WHEN JESUS WAS ACTUALLY BORN AND WHAT IT MEANS TO US

A Christmas sermon, adapted from my book, The Road to Heaven: a Traveler’s Guide to Life’s Narrow Way:

“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” So asks a despondent Charlie Brown at the beginning of one of the most famous scenes in the history of television holiday specials. You probably know what comes next: a spotlight illuminated recital of Luke 2:8-14 by Linus, who concludes the nativity story with, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”

A Charlie Brown Christmas was a hit when it was first broadcast in 1965 and has become a classic, mostly, I believe, because of Charles Schultz’s simple point: Christmas is about Jesus. We watch it again and again because we like to be reminded that Christmas is more than shopping and bustle. We know deep down that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and that we should “Keep Christ in Christmas.” But what does all that mean, exactly? Is the call to focus on the baby in the manger just some mild anti-consumerism, or does the birth in Bethlehem 2000 years ago have a bit more depth of meaning to it? That is what this message is about. I want to help us get beyond tired clichés and further explore Linus’ answer. We will do that by using the Old Testament to shed some light on the foundational story of the New Testament: Christ’s birthday.

The Outline

I want to try and lay out the roadmap for this quick journey quite clearly so you will have a good handle on where we are in each stage and not get bogged down at any one section, which are as follows:

Part 1: To provide some context, we will start by briefly reviewing the story of the Children of Israel and show how it is allegorical to our own, particularly in regards to the exodus from Egypt.
Part 2: We will then explain the Festival of Tabernacles and make the case that Jesus was actually born on the first day of this festival.
Part 3:. Part three is about the significance of this date for the meaning of the incarnation. I trust by the end of this post you will be able to see how the timing of Jesus’ birth is incredibly relevant to us today.

Part 1: The Children of Israel, the Exodus and Us

According to the Bible, humans were created to live with God. Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden so they could do just that (Genesis 2). However, because of their disobedience, the first couple was expelled from their natural home and exiled from God (Genesis 3). They found themselves living on a planet gone awry. So do we. We are all meant to live with God, but are each born separated from him. We belong with God in Heaven, but are stuck without him here on earth.

The Bible gives us a clear allegorical picture of our situation in the story of the Israelites in Egypt. That famous tale starts with God promising Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation and be placed in a country of their own, the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:2-7). The fulfillment of that vow seemed to be in jeopardy when Abraham’s grandson Jacob was forced to move the entire family to Egypt because of famine (Genesis 41-47). For the next 400 years, the Israelites (the children of Israel, Abraham’s grandson) lived in a land that was not their home. So do we. Just as the Israelites were aliens and strangers on foreign soil, longing for the country they were meant to live in, we are aliens and strangers on this fallen planet, longing for our true home, Heaven. We will not be satisfied until we get there.

Of course that is not the full story. After all, if the main problem the Israelites faced was being away from home, they simply could have packed up and moved. However, they couldn’t do that because they were slaves. As the number of Israelites grew over the years, successive rulers of Egypt forced them into slavery to keep them from becoming a threat (Exodus 1:8-11). The Israelites couldn’t leave because they didn’t have the power to overthrow the oppressive ruler. They needed help.

The Bible tells us that this is the human predicament as well. Not only is this planet not our home, but we are slaves to Satan. When Adam and Eve rebelled, the devil took control. Satan is called the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11), the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4:4), the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Ephesians 2:2), and the ruler of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). During the temptation of Christ in the desert, Satan showed Jesus “all the kingdoms of the world” and said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to” (Luke 4:6). Scripture is clear that Satan has authority over this planet.

It is also clear that we are slaves in his evil kingdom. The Apostle Paul writes that everyone is “sold as a slave to sin” (Romans 7:14), a sentiment echoed by Jesus in John 8:34: “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Paul also argues that “when you offer yourselves to someone you obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness (Romans 6:16). In a letter to Timothy, Paul tells his apprentice that the ungodly must be instructed “in the hope that that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:25b-26).

So the allegorical picture of our situation looks like this: Egypt is Earth, the Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh, is Satan and the Promised Land, Canaan, is Heaven. Just like the Israelites, we find ourselves living as slaves in a foreign land; and just like the Israelites, we don’t seem to have the power or ability to find our way home.

