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Billions of people around the world celebrate his birth every year, and hundreds of millions more celebrate the holiday named after him. Whether or not you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, an astounding 2.1 billion of the world's 8 billion people call themselves Christians—and that number is growing.
In the United States, where Christianity's decline is reported and even cheered on, it will remain the majority religion in 2050, growing from 243 million to 262 million believers, including 83 percent of African Americans and 80 percent of Hispanics. And all without the help of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Though the media isn't covering the story, Christianity is growing rapidly around the world. In Africa, there were a mere 8.7 million believers at the turn of the 20th century: Today, there are more than 390 million out of a population of 1.2 billion. By 2025, that number is expected to grow to 600 million.
Of the 385 million people living in South America, 83 percent identify as Christian, and in Asia Christianity grew twice as fast as the general population over the 20th century, representing 8 percent of the 4.5 billion people living there. South Korea experienced a dramatic increase in Christians between 1945 and 2010, going from a mere 2.0 percent to 29.3 percent.
As we approach the date of the most important birth in world history—and Christ's birth is, if anything, that—one man and one ministry thought the story of his birth was worth telling. David Jeremiah is a pastor at Shadow Mountain Community Church in San Diego and a teacher to millions through his international radio and TV ministry, Turning Point. In 2006, he wrote a bestseller titled Why the Nativity? and his team, led by Paul Joiner, has turned that book into a film for this and every Christmas season to come.
"He was born, what, 2,000 years ago? Jesus was his name, and he was a poor man," Jeremiah told Newsweek. "From sometime in the past you can remember a short essay about him that said this man never traveled outside his own country, never held an office or had a family and never wrote a single book. Yet it went on to say that all the armies, navies and kings in history never affected the world as much as this one solitary life."
No birthday is more important, unusual or worthy of examination. It also happens to be one heck of a tale. "It's the story of a young couple in love and about to start their new life together when God disrupted their best-laid plans," Jeremiah said, describing Mary and Joseph. "This is the story of them overcoming the challenges that would come with their decision."
"Why did God choose Mary?" Jeremiah was asked. "An angel stood before her, as the first chapter of Luke's Gospel recounts," he answered. "How frightening the sudden arrival of a heavenly messenger must have been. But it's clear that she was no random selection. Though an ordinary, small-town girl, we know that she was a woman of Scripture, a woman of faith. She must be a virgin, that the glory of God might be miraculously demonstrated. She must be a peasant, in keeping with the humble nature of the Lord's birth.
"Mary was all these things. And she must be obedient and courageous, and was she ever," Jeremiah exclaimed, citing Mary's song from the Gospel of Luke.
Why did God choose Joseph to fulfill his plan? "God needed a carpenter," Jeremiah explained. "He needed a man who was sturdy, stable and practical, yet sensitive to the voice of God. He needed one who would stand quietly with a young virgin who might have seemed an object of ridicule, yet who carried in her womb the hope of the world. Joseph was strong but compassionate; he was able to lead the tiring expedition to Bethlehem and to the stable, to love and encourage the mother of Christ."
But why on earth did God become a man? Believers and nonbelievers have been asking that question for centuries.
"Heaven could not be poured into the stained vessel that was the earth, but there was another way," Jeremiah said. "God himself could make the journey. He could pour his godhood into flesh and blood and visit the earth as a man himself. He could walk among people as a full-fledged human being in every respect, yet be fully God at the same time. He had sent prophets many times, but now he would do something far more shocking. He would leave the throne of heaven to walk among them—a king in disguise, the lord of the universe in human scale, the creator among his creatures.
"Then the nature of God would be clear to all. People on earth could see what God was like. They would behold his perfect love and faithfulness, his unbounded devotion even to those who were sick or small or dark-hearted. They would know the things that mattered to him. And in that incarnation, they would see a perfect model of what life could really and truly be."
The questions don't get any easier as the film—and book—proceed. And one of the toughest was this: Why was Jesus born of a virgin? "The answer centers on the identity and mission of Jesus Christ," Jeremiah explained. "Even though Jesus lived among us as a fully human individual, he was also fully divine—a preexisting, eternal person. Human parents are temporal and finite, and they can pass on only limiting characteristics."
Jeremiah was just getting started. "He is in no way a product of the natural earth or the union of a human father and mother. Instead, he is the eternal person of the Lord himself, the infinite one who created the universe, taking on the limited form of a human being. If Jesus had entered the world through natural human reproduction, he would have simply been one more child of this fallen world. Therefore, God had to send him by an alternate route. Finally, the Virgin Birth is a miracle. Miracles are God's way of commanding our attention. They help people understand a truth that they won't see otherwise."
There was time for one last question for one of the world's great Bible teachers, one he answers in his book and film: Why was the son of God born in, of all places, a stable? "Christ chose a stable in order to identify with the least of us, with the poor and the vulnerable," Jeremiah replied. "He demanded none of the world's comforts nor protections."
Jeremiah then went on to do what he does best as a teacher of the Bible (which each year is always the world's bestselling book): connect Scripture to his explanations. "You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul the apostle would write. "Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Jeremiah added one additional thought. "Jesus chose the least so that you might have the most. He entered by the stable that you might dwell forever in the palace."
There is a similar explanation for why the shepherds were the first to be told about the birth of the long-promised messiah. "As a matter of fact, they were despised elsewhere," Jeremiah said. "Sheepherding was one of those occupations that everyone needed and no one desired. Life among sheep lent itself to tired feet, long work shifts and unwanted aromas. Bears and lions roamed the wilderness. The sheep tended to wander, and the shepherd was expected to seek the lost among the treacherous cliffs. No other job could have been quite so lonely."
As the interview came to a close, Jeremiah left things with one final insight for believers around the world—and nonbelievers too. "On the Friday of his execution, the followers of Jesus Christ largely abandoned him," he noted. "Yet within a generation, he was worshiped in many foreign countries. Within three centuries, his faith was the official doctrine of the empire. And today, 2.1 billion men, women and children follow that same teacher who was put to death as a criminal.
"Jesus indeed came at the perfect time, but he also brought the perfect message. He brought hope and light. In a world ruled by the sword, this teacher spoke of perfect peace. In a world of violence and retribution, he spoke of loving one's enemies. In a world of death, he offered hope of new life."
Words to remember and celebrate in this year of our Lord, A.D. 2022.
Why the Nativity? is available free of charge at DavidJeremiah.org. The film is showing all this month on TBN, Lifetime, the History Channel and the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C.
