Speaker 1: What is happening and what is up? Hold out your
Speaker 1: glass Merry Christmas, guys. Hope everyone's enjoying their time off
Speaker 1: from work. I hope they're enjoying their time with their family,
Speaker 1: and I hope you guys are remembering the reason for
Speaker 1: the season. Now. I'm of the belief that December twenty
Speaker 1: fifth is not actually Christ's birthday. We've missed it by
Speaker 1: a few months. But I'm not a legalist. I think
Speaker 1: that as long as you set aside a day to
Speaker 1: honor the Lord and remember him, and your intentions are right.
Speaker 1: I'm not a legalistic pharisee. But for those that were
Speaker 1: not aware, I wanted to re release this episode that
Speaker 1: we did with the Dig in our first season. And
Speaker 1: this is inspired by Michael Heiser and several other authors
Speaker 1: in their books and their theories about the birthday of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And this was really fascinating when I first
Speaker 1: discovered this. So we go through and we lay out
Speaker 1: a timeline with the Bible, and we give you not
Speaker 1: only you know, a biblical timeline for a date that
Speaker 1: we believe is the true birthday of Christ, but then
Speaker 1: we even give you some astronomical signs from the Book
Speaker 1: of Revelation that you can plug into a computer and
Speaker 1: where the stars continually take the same path year after year.
Speaker 1: It's like a watch and you can wind those hands
Speaker 1: back and pinpoint a date with accuracy that's so close
Speaker 1: it's within a two minute window. And I'm talking about
Speaker 1: Revelation twelve, where the woman clothed in the sun, twelve
Speaker 1: stars on her head, the moon under her feet, and
Speaker 1: the dragon laying in wait to devour the child. This
Speaker 1: is a very beautiful revelation. For those that have not
Speaker 1: heard this, prepare to have your mind blown. And if
Speaker 1: you have heard this already, just sit back, relax, and
Speaker 1: enjoy this journey once again. And I'm releasing this. It
Speaker 1: is now Christmas Eve. If you guys are with your family,
Speaker 1: put this on play. Let them hear this. Send this
Speaker 1: to your friends and your family and your loved ones
Speaker 1: on Christmas and let them share in the amazement of
Speaker 1: this story which is the birth of our Lord and Savior,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. I hope you guys have a very merry
Speaker 1: and blessed Christmas and a happy New Year. I love
Speaker 1: you guys. Sit back, relax and enjoy the journey.
Speaker 2: Guys, we should read our bibles as men digging for
Speaker 2: buried treasure.
Speaker 1: And the Most High I gave of the nations their inheritance.
Speaker 1: When he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of people's
Speaker 1: according to the number of the sons of God.
Speaker 3: In those days and for some time after, giant Nephilites
Speaker 3: lived down to the earth. For whenever the sons of
Speaker 3: God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children
Speaker 3: who became the heroes and famous warriors.
Speaker 4: Of ancient tides. Take no part in the fruitless deeds
Speaker 4: of darkness, but yet expose that though a thousand and
Speaker 4: fall at your side, though ten thousand are dying around you, these.
Speaker 1: Ears will not touching lives of garden man. You gotta
Speaker 1: dig it.
Speaker 5: Hell, oh, fellow treasure hunters, welcome to the excavation. Side
Speaker 5: unjust in alongside and when we got Ben, Stephen and
Speaker 5: Chad will be your guides on this excursion. Hope you
Speaker 5: brought your shovel in your compass, because we got the map.
Speaker 1: Let's good, what Luke Chapter one, verse five through twenty three.
Speaker 3: When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish
Speaker 3: priest named Zachariah. He was a member of the priestly
Speaker 3: order of Abajah and his wife Elizabeth, who was also
Speaker 3: from the priests line of Erin. Zacharia and Elizabeth were
Speaker 3: righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all the commandments
Speaker 3: and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was unable
Speaker 3: to conceive and they were both very old. One day,
Speaker 3: Zachariah was serving God in the temple for his order
Speaker 3: was on duty that week. As was the custom of
Speaker 3: the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the
Speaker 3: sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense. While the incense
Speaker 3: was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying well.
Speaker 3: Zachariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord
Speaker 3: appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar.
Speaker 3: Zachariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him,
Speaker 3: but the angel said, what do the angels always say? Exactly?
Speaker 3: Don't be afraid, Zacharig. God has heard your prayer. Your
Speaker 3: wife Elizabeth will give you a son, and you are
Speaker 3: to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness,
Speaker 3: and many will rejoice at his birth. How far do
Speaker 3: you want me to go?
