CHRISTMAS 2019
December 27, 2019
It has been a constant source
of amazement to me that Jesus has always been painted as poor and indigent --
never mind what the Word clearly states.
Ever since the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., error after error after
error has crept into the body of Christ and promulgated with traditions that
have no validity in the Word. The
compromises that Constantine made with church leaders in order to bring the
Roman Army into the church and declare them to be "Christian" have
contaminated the truth ever since.
Before
we launch into some Biblical and historical facts, let me strongly recommend
the following DVD to you and a good site where you can purchase it. Christian Book Distributors (CBD) sells THE
STAR OF BETHLEHEM (here's the site: http://www.christianbook.com/star-bethlehem-dvd/pd/806763?kw=dvd%20star%20of%20bethlehem&mt=b&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1018818&gclid=CPn6kcOBhcICFSVk7Aod7X4AXA) produced by
attorney, Stephen McEveety. My reason
for recommending this DVD to you is that it provides extremely accurate
astronomical data in demonstrating just when Jesus was born and when the Magi
visited Him.
We've
all been contaminated throughout the generations with the idea that Jesus was
born on what amounts to December 25th on the Julian calendar. The problem with the Julian calendar is that
it is totally out of sync with God's calendar -- the calendar everyone likes to
refer to as the Hebrew or Jewish calendar.
It misses completely the Word that was given at Creation when God
specifically said:
Genesis 1:14-18,
KJV:
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for
seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he
made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the
night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was
good.
The
key here is that God specifically made the Sun, the Moon and the Stars -- NOT
just for a division between day and night, but for His signs, for seasons, for
days and for years! That's critical to
our understanding as we move forward.
With
this concept firmly planted let's look now at some specific days that God
ordained to be set aside as His days.
First
is the Feast of Passover.
"And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded,
your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in
haste: it is the LORD’S Passover."
(Exodus 12:11)
"And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye
shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep
it a feast by an ordinance forever." (Exodus 12:14)
"And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread;
for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore
shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever. In the first month, on the
fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the
one and twentieth day of the month at even. Seven days shall there be no leaven
found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that
soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a
stranger, or born in the land. Ye
shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened
bread." (Exodus 12:17-20)
What
we see with this Feast is that this was an event to be celebrated
"forever!" That word in the
Hebrew text is 'olam -- a word which can be
translated: throughout
the eternity of the eternities.
This was not just a Jewish feast, or one that Israel ONLY was supposed
to keep: this feast was kept by Christians continually until Constantine's
"Edict of Toleration" in which Christians were forbidden to honor it.
Let's
continue.
In
the seventh month on God's calendar, He specified the following feasts:
Leviticus 23:24-25,
KJV: Speak unto the children of
Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month,
shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy
convocation. Ye shall do no
servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto
the LORD.
The
first day of the seventh month, therefore, begins with what we know as
"The Feast of Trumpets." Then
we see the following:
Leviticus 23:26-31,
KJV: And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, Also on the
tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of
atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict
your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same
day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before
the LORD your God. For
whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he
shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that
doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his
people. Ye shall do no manner
of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in
all your dwellings.
Thus,
on the tenth day of the seventh month, we see the Day of Atonement. There's a term that appears here that gets
missed in the English translation out of the Hebrew, the word, dor (which comes from the root, dur) and is translated
"generations." In fact, the
word more properly translates as: a revolution of time. The root word, dur,
means: to revolve, to move continually in a circle. While the translation,
"generations," certainly applies, our English word loses the picture
of revolving continually without end -- hence, time
without end! I'll talk more about this momentarily.
But
we're not done with the seventh month.
Leviticus 23:33-41,
KJV: And the LORD spake unto
Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day
of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for
seven days unto the LORD. On
the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
Seven days ye shall offer an
offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy
convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the
LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
These are the feasts
of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer
an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering,
a sacrifice, and drink offerings, everything upon his day: Beside the sabbaths of the LORD, and
beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill
offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh
month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast
unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on
the eighth day shall be a sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day
the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick
trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God
seven days. And ye shall keep
it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a
statute forever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh
month.
During
the early years of the body of Christ -- in fact, during the first couple of
centuries -- Christians kept these feasts.
They understood that God's command to keep these feasts 'olam -- throughout the eternity of the eternities -- didn't just
apply to the Jews under the Mosaic Law, God's command applied to His people --
and there was no question that as Christians, they had been grafted into God's
select company.
Sadly,
Christians today have been stuck with the belief that to keep these feasts is
to be stuck with and caught up in legalism.
To be sure, we don't offer burnt offerings; WE are the burnt offering
unto the Lord, having been purified by the blood of Jesus and by the Holy Ghost
and fire!
Now,
I know many of you are looking cross-eyed at me and saying, "What in the
world does any of this have to do with Christmas?" My first answer to you is, "watch the
DVD, THE
STAR OF BETHLEHEM." My second answer is, "consider the
significance of the dates on the Hebrew calendar within the framework of Jesus'
birth, His death on the Cross, His resurrection, His command to the disciples
to NOT go forth to teach or to preach "until ye be endued with power from
on high" -- and event which began with Pentecost -- and, finally, His
promise that He would return to dwell with us again.
Consider,
now the following implications of these feasts, and how they relate.
On
the night that Jesus was born, Luke records that shepherds were in the fields,
watching their flocks during the night.
That is not a wintertime event in Israel. Because Luke tells us that the angel of the
Lord came to tell the shepherds of the birth of the Messiah, and immediately
following the sky was filled with angelic hosts praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward
men."
