WJesus Was Born

Luke 2:1-11
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town toregister. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, becausehe belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to himand was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to herfirstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available forthem. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angelof the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said tothem, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

Matthew 2:1-5, 9-11, 16, 19-22
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come toworship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called togetherall the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehemin Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them untilit stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house,they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures andpresented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys inBethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and hismother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up, took thechild and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Havingbeen warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee”

HEROD THE GREAT

Herod the Great

• Mentioned in Matthew 2

• Roman official put in charge of all of Judea (Israel)

• Died in 4 BC

• His Kingdom was split among his sons

• Herod was known for killing his own children out of fear of losing his throne.

Herod Archelaus

• Son of Herod the Great

• The way we know which Herod it is is because Matthew 2:22 states that Archelaus was the son of Herod.

The "First" Census

Luke 2:1-2
"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)"

 We know that Quirinius was governor over Syria in 6 AD in place of Herod Archelaus.

• Josephus reported on his reign.

However, Herod would have already been dead by then.

 Does this mean Luke is wrong?

• Just because there currently is a lack of evidence, it does not mean this account is completely inaccurate.

TWO VIEWS

1. That Quirinius was actually governor twice over Syria

2. Luke 2:2 should be translated as "This census took place before Quirinius was governor of Syria."

Quirinius may or may not have been governor of Syria at the birth of Christ in 5 B.C., but this isirrelevant since Luke 2:2 states that the census during which

Jesus was born was the first one, before the more well-known one taken by Quiri- nius in A.D. 6-7. This first one was "in the days of Herod the king."

Pontius Pilate

https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2019/10/11/pontius-pilate-an-archaeological-biography/ 

• Until 1961, we had no Historical or Archeological evidence for the existence of Pontius Pilate.

• In 1961, a inscribed stone was found in a Roman Theater with both Pilate's name and Job Title written on it.

Just because there currently is a lack of evidence, it does not mean this account is completely inaccurate.

THE WISEMEN

The word "Magi" is a greek word that comes from the Persian word "Magus"

• The word "Magus" typically referred to a specific type of Persian priest, astronomer/astrologist, or magician.

• It is likely these "wisemen from the east" came from or around Persia.

• The Bible does not specify how many Magi there were.

• The wisemen would have traveled roughly 1000 miles to Bethlehem if they were coming from Persia.

The Symbolism of the Gifts

Matthew 2:11
"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then theyopened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh."

Gold

• Gold is the most obvious out of the three.

• It symbolized royalty, kingship, and

Frankincense

• Incense was often burned as an offering to God

• It was also used to anoint priests.

Myrrh

• Myrrh is the seeming odd one out as it was commonly used in preparing a body for burial.

• This however is just confirmation what Jesus' destiny from birth was.

THE STAR

Cambridge Study https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1991QJRAS..32..389H

• Saturn and Jupiter aligned in 7 BC

• Chinese Records

  • Around 5 BC a Chinese historian recorded a comet passing

    • Origen believed the star of Bethlehem was a comet.

Johannes Kepler

• Kepler wrote the Laws of Planetary Motion

• Kepler calculated that around 6 BC Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars aligned to create a incredibly bright star.

Regardless of when the Star occurred, what we can see is a great deal of astronomical phenomenon that people of the time did and would have noticed.

JESUS’ BIRTH

Matthew 2:4-7
“So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because hebelonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to himand was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to herfirstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room availablefor them.”

• Mary likely did not give birth the night they got into Bethlehem.

  • "While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born"

• Mary and Joseph likely stayed with family, since his family would have had to travel to Bethlehem as well.

  • "Placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them."

• Since they likely stayed with family, it would make sense if there was not a guest room available for her to give birth.

  • Jesus may have not even stayed in a stable, but they used a manger because that was what was available at the time.

What can we Conclude?

• Jesus was likely born around 7-5 BC

• His birth was heavily documented and had several eye witnesses.

• Usually when you make up a lie, you would not want to include more people as part of that lie, but less.

• Jesus has one if not the most historically documented births.

Why is all this important?

• Because we need to understand that Jesus lived and was born physically on Earth, He is not just a fairytail, and he was not just a spiritual being that seemed physical.

Jesus being truly alive was the only way he could truly die, and truly overcome it.

1 John 1:1-4
"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."