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Our position is "Pre-Trib." We agree with Bible teachers like Chuck Missler, Chuck Smith, Hal Lindsey, Paul and Peter Lalonde, J.R. Church, Jack Van Impe and a host of other popular and scholarly teachers who believe that we are living in "The Last Days," and can expect to see Christ return in our generation. We don't believe in setting dates for His return, but believe it will be soon.
-- Bibleprophecy.com
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Birth of Jesus
Posted on Sunday, December 19 @ 13:17:07 PST by Eric Fugett |
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According to Daniel 9:25-26, some decree will be issued to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Exactly sixty-nine "sevens" (69x7) or 483 years after this occurs, the Anointed One will come. The decree in question is the one issued by King Artaxerxes in 458 BCE (Ezra 7:11-26). Ezra left Jerusalem in April and arrived in Jerusalem in August of that same year (Ezra 7:8-9).
Now if I am correct, Jesus began His ministry and was baptized on or near His 30th birthday (Luke 3:23) on The Day of Atonement in 26 CE. FYI, the Greek words used in Luke 3:23, which tell us that "Jesus was about 30 years of age when He began his ministry," should be translated, Jesus began (commenced) to be or, in other words, just turned 30 years of age when He began his ministry. Also, in John 2:13-20, when it was almost time for the Passover, the Jews told Jesus it had taken 46 years to build the temple up to its current state. The work on the Jewish temple began in 20 BCE, so 46 years from that time brings us to 27 CE (year 0 does not exist). Since this is the Passover that occurred just after Jesus’ baptism, we now have further assurance that it was in 26 CE that Jesus celebrated His 30th birthday, was baptized, and began his ministry.
Now, read the description of The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 and compare it to Matthew chapters three and four. You will see some very obvious similarities. In Leviticus 16, we find priests using water for purification, sacrifices being made for sin atonement, and a goat being sent into the desert carrying the sins of the people. In Matthew 3-4, we find people coming out to John for sin atonement through baptism, and Jesus being sent into the desert by the Holy Spirit.
As a final observation, seven lambs were sacrificed on the Day of Atonement. Seven is a biblical number representing fullness, completion or perfection. Jesus is referred to as a Lamb without blemish or defect (therefore, perfect) in 1 Peter 1:19, and as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world in John 1:29. By the way, the Day of Atonement fell on September 11 in 26 CE when Jesus celebrated His 30th birthday.
Now if we subtract 30 years from 26 CE, then we arrive at the birth of Jesus occurring on The Day of Atonement in 5 BCE (year 0 does not exist). Some scholars believe that Jesus was actually born in September. With that in mind, I am surprised that no one has chosen The Day of Atonement for Jesus' birthday.
We know that Jesus came to offer his life as an atoning sacrifice for our sins (Matthew 20:28, Romans 3:25, Hebrews 7:27, 9:23-28, 10:5-14, and 1 John 2:2, 4:10). Therefore, The Day of Atonement, as the day of his birth, makes even more sense when you take into account that he did not die on that day. The Day of Atonement also fell on September 11 in 5 BCE.
I will give you something else to consider in regard to the Day of Atonement for the birthday of Jesus. As you read Hebrews 9-10, the subject of much of these two chapters is the Day of Atonement sacrifice. Hebrews 10:5-6 tells us that when Christ entered the world, God was not pleased with those sacrifices and He prepared a body for Jesus. There is definitely a strong inference that Jesus came into the world on the Day of Atonement from these verses.
As further proof that the date for Jesus’ birth is correct, I will also show you what I discovered concerning Herod’s death. If you check history, you will discover that Herod was born in 74/73 BCE. Josephus tells us that Herod was 25 in 48/47 BCE when he was made governor (Josephus, The Antiquities Book XVII, Chapter 9, Section 2 (Also see footnote)). Before he died, at the age 70, Herod killed a man named Matthias on a day that had a lunar eclipse (Josephus, The Antiquities Book XVII, Chapter 6, Sections 1-4). Herod died sometime after this event and just before a Passover occurred (Josephus, The Antiquities Book XVII, Chapter 9, Sections 3).
At the very beginning of The Wars Book II, Josephus also tells us that it was 69 years from the death of Herod to the coming of Vespasian. We know that Vespasian came to Jerusalem to lead the Roman armies against the Jews in the spring of 67 CE. Herod would have been 69 turning 70 in 4 BCE, and 70 turning 71 in 3 BCE. Tradition has it that Herod died in the winter of 4 BCE. If 4 BCE is truly when Herod died, then the 69th Jewish year from Herod's death would have begun in September of 66 CE and ended in September of 67 CE.