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 1: Being you got yours pulled up. You want to you
Speaker 1: just lost him.
Speaker 3: I'll keep I can go twenty three, okay, For he
Speaker 3: will be great in the Lord's eyes. He must never
Speaker 3: touch wine or other alcoholic drinks. He will be filled
Speaker 3: with the Holy Spirit even before his birth, and he
Speaker 3: will turn many. He will turn many Israelites to the Lord,
Speaker 3: their God. He will be a man with the spirit
Speaker 3: and the power of Elijah. He will prepare the people
Speaker 3: for the coming of the Lord. And he will turn
Speaker 3: the hearts of the fathers to their children. And he
Speaker 3: will cause those who are the rebellious to accept the
Speaker 3: wisdom of the godly. Zachariah said to the angel, how
Speaker 3: can I be sure this will happen? I am an
Speaker 3: old man now, and my wife is also well along
Speaker 3: in years. That's really nice. He didn't say it call
Speaker 3: his wife old. He just said she's he's got a
Speaker 3: couple of years on it.
Speaker 1: And one thing too, you know a bit. Some people's like, well,
Speaker 1: what does zachari and Elizabeth and John have to do
Speaker 1: with Jesus. Well, Zachariah was the uncle to Jesus and
Speaker 1: the father of John the Baptists, So we're creating a timeline.
Speaker 1: Here's what we're doing. Yes.
Speaker 3: Then the angel said, I am Gabriel. I stand in
Speaker 3: the very presence of God. It was he who sent
Speaker 3: me to bring you the good news. But now, since
Speaker 3: you didn't believe in what I said, you will be
Speaker 3: silent and unable to speak until the child. I'm sorry,
Speaker 3: until the child is born, for my words will certainly
Speaker 3: be fulfilled at the proper time. Meanwhile, the people were
Speaker 3: waiting for Zacharia to come out of the sanctuary, wondering
Speaker 3: why he was taking so long. When he finally did
Speaker 3: come out, he couldn't speak to them. Then they realized
Speaker 3: from his gestures and his silence that he must have
Speaker 3: seen a vision in the sanctuary. When Zachariah is week
Speaker 3: of service and the temple was over, he returned home. Afterward,
Speaker 3: Elizabeth became pregnant and went into seclusion for five months.
Speaker 3: How kind the Lord is, she exclaimed, He has taken
Speaker 3: away my disgrace of having no children.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that where are we at?
Speaker 6: Right there?
Speaker 3: That was Luke two five, and I actually went a
Speaker 3: little further.
Speaker 1: I finished chapter five through twenty three.
Speaker 3: I went through twenty five on it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's fine. So we're trying to establish a timeline.
Speaker 1: So we know Jesus's uncle Zachariah was a priest. He
Speaker 1: was serving for the feasts and holy days. He was
Speaker 1: told Visita by an angel said he'll conceive. He goes
Speaker 1: back home.
Speaker 3: He didn't believe.
Speaker 1: You didn't believe. He was silenced. Then it gives you
Speaker 1: a time, it says, so she concealed herself for how
Speaker 1: many months? Five for five months, So pregnancy is nine months,
Speaker 1: So we lacked four months. Right, We're going to fill
Speaker 1: in that four month time gap with scripture. But right
Speaker 1: here in my notes, I said her husband, the priest,
Speaker 1: was the eighth course of Abja. He would have to
Speaker 1: serve according to the Talmud, he would have to serve
Speaker 1: two weeks in a row and serve for the week
Speaker 1: of Pentecost June. So five months later puts Us at November.
Speaker 1: Okay Luke chapter one, twenty six, twenty seven. That would
Speaker 1: place Mary's encounter with the angel middle to the end
Speaker 1: of December. This is the time of Honukkah, the festival
Speaker 1: of lights. So Jesus, the Light of the world, was
Speaker 1: announced during the festival of lights. How fitting is that
Speaker 1: it says the Angel of the Lord told Mary of
Speaker 1: elizabeths Now six month pregnancy, so she bolted to her
Speaker 1: cousin's house. Luke chapter one, verse thirty nine. She remained there.
Speaker 1: It says three months six plus three is nine months.
Speaker 1: So Luke chapter one, verse fifty six, she stayed for
Speaker 1: the birth of John the Baptists. By now a passover
Speaker 1: had come, so she might as well stay in Jerusalem. Right,
Speaker 1: This puts John the Baptist's birthday during past over week,
Speaker 1: at the end of March, first week of April. This
Speaker 1: place is Jesus' birth mid September, first of October, right
Speaker 1: around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. And how
Speaker 1: fitting feast of Tabernacles is. You know, when they celebrated
Speaker 1: that God dwelt among them when they were leaving Egypt.
