Happy Birthday Jesus and Happy New Year too!

The biblical month of Aviv, later renamed Nisan, begins at sundown this evening. God identified this month as the first month of the year when he gave instructions to Moses pertaining to the Passover and the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. (Exodus 12:2)

The Jewish calendar is based on the phases of the moon with every month beginning on the day the first sliver of the moon appears following the dark moon. Every day begins at sundown and ends on the following sundown. If you see the moon tonight, it will be a little sliver in the sky.

Nisan or Aviv is the month of new beginnings. This is true of the Hebrews as they made their exodus from Egypt and God began to build them as a nation. On Nisan 1, one year after they left Egypt, the tabernacle was completed and set up. God entered his temple which represented his presence with the people throughout their wanderings in the desert. Nisan is also the month of Passover, the crucifixion and the resurrection of Christ.

Most Bible scholars agree that Jesus was not born on December 25. In fact it is generally understood that this date was chosen by church leaders sometime around 400 A.D. so they could celebrate the birth of Christ and still appease the non-believers by coexisting with some of the traditions of the pagan Saturnalia festival. That spirit of appeasement continues today as the words “Seasons Greetings” have replaced “Merry Christmas” in advertisements, verbal greetings, and even our Christmas cards.

Serious biblical scholars have taken clues from Luke 2:8 in which we learn that shepherds were watching their flocks at night. From that verse they have determined that the Christ child was probably born in the spring, the time of year when lambs are born, a most critical time when shepherds closely guarded the sheep to protect the newborn lambs from predators. It is highly unlikely that shepherds would keep their sheep on the hillsides in wintertime.

Bethlehem is only about five and a half miles from Jerusalem. Bethlehem was the place where the very finest sheep were kept, as every year the sacrificial lamb would be selected for the Jewish Passover in Jerusalem.

Christian Jewish Rabbi, Jonathan Cahn, studied the Scriptures and other historical documents from ancient times and discovered numerous valid reasons to believe that Christ was born on Nissan 1, which in 2021 falls on March 14. But keep in mind that it actually starts at sunset on March 13. Like Easter, the date is determined by the Hebrew calendar which is based on the phases of the moon, so on our calendar it doesn’t fall on the same date every year. This year Nissan 1 falls 3 weeks before Easter. Last year it fell on March 26, a Thursday. A simple search of the Internet will give you the date for any given year, but it will always fall within a week or two before Palm Sunday.

Evidence exists in Vatican records that before the Christians took December 25 to represent Christ’s birthday, the most recognized date was Nissan 1. At the time the new date was chosen, the date Nissan 1 was censored out of most early church writings.

I can only scratch the surface of the information Jonathan Cahn shared in an interview in December 2014 in which he gives much more convincing evidence that Nissan 1 is the true birth of Christ Jesus. I have included the link at the end of this article for your consideration.

I personally look forward to the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ this evening and tomorrow without having to live up to or rise above the world’s expectations and demands. I believe a quiet retreat into an otherwise unnoticed day might offer depth of meaning that has been drowned out with packages and the whirlwind of busying traditions. We don’t have to give up those December traditions. After all, the wise men were the first to come bearing gifts, and they didn’t find baby Jesus in a manger. The star guided them to a house. And based on King Herod’s killing of all male children in Bethlehem two years old and younger, Jesus may well have been almost two years old at the time. We can still celebrate giving gifts and remembering the Christ Child any time of the year. But the thought of having another day set apart and away from the eyes of the rest of the world for celebrating the real birthday of Christ Jesus seems very appealing to me.

Double click the link below to watch Jonathan Cahn’s interview about the true date of Christ Jesus’ birth. The link will take you the YouTube video. https://youtu.be/ptlsXtTf6n0

Honeycomb Adventures Press, LLC’s newest book, Baby Jesus . . . Messiah! released February 17, 2021. It is also available as a coloring book and as an e-book.