Over one hundred years ago, in 1897, one of the most famous letters ever written, was sent to the editorial page of the New York Sun. A small child named Virginia had written the editors of the paper asking if, indeed, Santa Claus really existed. She asked: "I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, 'if you see it in the Sun, it's so.' Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?" The answer, from editorial writer Francis P. Church, was that yes, indeed, there is a Santa Claus. His reasoning was that; The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. This line, and the rest of his response have been repeated now, for over 100 years.

Recently, there have been many news reports about Nativity scenes being challenged in court by organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union. They claim that these creches are dangerous to the community, and a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. According to previous Supreme Court decisions, government entities cannot display a Nativity scene unless it is part of a larger, secular display, one that might include items such as Santa Claus, candy canes, reindeer, etc.

It is hard to imagine that such a controversy would have existed 100 years ago. In 1998, in St. Ann, Missouri, the ACLU has forced the city to remove a Nativity scene that has been displayed every year of the city's existence - 50 years. In light of this, today's Virginia might write a newspaper with this question: "I am 8 years old. Some grownups, including a group called the ACLU, say that putting up a manger in front of our city hall is dangerous. Is it dangerous because Jesus is real, or because He doesn't exist? Please tell me the truth, is there a Jesus Christ?"

Now, I can't speak for Mr. Church. The former son of a Baptist minister died in 1906. However, much of his original answer to Virginia can also apply to those who would have you believe that displaying a Nativity scene is dangerous, or, that Jesus himself might never have existed. After all, a Nativity scene is depicting an actual event. What is so dangerous about that? Or as Virginia might ask, Is it dangerous because he is real, or because he doesn't exist?

Church's reply today, much like the one 100 years ago, might sound something like this: "Virginia, these people are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe what they do not see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Jesus Christ. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. He really did live almost 2000 years ago, and his life was based upon love, and generosity, and kindness. Not only did He exist, but He continues to live. Denying His existence does not make Him less real. Just because you can't see Him, doesn't mean that He is not alive. People who choose to remember His birth in a tiny stable in Bethlehem are not a danger to others, even those who do not believe that He is the Son of God.

Putting up a manger scene is no less threatening than celebrating the Independence of our country, or a memorial to the end of World War II, or honoring men like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or Dr. Martin Luther King with holidays. All of these events and people have shaped our country and our lives, and denying the existence of any of them would not make them any less real.

No Jesus? Thank God He lives, and lives forever. It has been 2000 years since He walked the earth as a man, and a thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, He will continue to make glad the hearts of those who believe in Him.

Biblical Dates for Messiah's Conception and Birth

by David M. Hargis

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I. The Conception of Yochanan (John the Baptist) / Luke 1:5-25

When the angel, Gavri-El (Gabriel), appeared to Zachar'yah (Zacharias) as he was ministering in the Temple, it was during the ministration of Abiyah (Abia). This order of priests ministered in the Temple the eighth week of the Hebrew year according to the ordinance of 1 Chronicles 24:10 (and according to the Talmud).  The eighth week transverses the last week of the second Hebrew month of Iyar and the first week of the third Hebrew month of Sivan, which culminates at Shavuot (Pentecost). This is the anchor point for discovering the exact time of Messiah Yeshua's birth. The angel promised Zachar'yah that his prayer had been answered, and when he went home to his wife Elisheva (Elizabeth) she conceived, it seems almost immediately. This puts the conception of Yochanan (John the Baptist) very near the time of Shavuot, the Feast of Pentecost, in the second week of the month of Sivan, the third Hebrew month.

II. The Conception of Yeshua (Jesus) / Luke 1:26-55

Then, at the close of the sixth month of Elisheva' s pregnancy the angel Gavri-El appeared to Mara (Mary). Gavri-El told Mara about Elisheva, saying "she who was called barren is six months pregnant," This would be the last of the ninth Hebrew month called Kislev at the time of Chanukah. There are 27 weeks weeks between the end of discourse of Abiyah and the start of Chanukah (Dedication), which is celebrated eight days, from Kislev 25 to Tevet 2.