The Gospel According to Exodus

The Israelites called out to God and asked Him to rescue them from their suffering (Exodus 2:23). In response, he enacted the great drama of redemption that we now know as the story of the Exodus. The historical account of the Israelites is not just an allegory in describing living in slavery to a foreign tyrant. It also describes salvation from that situation. The extraordinary tale of the Israelites’ escape from slavery and journey to the Promised Land is a metaphorical roadmap of the path to Heaven. The story of their redemption is meant to instruct us about what is necessary for our redemption. By learning how the Israelites arrived (or failed to arrive) at their home, we can learn how to reach ours.

You can find a full discussion of that journey in my book The Road to Heaven: a Traveler’s Guide to Life’s Narrow Way, but for now let me summarize.

God sent Moses to lead the chosen people out of Egypt and then sent ten plagues to show his authority to accomplish this. Each plague was a support for Moses’ claim that the God of Israel was ruler of all the gods of Egypt. In the final plague God punished the idolatrous people by killing the firstborn of every family except those that sacrificed a lamb and put its blood over the door of their house. The angel of death passed over these homes and left the families unharmed. After this plague, the Israelites were allowed to leave Egypt and they started across the wilderness to the Promised Land. The people that were set free, then, were those that a) followed Moses and b) went out under the blood of the lamb (had the punishment for their rebellion placed on the Passover lamb.)

Our path to our Promised Land, Heaven, follows the same route. We must follow the redeemer God sent to lead us (Jesus is our Moses) and go out under the blood of our Passover Lamb (also Jesus) by repenting of our sins and submitting our lives to Jesus. We then spend the rest of our lives traveling across the wilderness to the Promised Land (Heaven.)

That wilderness part of the journey is where the birth date of Christ comes in.

Part 2: The Tabernacle and the Birth of Jesus

The Children of Israel do very well in the wilderness. They continually whined and complained about food, water and their generally tough circumstances and then made a huge mistake by building an idol to worship while waiting for Moses to come back from the top of Mount Sinai.

By this point, God seemed to have had enough. He told Moses that he was to continue leading the people to the Promised Land, but God was not going to go with them. He would send an angel instead.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” (Exodus 33:1-3)

Moses doubted that he would be able to succeed on this mission and cried out to God in discouragement.

Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” (Exodus 33:12-13)

I am sure we can understand Moses’ frustration. The journey is long and hard, and humans seem ill-equipped to carry it out. “I don’t think I can do it” seems to me a perfectly normal response. God understands this, just like he understood Moses’ concern. In his grace, he gave Moses a helper: God himself.

The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:14-17)

God made success on the journey possible by actually coming down and traveling with the Israelites. We will now examine what that looked like and then see how God does the same thing for us.

God’s Tabernacle

As sojourners in the wilderness, the Israelites obviously did not have any permanent dwellings in which to live. However, they did not leave themselves completely open to the elements. They carried along with them portable tent-like structures. These booths, or tabernacles, were basically poles covered by flexible material like cloth or animal hides. These shelters provided protection and easy portability.
When God decided to come and travel with the Israelites across the wilderness, he ordered them to build for him a portable structure to inhabit: his tabernacle (Exodus 25:8). You can find the explicit architectural instructions for this building in Exodus chapters 25 through 30 and the account of the building process in Exodus chapters 35 through 40. When they were finished, a cloud covered the tent “and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exodus 40:34).

The book of Exodus then concludes,

In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out – until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels. (Exodus 40:36-38)

Although there is much we could say about the tabernacle, for our purposes I will focus on the fact that in order to get the people across the wilderness, God came down and dwelt in the same type of portable home as they were living in. He condescended to help the Israelites by leaving his heavenly home to reside with them in their temporary shelters.

God’s presence provided the people with guidance and protection. With the cloud and the fire always in view over the tabernacle, they could be assured that they were safe and on the right track. If ever doubts arose about the chances of making it across the wilderness successfully, the people could gain assurance from the knowledge that God was with them.

The Feast of Tabernacles

In later years, after the Israelites were settled in the Promised Land, they were commanded to commemorate this aspect of the journey by holding the Festival of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths or Sukkot in Hebrew. (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). Here are God’s directions for the festival as recorded in Leviticus.

So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month. Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 23:39-43)

To this day certain Jews celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles by building portable huts outside their permanent homes and living in them for a full week. As they celebrate the harvest and God’s continued provision and protection, they remember a time when God provided for them in temporary shelters and protected them when they were sojourners in the wilderness. They recall how God provided manna for them from Heaven and water from the rock, and they especially remember how God journeyed with them across the wilderness by inhabiting his own temporary shelter, his own tabernacle.

