The Silence of Scripture

It is noteworthy that the Scriptures are silent concerning the exact date of Jesus’ birth. We have a number of other events for which we have dates specified: the tenth of Abib was to be the Passover celebration (Deuteronomy 16:1); the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost) was to be celebrated 50 days following the Passover sabbath (Deuteronomy 16:9-10); the Feast of Booths was to be celebrated a week after the harvest (Deuteronomy 16:13). Not only were these days specified, they were commanded for celebration among the Jews. Deuteronomy 16:16 says that all males had to appear before the Lord for those feasts. We can see even in the New Testament where those feasts were kept by the Jews. Luke’s gospel records Jesus going to the Passover with His family as a boy. John’s gospel marks time by the Passover and the Feast of Booths. Luke described Pentecost in Acts 2, noting that Jews had assembled in Jerusalem from all over the Roman Empire.

Yet when we come to the birth of Christ, God is silent concerning the actual date. Furthermore, the Scripture is silent concerning a command to celebrate His birth or examples of early Christians commemorating such. If celebrating Jesus’ birth is such a pivotal thing to Christians, why do we not read of it in Scripture?

Calculating from Zacharias

The most reliable method for calculating Jesus’ physical birth depends on what we know about the father of John the Baptist, Zacharias. Luke 1:5 records that Zacharias was “of the division of Abijah.” Under Jewish temple worship, the priests were divided into 24 divisions for service throughout the year. Abijah was the eighth such division (1 Chronicles 24:10).  According to the Jewish historian Josephus, each division served one week in rotation (thus, each course would serve twice in a year; the Talmud additionally states that every division served during the weeks of the three major feasts, making up the 51 weeks of the Jewish calendar). Computer calculations suggest that the Jewish year began in early April. Because of the way the dates fell, the division of Abijah would have served in the ninth week (Passover would have shifted the divisions a week) and also in the tenth week (for Pentecost). Zacharias would have returned home after Pentecost. This puts the conception of John sometime in late June.

Based on this reasoning, Jesus would have been conceived in late December (six months later, based on Luke 1:36), with a likely birth in September.

Surrounding Details

The September date is supported by additional details presented by Luke. Luke records shepherds in the fields with sheep (Luke 2:8). While Bethlehem winters could be mild, the traditional end to the sheep-grazing season was September, before the rainy season began. The census mentioned by Luke in Luke 2:1-5 would likely have been done locally when it was most convenient. The time after harvest would have been so, as the people were not burdened by the duties of the harvest. Additionally, it would have been the ideal season for tax collection and would have corresponded to harvest festivals when people may have been returning home anyway.

Do We Move Christmas?

So, should we move our celebration of Christmas to reflect this “new” understanding? Hardly. Even with such calculations, we could not pretend to pin down the date of Jesus’ birth with any certainty. Additionally, a celebration of Jesus’ birth is unheard of, as far as the Bible is concerned. While Jesus’ birth is significant, God does not command that we remember it. Recall that Jesus’ birth was not Jesus’ beginning. Rather, “In the beginning was the Word” (John 1:1). Jesus has played a role in God’s plan from the very beginning.

It is interesting that two of the four gospels (Mark and John) do not mention Jesus’ physical birth in any real detail (John does state that “the Word became flesh”) and only one (Luke) really deals with the events immediately surrounding the birth. In contrast, all four gospels describe in great detail the events of and surrounding Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

Something to Remember

In contrast to His birth, we are commanded to remember His death, yet we do not do so annually–we do it weekly. The eating of unleavened bread and drinking of the fruit of the vine are done in remembrance of Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:24-25). According to Paul, when we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death. We find that the early disciples did this weekly on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7).

So in the season when many recall Jesus’ birth, let us recall Jesus’ death and strive to follow after Him, not just in December, but in every day of our lives.

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” (Rom. 11:33, NASB)

Throughout history, mankind has tried to second-guess God. God told the generations after the flood to “be fruitful and multiply;
populate the earth abundantly and multiply in it”  (Gen 9:7b, NASB). Mankind second-guessed God when they built the tower of Babel, lest they be scattered (Gen. 11:4). Korah and his followers second-guessed God’s decision to appoint Moses (and Aaron) as the leader of the people (Num. 16). Aaron and Miriam second-guessed God’s decision to make Moses the leader of the people (Num. 12). Saul second-guessed God’s command to utterly destroy the Amalekites (1 Sam. 15).

All of these people second-guessed God’s judgment, and all were punished. The generations after the flood were indeed scattered, and their languages confused. Korah and his followers faced death. Miriam was stricken with leprosy. Saul’s line was cut off from the throne of Israel.

