Christmas Past

So much conflict over Christmas. I wonder if it is important that we have the exact date of Christ's birth or is the fact that Christmas brings warm fuzzies, families together again with lots of laughter, hot chocolate, and gifts from afar, enough?

President Trump's White House is all ablaze at this time of the year and his wife, Melania, has done an astonishing job of bringing both the joys of Christmas and the heritage of the United States of America under God, together in one vast scenario this year.

No one seems concerned that the 'political correctness" police may be hovering nearby ready to ticket anyone saying "Merry Christmas" this year. Instead, any one of us is free to tour the White House during the 2019 Christmas holidays and see the attention to detail and the beautiful ornaments and the immense history of Christmases Past; so lovely that it won't soon be forgotten.

Still, many insist that Christmas is not a Christian holiday and fear they are celebrating a lightly-camouflaged pagan holiday. This has been a fly in the ointment of many a family's joy as they seek to decorate evergreen trees and bring logs in from the great outdoors to burn in their real-wood fireplaces. Newspaper articles, the worldwide web, and even one's own neighbors are beginning to question their array of brightly colored bulbs and Santa Clauses and Charlie Brown in the front yard by reminding them that Christmas is a pagan holiday - not a Christian celebration!

And does it matter? I decided to do some research on my own about the signs of the times surrounding Jesus' birth, including the factual date. I discovered that for twenty-five years after Rome conquered Israel; the Jewish nation remained in turmoil, changing hands four times amid internal tensions.

In 39 B.C., Herod was assigned by Rome to rule Israel and deal with this strife. He was ordered to end the disturbances caused by the Jews’ immediate rejection of him because they despised the Hellenism (Greek paganism) he practiced and the goddess temples he endowed and built.

Eight years after Herod became king, an earthquake occurred in Judea, killing thousands. The entire area was devastated. This resulted in crop failures, plagues, famine, pestilence and continued political unrest. That is what was happening during the seven years before the birth of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.("Jews, God and History" by Max I. Dimont, 2nd ed.)

Few in today’s Christian church know there is a biblical way to determine Jesus' actual birthdate. This can be done if one understands just a little information about the Old Testament temple structure and duty roster of those who served as priests in the Jerusalem temple.

This information can be distilled from the early chapters of the gospels and correlated with what is known about the Old Testament feasts and the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. The Book of Luke speaks of a priest named Zecharias who would become father to John the Baptist and uncle to Jesus of Nazareth (Zecharias' wife was cousin to Jesus' mother, Mary).

This information is still available today because the duty roster of the Jerusalem temple back in the days of Jesus (and even earlier) has been preserved. Zecharias served in the Jerusalem temple during the course of Abijah, one of 24 grandsons of the original priest, Aaron. (Luke 1:5)

Correlating that information with a small amount of knowledge of Old Testament customs and the Old Testament Judaic priesthood will divulge, first of all, John the Baptist's birthdate and; second, Jesus’ birthdate six months later. ("Here a little, There a little" by Bryan T. Huie)

Hint. Hint: Jesus' birthdate is during the Old Testament Festival of Tabernacles - "He came and tabernacled among us" (typically late October or early November).

And, "No," Jesus was not born on December 25th; and, "Yes," December 25th was originally a pagan holiday. This may be more than you wanted to know with Christmas just a day or two away!!