Mara accepts the word of the angel concerning the conception of Messiah in her, and she immediately rushes from Natseret (Nazareth) to the home of Elisheva and Zachar'yah in the Judean mountains close to Yerushalayim, about a three days journey from Natseret. Mara was probably going there to celebrate Chanukah and to help Elisheva with her pregnancy, as well as to talk to Elisheva about the angel's visitation.

Upon Mara's greeting to Elisheva, Elisheva responds to Mara, calling her "the mother of my L-RD". This demonstrates that Mara was already pregnant with Yeshua. Thus, Yeshua was conceived at Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, for He is the Light of the World.

Sometimes the time of Chanukah falls close to Christmas. The apostate Roman church of medieval times combined the pagan winter solstice in late December with the 25th of Kislev (Chanukah) to create Christmas (Christ's Mass) on Dec- ember 25. Supposedly, this was to celebrate Christ's birth.

Yeshua is shown celebrating Chanukah in John 10:22,23. It is at this celebration that He declares "I and My Father are One" [John 10:30], which testifies to His Divine origin in His conception. It also reinforces Chanukah as the time of His conception.

Historically, then, it is more accurate to celebrate Yeshua entering the world through conception at Chanukah rather than to celebrate His birth at Christmas. As we shall show, Christmas is not the birthday of Christ. (In fact, Christmas is an invention resulting from religious compromise with pagan tradition. Christmas only has harmony with the truth, in that it falls approximately at the time of year when Yeshua was conceived by the Holy Spirit.)

IlI.The Birth ofYochanan/Luke1:56-80

Mara stayed with Elisheva for three months, which was until the birth of Yochanan. Since a full pregnancy term is 41 weeks, and 27 weeks makes up the first six months (two trimesters), which is exactly the time from the discourse of Abiyah to Chanukah, that leaves 14 weeks to accomplish the last trimester and bring the pregnancy to full term. There are exactly 14 weeks from Chanukah to Passover (Nisan 14-22). Therefore, John the Baptist was born at Passover. He was circumcised on the eighth day, which would be the last day of Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread. Gavri-EI had said that John would "go forth" in the strength and power of Elijah [Luke 1:17]. Jewish teaching was that Elijah would come again at Passover (this is still a tradition of Judaism today).

IV.The Birth of Yeshua/Luke 2

Nisan, when Yochanan was born, is the first month of the Hebrew year. As we have shown, Mara conceived six months after Elisheva conceived, which means Yeshua's birth would have to come six months after John's birth, during the seventh Hebrew month of Tishri. Since we know that John was born at Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread, we learn the time of Yeshua's birth by counting six Hebrew months from Passover. The Feast of Unleavened Bread begins on Nisan 15 and six months later Tabernacles begins on Tishri 15. Therefore, Yeshua was born on the first day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles).

The first day of Tabernacles is a Sabbath rest, so it fits that Yosef and Mara planned their journey to Beit-Lechem (Bethlehem) so they would finish their journey before the festival Sabbath. They found lodging just in time.

Concerning the Feast of Tabernacles, the L-RD commanded that Israel should observe it eight days. They were to build temporary dwellings called a sukkah and dwell in them [Leviticus 23:34-43]. These sukkahs were erected to house families with some bare comforts and food for the eight days. Food was placed in a stall or a crib for storage in the tabernacle. The King James Bible calls this food crib a manger. Yeshua was not born in a barn, but rather in a temporary tabernacle which had been built for the celebration. He was placed in a "manger", demonstrating in a type that He is the Bread of Life from heaven.

The eighth day, Yeshua was circumcised according to the scriptural command [Luke 2:21]. For a male, this is what accomplishes a full Hebrew birth. The Feast of Tabernacles is for exactly eight days. The first and last days are both holy Sabbaths. Yeshua was born on the first day, a holy Sabbath, and circumcised on the eighth day, a holy Sabbath. Evidently, G-d intended this entire Feast of Tabernacles to be set aside in order to accomplish and celebrate Yeshua's birth into the world.