People still try to second-guess God. The thousands of religious groups present in the world today are a testament to that. Men have decided that God really didn’t know what He was talking about and so have chosen to ignore the clear teaching of His word. Observe Paul’s statement:  ”Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” Paul made a declaration here of God’s great wisdom. He called this wisdom “unsearchable.” It is not in man to be able to completely discern God’s wisdom. Sometimes the way God has chosen will not make sense, but we can always trust God to guide us in the right way. Let us not second-guess the Almighty, lest we suffer the same fate as those of the Old Testament.

It didn’t make sense for Noah to build a boat for a flood when it had never rained. It didn’t make sense for Joshua to lead the people in marching around Jericho in order to make the walls of the city collapse. It didn’t make sense for Gideon to lead his 300 men against the 100,000+ of the Midianites. It didn’t make sense for Namaan to dip in the Jordan River seven times to be healed of leprosy. Yet they did, and in doing so were victorious. Noah was spared in the flood, Joshua was victorious at Jericho, Gideon overcame the Midianites and Namaan was cleansed. You too can be victorious simply by following God’s word.

1. Read your Bible again in four months. Since three of the next four months have 31 days and none of them are February, there are a few “grace days” built into the schedule.
2. Read your Bible in eight months. Now that you have the general flow of the Bible narrative, start digging in deeper. Here is a PDF copy of the eight-month schedule. The new schedule is typically four or five chapters a day.

Whatever you do, read. Bible reading is one of the most important daily habits to get into. While sermons and Bible classes provide a wealth of information that we may not be able to think of ourselves, the amount of time we spend in those activities limits their ultimate usefulness. Bible reading is the key to unlocking God’s will for our lives.

^5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The first thing that those who would be pleasing to God must be is “poor in spirit.” What does it mean to be poor in spirit? Some have equated this with physical poverty, noting Jesus’ unqualified statement of poverty in Lk. 6:20. This doesn’t really mesh well with the overall context of what Jesus is saying in this place (though He definitely talks about money later in the sermon). When one is poor, they are lacking something. Someone with poor finances has no money. Someone with poor health is very sick. Someone who is poor in spirit is one who has a depravity, or emptiness of spirit. That is, we are spiritually bankrupt.

This depravity is not, as many believe, a hereditary condition brought about by Adam’s sin. Rather, it is the result of our own violation of God’s law.  The apostle Paul said in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In the kingdom of heaven, our King is utterly righteous. When we violate His command, we put ourselves “in debt” spiritually. As there really is nothing good that we can do that we shouldn’t already be doing, we find ourselves spiritually bankrupt. We are all greatly in debt to God and poor in spirit.

However, this does not mean that everyone will receive the kingdom of heaven because of their state of spiritual poverty. Not only must we be in this bankrupt spiritual state relative to the King, we must recognize this reality. Notice the parable Jesus told of the pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14. Both of these individuals were in the same spiritual state. Both had sin in their lives and had fallen short of God’s glory. The difference between these two was the way they viewed their relationship to God. The pharisee had convinced himself that he was righteous. He bragged to God of all the good things he had done and compared himself to common sinners, including the tax collector standing nearby. In spite of the righteousness that He felt he had, it was the other man, the tax collector, whom Jesus said went away justified. The tax collector was so aware of his spiritual relationship to God that he could not even bear to look up toward heaven. His only words to God were a plea for mercy.

It is, as the title suggests, a harsh realization for most people that they aren’t the center of the universe. Many walk around only caring about what is best for themselves, thinking that they are the only ones who matter. I am reminded of the bumper sticker/billboard saying: “There is one God. You are not Him.” Not only are we not the center of the universe, but spiritually-speaking, we are so far from the center of the universe that we are insignificant. We cannot hope to compare to God.

It is when we forget our position relative to God that we get into trouble. It is when we neglect the truth that we forget our position relative to God. “Buy the truth and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23, KJV).

The word that is translated “blessed” in our English Bibles comes from a Greek word which was originally used exclusively of the gods. The gods were viewed as being above all the concerns of the world, having achieved a state of supreme contentment and happiness. In fact, this same word is used in 1 Tim. 1:11 to refer to “the blessed God.”

The word has been used by extension to refer to those who are in a special relationship with God (or the gods, as the case may be). The term “blessed” is used by the Catholic Church to refer to those who have died having lived extraordinary lives and who have therefore found favor with God. It was similarly used by the ancient Greeks to dead individuals who were pleasing to God.

Over time, the term came to be used of the upper class of society, who by virtue of their wealth and status thought to be above the concerns of the world. They did not have to worry about their daily provision. They didn’t seem to “need” anything, because they could simply buy whatever they desired.