Speaker 1: He tabernacled with them, He dwelled with them. So that's
Speaker 1: when Moses was handed the law. That's you know, when
Speaker 1: they were in the wilderness, you know, and they built
Speaker 1: the tabernacle, the holiest of holies, and the presence of
Speaker 1: God rested.
Speaker 3: Now God rested on the ark of the Covenant.
Speaker 1: That was so yeah, So now God is physically dwelling
Speaker 1: among them. You know, I'm a firm believer. God's of
Speaker 1: the divine architect and put stuff together so perfect, you know,
Speaker 1: like a perfect you know, Hollywood thriller, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. It just makes too much sense not to
Speaker 1: be real.
Speaker 3: And the part is, it's like, you don't it's it
Speaker 3: almost seems so common sense. But when you look at it,
Speaker 3: you don't. Like a good movie, you don't see the
Speaker 3: twist until it happens at the end. You don't see
Speaker 3: it coming that. God's like, we look at this.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And the thing is too about any movie. You're
Speaker 1: a good story, you got to know the beginning really
Speaker 1: well before you can understand the ending, because there's always
Speaker 1: that big twist and you're like, why is it doing this?
Speaker 1: At the first in the movie, this makes no sense,
Speaker 1: And then you go through it, and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden there's that big plot twist, and then the
Speaker 1: ending comes and you're like, oh, that makes so much
Speaker 1: sense now exactly you know? So, and right here I
Speaker 1: got Luke Chapter two. Do you believe the God of
Speaker 1: the Bible had all this pre planned? Well, of course
Speaker 1: he did. Do you think he would have had Joseph
Speaker 1: and Mary, who were the light of the world his
Speaker 1: only son on a forty mile trek alone in the
Speaker 1: middle of winter, riding a donkey while nine months pregnant
Speaker 1: in the freezing temperatures. No, he planned the trip when
Speaker 1: the weather was beautiful. Yeah, where they would enjoy the
Speaker 1: trip with the entire townsfolk joining in to help during
Speaker 1: the time of great celebration. Yes, Yeshuah was not born
Speaker 1: on Christmas Day.
Speaker 3: I feel like you shtill have a mic drop there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, so Luke chapter two and verse seven it says,
Speaker 1: and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped
Speaker 1: him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger
Speaker 1: because there was no place for them in the end. Okay,
Speaker 1: the town had mentioned four large candles when I keep
Speaker 1: mentioning the town. But that's a Jewish text that the
Speaker 1: priests and stuff would keep, you know, documentation on their feasts,
Speaker 1: how they practice, you know what I mean. It's basically
Speaker 1: like a historical document. But the talment mentions four large
Speaker 1: candlesticks with four golden bowls at the top of each
Speaker 1: in the women's court. The wicks were made from worn
Speaker 1: out priestly garments cut into strips the Greek term wrapped
Speaker 1: in swaddling clothes means to wrap in stripes. Now, remember
Speaker 1: Mary's relative was a priest, Zachariah, and they traveled in
Speaker 1: groups with their families to these holy feasts Luke, chapter two,
Speaker 1: verse forty three through forty five. You know, that's when
Speaker 1: they lost Jesus. They thought he was with the family
Speaker 1: up in the caravan, you know. So that showed you that.
Speaker 1: You know, they went to these feasts and holy days
Speaker 1: as a family. It was a family event. They traveled
Speaker 1: together in groups. You know. Yeshia was wrapped in linen
Speaker 1: stripes cut from the priestly garments, blood stained by the
Speaker 1: sacrifices offered up on our behalf to draw us near
Speaker 1: to God. That's where the swaddling clothes come from. Now
Speaker 1: why was there no room for them in the Because
Speaker 1: it was the feast of Tabernacles. Josephus wrote that two
Speaker 1: point five million people were competing for space. Most of
Speaker 1: the out of towners traveling from Egypt, Syria and Jordan
Speaker 1: and so on would have arrived a few weeks earlier
Speaker 1: to be there for the feast of Trumpets or Yam Kapor.