Note that G-d provided two holy feasts that lasted eight days, Passover/Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Messiah, was born and circumcised in the eight days of the first, then six month later Yeshua, the Messiah, was born and circumcised the eight days of the second. John came in the first month of the year and Yeshua came in the seventh month. In ministry, John introduced the way through Messiah and then Yeshua perfected it, even as the first and seventh months signify.

V. Conclusion

In my opinion, this chronology provides us with the exact day of Yeshua's birth, Tishri 15, according to the Hebrew calendar. The Hebrew calendar is kept updated to this modern day, and every year the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) is absolutely set from Tishri 15 to Tishri 22. Because the Hebrew calendar is based on the course of the Moon (Lunar) and the modern calendar is based on the course of the Sun (Solar), the two move in relation to each other. This means the Feast of Tabernacles will always occur somewhere between mid-September and mid-October, but not on the exact same Gregorian dates every year. For instance, in 1995 the Feast of Tabernacles was October 9-October 17, but in 1996 the Feast of Tabernacles was September 28-October 5. While this is initially confusing to the unlearned mind, a combination Gregorian/Hebraic calendar will easily clarify how the dates relate. Many local funeral homes provide free Hebrew calendars each year showing the modern dates for the holy Feast Days (ask for a Jewish calendar).

It may help you to understand the seeming movement of Yeshua's birthday by looking at your own birthday. Even though your birthday might keep the same number year after year, the day of the week it falls on changes. In like manner, Yeshua's birthday is on the same Hebraic calendar number each year, Tishri 15, but in relation to the Gregorian calendar it changes. However, you can plan for His birthday to always occur sometime between the latter part of September and the early part of October.

The Feast of Tabernacles is a most important comemoration. Zechariah 14:16,17 tells us that one day all nations will be required by law to honor this feast. For what greater reason, than it is the birthday of the King of Kings! Why should we delay?

Our hope and prayer is that the Ekklesia will return to the roots of her faith and learn to restore the fallen foundations. May we all work to overcome the influence of pagan customs in our celebrations and become separate from this world as a holy people before our holy G-d.

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Copyright © 1994 by David M. Hargis and MBI. All rights reserved.

-reprinted from Biblical Dates for Messiah's Conception and Birth

My first memory is when I was six weeks old; we were on a train coming from Flandreau, South Dakota to Gentry, Arkansas. Certainly it seems unlikely a baby only six weeks old could remember so well and I suppose what I remember is hearing my parents tell about it a good many times.

So: Darwin (my father), with his father, Russell John Maxson, his brother Edwin, and his oldest sister's husband, Styles Lanphere, were all living in South Dakota, where they had done well homesteading farms; then improving them, and raising wheat and cattle. After a good many years there, Father Maxson, who still suffered from rhuematism, brought on by his stint in the federal army in the  civil war, thought, what good is money in the bitter cold climate here? So he talked the two married sons and a son-in-law into moving somewhere warmer.

Grandpa and grandmother had eleven children, at the time of moving to Gentry. Only the three oldest were married. One girl, Celia, had died in Dakota, at the age of 17. (I don't think I ever heard the cause of her death) but there were still at home, Edith, Ora, Susa, Nathan, George, Myrtle and Ethel.