Lastly (recent discovery & correction for date of Herod's eclipse in the book), in the Antiquities, Book 17, Chapter 6, Section 4, Josephus also records that Joseph, the son of Ellemus, was temporarily made High Priest for a day. It was a day on which a fast occurred and was just before the eclipse mentioned above. The Talmud records, in Horayoth 12b that this event occurred on The Day of Atonement. This Day of Atonement was more than likely September 11, 5 BCE. There was a total eclipse a couple of days later on the night of September 15, 5 BCE, sometime around 10:22 p.m. This is probably the day that Herod had Matthias (not the high priest Matthias) killed. This eclipse would probably be more visible & memorable than a partial eclipse that occurred on March 13, Originally, I believed that Ezra read the decree to the Israelites on or near the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), which fell on September 11, in 458 BCE. He may have actually read it on The Feast of Trumpets, which fell on September 2, 458 BCE. If Ezra is truly when we should start counting, then 483 years from 458 BCE brings us to 26 CE.
4 BCE (the traditional date for the eclipse) around 2:52 a.m. Is it just a coincidence that when the one true High Priest comes into the world, that for the first and only time, a temporary High Priest is appointed to perform the important duties for the Day of Atonement? Not if you believe, as I do, that the exact date for Jesus' birthday is the Day of Atonement or September 11, 5 BCE.
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Re: Birth of Jesus (Score: 1)
 by Seeker (connections@bellsouth.net) on Monday, December 20 @ 11:03:09 PST
(User Info | Send a Message) | Actually the original decree went out from Cyrus in 455/456 BC. This would brign the 483 years to Jesus' baptism in 26/27 AD - when he was officially presented to the people as Messiah. 458 BC will not bring you to this year. Ptolemy's chronology is wrong. It is based on heresay about an eclipse, but no one knows which eclipse.
You can read Martin Anstey's book on Bible Chronology or I have one by Philip Mauro which shows the correct chronology using internal dates from the Bible - no outside sources. It was prophesied the CYRUS would give the word for the rebuilding and that is exactly what happened.
I do, however, agree with your overall premise. I believe you are correct.
Seeker |
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Re: Birth of Jesus (Score: 1)
 by RevelationMan on Wednesday, December 22 @ 22:01:29 PST
(User Info | Send a Message) | Here are some things that I have recently discovered that add to the credibility of my date.
1) QUIRINIUS (Gr. Kyrenios). Quirinius (Luke 2:2) was governor of Syria A.D. 6-9. Judea was incorporated at the time and a census was taken that caused the rebellion of Judas (Acts 5:37). Evidence from Egypt has established the 14-year cycle of the census in that province, and fixes A.D. 20 as a census year. This fixes Quirinius' census in A.D. 6 and demands 9 or 8 B.C. for an earlier occasion, or at least 7 or 6 B.C. The difficulty then arises that Sentius Saturninus, and not Quirinius, was governing Syria from 9 to 7 B.C., and Quinctilius Varus from 6 to 4 B.C. A clue to a solution lies in an inscription that states that P. Sulpicius Quirinius governed Syria twice. W. M. Ramsay offers the best solution to this puzzle. He suggests that Quirinius was in control of the foreign relations of Syria during the war with the Cilician hill tribe of the Homonadenses in 6 B.C. An enrollment in Herod's kingdom would thus be supervised by him. The enrollment could have taken place in the autumn of 5 B.C., postponed by the dying Herod's procrastination. (The NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible)
This would put the date of the census in Judea
at a time that corroborates my date for the birth of Jesus.
2) According to John Gill's expository on Matthew 2:1, there are records that prove that Jesus was born in the month of Tishri in 5 BC.
3) According to John Gill's expository on Matthew 2:19, there are records which state that Herod died on November 25, 4 BC or shortly therafter, after killing all of the little infant boys. (I'm not sure which of the two events November 25, 4 BC is referring to.)
I would have quoted the passages directly, but am not sure that I am allowed to do so. Here is the address of the online link so that you can check out statements 2 & 3 above. http://www.studylight.org/com/geb/view.cgi?book=mt&chapter=002 |
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