Oftentimes at Easter connections and comparisons are made and drawn between the Old Testament celebration of Passover and the New Testament celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord. Not only do these two events happen almost concurrently, but also they are related according to theme. Passover was a celebration of God's liberation of the people of Israel from physical bondage in Egypt while Easter is the celebration of God's liberation of all people from the spiritual bondage of sin. This relationship of things physical in the Old Testament to things spiritual in the New Testament is referred to by Martin Luther in his polemic On the Power and Primacy of the Pope: And so on throughout the Old Testament: whatever references it makes to physical, visible things mean in the New Testament spiritual and invisible things which cannot be seen but which are possessed in faith alone.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt amoung us, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

The birth of Christ, the Messiah, is included at the opening of three of the Gospels and is the event that separates the Old and the New Testaments. Also, as God takes on human vesture in order to redeem all humanity from sin, death, and the power of the devil, it is also an event without precedence in the Bible. However, like the celebration of Easter, our celebration of this event at Christmas is prefigured by various celebrations of the Semitic Church in the Old Testament. These correlations and relationships between the festivals are a result of the unchangeableness of God which is attested to by Scripture, in the Catechism, and by various biblical scholars.

Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:17-19

I am the Lord, I change not. Malachi 3:6

Thou art the same, and Thy years shall have no end. Psalm 102: 27

God is unchangeable not only in His essence and attributes, but also in His will toward us. He does not grow older, does not lose some of His attributes, is not swayed by whim or humour, but He is always the same. Men are fickle, change their minds, and cannot be depended on. What a sad thing if we never knew how to take God. But with Him there is "no variableness, neither shadow or turning" (James 1:17) He is and always will be what He has revealed Himself to be in the Bible, and we need not fear that He has since changed His mind, or will do so in the future. This should mean much to us in our lives. Edward W.A. Koehler Annotations to Luther's Small Catechism

The history of worship does not contain any tabulae rasae, fresh and empty tablets, even when that history is pressed to its New Testament origins. The material on the tablets, the old material out of which Christian liturgy was formed, needs to be seen with great sympathy. It corresponds exactly to the "old things" we still do, with similar hopes for peace and justice and salvation. Gordon Lathrop

The worship of the Old Testament Church was structured around the celebration of three primary festivals at different times of the year. This calendar was not conceived by man, but rather was given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai after Moses had received the Ten Commandments. This calendar, which may be found in Deuteronomy 16, details the festivals and the time of their celebration as follows: the Feast of Passover (Pesach) to be celebrated on the 14th day of the Jewish month Nisan, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) to be celebrated seven weeks after Passover, and the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (Succoth) to be celebrated at the time of in-gathering (roughly late September or early October).

These festivals were all commemorations of historic events, with Passover naturally being a remembrance of the Passover and deliverance from sin in Egypt, the Feast of Weeks being a remembrance of the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai, and the Feast of Tabernacles being a remembrance of the years of wandering and sustenance by God in the wilderness. The festival that has the most bearing on the celebration of Christmas is the Feast of Tabernacles. It was, at the time of Jesus, a multi-day festival with many central events, including the lighting of great golden lamps in the temple to commemorate the pillar of fire that lead the nation of Israel through the desert. Also, there was a procession of water from the Pool of Siloam to the temple, at which point the water would be poured over the altar to commemorate the water that issued forth from the rock in the desert. Furthermore, this was also a remembrance and celebration of the dwelling place of God, first in the Tabernacle and then in the Temple.

All of these festivals of the Semitic year are seen as fulfilled in the person of Christ, as is everything in the Old Testament. It is during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem that Christ speaks several of His most well known statements in the Gospel of John. For example, in John 7:37-38, He states: Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. This would have been a direct reference and fulfillment of the procession of the water from the pool of Siloam to the altar in the temple. Likewise, in John 8:12, He states: I am the Light of the world.... in connection with the great golden lamps being lit in the temple.

This feast of Succoth is rarely mentioned in current society and has been surpassed by the celebration of Hanukah, which occurs in December, roughly contemporaneous with Christmas. This festival is also related to the temple and the dwelling place of God. In the years prior to the Birth of Christ, before the Romans conquered the nation of Israel, it was conquered by Alexander the Great (356 - 323 BC). Following his death, his vast empire was apportioned between the various generals and potentates that served under him. These men and their successors fought amongst themselves for generations in hopes of uniting Alexander's entire empire. Eventually, the person that was to control the area of the Holy Land was Antiochus IV who reigned from 175 - 164 BC. This ruler was tyrannical and wicked, referring to himself as Antiochus Epiphanes (god manifest). One of his first edicts as ruler was to announce that his subjects were to conform to his religion, which included worship of himself since he thought of himself as God.

While many in Israel conformed to his decrees, some continued to worship in the Temple, which led Antiochus IV to desecrate the temple, destroying manuscripts and putting up a sacrilegious idol of Zeus on the altar. A group of pious Jews who had escaped to the hills lead the Maccabean revolt, which eventually freed the temple from the control of the Greeks. Once in control of the temple, the Jews began a ritual of purification that lasted eight days. The legend exists that they found an undesecrated container of oil, enough for one day, which miraculously lasted for the entire eight-day festival. This prompted the yearly celebration and remembrance of this rededication and the ritual of lighting candles on the menorah for eight days, which continues to this day.

Many of the practices of both the Festival of Succoth and the Festival of Hanukah have often been associated with Christmas, such as the use of light, either in candles or on a Christmas tree. However, the most important connection between these festivals is the fact that both of the Semitic festivals are related and connected to the Temple or the Tabernacle. In the Old Testament, the Tabernacle in the desert and then the Temple in Jerusalem were thought of as the only dwelling place of God on Earth. When God became man in Christ, He became a living temple, the ultimate dwelling place of God on Earth. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up".He [Jesus] spoke of the temple of His body. John 2:19, 21 Similarly, one liturgical scholar has advanced the opinion that the opening of the Chapter of John quoted above should be translated "And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled amoung us" in order to make more of a connection between these festivals and Christmas.