There was a Seventh Day Baptist settlement in South Dakota, but," we'll start another one in a warmer climate," they reasoned. So they would all move, bag and baggage, dad said. I heard Grandpa Maxson tell how that last winter there in the "frozen north" he decided he'd rather be warmer even if it meant less money. Evidently they had all done quite well, raising grain and cattle. So one fall day he caught a train to go south. When he got to Kansas City he talked with the Station Master, I think he said, or real estate person who told him about a fairly new railroad system going south as far as Port Arthur, Texas. He boarded a train on that (The Kansas City Southern) all the way down through Missouri the next day. The countrywide looked good. There were apple orchards and the trees were loaded with fruit. At one time the Plant Orchard (acres and acres of apple trees, starting from Decatur, stretching southward) was supposed to be the largest in the world, and Grandpa thought about getting off somewhere along here just to look things over. The conductor called out Gravette, then Decatur, then soon came Gentry. That "Gentry" did it. So, "Gentry it is: we are gentry," he said to himself, ",my father's family were of the ruling class in England, and landed people." So, gathering up his belongings, he left the train at Gentry, "At least," he thought, to look around."

Evidently, it looked good to him, for he said he spent a few weeks there, actually buying a nice large farm a couple of miles out northwest of town. I barely remember that farm, for after three or so years they were offered a good price for it and they moved into Gentry. First to a nice house with a big yard and named Glenwood, or Glen Oaks. When I was a little older and we'd visit there, Grace and I decided we'd name our home place "Maple Lawn" but we never did get Papa to put up a sign.) I was about four, I believe, when they--the grandparents--moved to Glenwood. So much of my childhood memories are from there. The big shady yard and the big lawn swing that four could ride in, and ride we did, swinging high until Dad made one for us at home. He also made a merry-go-round.

Now, I go back to South Dakota; after Grandpa had bought the improved farm in Gentry, he scouted out four other places of land. There were not building on them. These were for Dad (Darwin); Edwin: and Sylvia's husband, Styles Lanphere; the fourth, I think was for mother's dad, George W. Huffman, or for Mama's sister, Lizzie, and husband, Manzo Fuller.

Anyway, I think they were all 80 acre tracts. Dad kept selling ours off until he wound up with 20. I know he used to own the house on the corner land and the Thomas's behind us.

Read the rest of the Geebies Journal.

JOSHUA STREET

Last year, six awesome CCU students, and good friends, began playing together.  They played their first gig at the Boulder Seventh Day Baptist Church 26 March 2000. Upcoming plans for the Joshua Street band include performances for various CCU events and other events in the Denver area.  We are looking forward to seeing them ministering wherever God takes them.

reprinted from Joshua Street.

God's Holy Day
Seven Studies on the Sabbath Truth
By Lester G. Osborn

And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.  -Genesis 2:3

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Lesson Six

 The Christians Duty Concerning the Law

  

Regarding "the law," we are free (under no obligation). Jesus Christ took that system out of the way, and brought us under grace. We are "not under law."

But does this give us the right to transgress the moral law, i.e., to sin? Are we freed from moral principles? Paul says, "By no means!" (Romans 6:15).

"Free from law" (note that there is no article in the Greek) does not mean free to do as one pleases, but free to do as one ought. Freedom is "liberty safe-guarded by law"; it is not license. License is not freedom, for unbounded liberty gets you more tangled all the time. True liberty exists within the framework of the law, not in the act of breaking of it.

A. Principles of the Decalogue Are Still in Force.

1. Romans 6:15, 1 John 3:4.
Being "under grace" is no reason for sinning-transgressing the law. We are not freed from the obligation of the moral principles. We are to live up to the standard God has set.

2. Ephesians 6:2; 1 Corinthians 10:14; Romans 13:9; James 5:12.
Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Apostles Paul and James quoted from the Decalogue when writing to fellow Christians. This indicates that the Commandments were still binding. To say that "all of the Ten Commandments-except the fourth-are reiterated in the New Testament" is begging the question, for the Ten stand or fall together. One might say in response that the obligation to obey New Testament laws is comparable to being "under the law" as in the case of the Decalogue.

3. Jeremiah 31:33b; Hebrews 10:16.
The moral law, "written on stones" at Sinai, was the codification of universal, eternal, and moral principles. These principles would have been binding on man even if they had never been collected into a set of rules. For instance, although Cain killed Abel long before Sinai, he was still guilty of murder. The Sabbath dates from the beginning of the world, too. For the believer, this same law has been written "on their hearts." It is not something external, but its principles are part of our very being. The new covenant is not a changing of the laws, but a blotting out of sins and writing those same laws on the heart. The difference is not found in God's righteous requirement, but lies in the motive for obedience.