Jesus’ Birthday

To begin my explanation of what all this information means to us, I am going to argue that Jesus was born on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles. While I am not interested in canceling Christmas or giving up celebrating Jesus’ birth in December each year, I think there are many good reasons to think it actually occurred on Sukkot, and that this date provides a depth of meaning to the event that December 25th simply does not.

Let’s start by establishing the date of John the Baptist’s birth with some simple number crunching. John’s father Zechariah was a priest serving on duty in the temple when the angel Gabriel appeared to him to tell him that he would have a son (Luke 1:8). We know from Luke 1:5 that Zechariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. From this bit of information we can nail down almost exactly what time of year the angel appeared him and then deduce from that when Jesus was born. To do so, however, we will need some background in the Jewish priestly system.

Priests served in the temple in teams, with each team serving for one week at a time (1 Chronicles 9), two times a year. The teams were scheduled to serve in a certain order each year, and 1 Chronicles 24:7-18 explains that the division of Abijah was the 8th team of the year. This was called the eighth course.

Along with their two weeks of individual priestly service, all the priests would report to the temple and serve together three times a year during the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Booths (Deuteronomy 16:16). The total number of weeks served in the temple by each priest, then, was five.

Because the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks both occur within the first eight weeks of the Jewish year, the eighth course would have served during the tenth week of the year (approximately Sivan 12-18). As such, the priestly division of Abijah would have started serving on the second Sabbath of Sivan and worked the following six days. We can surmise that this was the week of Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah.

Assuming Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, conceived John the Baptist soon after Zechariah had finished his Temple service, she would have become pregnant after the third Sabbath of Sivan (approximately Sivan 19-25).

Having a conception date for John allows us to figure out the birthday of Jesus because we know that the angel appeared to Mary to announce that she would bear Jesus when Elizabeth was six months pregnant (Luke 1:23-33). This would have been Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. If we assume that Jesus was conceived about the time of the angel’s appearance, that would mean the “Light of the World” (John 1:9, 9:5, 11:9) was conceived during the Festival of Lights. This is just one “coincidental” image in what will become a long list before this chapter is over.

Three months after that, John the Baptist was born, about the time of Passover. This also may be more than coincidence because of the imagery found in the Seder meal. As part of this dinner, Jews place an empty chair at the table for Elijah, hoping that he will soon arrive and fulfill the prophecy of Malachi 4:5 that says that Elijah must return before the Messiah and prepare the way for him. So if our dates are correct, at just the time the Jews were praying for Elijah to return, John the Baptist was born, a man who Jesus said was in fact (at least symbolically) Elijah. Speaking of John, Jesus said, “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come” (Matthew 11:14).

Jesus was born six months after Passover, then, in autumn, right around the time of the Festival of Tabernacles.

Part 3: What Jesus’ Birth Date Means to Us

To begin to understand why the actual date of Jesus’ birth is important, we need to realize that God often corresponds major historical events to other events in order to help us understand their significance. For instance, Jesus was killed on the commemoration of Passover so that we would better understand that he is the lamb that takes the punishment for sin. We won’t go into detail here, but other events that similarly correspond to Jewish holidays would be Jesus’ resurrection on the Feast of Firstfruits (Leviticus 23-14, 1 Corinthians 15:20-23), and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15-22, Acts 2), to name but two.

The significance of Jesus being born on the Feast of Tabernacles can be clearly seen when we realize that by descending to earth to take up residence in a human body, Jesus reenacted and fulfilled the act of God descending to earth in the wilderness to take up residence in a tent.

Just as the tabernacles were the temporary dwellings of the sojourning Israelites as they traveled to their permanent home, Canaan, our bodies are our temporary dwellings as we travel across the wilderness of life to our permanent home, Heaven. And just as God came down to help the Israelites along in their quest by living with them in the same type of tent as they were using, Jesus came down to help us along by living with us in the same type of tent that we use: a human body.

That is why John can say, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The term “made his dwelling” in this verse is literally “tabernacled.” It comes from the Greek word skenos, which means tent or tabernacle and refers to the Hebrew sukkah, the singular form of Sukkot. John is saying that in Jesus, God took up residence on earth in the same way he did in the desert. By becoming flesh, he set up his tabernacle in the midst of all the rest of the tabernacles so that he might get us through the wilderness. As Matthew explained, this was a fulfillment of a prophecy in Isaiah: “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel – which means, “God with us”’” (Matthew 1:22-23).

