most people realize that jesus was not
actually born on december 25th
but did you know there are clues in the
bible that may help us unlock the real
date of his birth bible scholars and
theologians agree that jesus was not
actually born on december 25th
but just so you don't think i'm making
this up listen to what the holman bible
dictionary says about christmas
in the early part of the 4th century
christians in rome began to celebrate
the birth of christ
the practice spread widely and rapidly
so that most parts of the christian
world observed the new festival by the
end of the century the december 25th
date was chosen as much for practical
reasons as for theological ones
throughout the roman empire various
festivals were held in conjunction with
the winter solstice in rome the feast of
the unconquerable sun celebrated the
beginning of the return of the sun
when christianity became the religion of
the empire the church either had to
suppress the festivals or transform them
the winter solstice seemed an
appropriate time to celebrate christ's
birth
thus the festival of the sun became a
festival of the sun the light of the
world christian scholars freely admit
that the date of december 25th is not
biblical and was not celebrated by early
christians
they also admit it was based on pagan
mythology and not the bible but
does the bible itself contain any clues
that might help us unlock the secret
date of our messiah's birth actually the
gospels do provide us with some useful
information that can help us calculate
when jesus was actually born these clues
include the census
elizabeth's conception
the division of abba yah and the
shepherds
now let's examine each of these clues
the first clue is the census the bible
tells us that there was a census that
caused mary and joseph to travel to
bethlehem to be registered and it came
to pass in those days that a decree went
out from caesar augustus that all the
world should be registered
this census first took place while
quirinius was governing syria so all
went to be registered everyone to his
own city joseph also went up from
galilee out of the city of nazareth into
judea to the city of david which is
called bethlehem because he was of the
house and lineage of david to be
registered with mary his betrothed wife
who was with child
we don't know for certain when the
census took place but it's highly
unlikely that caesar would have
mobilized an entire population of people
in the middle of winter the second clue
is elizabeth's conception the bible
tells us that elizabeth was six months
pregnant when mary conceived the angel
told mary
now indeed elizabeth your relative has
also conceived a son in her old age
and this is now the sixth month
for her who was called barren for with
god nothing will be impossible this
means that jesus was born six months
after john the baptist so if we can
figure out when john the baptist was
born we can calculate when jesus was
born which makes the next clue so
significant the third clue is the
division of abiyah the bible says that
zechariah served in the division of
abiyah and during his temple service an
angel told him that his wife would have
a son named john
there was in the days of herod the king
of judea a certain priest named
zacharias
of the division of abiyah his wife was
of the daughters of aaron and her name
was elizabeth so it was that while he
was serving as priest before god in the
order of his division according to the
custom of the priesthood his lot
fell to burn incense when he went into
the temple of the lord but the angel
said to him do not be afraid zacharias
for your prayer is heard and your wife
elizabeth will bear you a son and you
shall call his name john this is one of
the most significant clues
for the timing of the birth of john the
baptist and ultimately the birth of
jesus
if we can find out when the division of
abios served in the temple then we can
calculate nine months out to the birth
of john the baptist and from there
calculate the birth of jesus six months
later we know from first chronicles 24
there were 24 priestly divisions and
abhiya served in the 8th division each
division served twice per year which
means there are two possible times
during the year when zacharias could
have served in the temple the first
rotation would place him at the temple
in may or june and the second rotation
would place him in the temple in
december or january
assuming that elizabeth conceived
shortly after his service we can easily
count out nine months to when john was
born and then six months when jesus was
born if zacharias was serving in the
first rotation the birth of john would
take place nine months later in february
or march and the birth of jesus six
months after that in august or september
and if zechariah served in the second
rotation in december or january then
john would have been born in september
or october which places the birth of
jesus six months later in march or april
so based on zechariah's temple service
we have narrowed it down to either fall
or spring
but there's another clue in the gospels
that might help us narrow it down even
more the fourth clue is the shepherds
the bible tells us that there were
shepherds watching their sheep in fields
at night now there were in the same
country shepherds living out in the
fields keeping watch over their flock by
night and behold an angel of the lord
stood before them and the glory of the
lord shone around them and they were
greatly afraid
then the angel said to them do not be
afraid for behold
i bring you good tidings of great joy
which will be to all people for there is
born to you this day in the city of
david a savior who is christ the lord
many people believe that shepherds
watching their fields at night
is probably a reference to lambing
season when the shepherds would watch
their sheep at night because they were
giving birth and laming season is
usually in late winter or early spring
it's also important to note that these
shepherds were near bethlehem this is
important because the sheep used in the
temple were kept by shepherds in
bethlehem that means those shepherds
might have been responsible for
overseeing the birth of the passover
lambs each year one of the requirements
for passover lambs is that it be a male
lamb that is one year old your lamb
shall be without blemish a male of the
first year you may take it from the
sheep or from the goats is it possible
that the lamb of god was born at the
same time and place as the passover
lambs for the temple
perhaps this is why john prophesied
saying behold the lamb of god
so based on these four clues we can
speculate that jesus was most likely
born in early spring
which makes sense because the spring
feasts are prophetic of his first coming
while the fall feasts are prophetic of
his return
therefore it makes sense that he would
be born in the spring
at the same time the passover lambs were
born
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the next video