Jesus' birthday- Feast of Trumpets

Hello my dear dear fellow watchmen, brothers and sisters. I have been away for over a year due to a very sudden and huge life transition, which meant moving across the world, and a major job change and a lot of adjustment. I'm so so glad to see that so many of you are still here - [Whassssssupp, Mike, my brother,] and some new friends too.  

I am as eager as ever - longing for the glorious appearing, and certainly, this is a very high watch time.   

I can't think of any other thread that could grab my attention and pull me back in to the mix with you all.  

I have been studying and reading, and watching the world events, and doing more research. 

I remain 100% convinced that Christ was indeed born on one of the Fall feasts.     I'll try to make my reasoning clear and brief.    ;-) 

We know with 100% certainty that December is too cold for shepherds to have sheep grazing in the fields in or around Jerusalem.   The number of Christians who think Jesus was born on Dec 25th is mindnumbing.    

The temple priests had rotations for their duties, which were numbered and assigned to weeks of the year, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, and in addition to their rotation, all priests served for special high Sabbath feasts, like Passover. 

We can find the exact time of Zechariah's allotted rotation in the OLD Testament, and then we know from scripture that Jesus was conceived six months after John the Baptist.

Bases on the rotation of Zechariah's temple service, and the birth of John the Baptist, this puts the birth of Christ in the fall.    

There are 3 Fall Feasts - Feast of Trumpets,  - this year  September 29th on the Gregorian Calendar.   Ten days later is Yom Kippur,  Day of Atonement. and then we have Feast of Booths, Sukkot.   

The Bible also mentions, Hannukah - [**Feast of Dedication] but this was not one of the 7 Feasts that God gave to the Children of Israel - beautifully illustrated on the Menorah. 7 branch candlestick.   

There is some very compelling circumstantial evidence I've seen for Feast of Booths,/ Sukkot, but as multiple Bible scholars have noted - Feast of Booths was one of the Three Pilgrimage feasts in which all Jews had to make a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem -- and for this reason,   the Roman leaders would never declare a census requiring everyone to return to the place of his birth, when Jews were commanded by God to come to Jerusalem for Feast of Booths. 

This leaves only Feast of Trumpets and Day of Atonement.

The wild card in all this is that the normal gestation period is 40 weeks -- [ number of testing all through the Bible, hmmmm] but there are lots of variations.  We know the exact two week rotation of Zechariah's service schedule in the temple, but we don't have any record telling us precisely how many weeks/ days Mary's pregnancy was.  

If you think about it - all of Christ's life was entwined with the feasts - and conversely, all the Feasts point to the Messiah. 

Here's one of the biggest reasons that I am of the firm belief along with numerous scholars that Christ's birth was on a Feast, and most likely, Feast of Trumpets -- All the Feasts are "Moadim" and this Hebrew word means appointed time.    

All the Feasts are based on and inseparable from the New Moon or Full Moon or as in Day of Atonement, 10 days after the New Moon of Feast of Trumpets - the Feast which no one knows the day or hour."     Why,  ??  Because the civil calendar year begins on Feast of Trumpets [referred to now as Rosh Hoshannah, New Year] and there had to be two witnesses, who witnessed the new crescent moon in Jerusalem, and these two witnesses were then questioned by the Sanhedrin, who were all experts in the Law and astronomy.  If it was cloudy, or overcast, the new moon could not be seen, and the new year would be proclaimed the next day. 

Through out the old Testament, as many of you have posted, significant events have happened on the feast days -  appointed times. 

We know from Revelation that after the second coming - and Christ returns with his Bride, that all the nations of the earth will celebrate the Feast of Booths.   So that means the first four have bbeen fulfilled in perfect order and precision - Passover, Unleavened Bread, FirstFruits and Pentecost,  and the 3 remaining Fall Feasts are closely linked with End times events.  Feast of Booths is accounted for at the end, so that only leaves two feasts.  

What better way for Christ to Provoke the Jews to jealousy than to return at the Last Trump, when Jews celebrate a wedding, and Christ comes and takes a Gentile Bride.  

Maranatha.   

Yes, BSG I totally agree with you on that. We don't have the explicitly clear evidence saying that this happened on this feast, and I'm not dogmatic about it.

We as watchmen and women are like the Bereans - searching scriptures for signs and clues for the rapture/ second coming, trying to understand and warn others.

Paul said that the Feasts are a shadow of things to come. I found these verses very very interesting, as I think many of you will also -

    Daniel 11:27

    The two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time.

    Habakkuk 2:3

    For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

     Mark 13:32-34 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

    32 But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

    33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come. 34 It is like a man away on a journey, who upon leaving his house and putting his slaves in     charge, assigning to each one his task, also commanded the doorkeeper to stay on the alert.

In the Mark passage, Christ himself is telling his disciples about the end times [Rapture, 2nd Coming, ] and he alludes to Feast of Trumpets with a Hebrew idiom - the day or hour that no one knows.   

I know that as English speakers, we do Bible study backwards, - we look at English words, which have been translated into various English words from Hebrew/ Greek/Aramaic.  

Maybe some of you have already done this, but I want to do it for my own learning - and I will make a thread about the word-study of Feasts as Appointed times. 

I will share what I find, and hope to learn from you as well. 

In one of the most well-known and often quoted passages in the entire Bible about the rapture, Paul says that "That day will not catch us by surprise, like a thief in the night - [Hebrew idiom for the High Priest, who came through the temple to see which of the temple guards was sleeping, and would light his coat on fire.  The guard caught "off guard" would have to take off his clothes and run into the temple court.  

I've said before that I think when we really dig, there is no support for a secret/ rapture without any signs.   **** The foolish bridesmaids in the rapture/ wedding passage, were condemned because they didn't know the signs.   Hmmmmmm.    

The rapture and subsequent second coming are likened to a woman's pregnancy.  There are very specific and predictable contractions.  No one knows the day or hour, but when they come,

1.  They only increase in frequency and intensity, and

2.  They serve as a warning,  - You have some time, but not much. 

3. The water breaks as another final warning, and at this point, it's not days, but hours.   

It makes no sense whatsoever for Paul and Christ to tell us to be watching for the signs, if there were not specific signs like contractions.  

I believe that we as watchmen and women, will see the signs and recognize them, - whether an agreement that divides Israel, or divides Jerusalem, or a blood moon, a major major earthquake, or possible some military attack that renders Damascus uninhabitable, and I think it will coincide with a Feast - Appointed Time.  

What other/ better way for the Jews's eyes to be opened than to have the Messiah come on a Jewish Feast. 

My wife had never experienced labor pains before, but she knew they were coming, and that they were a signal the baby was coming.   When they came, they were not like any other pain, or feeling, and she recognized them as contractions.   ;-)    

We as watchmen and women are like the people in the Birthing class together. We learn from each other, but our experiences will be different.  That's OK.   What helps one woman's labor pain doesn't always help every other woman's.   

I don't have to know what labor pains feel like.    Thank goodness for that. 

I don't know exactly what the warning will be, but I'm 1000% confident that for those of us watching earnestly, longing for the return of Christ,  that we will recognize it, while those sleeping will not.   We, brothers and sisters, are not Children of the night, but children of the day. 

maranatha,

Disciple4life.