Ante Christum Natum

•         Psa 90:4  For^H3588 a thousand^H505 years^H8141 in thy sight^H5869 are but as yesterday^{H3117 H865} when^H3588 it is past,^H5674 and as a watch^H821 in the night.^H3915

The days of creation are literal days and not thousands of years. How can I say such a thing? I think we should let the Bible interpret this one.

•         Exo 20:8  Remember the Sabbath day, to keepe it holy.
•         Exo 20:9  Sixe dayes shalt thou labour, and doe all thy worke:
•         Exo 20:10  But the seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not doe any worke, thou, nor thy sonne, nor thy daughter, thy man seruant, nor thy mayd seruant, nor thy cattell, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
•          Exo 20:11  For in sixe dayes the Lord made heauen and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seuenth day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and halowed it.

God Almighty is telling the Israelites to work six and rest on the seventh day as He did. Secondly when ever the word yôm (day) is being used in such a context with a numeral or indicated standing like first, second, third etc, (day one, day two)  then it always indicates a short period always and is NEVER used otherwise.

Now if we read the verse Eze 4:5  - Eze 4:6  and Num 14:34   we see that these verses does not represent a specific standing or numerical for the term "..each day for a year" if we then want to see the context then we have to read it in context of the passage and in Ezekiel  "For I haue layed vpon thee the yeeres of their iniquitie, according to the number of the dayes, three hundreth and ninetie daies." Indicates to me one year for a day. In  Num 14:34  we have the same flavour of thinking and again we have a clarification and make one hundred percent sure we have the correct standing, lets read the passage:

•         Num 14:34  After the number of the dayes in which ye searched the land, euen fortie dayes (each day for a yeere) shall yee beare your iniquities, euen forty yeeres, and yee shall know my breach of promise.

The information for this point comes from and article on the following link (go and read it, it is quite good): http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/faq/docs/day_thousandyears.asp

To me it is clear that a day in prophecy is equal to one literal year. The same as the days of creation it was literal days and literal week. The same reason we have the same model of the week, the pagans has polluted the naming of the week with their pagan bricks, stones and pipe dream name, but the week was still created by God.

One small aspect, a bit off the point, that is why God could not give Adam the commandment to keep the Sabbath holy with Him the first Sabbath. You have to work six before you rest on the seventh and Adam had not worked six days. God probably took him on a grand tour of the universe.

Stephen Borh has got a magnificent DVD on this and it is called "Hidden Sabbath Truths" his website is : http://www.secretsunsealed.org/

    VI.      Tiberius Julius Caesar (Luke 3:1) was granted supreme power in 12 AD by Augustus. Many people interpret the date as being 14 AD and this is incorrect because he started his reign the year he was give supreme power by Augustus. It is evident that Augustus was tired and he was handing over to Tiberius.

The defeat of Varus, and the tacit abandonment of the plans of expansion begun twenty-five years before, are almost the last events of importance in the long principate of Augustus. The last five years of his life (A.D. 10-14) were untroubled by war or disaster. Augustus was ageing fast, and was more and more disinclined to appear personally in the senate or in public. Yet in A.D. 13 he consented, reluctantly we are told, to yet one more renewal of his imperium for ten years, stipulating, however, that his step-son Tiberius, himself now over fifty, should be associated with himself on equal terms in the administration of the empire. Early in the same year (January 16, A.D. 13) the last triumph of his principate was celebrated. Tiberius was now in Rome, the command on the Rhine having been given to Germanicus, who went out to it immediately after his consulship (A.D. 12), and the time had come to celebrate the Dalmatian and Pannonian triumph, which the defeat of Varus had postponed. Augustus witnessed the triumphal procession, and Tiberius, as it turned from the Forum to ascend the Capitol, halted, descended from his triumphal car, and did reverence to his adopted father. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Augustus This article is about the highest office of the Roman Republic. For other uses, see Consul. Consul (abbrev. cos.; Latin plural consules) was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic and the Empire. During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the Consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. There were two consuls, and they ruled together. However, after the establishment of the Empire, the Consuls were merely a figurative representative of Rome’s republican heritage and held very little power and authority, with the Emperor acting as the supreme leader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_consul

The book "Coinage and History of the Roman Empire" also confirm that he received supreme power from Augustus in October of AD 12. (Page 118)

http://books.google.co.za/books?id=WzOGycVVQLEC&pg=PA118&lpg=PA118&dq=AD12+granted+supreme+power+by+Augustus&source=bl&ots=gnMBqxBZeF&sig=jvfgXgiFDMZER3Ib-VMAUgkn-cw&hl=en&ei=1bWZSd2eM5ir-gaK44GVCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=3&ct=result

   VII.      Herod the great died in 4 BC.

a.      Herod died of a terrible disease at Jericho, in April, B.C. 4, at the age of 69, after a long reign of 37 years

                                                               i.      http://www.bible-history.com/smiths/H/Herod/

                                                             ii.      Smiths Bible Dictionary

It is being said that Herod never ordered the execution of all male children less than 2 years of age because he was so important and why would he be threatened by a baby from Nazareth. If taking into account the following you have to admit that this man was maybe one or two short of a full dozen at this time of his life:

•          "Having assembled the most distinguished men from every village from one end of Judea to the ther, he ordered them to be locked in the hippodrome at Jericho." Jewish Wars FLAVIUS JOSEPHUS
•         Herod then gave the order to execute them at the very moment he, himself, died. His sick mind reasoned that their death would dispel any joy in Judea over his own death. (My opinion is maybe he thought that one of them was the royal blood of the King of Nazereth, this is just an idea from me) The order was never carried out. After Herod's death, his body was carried in procession from Jericho to the Herodium outside Bethlehem for burial. Herod's body was adorned in purple, a crown of gold rested on his head, and a scepter of gold was placed in his hand. The bier bearing his body was made of gold and studded with jewels that sparkled as it was carried along under the desert sun. Following the bier was Herod's household and hundreds of slaves, swinging censers. Slowly, the procession inched its way up the mountainside to the Herodium, where it was laid to rest.http://www.bible-history.com/resource/ff_herod.htm
•        He executed his own son.