In contrast to this outlook, Jesus pronounces a blessing, not on those whose lives are built upon their possessions, but upon those who build their lives on God. The beatitudes are not rooted in accumulating a high position, but on realizing one’s position, no matter how high it is on earth, in relation to God.

Those who by chance or fortune have good in their lives are happy; those who through the pursuit of God’s will are blessed. Happiness comes and goes; blessedness will be eternal. Which would you rather have?

²⁴ then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵ For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶ The last enemy that will be abolished is death. ²⁷ For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all.

What is going to happen to the kingdom at the end of time? The prophet Daniel prophesied in Dan. 2:44 that God “will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” We see in the verses above Paul reaffirming this prophecy.

At the end of time, we do not see the end of the kingdom. Paul says that He (Jesus) will hand over the kingdom to the Father. Thus, all who are in the kingdom will also be handed over to the Father. As Paul would say in his first Thessalonian epistle, “and so we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Th. 4:17).

In fulfilment of prophecy, we never see the kingdom being handed over to anyone else to rule. The downfall of many kingdoms has been what happens after a strong ruler dies. The Macedonian Empire began to decline with the death of Alexander the Great; being left to four generals, his mighty empire never reached quite the same heights. God never allows that to happen. The kingdom is ruled by Jesus, who Himself is God. The kingdom was never given to some human to rule over, as a “representative” of God. God ensures the purity and strength of His kingdom by never giving it to anyone else.

The kingdom will put an end to all others. As much as some of the nations of the world persecute Christians, they ultimately cannot win against the kingdom of heaven. God will win. It is after all other kingdoms have been abolished and all is in subjection to Christ that He will return the kingdom to God to rule forever.

This is the kingdom Jesus prepares man for in His mountain message. In order to be a part of that kingdom when it “turns back to God,” we must live according to the standards He gives in Matthew 5-7. While many have referred to Acts 2 as “the hub of the Bible,” in that God’s plan reaches a climax with the establishment of the church, the sermon on the mount is the hub of biblical doctrine, presenting the principles on which the rest of the gospel message rests.

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We left off in the biblical narrative in Acts 1. In the next chapter, Acts 2, we find our answer.

On the day of Pentecost, immediately following Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). As a result of this, the apostles begin speaking in tongues. After being accused of drunkenness, Peter stands up to refute these claims, explaining that this was the time of which the prophets had spoken. He points to Jesus as the fulfillment of those prophecies, showing how Jesus fulfilled God’s plan by being put on a cross, a cross on which the Jews had put Him. Convicted of their actions, the crowd sought an answer, “What shall we do?” (2:37) Peter then commands them to repent and be baptized, to receive the Lord’s promise, salvation. The KJV says in 2:47 that the Lord was adding “to the church” those who were being saved. While not every translation (particularly the NASB) uses the word “church” here, the word church means “the called out.” This number who were being saved were being called out from sin. Whether the particular version says it or not, these people were “the church” by definition, and thus part of the kingdom.

So, we see the opening of the kingdom to all those who obeyed the words Peter spoke on that day. These people cannot be added to something that doesn’t exist, so we know that by this time, the kingdom is open. But what of the end of all things? What happens then?

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After 400 years of silence, a man named John came up out of the wilderness with a message. The message was a simple one: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 3:2). As simple as the message was, it was a drastic change from the message of the previous centuries. For all these years, the Jews had heard the prophecies of Isaiah, of Daniel, of Malachi and others, saying that a kingdom and a Messiah were coming. Now, they had someone telling them that not only were these things coming, but that they were “at hand,” or near.

Shortly after John began preaching this message, another man, Jesus of Nazareth, began preaching the same message. He went one step further than John, however. John spoke of one who was coming, “who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals” (Lk. 3:16). Jesus, on the other hand, made allusions (and to His disciples, direct statements) to the fact that not only was a kingdom coming and not only was a Messiah coming, but that it was His kingdom coming and He was the Messiah! This Jesus performed signs and miracles to show that He was sent by God, even performing miracles not seen before of any prophet (cf. Jn. 9:32).

It was during this time that Jesus preached the now-famous “sermon on the mount.” This sermon presents the principles under which citizens of this coming kingdom will live. It gives the entrance requirements into this kingdom. It tells of those who will try to seem as part of the kingdom, but who are really not. It lays out the priorities of a kingdom citizen.

After more than three years of teaching about this kingdom, including numerous parables describing what the kingdom would be like, this Jesus went to the cross. Many have decided that Jesus tried unsuccessfully to set up His kingdom on earth. Notice what Jesus said about the kingdom to His apostles:

I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. –Mt. 16:18-19

Jesus was not talking about two separate entities, the kingdom and the church. If He were, why would He give Peter the keys of something that was not going to happen during Peter’s lifetime? For that matter, why mention the kingdom if they are not the same thing? Given that the two are the same, observe what Jesus said about the church: “the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Many believe (based on a poor choice of words in the King James Version) that this statement talks about Satan not being able to overcome it (i.e., “the gates of Hell”). Hades simply refers to the realm of the dead. Jesus is telling His apostles, who will shortly see Him die, that death is not going to stop the coming of the kingdom!