Speaker 1: Those traveling far away may have made a little vacation
Speaker 1: out of it. The ends would not have been filled
Speaker 1: during the dead of winter. Common sense dictates that this
Speaker 1: is because this was during the feast of Tabernacles. So
Speaker 1: I mean, we're following all this, putting our timelines together
Speaker 1: and establishing that well, the shepherds in the field, right,
Speaker 1: So the shepherds in the field, that's verse eight says
Speaker 1: in the same region there were shepherds out in the
Speaker 1: field keeping watch over their flock by night. So there
Speaker 1: are no shepherds in the fields in the middle of
Speaker 1: the night during the dead of winter. No shepherds would
Speaker 1: have their livestock out in the tempers and freezing rain
Speaker 1: and possible snow. They would be pinned up in and
Speaker 1: out of the elements. December through January is the rainy
Speaker 1: and cold season, but September October there may have been
Speaker 1: seven days of rain. And also another thing too, to
Speaker 1: back that up. If you read Jeremiah thirty six through
Speaker 1: let's see thirty six twenty two. Let me pull that up.
Speaker 1: Jeremiah thirty six twenty two. It says here it says
Speaker 1: it was the ninth month, and the king was sitting
Speaker 1: in the winter house, and there was a fire burning
Speaker 1: in the firepot before him. So I mean that shows
Speaker 1: you that that's the winter time. But when you go
Speaker 1: down to verse ten in Luke chapter two says an
Speaker 1: angel said, fear not. Once again that fear not Uh
Speaker 1: shows up. But it must be pretty scary, you know, intimidating.
Speaker 3: It's okay, I'm the good guy.
Speaker 1: But he says, you know, I fear not. I bring
Speaker 1: you tidings of great joy, you know, you know. The
Speaker 1: Feast of Tabernacles was known as the season of our
Speaker 1: Joy to the Hebrews. The people were commanded to rejoice
Speaker 1: for the entire week. If you read Deuteronomy of sixteen fourteen,
Speaker 1: God even Uh pre planned the birthday song Psalm one eighteen.
Speaker 1: They would recite this at the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus's
Speaker 1: name Yeshua means salvation. So imagine two point five million
Speaker 1: Jews unwittingly reciting this psalm and replace salvation with Yeshua
Speaker 1: at his birth. Yeshua is the is in the tabernacles
Speaker 1: of righteousness. Only God. Luke goes on to say, suddenly
Speaker 1: there was an angel with the multitude of heavenly host
Speaker 1: praising God and saying glory to God in the highest
Speaker 1: and on the earth piece goodwill toward men Luke chapter two,
Speaker 1: verse thirteen through fourteen. It's no wonder as they look
Speaker 1: down at the handiwork. He is truly the master conductor
Speaker 1: of the universe, coordinating, coordinating everything from the beginning.
Speaker 3: That's crazy.
Speaker 6: A lot of depth right there, a lot of backing
Speaker 6: it up right there.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, And even the gifts, you know, because it
Speaker 1: talks about the wise men, but the wise man is
Speaker 1: not in Luke. You gotta go to Matthew for that.
Speaker 1: So if you go to Matthew chapter two, that's where
Speaker 1: you have the wise men encounter.
Speaker 3: Let's see, Well, each of the gifts had a different meaning,
Speaker 3: and like the gold being for a gift for a king,
Speaker 3: I mean, that would be a gift for a king, right,
Speaker 3: and then I'm trying to remember the murrh and frankensons.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, you know, gold was the kingship. Frankincense
Speaker 1: was the symbolizing the deity and the death.
Speaker 3: That was what you part of the embalming. Part of
Speaker 3: the embalming processes with a smell.
Speaker 1: So uh with the wise men. And here's where you
Speaker 1: get into the astrology part of it that ties it
Speaker 1: even together. Even more June seventeenth to b C, Venus
Speaker 1: traveled east towards Jupiter. Both converged and appeared to be
Speaker 1: one bright star. There was also a full moon on
Speaker 1: this day. From both sides of the dome of the
Speaker 1: sky was lit brightly. The wise men of Babylon noticed
Speaker 1: and went out to follow this star and find the
Speaker 1: birth of this king that was in the stars, that
Speaker 1: was foretold in the stars. And three months later, because
Speaker 1: of course they're not going to find it instantaneously, they
Speaker 1: had to travel for a way. This was like a
Speaker 1: like a bat signal pretty much said to go find it,
Speaker 1: and it says. And three months later, on September the eleventh,
Speaker 1: one year. Three months later, September eleventh, three BC, they
Speaker 1: did Mike Hauser's Reversing Hermon and the Star that Astonished
Speaker 1: the World by Ernest Martin, or two books you can
Speaker 1: look at that goes into great detail about this. This
Speaker 1: was no single star that they followed, but a set
Speaker 1: of stars slash constellations. Revelation twelve is a description of
Speaker 1: the birth of Jesus. It's not just metaphoric but physical
Speaker 1: in the heavens. It was constellations, Psalms, nineteen one says,
Speaker 1: the heavens declare the glory of God in the sky above,
Speaker 1: declares his handiwork. It pours out speech and reveals knowledge.
