A few things we need to know about our God (it is best to know everything about God) Exodus 34:14 because you are not to bow down to any other god; since Adonai — whose very name is Jealous — is a jealous God. Numbers 23:19 “God is not a human who lies or a mortal who changes his mind. When he says something, he will do it; when he makes a promise, he will fulfill it. Deuteronomy 17:3 “by going and serving other gods and worshipping them, the sun, the moon, or anything in the sky — something I (Adonai/God) have forbidden.” God gave us Torah (His instructions) and the Messiah tells us in Matthew 5 that He did not come to abolish Torah (First five books of instructions given to Moses) which is translated as the word “law” in most English translations when in fact Torah can mean “target” or “instruction”.  The Messiah continued to tell us in Matthew 5 that not one stroke or Hebrew letter will be changed until heaven and earth pass away.  So is God in the flesh telling us that Torah is valid even after heaven and earth pass away?  This thought of Torah existing beyond Heaven and Earth is repeated in Luke 16:17 “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in Torah to become void.” Some of my life experiences First, my experience during the Six Day War showed me that there is a God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Patriarchs.  A classmate died in this war and was buried as a Vietnam veteran which later was corrected.  Next know that I never went to a divinity school which from what I have learned was in some ways a blessing meaning my only source is God’s Word and not man’s words or traditions.  When I found a problem I could not solve, I went to friends who knew Hebrew which included a Rabbi, Cohen, etc. some live in Israel.  I am a goy also called a gentile.  Due to the involvement of the Evil One in the world we live in, things are very complex.  The goal of the Evil One is to separate us from God by distorting truth.  The pagan history tells us that they worshipped objects in the sky, the Roman’s major objects in the sky were the sun and Constantine’s vision of the cross at Milvian Bridge which distorts how God words are viewed . In the beginning pagans only worshipped things that they could see, animals, man, sun, moon, stars, etc. which most all were God’s creations.  However, many times God tells us only worship the Creator and not His creations.  As to the worship of spirits it is very hard to have an exact date when the pagans worshipped a spirit.  So how did we end up saying the Messiah was born December 25th when God tells us the Messiah will be born in the seventh month (Tishri) on the fifteenth day and the Gospel Luke chapter 1 telling us the Messiah was born during the seventh month on the fifteenth day in a Sh'mittah year. Approximately 1500 BC most nations worshiped the sun god.  By using sun dials they could tell when days were getting shorter and then longer.  Calendars were all over the place and each nation seem to have their own ideas to determining what day it was without a standardization of hours in a day or number of days in a month, etc.   This actions by men made it easier for the Adversary to confuse things.  One of the most popular calendars came from the Romans who gave us the Julian calendar at the time of Julius Cesar.  Rome appeared to have one thing in common with a lot of other nations which was the celebration of the sun god which normally happened four days after the winter solstice which is December 21 using today’s Gregorian calendar .  Four days later is December 25.  Later December 25 was the day Julius Cesar was declared a god.   First we must understand that the Romans had a very strong dislike for those who followed the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  We see this when reading the writings of Josephus, especially Chapter 18.3.1 of “The Antiquities of the Jews.  This chapter tells us that Pilate, the procurator of Judea, who removed an army from Cesarea to Jerusalem to take their winter quarters there in order to abolish God’s Torah, known in most english translations as law.  This is the same Pilate who ruled over the trial of the Messiah.   The Romans being in control of their known world were very prideful in their ways and of their worldly knowledge.  When the Romans saw that the God of Israel had a very different view of how God’s creation should live their life, conflict began.  If you read the history of God’s chosen people you will see that there was conflict from the beginning of man between good and evil with short periods of peace.  Today, looking back seemed simple that when the followers of God follow His instruction, Torah, there was peace.  However, peace disappeared when God’s instructions were not followed.  Our Creator gave His human creation “free will” to chose “good” by following God’s directions (Torah) or to chose “evil” the opposite of good which separates us from God.  I remember many years ago a talk show host told the audience that “all go to heaven” when the Messiah tells us few enter the kingdom, which is more likely.  Remember that the Messiah tells us how important God’s instructions (Torah) are if you want to have a relationship with the God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob: The Roman Empire started out and continues to follow pagan traditions like most of the world population.  