Was it really on December 25th?
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Answer: Learn the TRUTH every Follower of Jesus should
know about their SAVIOR.
The servant of the Lord must not participate in quarrels, but must be kind to everyone [even-tempered, preserving peace, and he must be], skilled in teaching, patient and tolerant when wronged. He must correct those who are in opposition with courtesy and gentleness in the hope that God may grant that they will repent and be led to the knowledge of the truth [accurately understanding and welcoming it], and that they may come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26
In the
years since Jesus walked this Earth and taught in the temples on NOT taking up
the practices of pagan religions, the Evangelical Church has done just that
including the Americanized Evangelicals. Too many pagan holidays and rituals
have become so steeped into the religion that most people claim as “Christian”
that they are NO LONGER what God considers TRUE BELIEVERS and in the END He
will say,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the
kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name,
and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And
then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of
lawlessness.” Matthew 7:21-23
I have a blog post with more in depth study if you would like
to read and learn:
As you read and learn from history I don't want you to feel
burden or in bondage for learning the TRUTH. After all, through Christ Jesus we
have ESCAPED from BONDAGE as you can learn from reading Romans 8.
May you find the TRUTH that sets you FREE {John 8:32} through your studies of
Jesus Christ.
Blessings and peace,
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According
to Luke 1:24-26, Mary
conceived Jesus in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the
Baptist. This means that Jesus was born 15 months after the angel Gabriel
appeared to Elizabeth’s husband, Zacharias, and informed him that his wife
would bear a child.
According
to Luke 1:5, Zacharias
was a priest of the division of Abijah. Luke 1:8 says that
Gabriel appeared to Zacharias while he was serving as a priest in the Temple.
We
know from the Talmud and other sources that the division of Abijah served as
priests during the second half of the fourth month of the Jewish religious
calendar — which would have put it in late June (the Jewish religious calendar
begins in March with Passover).
Fifteen
months later would place the birth of Jesus in the seventh month of the Jewish
calendar. That would be in the fall of the year, in either late September or
early October. His conception, not His birth, would have occurred in December
of the previous year.
The
seventh month of the Jewish calendar is the month of the Feast of Tabernacles {Learn more about Jesus Celebrating the Feast
of Tabernacles <> Finding Jesus in the
Feast of Tabernacles}. John 1:14, speaking of
Jesus as the Word, says: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of
grace and truth.” The word “dwelt” that is used here is the Greek word “skenoo”
which literally means “to tabernacle”!
So,
when God came to earth to tabernacle among Men it appears that He timed His
arrival in the Bethlehem manger to coincide with the Feast of Tabernacles. That
was only appropriate, for the Feast of Tabernacles is the most joyous of all
the Jewish feasts. It is, in fact, their feast of thanksgiving.
The
total meaning of that feast will not be fulfilled until the Lord returns again
to tabernacle among Men for a thousand years while He reigns over the earth
from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.
Isn’t the Word of God marvelous?
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Isn’t the Word of God marvelous?
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It’s About Time:
When was Jesus Born?
By
Dr. James Ya’akov Hugg
Editor’s
Note: James W. Hugg, PhD, has been a disciple of the Messiah since 1971 and has
been a member of the Lamb and Lion Board of Trustees since 1982. James has been
active in leading worship and teaching youth and adult Bible classes. He has
been involved since 1989 in Messianic Judaism, working with Jews for Jesus in
street evangelism, and serving as cantor in several Messianic Jewish
congregations. James holds dual citizenship in the USA and Israel (where he is
called Ya’akov), and dual membership in Northway Fellowship Church, Clifton
Park, NY, and Seed of Abraham Messianic Jewish Congregation in Albany, NY. Dr.
Hugg is a senior research physicist at the General Electric Global Research
Center in Niskayuna, NY, where he designs molecular imaging scanners, including
SPECT, PET, and MRI. Dr. Hugg earned his doctorate in nuclear physics from
Stanford University. He is married, and he and his wife, Shoshanna, have two
children.
I
am a research physicist who escaped the slavery of devotion to the atheist
religion of secular humanism and the evolutionary worldview. I have
investigated a number of biblical topics related in some way to better
understanding “time” and I want to share some of my faith-building findings
with you.
God
created time “In the beginning…” and placed humans into this temporal world to
separate the sheep from the goats in preparation for the eternal world where we
sheep will live in His presence. So the title of my article “It’s about Time”
has a double meaning: I want to write about topics related to questions of
time, and the expression “it’s about time” reminds us that our Lord and Savior
will soon return to conclude this phase of world history and to establish His
Millennial Kingdom on earth.
The Christmas Tradition
We celebrate the birth of Messiah (Christ) on Christmas (from Old English, meaning “coming of Christ”), the 25th day of December. This date was first observed in 336 AD, some 24 years after the Roman emperor Constantine established Christianity as the state religion. Apparently, Pope Julius I chose to replace the pagan winter solstice feast in honor of Mithra, the “Unconquered Sun,” that had been officially recognized by the emperor Aurelian in 274 AD. From Rome, the new feast celebrating the birthday of the “Sun of Righteousness” (Malachi 4:2) spread to all other churches (except the Armenian church) over the following century.
