What Does the Bible Say About Jesus' Birth: A Timeline?

In this episode, Arnie and Fred discuss Jesus' birth and try to establish a timeline of it based on what the Bible says. We begin by noting that of the four gospels, Mark is the only one who says nothing about Jesus' birth. We discuss the phrase, "the fulness of time" that Paul refers to in his letter to the Christians in Galatia. We look at the first reference to Jesus in the scriptures. John only refers to Jesus' birth in one verse. We note that verse. Luke records the angel Gabriel's visit with Mary when he explained to her about her becoming Jesus' mother and what that entailed. We look at what Luke said about that. Matthew records what Joseph initially thought about Mary when he found her to be expecting a child. Matthew records when the angel of the Lord visited Joseph to explain the situation to him. We discuss that visit. Luke records the reason Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem as well as Jesus' birth. We note the significance of Luke's mentioning the Roman officials at that time. We complete this episode by looking at Luke's record of shepherds who were visited by angels and their travel to Bethlehem to see Jesus. Luke provides us with an important fact in developing our timeline. We talk about this. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Fred Gosnell at fgosnell@ftc-i.net or to Arnie Granke at agranke440718@twc.com.

Arnie: 0:33

Good afternoon. This is Arnie Granke and Fred Gosnell. We're with the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina, and this is what does the Bible say? Our program is sponsored by the Woodland church of Christ, and we're both members of it. And we would love to have you visit with us if you happen to be visiting in town, or even if you're a permanent resident. We would, we would love for you to come worship with us, attend Bible study with us, and talk about Bible things with us. And that's what we want to do here on what does what does the Bible say? Fred, one of the things that we that we realize this time of year, as as we're coming up on Christmas, is is the fact that that we can't be absolutely sure when Jesus was born, date wise. We have a pretty general idea of the time frame with regard to other things. But Galatians, chapter four, speaks about the fullness of of time. And and Paul said there in the beginning, in verse four, When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of of sons. And, you know, just just when was Jesus born? If it was that was the fullness of time, how would we determine that? And, and I think that there are a number of passages of Scripture that might serve as a guide for us in in thinking about exactly when that may have occurred.

Fred Gosnell: 2:44

Yeah. Arnie, well, you know modern dating, of course, everybody, most everybody, thinks that December 25 in O one, AD 01, would be when Jesus was born. Of course, you know our modern day dating system, generally is BC and AD before Christ and and the domini after him. But in 1640 there was a Gregorian calendar that was established, and our modern dating wasn't in use at that time. So we can't know exactly when Jesus was born. We have some ideas, but so let's just take a look at the New Testament and see what that says about Jesus birth, and what does the Bible say about it. Maybe we can draw a timeline see how closely we can determine that date. Of course, the dating really starts in the beginning. Genesis, chapter 1, 14, and 15 says, And the LORD God said unto the serpent, of course, this is after Adam and Eve were deceived, Because thou has done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go and dust shall thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Of course, the reference is to the woman here and and her seed. And of course, we find out later on that that's that's a reference to Christ and and of course he says that it that is the seed of the woman shall bruise thy head, bruise Satan's head, give him a wound that he's not going to recover from. But then thou Satan shall bruise his heel. Give the seed of the woman a minor injury, not one that would be life ultimately, life threatening, completely life threatening.

Arnie: 4:50

Yeah, I'm not. I didn't catch when you what passage you said that was, but that was in Genesis, chapter three, beginning in verse, verse 14. Just two verses, 14 and and 15. And I'm interested that that it says that the time, it was the fullness of of time in the passage that that I read and and then also that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. And so that seems to indicate victory at last, over over the serpant, sermon, over the serpent, can't say it. Who who really was the author of sin was, was what his role really, really was. As we, as we look through the books of the New Testament, there are some things maybe that are surprising, sometimes that that people don't realize. For example, of the gospel writers, we speak of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the gospels, that the gospel writers. Mark doesn't write anything about, about Jesus, birth. There. there's no report, report there, there's only the, the Gospel account, if you, if you will. And the, and, interestingly enough, John makes, makes a statement, but it's, it's the only reference that he makes with regard to Jesus, Jesus birth. John, chapter one, and in verse 14, John says that the Word was made flesh. And this isn't talking about a word on a page. This is a reference with regard to to Christ, in fact, as he's writing this whole paragraph of a number of verses in it there, the word is a term that he uses for for Christ, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John, chapter one, verse 14, and then that's the the the end of his comments with regard to Jesus birth. And he goes on to discuss some other things that are important. So only Matthew and Mark tell us any details about Jesus birth.

Fred Gosnell: 7:44

You mean Matthew and John?

Arnie: 7:47

Uh, Matthew and John. Yeah, Mark's the one I just said, right, that didn't have anything there. Say, again.

Fred Gosnell: 7:53

Well, uh, Luke probably makes the longest description of it in Luke chapter one in the beginning, in That would be a six month of Martha's pregnancy. in the verse, verse 26, and we're going to read down through Martha was expecting John,

Arnie: 8:35

Right. That's right.