They celebrated the sun and provided many names for this god as did other pagan nations.  The celebration of the sun god started when the people could tell that the daylight was getting shorter and then longer.  It became consistent that four days after the winter solstice (December 21), which is when winter normally began, man could tell the days were getting longer and it became common to celebrate on December 25 as the coming of warmer days.   Then there was the Roman Emperor Aurelian, who is known for promoting the worship of the ‘god of the Unconquered Sun’, creating an official priesthood as well as building a temple to the sun god.  Aurelian’s proclamation happened in the year 274 CE on December 25. The pagans continued to worship the sun as their biggest celebration of the year until Constantine became ruler of the entire Roman Empire and called his Empire a Christian empire.  Then Constantine changed the name of the celebration from Sol Invictus to Christ Mas which we know today as Christmas.  December 25 is still celebrated today.  I hope most people understand that December 25 is a tradition and not command from God.  However, you will see that worship of the seventh month and 15th day is a command from God.  As far as worshipping the sun, the date kind of makes sense since the winter solstice normally happens on the 21 of December and after four days man could tell that the days were getting longer thus giving man a reason to celebrate that longer and warmer days are ahead.  The Romans were very pagan before the beginning of their nation and continued the tradition of celebrating on December 25 to the sun god, Sol Invictus.  However when Constantine came to power and Constantine wanted the Roman Empire to be a Christian nation which became a problem.  Becoming a Christian nation was mainly due to the influence of Constantine’s mother.  Of course at this time there were a lot of problems with this conversion since most of Rome followed the pagan traditions and also had little or no education of God’s Word among the majority of citizens to know the difference.  Also remember that when the Latin Vulgate was printed very few had access to this translation of God’s words.  Also most were not allowed to have access to the Latin Vulgate. The monk, Dionysius Exiguus better known as “Dennis the Small” created a split in the calendar by creating BC and AD around the year 500 AD.  At the time of the calendar split there were those that believed Dennis made an error in his calculations of the birth of the Messiah and the empire continued the tradition of celebrating on December 25 by saying the Messiah was born December 25 which appears to be a political opinion to follow tradition. Then the Julian calendar created by Julius Caesar had to be replaced due to dates that normally predicted or tell us the seasons, drifted apart from their assigned time.  By the time the Julian calendar was replaced with the Gregorian calendar. The actual winter solstice was December 31 drifting ten days when using the Julian calendar.  From this worship of the sun god we have progressed to the tradition of worshipping the birth of the Messiah on December 25 that has lasted more than 1500 years.  We know from God’s Words that the birth of the Messiah on December 25th is a lie from the Evil One. The birth of the Messiah Let us start with God’s words related to the the Messiah during the end of days: Genesis 49:8-12 (CJB) 8 “Y’hudah, your brothers will acknowledge you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down before you. 9 Y’hudah is a lion’s cub; my son, you stand over the prey. He crouches down and stretches like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to provoke him? 10 The scepter will not pass from Y’hudah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his legs, until he comes to whom [obedience] belongs; and it is he whom the peoples will obey. 11 Tying his donkey to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice grapevine, he washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. Comment: This is telling us that during the “end of days” the king of this world will be from the tribe of Judah and with the history of what has happened we can see that the return of our Messiah is very near since Jerusalem has been restored to the land of Israel. Exodus 23:10-17 (CJB) 10 “For six years, you are to sow your land with seed and gather in its harvest. 11 But the seventh year (Sh’mittah), you are to let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people can eat; and what they leave, the wild animals in the countryside can eat. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove. 12 “For six days, you are to work. But on the seventh day, you are to rest, so that your ox and donkey can rest, and your slave-girl’s son and the foreigner be renewed. 13 “Pay attention to everything I have said to you; do not invoke the names of other gods or even let them be heard crossing your lips. 14 “Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me. 15 Keep the festival of matzah: for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed. 16 Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts. 17 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, Adonai. Comment:  This time all of God’s “Appointed Times” are identified together.  More details follow in the remaining books of Torah.  What you see above is God’s seven year cycle and then the seven day cycle with brief descriptions.  