B. The Law is Our Standard of Conduct.

1. God delivered His people and then gave them His law to direct their pilgrimage. Paul had this same thought in mind when he said, "Continue to work out your own salvation" (Philippians 2:12).

2.1 Timothy 1:8.
To use the law "properly" means that we view it as God's unchanging standard of conduct. We do not expect to earn salvation by it, nor do we keep it because of fear. Instead, we use the law as a yardstick by which we measure our lives. As children of God, we want to do His will. By turning to His standard, we find directions to guide us in our Christian walk. Being freed from the curse of the law by faith in Christ, we no longer seek righteousness through the law. Our righteousness is in Christ. However, that same law which convicted us of sin and guilt is still God's standard. Anything which was sin before salvation is still sin after salvation.

3. Romans 3:31.
The sinner "upholds the law" by acknowledging his sin and guilt, and the justice of his condemnation. The Christian, on the other hand, upholds the law by admitting the binding force of its righteous requirements, and by living according to its precepts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

4. Romans 8:34.
The "righteous requirements of the law" -that is, the standard of righteousness established by God-is fulfilled in us by the working of the Holy Spirit. This "working" is a sure indication that God's standard is the one by which we are to live. The difference, as someone has said, is that the law says, "Do this and live"; whereas grace says, "Live, and do this." Man's "sinful nature" could not meet God's standard; the Holy Spirit is our enabler.

5.    l John 2:6.
Christ Jesus observed the moral law. If we are abiding in Him, we will be following His example, in His strength.

C. Liberty in Loving Obedience.

1. James 2:12; John 8:34; 1 John 3:4.
When we observe the Ten Commandments (writ-ten on the heart), we are living according to the law that gives freedom." When we break them, we become "a slave to sin."

2. Romans 13:10; John 14:15; 1 John 5:3.
Because it prompts obedience, love fulfills the law rather than abolishing it. "Saved by grace" does not mean that we are not obligated to obey. Love is the strongest motive for obedience. If obedience is not a joy to us, we had better investigate the reality of our salvation. We demonstrate our love to God by doing His will-by conforming our lives to His standard.

3.1 John 2:34; John 17:3a.
Eternal life is "knowing God." We show we knowi Him by keeping His commandments.

D. The Basis of Judgement.

1. Hebrews 10:30b; James 2:12-13; Romans 14:12
The Lord's people-Christian believers will never stand before "the great white throne." Their sins have been judged and their guilt has been removed by faith in the death of Christ on Calvary. But they will stand before the "judgment seat of Christ, not to receive salvation, but to receive their reward.  The basis of this judgment is the law-how well we have lived up to God's standard. Saved by grace; judged by law.

2. Revelation 12:17; 14:12; 22:14.
Although Revelation 22:14 is a disputed passage, -many ancient authorities render it "do His commandments" as in the other two references. In the last day, those who belong to the Lord who have the right to the tree of life, who may enter the city-are those who not only "remain faithful to Jesus," but who also "obey God's commandments."

Conclusion

God's will for man’s conduct is always the same. This will is expressed in the great, eternal principles of the Ten Commandments, which define sin and measure the Christian's conduct. These Commandments form the basis of God's judgment.

The Ten Commandments have never been abolished. Grace magnifies the law and makes it even more obligatory than it was before salvation. Even with the obligation, grace gives us the power to live up to its standard. Under grace, we have a new relation to the law; it is written on our hearts. We obey in love and gratitude to God for our salvation.

Dr. H.A. Ironside put it tersely: "The difficulty -with many... is that they cannot seem to see the difference between the loving, loyal obedience of a devoted heart, and a legal obedience which is offered to God as though it were in itself meritorious."

 

reprinted from- www.7thdaybaptistchurch.org

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