According
to all that we can ascertain historically, and considering corresponding events
in the heavens that are clearly recorded, this would have happened as early as
the fourth of September on our calendar (and the first day of the seventh month
on the Hebrew calendar, Tishrei), or as late as the 24th of September (also the
first day of the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar). This places Jesus' birth on the Feast of
Trumpets.
Using
the phenomenal work that Stephen McEveety did with his astronomical research as
it relates to the Star of Bethlehem that announced Jesus' birth, and the travel
time that it took the Magi to reach the young child after having seen the Star,
we know from the Greek text of Matthew 2:8 that by the time they reached Jesus,
that he was above two years of age.
How
do we know this, you ask? The Greek word
used in Matthew 2:8 is the word, paidion. This word is significant because it does not
describe a new-born babe. Consider the
five words in Greek that describe the growth and development of a person.
(1) Brephos describes a child in the womb
between conception and birth. (2) Nepios describes a child between birth and
the age of two when it is expected that the child has been weaned from the
mother's milk. (3) Paidion describes a child
after being weaned from the mother's breast until it reaches the age of 12 (for
a boy) or 13 (for a girl).
(4) Teknon describes a child who has reached
the age of accountability. [From a spiritual
perspective, Paul describes this in Galatians 4:1-2 as "being
under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father."] The ceremony for a boy at age 12 is bar-mitzvah. The ceremony for a girl at age 13 is known as
bat-mitzvah.
(5) Huios is the word that describes a son who
has generally reached the approximate age of 30, has finished his tutoring and
has father's approval to act in his stead to operate father's business in his
name. Once "the time appointed of
the father" is reached, a general ceremony takes place in which father
announces to his friends and associates, "this is my beloved son in whom I
am well pleased."
As
is obvious, it takes no great imagination to see this same pattern unfolding
with Jesus. Tracking the position in the
sky of the Star of Bethlehem that led the Magi to Jesus in Bethlehem, we have
every reason to believe that they arrived at the home of Mary and Joseph to
bestow their incredible and lavish gifts on this young "King of
Kings" on December 25th, if you correlate it to the Julian calendar. Going back to my opening commentary on the
fact that so many Christians think Jesus lived His life in abject poverty, the
Magi came to see Jesus – either as kings themselves, or as representing kings
from major eastern countries – to honor Him as the King of Kings. Kings NEVER brought token gifts to other
kings, and in this case, the Magi would have brought lavish gifts. If we use the analogy of the Queen of Sheba
bringing what calculates in modern terms to the equivalent of $119 Million in
gold as a gift honoring Solomon, the Magi would have brought nothing less to
the One they were honoring as the King of Kings!!
I
have no problem celebrating December 25th as an important day in Jesus' life,
but it was not the day that Jesus was born.
Using Steven McEveety’s calculations from the signs in the Heavens, it
is most probably the day that Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb – the day that
the Angel, Gabriel, appeared to her and announced that she would be the mother
of the long-awaited Messiah! December
25th was a day adopted by Constantine in agreement with the various bishops --
a day that corresponded with a heathen feast, Saturnalia, on the Roman
calendar. Constantine issued an edict in
utter ignorance of God's commands which forbade the Christians to observe what
he called "Jewish feast days," when in fact Christians had been
celebrating them continuously. Jesus
kept the feasts, and the feasts were signs of major events on God's calendar.
Let
me wrap up quickly today by saying that at the exact moment during the Feast of
Passover at 3:00 PM in the afternoon (specifically on the Day of Atonement)
when the High Priest was slitting the throat of the sacrificial lamb, Jesus
expired on the Cross -- slain for the sins of the world as the once-and-for-all
sacrifice.
When
Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to hundreds of people over a period of
some 40 days, and then prepared to ascend into heaven, he instructed the
disciples to "tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with
power from on High."
Fifty
days from the day that He was crucified and died on the Cross, the Feast of
Pentecost was celebrated, and Luke tells us in Acts 2 that when the day of
Pentecost "was fully come" the disciples, their families and others
who had joined with them "were all with one accord in one place."
Luke
goes on to tell us of the unfolding of Pentecost as Holy Spirit appeared as
fire, tongues of fire sat down on the heads of those gathered, "And
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other
tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."
Thus, the Feast of Pentecost -- as a feast to be commemorated
continually among God's people -- took on the manifestation that Jesus promised
before He ascended into Heaven.
If
I understand anything at all regarding the Feasts being a fulfillment of God's
timetable for His people, then we can expect Jesus to return to fulfill the
Feast of Tabernacles in order to dwell with us continually. The Feast of Tabernacles is on the 15th day
of the seventh month, the month of Tishrei.
Thus
we see the pattern unfolding in Tishrei: (1) on the first day of the month, we
celebrate the Feast of Trumpets -- the day that Jesus was born; (2) on
the 10th day of the month, we celebrate the Feast of Atonement, when Jesus
became the sacrificial lamb -- the "Lamb slain from the
foundation of the earth"; and (3) the 15th day of the seventh month, which
is the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus was
and is the pattern Son for us all.
That
said, Merry Christmas to you all!
In case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment
of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call –
usually at about 10:30AM Pacific. That
conference number is (712) 770-4160, and the access code is 308640#. We are now making these gatherings available on
video using ZOOM. If you wish to
participate by video on ZOOM, our login ID is 835-926-513. If you miss the live voice-only call, you can
dial (712)
770-4169, enter the same access code and listen in later. The video call, of course, is not recorded –
not yet, anyway.
Blessings
on you!
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Temple, Texas 76504
Email Contact: CapenerMinistries@protonmail.com
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