The Holy Spirit

By now you might be thinking, “I see how Jesus could play the same role that God played in the desert, but Jesus is no longer with us. He no longer inhabits an earthly body, so what good will that do us today?” That is a fair question, and it leads us to a discussion of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was preparing to leave this world, he comforted his disciples by assuring them that they would not be left alone.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:16-20)

After a brief discussion with Judas, he gave this counselor a name: The Holy Spirit. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John 14:25-26).

Jesus was telling the disciples that they need not worry because when the Holy Spirit comes, God will not just be dwelling in a human body, but he will be dwelling in their human body. God will actually take up residence inside of them. They will be the tabernacle, or as Paul describes it, God’s temple: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Jesus described the duties of the Holy Spirit more fully later in the same discourse.

But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. (John 16:7-15)

Jesus was saying that just as God guided the Israelites during the Exodus and Jesus guided his disciples while on Earth, the Holy Spirit will guide believers after Jesus leaves. Because of this, followers of Jesus today can have hope. Although we have to live in temporary dwellings now, the fact that we have the Holy Spirit living in them with us should be an encouragement. The Holy Spirit provides us with the strength and wisdom to face whatever trials and troubles come our way. This was certainly Paul’s argument to the struggling Corinthians. In the midst of a long admonition explaining why they are not to “lose heart” (2 Corinthians 4:1), he said,

Now we know that if the earthly tent [skenos] we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2 Corinthians 5:1-5)

The Water Libation Ceremony

Another ceremony that was performed during the Feast of Tabernacles (at least during the years that the Temple was in Jerusalem, which would have included Jesus’ time) illuminates this truth. It was called the Nisuch HaMayim, or “Pouring of the Water.” Every morning a priest carrying a golden pitcher led a procession to the pool of Siloam. The priest would fill the pitcher and bring it back through the water gate into Jerusalem and pour it into a receptacle on the altar. After they poured the water, the priests would march around the altar as the people sang the Hallel Psalms (Psalm 113-118) with special emphasis on Psalm 118:25: “O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.”

This ceremony was about asking God to bless the upcoming rainy season. It was very joyful, anticipatory and indeed, Messianic. They were thinking of God’s miraculous provision of salvific water in the desert as they looked ahead to what God would do to save them in the future, not just from physical drought, but from all oppression. In this spirit, they would refer to Isaiah 12, particularly verse 3 (in italics).

In that day you will say: “I will praise you, O LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me. Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say: “Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done, and proclaim that his name is exalted. Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things; let this be known to all the world. Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.” (Isaiah 12:1-6, emphasis mine)

The Messianic theme was especially strong on the last day of the feast, called Hashanna Rabba or the “Great Hosanna.” The processional on this morning did not end with just one trip around the altar, but seven. As the priests encircled the sacred place and read Psalm 118, the people waved branches and echoed each line with a loud “Hallelujah.” Then, starting in verse 25, they would join in with the phrase, “Hosanna, make your salvation now manifest, Oh Lord.” It was a day of extremely joyful Messianic expectation. With this event as a backdrop, Jesus made a very special announcement, which the Apostle John interprets for us:

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7:37-39)

Just as the people are asking for the Messiah during the biggest day of the Festival of Tabernacles, Jesus stood up and said “Here I am! Are you thirsty for the water that will provide eternal life? I am the source. I will send the Holy Spirit to inhabit you.” It is a wonderful image.

In explicitly comparing himself (and the Holy Spirit to follow) to the water provided to the Israelites in the desert, Jesus establishes imagery that was later expounded on by Paul. In talking about the desert wanderers, he explains, “They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ” (1 Corinthians 10:3-4).

God will get us across the wilderness by dwelling with us. He comes down and takes up residence in our temporary dwellings in order to guide, protect, and strengthen us as we travel. He enables us to live righteously. Our hope for getting safely home rests in the indwelling (tabernacling) of the Holy Spirit in our bodies.

The Transfiguration

Another event in Jesus’ life that may be connected to the Festival of Tabernacles is the transfiguration.