We will only deal with those things that involve the birth of the Messiah. Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), years one to six Leviticus 23:33-38 (CJB)  33 Adonai said to Moshe, 34 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of Sukkot for seven days to Adonai. 35 On the first day there is to be a holy convocation; do not do any kind of ordinary work. 36 For seven days you are to bring an offering made by fire to Adonai; on the eighth day you are to have a holy convocation and bring an offering made by fire to Adonai ; it is a day of public assembly; do not do any kind of ordinary work.  37 These are the designated times of Adonai that you are to proclaim as holy convocations and bring a fire made to Adonai - a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offering, each on its own day - 38 besides the Shabbats of Adonai, your gifts, all your vows and all your voluntary offerings that you give to Adonai.  Sukkot, year seven known as Sh’mittah or year of release The year 2020 is a Sh’mittah year Leviticus 23:39-43 (CJB)  39 “‘But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to observe the festival of Adonai seven days; the first day is to be a complete rest (Sabbath) and the eighth day is to be a complete rest (Sabbath). 40 On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate in the presence of Adonai your God for seven days. 41 You are to observe it as a feast to Adonai seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation, generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month. 42 You are to live in sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Isra’el is to live in a sukkah, 43 so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Isra’el live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.’” Comments:  There are two ways that Sukkot is celebrated.  The first group of verses is for years one through six which is Leviticus 23: 33-38.  Some of the differences are noted in blue.  The second group is how to celebrate year seven, the Sh’mittah year.  This is Leviticus 23: 39-43 with some of the word differences being in red.  Two things that are important to note.  First, during the seventh year the month of Sukkot will always be in the seventh month as God has commanded.  Also the 1st day of Sukkot will be in the seventh month, on day fifteen which will be a Shabbat or seventh day of the week.  The last day of Sukkot will be day 21 of Tishri.  Know that Tishri is a very special month in the Hebrew year 3756 (Sh’mittah year), day 15 was the birth of the Messiah and day 22 which is a continuation of the celebration of Sukkot called Shemini Atzeret which was the day the Messiah was given His name, Yeshua (Salvation) and He also was circumsized.  See above Leviticus 23:39.  To have a better understanding of the Sh’mittah year read Deuteronomy chapter 15. 2 Smauel 7: 11-14 ………..”Moreover, Adonai tells you that Adonai will make you a house.  12 When your days come to an end and you sleep with your ancestors, I will establish one of your descendants to succeed you, one of your own flesh and blood; and I will set us his rulership. 13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish his royal throne forever. 14 I will be a father for him, and he will be a son for me……” Comment:  This can be confusing since Solomon was made king while David was still alive.  Therefore Adonai is not talking about Solomon as being king forever. I Kings chapter 13   “2 And by the word from Adonai he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar, here is what Adonai says: ‘A son will be born to the house of David; his name will be Yoshiyahu; and on you he will sacrifice the cohanim of the high places who burn incense on you! They will burn human bones on you!’” Comment:  To fully understand this verse you need to know the history of the split of the ten tribes from Judah and Benjamin.  This King, Yarov’am (Jeroboam), of the ten tribes did not want to follow God’s Torah.  One of the bigger mistakes the king of the ten tribes made was to move the celebration of Sukkot from the seventh month to the eighth month when God commands during the Sh’mittah year Sukkot will always be in the seventh month. Leviticus 23:41, Read I Kings to understand the how God punished the ten tribes. If God would punish the ten tribes for moving the date of Sukkot from the seventh month to eight month during the Sh’mittah year how would God punish those who changed the birth of the Messiah from the Hebrew year 3756, seventh month, fifteenth day to December 25 of any year? You need to know that when God gives a person a name, the name describes a person’s charter.  Here are some examples:  Genesis 32:28-29(CJB) 28 (27) The man asked, “What is your name?” and he answered, “Ya‘akov (Jacob).” 29 (28) Then the man said, “From now on, you will no longer be called Ya‘akov, but Isra’el “struggles with God”; because you have shown your strength to both God and men and have prevailed.”  Here is a nane from the Gospel, Yochanan also known as John the Immerser.  Yochanan means “God gives grace”.  Yoshiyahu translated in English is Josiah which means Yahweh (God) supports, etc. The thing we need to understand is that if God gives a name, which God has done very few times, it is to identify their charter.  He knows us completely including our motives why we do certain things.  