As many Christians are aware, the modern Christmas celebration combines many strands of tradition including the ancient Roman pagan festival of Saturnalia (merrymaking, exchange of presents), the old Germanic midwinter customs (Yule log, decorating evergreen trees), the tradition of Francis of Assisi (displaying the crib, or crèche of Jesus), the medieval feast of St. Nicholas (Sinterklaas in Dutch, hence “Santa Claus”), and the British sending of greeting cards (1840s). The Puritan pilgrims did not celebrate Christmas because of its many unbiblical associations. The holiday was officially recognized in the United States in 1870.
The
Dutch Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) is the origin of the North American Santa
Claus. According to legend, Sinterklaas makes his rounds on December 5, Saint
Nicholas’s Eve. Dressed in a catholic bishop’s robes, Sinterklaas rides through
the streets distributing sweets to the children. According to some versions of
the popular legend, another figure accompanies him named Black Peter, who
carries a whip with which to chastise naughty children.
The Historical Evidence
I
think it is fair and not overly critical for us to admit that the date chosen
by Constantine and Pope Julius I to celebrate the birth of Jesus was not based
on good historical or biblical evidence. Let’s look for that overlooked
evidence in the historical account of the birth of Jesus recorded by Dr. Luke.
1) Our first clue is found in Luke 1:5. Here is how it
reads in the Complete Jewish Bible: “In the days of Herod, King of
Y’hudah (Judea), there was a cohen (Jewish priest) named Z’kharyah (Zacharias)
who belonged to the Aviyah (Abijah) division.” The service of the Abijah
division of priests was scheduled for the last two weeks of the fourth month of
the Jewish religious calendar (15-29 Tammuz, June-July), according to the
Talmud (rabbinic commentaries) and Qumran sources.
Dr.
Luke tells us that Zacharias was serving in the 2nd Jewish Temple in Jerusalem
when he was chosen to enter the holy place to burn incense outside the Holy of
Holies. The archangel Gavri’el (Gabriel) appeared to Zacharias and revealed
that he and his barren wife Elisheva (Elizabeth) would have a son named
Yochanan (John) who would precede and prepare the way for the Messiah. He
returned home after his two-week service, then his wife conceived, as Gabriel
had prophesied. The earliest date for John’s conception would be the 1st of Av
(July).
2) In the 6th month (Kislev-Tevet, December) of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel visited Miryam (Mary) in Nazareth to announce: “You will become pregnant, you will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Yeshua (Jesus, meaning “God’s salvation”)” (Luke 1:31, CJB). Gabriel also revealed to Mary that her relative, Elizabeth, was six-months pregnant. Elizabeth’s sixth month included the celebration of the Jewish feast of Hanukkah, the “Feast of the Dedication” (John 10:22) connected with the rededication of the temple after the Maccabean revolt. Without delay, Mary hurried to visit Elizabeth (Luke 1:39), about a week’s journey on foot from Nazareth.
3) When Mary arrived, Elizabeth
greeted her: “How blessed is the child in your womb!” (Luke 1:42). From this,
we conclude that there was no delay between the time of Gabriel’s announcement
to Mary and the conception of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. We can infer that the
same was true for the conception of John. At most, only a few days passed
between the announcement and the fulfillment of each of these two angelic
prophecies.
4) Mary stayed with Elizabeth for
three months, until John was born (probably during Pesach or Passover, 15-21
Nisan, April), circumcised on the eighth day, and given his prophesied name (Luke 1:57-80). One of
the long-held Jewish traditions is that the prophet Elijah will return at
Passover (Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6). Gabriel had
prophesied to Zacharias that John would come “in the spirit and power of
Eliyahu (Elijah)” (Luke1:17, CJB).
5) Mary returned to Nazareth, where an
angel (probably Gabriel again) reassured her betrothed husband: “Yosef
(Joseph), son of David, do not be afraid to take Miryam (Mary) home with you as
your wife; for what has been conceived in her is from the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy
Spirit). She will give birth to a son, and you are to name Him Yeshua [which
means ADONAI (God) saves], because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21,
CJB). Emperor Augustus ordered a census that required Joseph to take Mary to
Beit-Lechem (Bethlehem) where she gave birth to Jesus (probably during Sukkot,
the Feast of Tabernacles, 15-21 Tishrei, September-October). “The Word [Jesus]
became a human being and lived [tabernacled] with us” (John 1:14).
6) The night of the birth of Jesus, an angel (probably the archangel Michael) appeared with the angelic armies of heaven to announce the birth to the shepherds of Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-15). Perhaps there is a long forgotten connection with Michaelmas (“coming of Michael”) Day, the feast of Michael the Archangel, which is celebrated in some traditions (particularly in the United Kingdom) on the 29th of September. Michael is the leader of the angelic armies who hurls Lucifer (Satan, the Devil) down from heaven because of his treachery (Revelation 12:7).