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. (Mark 9:2-10)

Jesus had been talking to his disciples about the resurrection and had been trying to convince them that this world is not the end and this body is not their permanent home. At the transfiguration he gave them some evidence for his claims. Not only did he appear to them in a glorified state, but he talked with Moses and Elijah, two dead guys! If life after this body is not possible, what were Moses and Elijah doing there? If their earthly bodies were their permanent home, they would not have been appearing with Jesus.

Peter offers to make some booths for them, which is the reason some scholars think this event took place during the Festival of Tabernacles. Whether it did or not, one of the points being made here is that Moses and Elijah no longer need booths. They no longer live in the temporary home that was their earthly body; they now live in their permanent home. I think they typify two types of people: those who die naturally (Moses, Deuteronomy 34:5) and those who are taken up by God without natural death (Elijah, 2 Kings 2:11). Whether we die naturally or Jesus comes and gets us, we will look back on this body as a temporary shelter for the journey, not our permanent home, and the transfiguration is a good evidence of that.

Peter certainly took this meaning from the event. In trying to encourage his readers to persevere, and fight the good fight, and make it through the wilderness, he said we can take hope in the assurance of our future glorification from the transfiguration. The transfiguration proved that this body is not all there is. Our permanent home awaits.

So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent [skenos] of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. (2 Peter 1:12-18)

Water of Life for Everyone

Another aspect of the festival that is worth noting is the fact that it is the one festival that is open to everyone. One didn’t have to be a Jew to take part. During the “waving of the four species” ceremony, for instance, four types of branches are bound together and waved in all directions (east, west, north, south, up, and down). While there are many levels of meaning to this ceremony, one reason for it is to represent God’s mastery of all of creation and his care for all peoples of the world. God is everywhere and for everyone. He invites all to come and partake of the living water. He wants to tabernacle not only with the Jews, but with all people. God wants to send the Holy Spirit to indwell everyone and guide them home.

Zechariah adds some impetus to this invitation by explaining that all nations must come to the festival or they will be punished. But notice what the punishment is: they will not receive rain. Understanding that “rain” is symbolic of the Holy Spirit, God is saying that anyone who wants to make it across the wilderness needs the Holy Spirit and therefore must come, metaphorically, to the Festival of Booths.

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, they will have no rain. If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The LORD will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16-19)

Those that do not go celebrate God’s dwelling with us, who do not appropriate his gracious act, will not be blessed.

Joy to the World

The Festival of Tabernacles was the only festival with the explicit command to be joyful. In Bethlehem, to the singing of angels, God indwelt our tabernacle, our body. He dwelt with us and continues to do so today through the Holy Spirit, so that we might make it to the Promised Land. That makes it a merry Christmas, indeed.

Comments

[Sigfried Trent]

Curious....

1. You make a lot of "assumptions" in your attempt to date the birth of jesus, especialy in reguards to at what point in time angels appear and when conception happens. It's some interesting work but not especialy concrete. Once again I wonder if god really was interested in when folks celebrated things he might actualy have made a point fo saying so as he does in the festivul of tabernacle. Actualy that brings into question many of the christian holidays as having any try holiness since they are not mandated celebrations as the many of the jewish holy days are.

2. You do a lot of "connect the dots" type corrilation between this and that thing in new and old testiment wihout any specific biblical isntruction to do so that I can see. Why is the bible such a puzzle book that requires so much interpretation to gleen symbolic meaning from? And why bother gleening symbolic meaning anyhow? Either the message of redemption is clear and simple or it isn't. Creating a web of interconecting ideas doesn't seem to serve any support for the truth of the claims made or further illuminate the meening of the resurection beyond what Jesus plainly claims about it.

3. God floating around in a cloud surrounding a tent would be a pretty clear indication to me of divine power at work. A man performing daily miracles would also be a pretty good indicator. A "holy spirit" with a demonstrably poor track record for actualy guiding people to consistantly do anything especialy holy strikes me as more a poor excuse for a lack of proven divine intervention than a reliable "guide through the wildernes". Can't god manage to do any better? Many have claimed to have been guided by this apparition but few every achieve consistant results following its imagined advice. Strangely people of all faith seem to have about equal track records in the actual world at hand when it comes to deeds both good and evil.

[Allen]

In what sense can a god be "born?" Aren't gods by definition timeless and eternal?

[Yaehoo]

Hi, It's the second time i'm posting you without a reply. I found your site using Yaehoo, does your site support firefox?

[Yaehoo]

Hi, It's the second time i'm posting you without a reply. I found your site using Yaehoo, does your site support firefox?