Fred Gosnell: 8:36

So Gabriel was sent from God unto the city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel or the messenger, came in unto her and verse 38 and Luke's begins verse 28 he says, now 26 sorry. And in said, Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women? And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutations this should be. And the angel said to her, fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the LORD God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be seeing I know not a man. And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit shall the a city of Galilee, the sixth month would be the sixth month come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin, Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age. And this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God, nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, of of Martha's pregnancy, right? Behold, the handmade of the Lord, be unto me according to thy word, and the angel departed from her. Of course, we're told that Elizabeth was her cousin, not not Martha.

Arnie: 10:11

No, I was thinking of that just now.

Fred Gosnell: 10:13

And she would be John's mother. But, but, of course, Mary was concerned that she had had, even though she was espoused to Joseph, she hadn't had any sexual relationships with him. And she was wondering, how is it that I'm going to have this child? And of course, the angel explained to her that this was going to be by by a, a miraculous thing that the Holy Spirit was going to provide, and then she would bring forth this individual told her what his name was going to be, Jesus, and he was going to save his people. And and of course, then, once she understood, you know the information there, then she said, Behold, thy hand maid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word, and he departed from her. So, So Mary was in agreement. That's fine with me, and we will, she will press on and be the Lord's handmade in whatever way that he determines.

Arnie: 11:20

It's rather interesting here that Mary is the name that is used in most English translations, and the mother of Jesus' name was not Mary. It was Miriam, M, A R, I, A , M. And I'm not sure how we wound up with with Mary, which would be maybe a nickname of that. I'm not sure. But we ought to, we ought to try to be as accurate in in what we say as as possible. And that's certainly a mistranslation there in, in that case. In in Matthew chapter, chapter one, and in verse 18, Joseph learns about this, and he has a has a predicament that he has to, has to deal with. In in Matthew one, beginning in verse 18. Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise when, as his mother, Miriam, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. So this was not a natural pregnancy. She had become miraculously pregnant. The Holy Spirit was, was the one who facilitated that. Verse 19, Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately, privately. Under understand that, that the angel didn't speak with Joseph about this, and so it appears to him that the woman that he's about to marry, that he is espoused to him, or engaged to him, as we would say today, perhaps she must have had some kind of a sexual relationship with, with another man. He doesn't want to humiliate her. He does love her, but, but he feels that marriage may not be appropriate with, with her. But while he thought on these things in verse 20, Behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, Joseph, thou Son of David, fear not to take Miriam thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Alright. So, so now he knows that this is a a miraculous pregnancy here. And in verse 21 says, She shall be called, she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save His people from their sins. And the name Jesus, of course, relates to the name Savior as we as we speak of it. Verse 22, Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. Notice who it is that speaks through the prophet. When, when Isaiah or Jeremiah, or some other Old Testament prophet is speaking or writing, it's it's not just his appear, opinion. He's not coming up with this information that he's telling about. It's actually given to him from from the Lord. So here he is, and and the Lord, of course, would be the one that we speak of as the Father. The Lord says to him, Behold, King James, Version says, a virgin shall she shall be with child? Actually, that is a partially misstated passage, because the the definite article appears before the word virgin. Behold, the virgin. So there's someone specific that's identified there as the virgin, and this is the one that Israel had been looking forward to over all of these years. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is God with us, or God is with us. Then Joseph, being raised from this, from his from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. Now it's been confirmed that she has not had an affair outside of of marriage. It's the Lord who has implanted the Son of God in her womb, and she will be the mother of, of Christ. I don't recall.

Fred Gosnell: 17:02

Yes. And of course, remember when Arnie read Yeah, I don't I don't think there's a definite that the the angel said had had told him that this was what was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. And then he's saying, Behold, the virgin shall be the child and shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, which being article in the in the Hebrew. Anyway, if someone knows that interpreted is God with us. So so the the prophet that said that was was Isaiah. And Isaiah said that in Isaiah seven, verse 14, and there Isaiah says, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, King James says, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. Correct me if I'm wrong. Arnie, I think in the Hebrew, there is no definite article in the Hebrew. Is that true? not to be true, let me know. So anyway, Matthew quotes Isaiah. Quotes what Isaiah says, and says the virgin, and then he Isaiah also said that shall call his name Emmanuel. And of course, then it is said by Matthew the meaning of Emmanuel, which is God with us. So that confirms what Isaiah said so many hundreds of years before, and of course that occurred, just as Isaiah said. You know, Arnie, One of the things that that we found out in, I think it was 1947 when they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Arnie: 18:48

Yeah,

Fred Gosnell: 18:48

One of our versions, Revised Standard Version, came out in, I think it's 46 and 47 and and, and the translator of the Old Testament, when he translated this verse, he said, a woman in the verse. And when they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, there were two complete copies of Isaiah in in those scrolls, and in the copies of Isaiah 7, 14, it didn't say a woman there. It used the word for a virgin. So so when sometimes men try to change what the Bible says, God, in His providence, makes sure that doesn't happen. So Matthew quoted the verse specified what it said. And of course, Mary was the one that that's being talked about. And of course, that is what Matthew and Isaiah tell us in those two, those passages.

