The following posts come to us from the website THE EZEKIEL 33 WATCHMAN REPORT. There will be 7 Posts to complete this article and I pray it will be a Blessing to you my readers.

Passover can fall on any day of the week from year to year. The term sabbath day in Lk. 23:56 is plural. There was the annual Sabbath on Thursday and weekly Sabbath on Saturday. The women could not do the customary service to Jesus’ body on Thursday because it was the High Day, plus the fact there was no admittance allowed. The Jews had the Romans post guards. (Matt. 27:62-66) That is how those high priests and ruling Pharisees kept their annual (High Day) Sabbath.

Christmas is another pagan tradition that Christianity has adopted. You can read its complete history in any encyclopedia. The shepherds tending their flocks by night would have been in the spring/summertime. Winter rains in the region is what brings about green grass in the spring. By the end of summer and early autumn, the grass is dry and if tall enough usually cut as hay for winter forage. During the winter months, sheep and goats were kept in lower rooms, barns, or caves. Although a Christmas tree is found in Jer. 10:1-4, man has philosophized with various doctrines a humanistic defense of the Christmas tradition, but none are scriptural. It is difficult for man to change generations of tradition. But the Lord will! (Is. 66:23)

If Christ really wanted us to celebrate his birthday, the scriptures would give us a clear clue as to when he was born. The most accepted year is 5 BC. What was the month and date? Have you ever searched for something while it was right under your nose the entire time? Luke begins his first letter with the parents of John the Baptist. (1:5-25) Elisabeth conceived and hid herself five months; then, Luke directs his narrative to Mary. Verse 26 begins with the angel Gabriel going to Nazareth in the sixth month. This is a sacred calendar month, not the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, which is a fact stated in verse 36. Elisabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy ironically happened to be in the sixth month of the sacred calendar when Gabriel visited Mary! Carefully read the first chapter of Luke. He wrote to a friend who was a high official of Rome and would not have duplicated the same fact in such as a confusing manner most preachers preach. (Lk. 1:1-4)

The sixth month of the sacred calendar is Elud (Aug. – Sept.) When Mary had come to full term nine months later, Jesus was born in the third month of Sivan (May – June) the following year. (Lk. 2:5-7) On the eighth day, after purification of separation, he was brought to the local Levitical priest, circumcised and named. (Lk. 2:21-23; Lev. 12:2-7) The festival of Pentecost (Firstfruits or Weeks) is in the month of Sivan. (Lev. 23:10-22) Was Jesus was born on Pentecost? Christ is the Firstfruits of salvation! (1 Cor. 15:20-23) Most likely, Jesus was born seven days prior to Pentecost just as he ascended to heaven seven days prior to Pentecost. Was he circumcised on the annual Sabbath of Pentecost? (Jn. 7:21-23) Let’s do the math in Lev. 23:15-18, Lk. 24:46-53; Acts 1:3-5 and 2:1. Pentecost counts seven Sabbaths after Passover and adds one day. [7 x 7 + 1 = 50] Christ was crucified on a Wednesday late afternoon, in the grave three whole days, and then resurrected on a Saturday (Sabbath) late afternoon. He ascended to heaven after spending forty days with the disciples. Pentecost was not many days hence. The counting of seven Sabbaths following Christ’s crucifixion on a Wednesday (Passover) began three days later – Saturday, which was the day he arose and the first Sabbath following Passover. [3 + 40 + 7 = 50]

Sivan (May – June) is about the middle of our solar year because the summer solstice is June 21. Jesus was born sometime in the late spring 5 BC. Mathematically, his birth date would be between 5.25 BC and 5.5 BC. Recall the math in Chapter VI in the Seventy Weeks Prophecy? Nisan is the first and Sivan the third month on the sacred calendar, a lunar type, which can vary as much as 28 days with today’s solar calendar. Jesus was crucified one to four months short of his 34th birthday. [30 (yrs. old when He was baptized) + 3.5 (yrs. of ministry) = 33.5]

John the Baptist was born late Chislev (Nov – Dec). Should we start celebrating his birthday on the 25th of December? [If so, say Merry John-the-baptist-mas] You could research the year 5 BC, cross reference the Jewish lunar to the Julian solar,  correct it by the Gregorian and find Jesus’ birthday on today’s calendar. Should we bake him a cake and sing happy birthday?

In Revelation 18, merchants will weep and mourn over Babylon’s fall because no one will buy their merchandise anymore. If we were to not keep Christmas, Easter, New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween, nor buy any of their associated merchandise, plus not buy the other relics, trinkets, statues, candles, rosaries, pictures, incense, crucifixes, and other graven images we like to display, what would their manufacturers and retailers do? It is better to have God IN our hearts and minds instead of ON our walls and bodies. After Christ returned to the right hand of God, he has been putting up with man’s crap for almost two of His days. [2008 − 29 AD = 1979 years] The Lord has three woes ready for man’s almost two millennial days (1,979 and counting years) of denials and/or contradictions. (Mk. 14:30; Job 33:14; Num. 20:11; Ex. 34:23; Acts 10:16; Jude 12)