have been up to 2 years old at this point makes it highly unlikely that Jesus was a newborn when the magi arrived in Bethlehem.

Claim #2: The star the magi followed was a planetary conjunction.

Reality: Admittedly this claim is one of the more fascinating ones for me to talk about since as many of you probably know, I’m a bit of an astronomy nerd. This one took on a new level of popularity back in 2020 when a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn took place mere days before Christmas. The media even dubbed it the “Christmas Star” due to the timing of the event. But what does the Bible say regarding this special star that the magi followed? For starters, we know that the magi came from the east to worship the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:1-2, 9). What was guiding them to the exact spot where the King would be found? A star. What direction would the magi have been traveling? West. This would require a star to be in the western part of the sky and not moving. Due to the earth’s rotation, stars, comets, planets, etc. cannot remain in a fixed position in the western part of the sky. The only star that naturally remains “fixed” in our sky is the North Star, and everything else appears to circle around it as the earth spins on its axis. Case in point, no naturally occurring astronomical phenomena can explain what the Bible describes took place, planetary conjunctions or otherwise: it can only be a result of God’s miraculous intervention. This is further corroborated by the fact that the magi “rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” when they saw the star that “stood over the place where the Child was.” (Matthew 2:9-10). The magi knew the night sky backwards and forwards given their exposure to astrology, so they would have understood that this star was indeed extraordinary and meant something very special. In fact, they had been waiting for this exact star for centuries, going as far back as in the days of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar. In Daniel 2:46-49, we read about how Kebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel to “chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon” because of how the God whom Daniel worshipped was a “revealer of mysteries”. God was preparing the nations for Christ’s coming, and the magi were among those who eagerly awaited His arrival. 

Claim #3: Jesus was born in a barn or cave.

Reality: This is an old nativity tradition dating as far back as the early church fathers. We know that Jesus was born in circumstances that were far from ideal for anyone, much less a king. When Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem to register for the census, we read that “there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7), hence why Jesus was born in a manger. Since a manger was essentially a feeding trough for livestock, many have taken this to mean that the nativity scene was in a barn or cave. However, it is most likely that the nativity scene occurred in the lower level of a house, where livestock was often kept.  The “inn” that Luke 2 references was not the kind of inn we think of today, such as a hotel, but instead referred to the guest room in a house. Because the nativity took place during the census, the guest room in the house where Mary and Joseph intended to stay and be registered was already full, so they had no other option but to retreat downstairs, where the animals were. Yet despite such lowly circumstances surrounding Christ’s birth, the magi knew that Jesus is the long awaited King, the One who is Divine royalty, thereby presenting Him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It truly is an amazing account that foreshadows God’s plan of redemption of the Gentile nations and the irony of how the first people to recognize Jesus as their King weren’t even Jews, but Gentiles. 

While there is much surrounding the birth of Jesus that remains mysterious, we can be confident that the account we read in Scripture is not only historically accurate, but it is also everything that God intended for us to know. Whatever details may have been left out were simply either irrelevant or unnecessary. The Bible has everything we need for life and godliness and is able to give us the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ (2 Timothy 3:15, 2 Peter 1:3). This Jesus, whose birth we celebrate this time of year, underwent the ultimate condescension, from His lowly birth to His humiliating death on the cross, to redeem all those whom the Father has elected in eternity past. The nativity story is more than simply a historical account of the birth of Christ: it is a story of God’s redeeming grace unfolding in real time to people from every tribe, tongue and nation, beginning first with these pagan astrologers from the east. This Christmas, let us take a moment to appreciate this fact, even as we decorate our homes with our favorite nativity scene sets.