-          http://www.bible-history.com/resource/ff_herod.htm

We must remember that the Jewish New year is the first full moon to the 21^st of March and 4 BC was on 29 March with an eclipse occurring on 13^th of March 4 BC. Jesus was born from mid September to Mid October and the Bible says that Joseph took Jesus to Egypt until the death of Herod in April 4 BC before the New Year.

•          Mat 2:13  And when they were departed, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeareth to Ioseph in a dreame, saying, Arise and take the young childe, and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and bee thou there vntill I bring thee word: for Herode will seeke the young childe, to destroy him.
•          Mat 2:14  When he arose, he tooke the yong childe and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:
•         Mat 2:15  And was there vntill the death of Herode, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Out of Egypt haue I called my sonne.

Now the trip from Bethlehem to Egypt is about 322 km and would have taken Jesus, mary and joseph about 35 days to complete, in their traveling arrangements of those days, and 35 days back so it is quite plausible that they could have made the journey in a relative short time space if they left at the end of October 4 BC and returned April 5 BC. This would calculate to them possible being in Egypt for four to six months before returning. Jerusalem is around 105km from Nazareth and Bethlehem is about 129 km from Nazareth. Just for info.

Now Josephus declared that Herod health was deteriorating very rapidly before he died. So it is quite plausible that Jesus was born in September – October of 4 BC and have gone to Egypt and returned just after the death of Herod in 5 BC.  I do not think Jesus was born in 5 BC because of the above mentioned.

 VIII.      The year that the order was given to rebuild the city Jerusalem. The year the decree went out was 457 BC. This is quite an aggressively debated point. After I have clawed through pages and pages of opinions and facts I have to content that the accurate date was 457 BC. I will validate my stance but let’s see.

•         Dan 9:25  Know therefore and vnderstand, that from the going foorth of the commandement to restore and to build Ierusalem, vnto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seuen weekes; and threescore and two weekes, the street shall be built againe, and the wall, euen in troublous times.

The very first thing to notice is the rebuild was for the city Jerusalem and not for the temple. This is important why? It is important because:

•          Decree one by Cyrus 538 BC

o        Rebuild the temple

•          Decree two by Darius I (522-486) in 520 BC

o        Rebuild temple and confirm first decree

•          Decree three by Artaxerxes Longimanus (464-424) in 457 BC **

o        Rebuild of the city the official decree. The correct one

• Ezr 7:12 Artaxerxes king of kings, Unto Ezra the Priest, a Scribe of the Law of the God of heauen, Perfect peace, and at such a time. Ezr 7:13 I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his Priests, and Leuites in my Realme, which are minded of their owne free-will to goe vp to Ierusalem, goe with thee.  
 
• Ezr 9:9 For we were bondmen; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.   

•  "Decree" four by Artaxerxes Longimanus, issued on March 5, 444 BC

o        This was actually not a decree as some like to put it. The fact is that this was granted to Nehemiah. Very sneaky because taken in the context of Neh 2: 1 - 8 it makes sense. Then read the passage before and you realize something is not quite right here, there is no decree given. He was given a letter for right of passage and purchase.

•       Neh 2:1 And it came to passe, in the moneth Nisan, in the twentieth yeere of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I tooke vp the wine, and gaue it vnto the King: now I had not bene beforetime sad in his presence.
•       Neh 2:2 Wherefore the king said vnto me, Why is thy countenance sadde, seeing thou art not sicke? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
•       Neh 2:3 And said vnto the king, Let the king liue for euer: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers Sepulchres, lyeth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
•       Neh 2:4 Then the king said vnto me, For what doest thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heauen.
•       Neh 2:5 And I said vnto the king, If it please the king, and if thy seruant haue found fauour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me vnto Iudah vnto the City of my fathers sepulchres, that I may build it.
•       Neh 2:6 And the king saide vnto mee (the Queene also sitting by him) For how long shall thy iourney bee? and when wilt thou returne? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time.
•       Neh 2:7 Moreouer I saide vnto the king, If it please the king, let letters be giuen mee to the gouernours beyond the Riuer, that they may conuey me ouer, till I come into Iudah;
•       Neh 2:8 And a letter vnto Asaph the keeper of the kings forrest, that he may giue me timber to make beames for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the Citie, and for the house that I shall enter into: And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God vpon me.

Secondly we take the decree of Artaxerxes because this was the only decree by a king giving self-governing rights to the Jewish people and giving the decree to rebuild the city Jerusalem.

    IX.      The calendar is off by another four years. See the monk that created the calendar is the monk Dionysius Exiguus the same one that missed the year 0.  Now we have seen that Dionysius Exiguus calculated the birth of Jesus on 1 BC. Herod the great died in 4 BC and this would make it impossible for Jesus be born on the 1 BC. To calculate the dates you then have to add 1 for the missing years 0 and 4 for the Herod the Great miscalculation.

The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus was born during the time of Herod the great.

•        Mat 2:1  Now when Iesus was borne in Bethlehem of Iudea, in the dayes of Herod the king, behold, there came Wise men from the East to Hierusalem,
•          Mat 2:2  Saying, Where is he that is borne King of the Iewes? for we haue seene his Starre in the East, and are come to worship him.
•          Mat 2:3  When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Hierusalem with him.
•        Mat 2:4  And when he had gathered all the chiefe Priests and Scribes of the people together, hee demanded of them where Christ should be borne.