7) Joseph and Mary presented Jesus at the Jewish Temple on the 40th day after His birth (probably late Cheshvan, early November) for the ceremony of Pidyon HaBen (redemption of the firstborn son). There He received the blessings of Shim’on (Simeon) and Hannah, two righteous Jewish prophets (Luke 2:22-38).
8) Magi from the east came (probably
in Winter) to inquire of King Herod about the birth of Jesus. The head cohanim
(Jewish priests) admitted that Messiah must be born in Bethlehem, so the Magi
went there (three miles from Jerusalem) and found Joseph, Mary, and Jesus
living in a house. They worshipped Him and gave Him gifts, then obeyed an
angelic warning (probably Gabriel) to avoid revealing to King Herod the
location of Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12).
9) After the Magi departed Bethlehem,
an angel (probably Gabriel) warned Joseph to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt to
escape King Herod’s attempt to murder Jesus. They left that same night (Matthew 2:13-15).
King Herod ordered the slaughter of all boys in Bethlehem up to age two, but
Joseph escaped with his family to Egypt (possibly the Sinai peninsula), where
they remained until Herod’s death (Matthew 2:16-18). I
assume that Herod included a margin of error in calculating how old the newborn
Messiah, King of the Jews, would be when he ordered the murder of all Bethlehem
boys less than two years old.
10) After King Herod’s death, an angel
(probably Gabriel) appeared to Joseph to tell him it was safe to return home to
Nazareth (Matthew 2:19-23). The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus recorded the death of the
evil King Herod in the spring of 4 BC. I assume that Herod did not
live long after the slaughter of the innocent boys of Bethlehem, and thus that
the family of Jesus did not stay long in Egypt. Therefore, we can place the
birth of Jesus on a fairly well constrained timeline.
Determining the Date
If Jesus was born during Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, (which began the 29th of September) in 5 BC, as we deduced from the evidence above, then His conception was probably during Hanukkah, possibly as late as the 25th of December in 6 BC. It is also possible that the Magi visited Bethlehem around the 25th of December in 5 BC, when Jesus would have been almost 3 months old.
‘Anno Domini’ (AD) dating was adopted in Western Europe during the 8th century. In 525 AD when the monk Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Little, meaning humble) calculated the year of Jesus’ birth, he missed by about 3 years. We now have evidence that Herod died in 4 BC, probably less than a year after Jesus was born.
The Significance
Does
it really matter when Jesus was born or when we celebrate Christmas? In some
ways, no, it doesn’t matter — after all, if it was critically important to know
precisely when Jesus was born, God would have told us He was born on a
particular day and month and year. We have the freedom as believers to
celebrate, or not to celebrate, the birth of our Lord and Savior on any day of
our choosing (Romans 14:1-12).
Christmas
is not a commandment. It is far more important HOW we celebrate (“remember the
reason for the season”) than WHEN. Let us not give or receive condemnation for
observing the 25th of December, rather let us celebrate that God’s Son became
fully human and lived a perfect life so that He could become our perfect
sacrifice and conquer sin and death in our place.
But,
in another way, it IS important to consider the evidence God gave us and to
place it in a proper Jewish context so that we can better understand the
foundation of our faith. For example, the information I have presented in this
article makes it clear that an important prophecy about the Messiah was
fulfilled in the life of Jesus. That prophecy is found in Genesis 49:10 — “The
scepter will not pass from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his legs,
until Shiloh [Messiah] comes, and it is He whom the peoples will obey.” Second
Temple rabbis understood this as a Messianic prophecy.
In
about 7 AD, the Romans abolished the power of the Jewish Sanhedrin Council in
Judah to pronounce the death penalty. Furthermore, Herod was the
first king of Israel who was not a descendent of the tribe of Judah. However,
Jesus had already been born in 5 BC, before the scepter and staff (power)
departed from Judah.
There
is a deeper meaning and real significance to the conclusion that Jesus was
probably born during the Feast of Tabernacles, thus bringing partial fulfillment
to the prophetic type of that important feast established by God. Tabernacles
(booths) are temporary, insecure dwellings and emphasize our reliance on God’s
grace. So also the temporary human body in which the Son of God dwelled among
us demonstrated what total reliance on God can accomplish.
The
ultimate fulfillment of the prophetic significance of the Feast of Tabernacles
will occur when Jesus returns in glory and majesty to tabernacle among us as
King of kings and Lord of lords. Maranatha!
Notes
- Dr. David H. Stern, Complete Jewish Bible, 1998, available from Lederer/Messianic Jewish Communications, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029, 1-800-410-7367, www.MessianicJewish.net.
- Shmuel Safrai, “A Priest of the Division of Abijah,” www.jerusalemperspective.org.
- Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 17, Chapter 8, www.sacred-texts.com.
- George A. Barton, “On the Trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin,” Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 41, No. 3/4 (1922), pp. 205-211, www.jstor.org.
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