Speaker 1: Romans ten Paul tells us the heavens communicated the coming
Speaker 1: of Jesus. Ancient people have been mapping the stars forever,
Speaker 1: the same stars they saw back then and documented we
Speaker 1: still see today. Genesis says God created the sun moon
Speaker 1: to separate day from night, and the stars and signs
Speaker 1: and seasons Genesis one fourteen. The sun tells the hour,
Speaker 1: the moon tells the month, the stars tell the seasons.
Speaker 1: It's like a perfect time peace or watch where they
Speaker 1: all take the same path continuously. And the ancient people
Speaker 1: documented these things so well that we can actually rewind
Speaker 1: those hands on that clock. So like the Revelation twelve
Speaker 1: breakdown is, you know where it's clearly astronomical. The sun, moon,
Speaker 1: and stars are mentioned are on her cloth in the sun,
Speaker 1: the twelve stars on her head, and the moon under
Speaker 1: her feet. You know, cloth in the sun simply means
Speaker 1: the sun being in the midst of the constellation's virgo
Speaker 1: between the neck and the knees, which I believe the
Speaker 1: womb she is pregnant with the Sun, who turns out
Speaker 1: to be God after all. But the Sun would have
Speaker 1: to be located between one hundred and fifty to one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy degrees along the ecliptic. This clothing of
Speaker 1: the Sun in Virgo occurs for a twenty day period
Speaker 1: each year. This twenty degree spread could indicate the general
Speaker 1: time when Jesus was born, but the moon under her
Speaker 1: feet really narrows the window. It's roughly a nine minute
Speaker 1: window to astronomically pinpoint the birth of Jesus. The twelve
Speaker 1: stars on her head is Leo, the lion king. Jesus
Speaker 1: was also from the line of Judah, the prophesized line
Speaker 1: of Judah. The dragon under her waiting to devour the
Speaker 1: child is the constellation Hydra, who coincidentally has seven heads
Speaker 1: like the one in Revelation. All these things lining up
Speaker 1: perfectly to give us the date of the birth of Jesus,
Speaker 1: which is September eleventh, three BC. Oh, sorry that was
Speaker 1: long winded. No that it takes.
Speaker 3: That was all the info you got to give the
Speaker 3: background to line it all up.
Speaker 6: And I mean, if you look the sun, you know,
Speaker 6: down into the southern hemisphere, all year long until it
Speaker 6: comes to the southernmost point at December the twenty fifth,
Speaker 6: and that's your saltus right there. And then perceivably the
Speaker 6: sun stops moving after moving southbound all year long, after
Speaker 6: goes three days of being stuck and moving south all
Speaker 6: year alarm, it's perceivably aligned with what's called a constellation.
Speaker 4: The crux.
Speaker 6: And then after three days, the sun, after moving southbound
Speaker 6: all your alms, starts to move northward. And this right
Speaker 6: here is when the Sun's starting to become more powerful dominant.
Speaker 1: Of course.
Speaker 6: Then it rises up and goes into the hemisphere.
Speaker 1: And just like the scripture says, you know the stars
Speaker 1: for tell you know the glory of God and his handiwork.
Speaker 1: The crux is a cross. Yes, so the sun goes
Speaker 1: to the cross three days you said three days. Then
Speaker 1: it ascends.
Speaker 6: It's headed back to the northern hemisphere and after moving
Speaker 6: southbound in your movies.
Speaker 1: That's just a coincidence, I'm sure.
Speaker 6: Well, it's probably a conspiracy. Let just be honest about it.
Speaker 3: That's a bad word.
Speaker 6: I love it though.
Speaker 3: I was spot on.
Speaker 6: Yeah, did a great job.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you for listening to the dig Bible podcast. Questions, comments,
Speaker 3: or future episode ideas, and we'd love to hear from
Speaker 3: you at the Dig four two three at gmail dot com.
Speaker 3: If you enjoy our content, don't forget to share, subscribe,
Speaker 3: and check out our Facebook group at the Dig Podcast.
Speaker 3: Remember you can't lean on a shovel and pray for
Speaker 3: a whole.
Speaker 4: You gotta dig