Arnie: 19:47

So, so when, when this pregnancy occurs and Joseph has already has has already determined that that he should marry her as he's instructed in in his in his dream. And so Matthew, chapter one and verse 25 tells us that this is exactly what, what happened. He knew her not. Now understand that we're not talking about familiarity and and recognizing that, oh, this is Mary or this is Miriam, knew her not had to do with sexual relations. He had no sexual relations with his with his wife, Miriam, either before or during her her pregnancy. there. He knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. So he followed the exact instructions that he received from the in in the dream that that identified her as being the the mother of of the Messiah. And so all along, everything is done exactly as God has has stated, and there has not been any bending of the rules, or anything of of that nature, Joseph and Mary and and everybody else that becomes involved in this situation have obeyed what the what the Bible, not the Bible, but what the Word of God said. The Bible is the Word of God, but it didn't exist in those days.

Fred Gosnell: 21:48

Yes, and of course, Luke. Then Luke tells us some some more information. He He tells us what was going on at this particular time there in the country in Luke, two, one through seven. And Luke writes, he says, It came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria, and all went to be taxed. Everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, unto Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. So that's where he went to register for for the taxes. Verse five, To be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. So this tells us who was, who was the ruler, tells us what the area was, tells us why Joseph and Mary went to Nazareth. Of course, they weren't there because they were homeless or anything. They went there because that's what they had to do. Joseph had to go there, and concerning the taxes that he was going to have to pay. Same old problem. You know, it's not new that we have taxes that we have to be have to register for. And and of course, this was then the time that she delivered Jesus. And of course, there was no room in the inn, because there was a whole bunch of people there that had showed up according to the the dictate of Caesar Augustus that told them where to go and what to do to to register to pay their taxes. So that's where Jesus was born, in Bethlehem, and at that time that Luke specifies.

Arnie: 23:56

One of the things that we often hear about at Christmas time is the poverty of Joseph, that they were a poor family and had to, had to sleep out in, in the barn and all of that. And that wasn't the situation at all. The man was not, is not referred to as having been impoverished in in any way. He was a carpenter. He he had a business of of his own. I don't know if he was wealthy or was was doing like we're doing, and most of us have to count our dollars and cents very carefully. I'm sure he wasn't being wasteful. But the passage here is very clear about why they were why they were out in the, the in in the barn, so to speak, and that they that the clothing was swaddling, swaddling clothes, and that the manger was the bed. It because the the inn was full and when you've got a full house, everybody was probably just about sleeping in each other's, you know, overlapping a little bit in the sleep, probably all over the floors of that place, because of all of the people who had to come and and register. So we certainly don't want a woman giving birth in a situation like that. That would be a pretty embarrassing situation. So the innkeeper made the made the building where, where the child was born, available to Mary and Joseph, and probably gave some thought to it as as well. Okay, we've got a we've got a feed bin here that that will work well as a as a basinette so to speak, and we can make it more comfortable by putting some hay in there. And so we're not in this situation that very often somebody just kind of makes this stuff up about about Jesus being impoverished, and and all of all of that, and how rude it was of of the innkeeper. I think the innkeeper did everything that he that he could. And it's a little bit later on in in the biblical account of these events that now room is available indoors, and so so that that's what happens, and that's the circumstance that has has made that that possible. In Luke chapter two, and in verse eight, I'll pick up where you left off there, there, Fred. There were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shown round about them. And they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not. Behold. I bring you good tidings of of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you, is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. Aha. Now we find that there's also another reason why there has to be some means of identifying the the Messiah. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds and said one to another. Let us now go into Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. They came with with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad that the saying, which is was told them concerning the child. So they they were the they were the radio of of the day. They published that information throughout all of the the area there as as soon as they learned that themselves. And verse 18 said, rather verse 19 said, But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. So, so here we have the account of the angels, visiting, visiting the shepherds, the shepherds visit and and then proclaim Jesus. The sheep, by the way, are usually in their fold. They're out tending sheep in in the field. This is cold weather, if we're talking about December. Sheep aren't usually out in the field at that particular time. Usually about late October or mid November they they go into into buildings where they'll be kept, kept healthy and well. And so the birth of Christ is probably not in the winter at all, and probably not even in the late fall, but in the spring or summer, I see that we're out of time here. We better stop now. We'd like to pick up with this and continue the thought next, next Lord's Day. We hope that you'll think about these things, read the accounts in your Bible of of Jesus birth and the circumstances of that. I think you'll find that very edifying. And we look forward to being with you again next Lord's Day. Have a good week.