When God looks at us we have no excuses. see above verse Leviticus 23:41 to understand the problem of changing the month of Sukkot from the seventh month to the eight month which is against God’s word. The thing about dates When the monk Dionysius Exiguus better known as “Dennis the Small” split the calendar into BC and AD there were those that knew Dennis was in error; however, those in power continued with Dennis making the death of the Messiah in 33 AD.  The Romans knew that the Messiah lived 33 years and six months, so a lot of the Roman history was based on the Messiah’s death being 33 AD.  Both the Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 39B) and Josephus tell us that there are forty years between the resurrection of the Messiah and the destruction of the temple. The Messiah was born in the seventh month in the year of the Hebrew Biblical year 3756 (Sh’mittah, year of release) on the 15th day.  Count from this day to the Hebrew Biblical year 3790 in the first month (Aviv) 15th day is when the Messiah entered the center of the earth.  and you should have a total of 33 years and six months.  The resurrection was the 18th day during the month of Aviv, the first day of the week.  Also know that Josephus tells us that the Messiah was a Rabbi for approximately three years.  You can also read the New Testament and come up with the different places the Messiah, as a Rabbi,  was during Pesach (Passover).  In the year 2001 author James Carroll wrote Constantine’s Sword.  At the back of this book there is a chronology of the birth and death of the Messiah.  Carroll seem to have the correct years, born 4 BC and died 30 AD.  There are those in the church who know that December 25 is not the day the Messiah was born.  However it appears that most churches do not want to go against tradition.  The book “Jesus of Nazareth” is the writing on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ by Pope Benedict XVI, published in three volumes.  It was published by Doubleday in 2007.  One thing that stood out was Pope Benedict XVI telling us that the birth of the Messiah was between 2 BC and 7BC once again saying that Dennis the Small was wrong in his calculation of when the Messiah was born.  Know from the above that God tells us when the Messiah was born. The Maccabees Something that is overlooked are the books of the Maccabees.  For certain prophecies to be fulfill by the coming Messiah God’s chosen people had to have a certain amount of control over Jerusalem and the surrounding land by those who followed Torah.  There are many prophecies that involve the people and the Land during the time the Messiah is on earth.  The Maccabees led by Judas Maccabeus (The Hammer) around 148 BC captured and restored the Temple that King Antiochus defiled.  Judas led the people back to their Jewish roots by returning them to Torah, etc.  It would help if you read 1 Maccabees.  An interesting point is that 1 Maccabees refers to the  temple being on Mount Zion?  Something to think about: 2 Kings 19:31 “for a remnant will go out from Yerushalayim, those escaping will go out from Mount Tziyon. The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot will accomplish this.’” If you read Luke 1 with understanding of Hebrew customs you should see that the Messiah was born in the Hebrew year 3756 which is a Sh’mittah year, during the seventh month on the fifteenth day. Remember that the “Evil One” is the ruler of our world and our protection comes from the Holy Sprit.  Also the Evil One is the master of lies.  Read John 14 which tells us about the coming of the ruler of our world that we live in and I John 5:19.  Also know the meaning of verse Matthew 15:24 “He (Messiah) said I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”. This means that the Messiah was only sent to the people of Israel, the twelve tribes of Jacob, who were lost due to the Torah teachers, P’rushim (Pharisees), Tz’dukim (Sadducees), etc. gave the people a lot of thoughts that came from man and not God. Chronology of the birth, life and death of Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah! Conceived 30 Kislen in the Hebrew Biblical year 3755 during what we call today Hanukkah.  The word Hanukkah is not found in Hebrew writings until sometime after 2 AD.  Some say that the Maccabees after restoring the temple were celebrating the Sukkot feast they missed during the restoration of the temple?  Born 15 Tishri in the Hebrew Biblical year 3756 Started His ministry in the Hebrew Biblical year late 3786 sometime after Sukkot. Was crucified late in the day 14 Nisan 3790 Was in the center of the Earth starting 15 Nisan 3790-Matthew 12:40. Resurrected at the beginning of the day 18 Nisan 3790, the first day of the week-Matthew 27:63 4th day of the Hebrew calendar. First time after the resurrection that the Yom Kippur sin offering was rejected by God which would be in the Hebrew Biblical year 3790 during the seventh month on the tenth day.  The Yom Kippur sin offering continued to be rejected by God for 39 more years.  The Babylonia Talmud Yoma 39B and writings of Josephus both confirm a 40 year period between the resurrection of the Messiah and the destruction of the Temple. Remember that a Hebrew day starts at sundown (Genesis 1).  Also Luke 1 gives us the day the Messiah was born if you understand the customs of God’s human creation who follow His directions known as Torah during the time of the Messiah.