For about three centuries after the birth of Jesus Christ, his birthday was not celebrated. The early church focused more on Christ’s crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection as that was considered more important because believing this act of Christ was payment for mankind’s sin, for any individual’s sin, and was how one was able to have eternal life. That was certainly more important than when Christ was physically born. One can’t argue with that point.

However, as the early church became more organized and developed into what became the Catholic Church, church leaders looked for ways to turn people toward Christian ways and away from pagan ways. However, this had both positive and negative consequences. The pro of this was that it gave a positive slant to a pagan holiday and allowed traditions to become more Christianized. However, the negative is that this was an attempt to force people to accept Christianity by changing their traditions rather than reaching the hearts of people to change their internal focus which would then affect their outward actions. So what resulted was a blend of Christian customs and traditions with and pagan customs and traditions into the same holiday.

The first claim that Christ’s birthday was on December 25th seems to have occurred in 221 AD. Yet, there was still no real celebration. The first recorded celebration of December 25th as Christ’s birthday was in the Calendar of Filocalus in 354 AD. Furius Dionysius Filocalus was the leading scribe or calligrapher during this period—just after the reign of Constantine. Another date celebrated by some was January 6th, called Epiphany, meaning the manifestation of God to man. Eastern orthodox Christians said this was proven at his baptism and western Christians said this was proven at the visit of the Magi. The time between December 25th and January 6th became known as the 12 days of Christmas.

Although church officials knew that Jesus was not born in winter, why did they choose December 25th as the day to celebrate Christ’s birth? Well, most cultures had a pagan celebration of the winter solstice. The early celebrations, like Saturnalia, also had human sacrifice, licentious rites, drunkenness, and all sorts of abbreviate behavior. Therefore, it is not far reaching to understand why the church officials wanted to turn this type of celebration around. However, as usual, many of the pagan rituals became part of the Christian celebration, although they usually became tamer and over time lost their original intent and meaning.

So, if Christ was not born in December, when was he born? Scripture tells us that the angel Gabriel appeared to a young Jewish girl named Mary who was betrothed to Joseph, but they were not yet married (Lk 1:26-27). However, it was Jewish custom for the official marriage to occur sometime later but even at this stage even though there was no cohabitation they were considered legally married and a formal divorce was necessary to break the marriage covenant. Gabriel told Mary she would bear a son with the help of the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35) and her son would be the Messiah, she should name him Jesus, and he would be equal in state to God, would one day sit on the throne of David (Lk 1:30-33), and would save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21). Jesus being equal with God is a fulfillment of many Old Testament scriptures (2Sa 7:8-16; 1Ki 2:24-25; Ps 2:1-12; Ps 89:14, 19-29, 35-37; Ps 110:1-7; Ps 132:11-12; Is 9:6-7; Is 11:1-5, 10; Jr 23:5-6).

Isaiah had prophesied the Messiah would be born to a virgin (Mt 1:23; Is 7:14). In Isaiah, the word “almah” which is the more precise and accurate Hebrew word for virgin and Matthew uses the Greek word “parthenos” which is always interpreted “virgin.” Although this did fulfill prophecy and people were expectant of a coming true Messiah, having a child without a man would seem physically impossible and so God appeared to Joseph in a dream to let him know of Mary’s truthfulness (Mt 1:18-25). Because Christ had no human father, he became the word of God to mankind and was equal to God (Jn 1:1). Joseph therefore claimed the pregnancy as his own, initiated cohabitation, but did not have intercourse with Mary until after Jesus’ birth (Mt 1:24-25).

Rick Larson in his DVD Star of Bethlehem gives compelling evidence to the date of Christ’s conception. At the time of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, in September of 3 BC, the planet Jupiter (known as the king planet) made a very close conjunction with the star Regulus (known as the king star), and over the next couple of months Jupiter actually made three conjunctions with Regulus. Not only that, but this occurred in the constellation of Leo which is the constellation representing a lion, both a symbol of Judah and of royalty as well as of the coming conquering Messiah; it would fulfill the prophecy of Isaac to Judah (Gn 49:9) as these three conjunctions would be occurring around the feet of Leo within this constellation. In addition, the constellation Virgo at the time of Rosh Hashanah in 3 BC would occur during the daytime, i.e., clothed in the sun, as described in Revelation, with the new moon at her feet (Rv 12:1-5). Rosh Hashanah was also known as the Feast of Trumpets (Lv 23:24-25) which was a memorial feast of the blowing of trumpets to ask God to remember His covenant with Israel.  Therefore, the conception of the Messiah would indeed represent God remembering His people after the 400 years of prophetic silence.

