Christians around the world will remember and celebrate the essence of the gospel during this week ahead — “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4).
We believe that the Apostle Paul’s inspired summary statement is true, and we are certain that these events actually happened in real history, providing the basis of our salvation.
“Jesus predicted in Matthew 12:39–40 that he would be in the grave for three days and three nights….Culturally, for Jews, it means part of one day, a full day, and part of the third day.” - Word by Word
The idea of Christ’s birth being on December 25 doesn’t fit Saturnalia (Dec 17-23) and predates Sol Invictus (AD 274). - P&D
An interesting phenomenon in regard to the reading of the Old Testament and the New is the respective chronologies of the authorship of the canons. Whereas the Old Testament was written over a period of approximately 1,300 years – taking Job as the earliest book (c.1750 B.C.) and Malachi as the last book (c. 450 B.C.), the New Testament was written within one average human lifetime. This represents a vast difference which ought to be given more consideration than it has.
If we consider the span of years for the writing of the Old Testament we get something like this (citing representative examples):
“Dr. De Caro says that astronomers now believe the 4 B.C. eclipse of the moon would not have been visible in Jerusalem after all, but other possible eclipses would suggest that Herod died in either 2 or 3 B.C., meaning that Jesus could have been born in the year One B.C.” - Veith
“Using radiocarbon dating of camel bones that showed signs of having carried heavy loads, Israeli archaeologists have dated the earliest domesticated camels to the end of the 10th century BCE” CNN