In fact, shortly after Jesus died on the cross, He arose again. The resurrection of Jesus was so hard to cover up that the Jewish rulers had to bribe the guards at the tomb to give self-incriminating testimony to Pilate just to produce any kind of a cover story. He appeared to His apostles for a period of about 40 days, finally meeting with them to tell them to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-8).

The kingdom, at that time, had not yet come into existence. However, the teaching of Jesus, especially the Lord’s mountain message, played a pivotal role in announcing its coming and preparing man to enter it.

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Jesus was different in that he made a break from the teachings of the rabbis. This is most evident in the second half of Matthew 5. But Jesus’ teaching didn’t just come out of nowhere. He did not appear out of thin air and begin delivering a completely new message that had never been heard before. The sermon on the mount, or the Lord’s mountain message, was a keystone in Jesus’ ministry on earth. Some have called it “the constitution of the kingdom of heaven.” Indeed, the message comes at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, a ministry marked by the call for repentance, “for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mt. 4:17).

But what is this kingdom? Is it just something that God came up with one day, or is it part of God’s eternal purpose?

We see no later than Daniel 2 the first prophecies about a coming kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, had a dream. That dream was of a statue of several different parts. Daniel, by God’s revelation, told Nebuchadnezzar that the statue represented a succession of kingdoms. He said that in the days of the fourth kingdom, “the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever” (Dan. 2:44). Historically, Rome was the fourth kingdom.

Many have tried to use the image to argue for a fifth, later kingdom in the days of which God will set up His kingdom. Some argue for a modern power like the UN or the European Union. Some argue for a restored Israel. Some argue for “the antichrist.” They separate the legs of iron from the feet of iron and clay. Notice carefully, however, the language of the text:

• v. 40: “Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron”
• v. 41: “it will be a divided kingdom” – notice that this is in reference to the feet of iron and clay. Grammatically, “it” can only refer to this fourth kingdom. The text has not introduced another kingdom to which “it” can refer.
• v. 44: “In the days of those kings” – which kings? The most recent reference to kings or a kingdom is to the fourth kingdom. There is no fifth kingdom in days of which God can set up His own kingdom. God’s kingdom must come in the time of this fourth kingdom, Rome.

The days of Rome have long passed. For this prophecy to be true, God’s kingdom must have already been established. In our next article, we will look at more immediate proclamations of the kingdom’s coming.

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For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. –Eph. 2:8-9 (NASB)

Wait a minute…saved not as a result of works? Many have used this verse to show that we are saved by “faith alone,” i.e., separate and apart from any action that we take. Such a doctrine removes the essentiality of baptism, and in fact, relieves individuals of any moral obligation apart from believing that Jesus is the Son of God (Jn. 3:16).

But is that what these verses really say? No. Let us add the next verse, 2:10, to the equation:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Notice the use of works in these three verses.

• Paul says that we are not saved by our own works. That is, there is nothing we can do to “earn” salvation or to be “owed” salvation in any way that would allow us to say that we saved ourselves. There is nothing so commendable about our good works that God owes us salvation.
• We are God’s workmanship. Even if we do something truly commendable, we still have no room to boast because we were created by God. He gave us the ability to do those things.
• We are created for good works. So many believe that man is predisposed to sin (some versions of the Bible even translate “flesh” as “sinful nature”). This text says that if anything, we are predisposed to righteousness. Our God is righteous. His creation is likewise righteous. When we sin, we go against what God has put in us. So, any good works that we do are nothing more than us accomplishing what God created us to do anyway.

Thus, Paul is not saying that works are not a part of our salvation. Rather, we have no room to say that we have done some great thing to obtain our salvation. The only thing we can do is obey God’s will, something we should be doing anyway! Should someone be put up on a pedestal because they met God’s minimum requirements?

God has specified certain actions, or works, that we are to do to obtain salvation:

• God expects us to abandon our former way of living and walk according to His will. This is repentance.
• God expects us to confess our faith in Jesus Christ as His Son. This is not something we do once for all time, but rather something we do on a daily basis.
• God expects us to be immersed in water for the forgiveness of our sins. There is nothing special about the water. This is simply the action God requires of us to obtain salvation.
• God expects us to continue walking according to His will. We do not stop with repentance; we must always follow after God’s path of righteousness.

We cannot boast in these works, but we must do them. Have you?