Therefore, if conception was in September of 3 BC, then Christ’s birth would occur around 9 months later: June 2 BC. There are two other events that also help us to see that this is likely the date of Christ’s birth. Again, the stars tell the story. After the triple conjunction of Jupiter with Regulus, Jupiter continued its journey for a rendezvous with Venus, the Mother planet. With the naked eye, they would appear as one star—one very bright star. This would have occurred on June 2 BC. This was also around the time of Shavuot which has been the festival around different paradigm shifts. It was this time that God made the covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai (Ex 19) and the time the Holy Spirit was given to the first Christians (Ac 2)—both paradigm shifts of how God intervened with His relationship to mankind. Christ’s birth would certainly fit into this category as well.

Next time we will look further at how the star played a role in Christ’s birth and the place of Christ’s birth.

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens

In previous posts we have talked about how the Jewish festival Shavuot marked major paradigm shifts and how God’s plan for inclusion expanded over time. We saw how the forming of the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai was a major paradigm shift which occurred on the very first Shavuot (Ex 24). God started working through a nation to reach out to the world rather than continuing to work through specific families or patriarchs. We then saw how inclusion occurred on a national and individual level (Js 2-6; Ru 1-4).

As we approach the New Testament, we see God making another major paradigm shift. God was on the verge of setting a new pattern of inclusion: going from inclusion occurring through a nation to it occurring through individuals. To understand this one, we must understand another Jewish Festival: Rosh Hashanah. Today, we know this as the Jewish New Year. Yet, it wasn’t always known as that. When first instituted, it was known as the Feast of Trumpets (Lv 23:23-25) and was the fifth of seven festivals. While all the feasts were memorial, as they pointed to how God worked in their past, how he was working in their present, and how he would work in their future, this particular feast was a special type of memorial. This was a festival to request God to remember his covenant with Israel. Why? Shortly after this festival was Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement (Lv 23:26-32). This was a day of reckoning. Israel knew they had no good on their own to stand before a holy God. Their only chance was for God to remember his covenant with them. Therefore, trumpet blasts were made to request God to remember. Does this imply God forgot? No, this was really for Israel to remember what God had done for them in making an everlasting covenant with them and to help them prepare for the upcoming Yom Kippur.

So, how is this tied to the New Testament. Well, how does the New Testament open? It opens with the announcement to Mary that she would bear a son, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and would call his name Jesus (Mt 1:18; Lk 1:26-31). This announcement occurred on Rosh Hashanah, Feast of Trumpets. Why? Because God was stating he was remembering his covenant. This marked the end of what had been termed the 400 years of God’s silence. Ever since Malachi, it seemed God was silent. It wasn’t that he was not working, but he sent no prophets after Malachi. His next voice came through the angel Gabriel to Mary(Lk 1:26). God remembered his covenant and Mary conceived a child through the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35). Yes, this was to be a very special child. He was to save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21).

So, if Jesus Christ was conceived on Rosh Hashanah, when was he born? He was most likely born on Shavuot. Doesn’t it seem apropos that he would be born on the festival that marks paradigm changes? Can you say Christ’s birth was not a paradigm change? Yes, that makes sense, but something doesn’t seem quite right. For most years, the time between Rosh Hashanah and Shavuot isn’t long enough for a normal gestation period for an infant. Gestation is a very crucial period for a fetus, and every week is important for fetal development and especially for adequate lung formation in the third trimester. A normal gestation period is considered to be 40 weeks (a range of 37-42 weeks). Yet, normally, the time between Rosh Hashanah and Shavuot is just shy of 35 weeks. Not enough time for an adequate gestation period. Could we be mistaken?

As they say, timing is everything. And that is definitely true here. Rick Larson has done some astounding work on the timing of the birth of Christ and the events which occurred at this birth. According to his work, Christ’s conception occurred on Rosh Hashanah in 3 BC. Something very interesting occurs in that year. To keep Passover near the Spring Equinox, and because the Jewish calendar is a lunisolar calendar with only 29 or 30 days per month, an extra month is added every so often to make Passover and the Spring Equinox realign properly. And, lo and behold, this is the year this extra month is added to their calendar. Then, the period of time from Rosh Hashanah to Shavuot becomes a normal gestation period (39 weeks) and can support the fact that Christ was likely born on Shavuot in 2 BC.

Christ’s birth was definitely a paradigm change for Israel – and for the world. He brought the true meaning of Scripture back to life and his death was for all of mankind and not just for the Jews. Again, this is a message of inclusion. Jesus paved the way for inclusion to be very personal. Isn’t that just what we would expect from a God who values relationships?

Don’t you find it interesting that God keeps the meaning of these Jewish festivals and makes them happen at just the right time to keep all the full meaning he intended for each one. Why? Well, he is a God of order after all (1Co 14:33). Also, I think it is a way for him to get our attention. It shows he pays attention to detail. If he can do that, he can certain pay attention to us individually. You, and we all, are a detail that he definitely cares about. How will you respond?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens