The Birth of Jesus Christ - An IQ Test

Well, thank you once again, Mike and Mark. Appreciate your service today. During this worship service, a special thanks to Mr. Grant for special music today. Very much appreciated and very beautiful.

Well, last week we were all surrounded by the custom of Christmas in our Western culture. It's always amazed me how there's just such anticipation for Christmas Day. And there's such a buildup, and it's like the day after it's all gone. It's as everybody's back to making a buck. It just diminishes so quickly. We know that what is called Christmas in our culture today are rooted in myth and pre-Christian beliefs, religious beliefs.

And that's why we don't observe the day as a religious holiday or a secular holiday. If you'll turn with me, do the rot. In chapter 12 and verse 28, we'll read a scripture that, if you've been in the Church of God for a while, you're very familiar with. It's one of instructions from God, one of the very foundations of making sure that we have no other gods, that we put nothing before the worship of the true God. Chapter 12 and verse 28, Moses was inspired to write, Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

In other words, doing good and right the way God says good and right is, not determining for ourselves what we think is good or right, or what we think is the proper way to honor God, but ask ourselves, how does God want to be honored? How does God want to be worshipped? Verse 29, When the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations in which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their God, saying, How do these nations serve their gods?

Oh, that's pretty! Oh, that's bright! That's impressive! How do these other nations inquire and honor and worship their gods? I want to do the same thing. Again, how do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise. He says, You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abomination to the Lord, which he hates, have they done to their gods. And he's going to give, obviously, an extreme case.

For they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Now, we're a much more civilized culture today. We certainly don't do that. It's just that we abort our children on the altar of materialism. Continuing, they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. Verse 32, Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it. So this is a very clear instruction that what people who desire to worship God should do, is say, how does God desire to be worshipped?

Not, well, how does everyone else worship their gods? And I'll just borrow those customs and traditions, and I'll say, oh, it's all about Jesus, or it's all about God, and putting a relabeling, rebranding something in order to attempt to worship the true God. Of course, we know there's a New Testament counterpart of this, when Jesus had a discussion with this American woman in John chapter 4, and he told her in verse 23, But the hour is coming, and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.

In other words, we cannot worship God with mythology and a lie, secularly and with a lie. Continuing, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. Continuing, Jesus said, God is spirit, and those who worship must worship Him in spirit and in truth. So those are reasons, certainly, why we do not observe Christmas Day. God knows the human mind, and He knows our basic nature as human beings. He knows that people will be attracted to pagan customs, and will want to adopt them to worship the great Creator of the heaven and the earth. He knew that in advance. That's why He inspired Moses to write down his very words in the book of Deuteronomy.

But God calls this practice disgusting. What God detests is the use of pagan religious practices in a very sorry and dishonorable attempt to give honor to God. He's not pleased when people copy or borrow religious customs and relabel them and say, Ah, but this is all about you, God. This is all about Jesus. This is all about what the Bible says. And yes, indeed, Jesus Christ is indeed our Savior. And we're not going to shy away from the facts about the birth of Jesus Christ. We're not going to shy away about the facts of the birth of Jesus Christ. And on Christmas Day, we are not going to hide ourselves in some corner of our homes like we're ashamed, or somehow we're inhibited because the world is out there keeping December 25th.

We simply are not going to do that. We are going to live our lives fully. And if some people are unhappy that the United Church of God has something called a winter weekend, and it happens to fall in the time of year when everybody has a few days off, and they're unhappy about that because they want to call it some type of Christmas celebration, first of all, your thinking is distorted, your attitude is foul, and you're simply wrong.

Again, we are not going to hide in a corner because there's a secular holiday that occurs. We're going to live our lives to the fullest. And if we have the privilege and opportunity to gather with other people who also have the time off and can celebrate on the Sabbath and have fun with each other, we're going to do it. And as I used to say when I was a kid, if you don't like it, you can lump it.

Because we're just going to do that, whether people like it or not. So let's talk about the birth of Jesus Christ. Something I wanted to talk about a little bit today.

I would like actually all of us to take a little quiz together about the birth of Jesus Christ. It's open book, so you don't have to worry. It's self-grading, so no one will know how well you do. And the questions and answers are from a recent article that I read. I enjoyed this quiz because it covered some myths that we usually don't mention even in our own church literature.

So I thought that was quite interesting. And I myself was stumped by a few questions. A few questions that this particular person asks, I did get wrong. The article was on christianstandard.com. I'm going to give full credit to the author and the article and the questions. The author entitled the article, How's Your Christmas IQ? Now I would say, how's your biblical IQ?

It was the way that I would phrase it since I don't observe Christmas. It was published, again, on christianstandard.com on December 15, 2019. It was originally published on December 15, 1974. The author of the article who gave the quiz is Maxine Freeman. She is a teacher at a Bible college in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. So here's the quiz. I'm going to ask one question at a time. And true or false, so you can put down true or false when I ask the question. I'll give you a few seconds to think about it. Then I will respond with her answer and then I may make a few additional comments.

Okay, so here's question number one. Joseph and Mary were both descended from King David. True or false? Joseph and Mary were both descended from King David. True or false? I see a lot of sweating out there. This is just an open book test. That happens to be very true.

Again, this is from the author. Bible scholars generally agreed that Matthew gives the lineage of Joseph and Luke that of Mary. The lists are alike from Abraham to David, but from David on, they're wholly different except for one name. This could be, speaking of that one name where they're different, she says, this could be two individuals having the same name or it could be that of two lines of descent crossed one another in the one person.

Now, actually, in my comparing the two genealogies, I found two names after the time of David that they shared. It is Shetiel and Zrubbal. But here's my additional comments on what was just said. I'm going to read you Matthew chapter 1 and verse 6, which is Joseph's genealogy. It says, and Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. All right, so that's Joseph's account.

It's David the Solomon. Now I'm going to read Luke's account. Luke's account is Mary's genealogy, what is traditionally believed. And instead of going from like a descending order, it goes ascending order. It does it in reverse. So here are the scripture. The son of Mephelathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David. So here, the son of David is recorded as someone named Nathan. Now if you go to 1 Chronicles chapter 3 and verse 5, you will find indeed that Nathan was a minor son also born to David and Bathsheba.

So the one genealogy, it goes from David to Solomon from Luke's account, which we believe to be Mary's genealogy. It goes from David to Nathan, who was also the son of David and Bathsheba, but a minor son, obviously little known, compared to Solomon. All right, that was question number one. Number two. Joseph thought Mary's child was illegitimate and he planned to divorce her. True or false? Joseph thought Mary's child was illegitimate and he planned to divorce her. True or false? That happens also to be true. Here's what she comments on. In Jewish custom, the betrothal was a very important matter, almost as sacred and imposing as the marriage ceremony itself.

It could be broken only by a bill of divorcement. Joseph planned to write a bill of divorcement and to break the betrothal privately without bringing Mary before a public tribunal. It refers to Matthew chapter 1 and verse 19. So that is true. Joseph thought Mary's child was illegitimate and he planned to literally provide a bill of divorcement.

Only like many people, he loved her, obviously was disappointed until he found out why she was really pregnant. He had to be very disappointed, but he loved her. He did not want to humiliate her publicly, as many would in that situation.

He planned to do it privately. Number three. Mary's mode of transportation to Bethlehem was on the back of a donkey. Mary's mode of transportation to Bethlehem was on the back of a donkey. True or false? This is one that I got wrong. It's false. Here's her comments. No mention is made in Scripture of any animal regarding her transportation. They could have had a donkey, but if so, it would more likely have been used, as it normally is, as a pack animal to carry their baggage. Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to ride a donkey would realize that its bumpy, jolting gait would be the last thing a woman in the final stages of pregnancy would want to ride in such a journey.

It would be far more comfortable and safer to walk. Again, that's a mythology that I have from childhood, but it doesn't literally say that she was on the back of a donkey. Okay, number four. True or false? A heavenly choir of angels sang to the shepherds to announce the Savior's birth. Number four. True or false? A heavenly choir of angels sang to the shepherds to announce the Savior's birth. That's one that I also got wrong. That happens to be false. And here's her comment.

Sorry to disappoint you music lovers. But the Bible does not say the angels sang anything. They were praising God and saying. And it quotes Luke 2 and verse 13, and I'll read the verse. These are my additional comments. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising and saying. The word saying, it's actually a Greek word, lego. I found that interesting. You've heard of lego blocks. The Greek word for saying is lego because the primary of it is to lay forth something. So that's also how lego blocks get their name. The word translated, for example, in Acts 16 and verse 25, for singing, is homeneo, from which we get the word hymns.

So obviously the Greek is implying that the angels were saying, not singing. Alright. So I learned something through that as well. Alright, number five. True or false? A special star led the shepherds to the stable where Jesus was born. True or false? A special star led the shepherds to the stable where Jesus was born. The answer to that is false. She mentions here, no mention is made in the Scriptures of the shepherds seeing a star. An angel announced the birth and gave directions for finding the newborn infant. That's in Luke chapter 2, verses 10 through 12. Okay, question number six. True or false? The shepherds went away and told everyone they met about what had happened to them.

True or false? The shepherds went away and told everyone they met about what had happened to them. That happens to be true. Luke chapter 2, verses 17 and 18 say, And all that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. So that happens to be very true. All right, this one I think we should all know. Three wise men from the east came to worship the new king of the Jews. True or false? It reminds me of the old story of growing up in high school.

Why wasn't Jesus born in Cleveland? Because they couldn't find three wise men. Okay. So again, true or false? Three wise men from the east came to worship the new king of the Jews. And there was an answer. We're not told how many wise men were there. Three gifts are mentioned. But they could have been any number of wise men.

That's one that I think from our tradition we know. This one we'll probably pretty well know as well. The names of the wise men were Casper, not the friendly ghost, were Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar. True or false? Don't make me pronounce those names again. Well, that happens to be false. The names come from tradition. No names of any of the wise men are in the Gospels. Here's what the Encyclopedia Britannica states.

This is my additional comments. According to Western Church tradition, Balthasar is often represented as a king of Arabia, Melchior as the king of Persia, and Casper as the king of India. These names apparently derive from a Greek manuscript probably composed in Alexandria about 580, so that's like 500 years after Christ was born, so that may not be very authentic if it took that long for people to invent those three names. Continuing, the Encyclopedia says another Greek document from the 8th century is presumed a presumed Irish origin and translated in Latin continues the tradition of three kings and their names and gives additional details.

Alright, this one is a little tricky. Number 9. True or false? The wise men followed the star for about five miles. True or false? The wise men followed the star for about five miles. According to scholar, that happens to be true. Let me explain what she says here, and I'll quote from her. The wise men followed the star from Jerusalem to Bethlehem a distance of about five miles. She continues, The star did not lead them to Jerusalem from the east.

They evidently went there because the current king of the Jews lived in the nation's capital city of Jerusalem and was the logical place to look. They told Herod that they had seen his star in the east. They did not say they had followed it. But they said they had seen the star when they were in the east. Continuing, she says, After they left Herod, the star which they had seen in the east reappeared, causing much rejoicing on their part.

And this time it did lead them. And my additional comments to this is, if the star was not shining for many, many months while they were traveling all the way from Persia to Jerusalem, that would explain why we don't have a lot of secular historical records about people noticing this strange star suddenly showing up for nine months or more in the sky.

That would account for why we don't have a lot of historical record. So I thought that was rather interesting. All right, number 10. The star led them to the stable where Jesus was born. True or false? The star led them to the stable. I see skeptics out there. No! Where Jesus was born. Well, she says that's obviously false. Jesus was not in the stable at this time, but in a house.

He was no longer a babe, but a young child. Herod sought to kill all of those who were two years old and under, and he was probably making a good deal of allowance. So we know that Jesus was not yet two. My additional comment to that is that the star actually led them to their family home many months after Jesus was born. And we'll read about that in just a few minutes in Matthew 2 and verse 11.

All right, question number 11. True or false? Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to Jerusalem right under the very nose of Herod, unaware that he, Herod, posed a threat to the baby's life. True or false? Again, I'll read it. Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to Jerusalem right under the very nose of King Herod, unaware that he, Herod, posed a threat to the baby's life. The scholar says that is true.

Allow her to explain. At the end of the forty days, allowed by Jewish law for purification, referring to Leviticus chapter 12 and verse 2, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. This was all before the wise men arrived. And she refers to Luke chapter 2 and verse 22.

So let me give you a little scenario of this. These are my additional comments. Luke chapter 2 and verse 22, here's what it says. Now, when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. So he's only forty days old, still an infant. They bring him from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to fulfill the requirement of the book of Leviticus.

Now, it isn't later until recorded in Matthew chapter 2 verse 11, it says, and when, speaking of the wise men, when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And this word, young child, here in the Greek, literally means a childling or a half-grown child in the original Greek. So he's not an infant anymore. By the time the wise men arrived, to see literally the Christ child, not the Christ infant. And then, five verses later there in Matthew, it says this, Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, because they didn't come back, they weren't about to tell him where the king of the Jews was located, then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem, and all its districts, of two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

So that is the scenario they did go to Jerusalem, from Bethlehem, when he was about 40 days old and fulfilled a requirement of the law, right under the very nose of King Herod. They were unaware that he was concerned about the birth of the king of the Jews, which he was, but he wasn't enraged and ready to act violently on that yet. Okay, last question. This one's probably pretty easy. Number 12. The famed frankincense and myrrh that were presented to Jesus by the wise men were actually resins obtained from certain trees. True or false? That does happen to be true. She says, consult any dictionary. Frankincense is a dried sap of trees of the Boswella genus, particularly Boswella sacra.

It's a symbol of deity. Frankincense in the ancient world was a single symbol of deity. And of course, we know Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and as John teaches in the Book of John, was God. From the beginning, myrrh is a natural resin extracted from a number of small thorny tree species of the genus Comophora.

Myrrh is an embalming oil and a symbol of death. So from the very moment he was born, think about it, he was born to be a sacrifice. He was born to live his life perfectly, to sacrifice and shed his blood for the sins of mankind to reconcile us to God. And that was already pictured when he was a small child by the gift of myrrh, a symbol of death. And then, of course, he received gold. Gold is a rare precious metal and the symbol of kingship on the earth.

So how did you do? How did you score? Did anyone get 100? I'm just curious. Anyone here get 100% on that? I don't see any hands going up. Here's the scorecard that she gave. If you got just one wrong, you are a top Bible scholar. Congratulations! Because I wasn't there. I got a kick out of her second category. She says, if you got two to three incorrect, you went to a Bible college. I sure did!

Amen! I fell right into that category. And then if you got four to five wrong, you were above average. Anyway, that was the result that she gave on that particular test. Now what I'd like to do to conclude this sermon today is to go to Luke chapter 2 and to review from the Scriptures the very events of the birth of Jesus Christ. Because I want to emphasize again, we do not avoid these Scriptures. We are happy to read them when the time is right. We are not ashamed of these Scriptures.

We believe these Scriptures are the Word of God. They fulfill prophecy. They are beautiful. We just choose not to worship God with pagan symbols and rituals as is taught by this world on Christmas Day the wrong day with the wrong symbols, with the wrong intent of the purpose of the birth of Jesus Christ.

We don't have time to also go through Matthew's account today. Luke chapter 2 beginning in verse 1. Let's go through the Scriptures as we conclude the sermon today.

Everyone to his own city. That also meant that Joseph and Mary had to leave Nazareth, which was about 90 miles away, which is farther north. It's a very difficult terrain, very difficult journey. They had to travel from there down to Bethlehem because that was Joseph's original city. I'm going to read some comments here from the Believer's Study Bible that ties in very well with our own doctrine. Quote, according to Luke chapter 2 verses 1 through 5, he was born about the time of a census ordered sometime between 6 and 4 BC. It says here, continuing quoting them, preferably the latter part of that period by Carinius, who was twice governor of Syria. Thus Christ's birth may have occurred in the summer or early fall of 4 BC. That's again what's stated in the Believer's Study Bible, very close to what we believe and understand about the timing of the birth of Jesus. Continuing here, they say shepherds would not have normally been tending their fields in December due to the cold of winter. So they're saying it didn't happen around December 25th.

Now, Carinius was governor of Syria twice. His first census was in 4 BC, and that's when we believe Jesus was born and that all of these events are laid to. His second time that he was governor was in 7 AD, and there's no one who would believe that Christ was born as late as 7 AD. All residents were required to return to the city of their lineage to be registered for the census. Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth again, but they traveled to Bethlehem to be registered. So let's continue looking at the story here.

Verse 4, Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. Again, this is about a 90-mile journey between Nazareth and Bethlehem. They guesstimate, scholars say, it took 4-5 days of very difficult travel to go 90 miles with that terrain and the kind of environment that they would have faced.

Verse 5, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. She brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.

That could very well be. There was no room at the inn because this could have been around the time of the Feast of Trumpets. And on all the high days, everybody flooded into the greater Jerusalem area so that they could worship on the high days. So, very possible, there was no room at the inn because Jerusalem and the surrounding cities around it were just flooded with pilgrims coming to enjoy the fall holy days. Again, I'll pick it up here, verse 7. She brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.

Now, the manger here is from a Greek word, fattne, which means a crib for fodder. So she put him in something that usually had animal feed in it. And that's part of the tradition. That's why some English translations say that he was born in a stable. Because, obviously, he was placed in a crib that was normally used to feed animals. Again, from the Believer's Study Bible, quote, swaddling clothes were narrow strips of cloth wrapped around an infant. That Christ was born and placed in a manger led to the tradition that he was born in a stable.

Early tradition indicates he was born in a cave which may have been used as a stable. So, a little bit of historical information here. Let's take a look now at verse 8. Now, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them.

And the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people.

So, what they're told here, the angel says, There's something unique about this child. This child is going to be a great joy to all people. What does that mean? That means salvation. This means something that goes beyond just benefiting the Jews, benefiting Israelites. This is someone who would live a perfect life and shed his blood for all of humanity's sins and open up the opportunity for those of all nations and languages and races to hear the Gospel message and respond to it and have their lives changed to receive salvation.

Verse 11, For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you, you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was, with the angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, not singing, saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will towards men. Now, the Believer's Study Bible says a better rendering of verse 14 of the text is peace towards men of good will.

I'm going to read this from the translation God's Word for today, verse 14, because this is different than a lot of the slogans and a lot of the mottos that people have this time of year. God's Word for today says, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those who have his good will. It's a little different than good will towards men.

What the original meaning is from the Greek. Verse 15. So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying, which was told them concerning this child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Verse 19. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in their heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things which they had heard and seen, and it was told them. I'll quickly refer to an excellent sermon given by Mr. Graham about Mary and her life. Mr. Graham touches upon this and a number of other things regarding Jesus' mother Mary. So you may want to see that sermon again on our website. I want you to notice the humble attitude of Mary, who knew God's promise, but didn't openly proclaim her son at this point to be Savior or Messiah of Israel. She just kept it to herself. She allowed others to do the praising and others to give honors. It's a good lesson for all of us rather than us gloating about our own skills or abilities. If you think you're talented, if you think you're so gifted in a particular area, that's wonderful. Keep it to yourself. It's much more effective if other people praise your abilities and talents than if you praise yourself. That's a good biblical principle. This concludes Luke's account of the actual birth of Jesus Christ. What did these events tell us? What did the events of the Quiz that we read a little earlier today tell us? They tell us that the fulfillment of biblical prophecy of an infant who was born to a virgin conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit did indeed occur, and it was the fulfillment of wonderful Old Testament prophecies. He was born to become our Savior, who would live perfectly and die willingly so that He could save all of us on the earth from every race, from every language, save us from our sins. His birth was miraculous, and heavenly angels attested to the fact that Jesus was born that very night. This event fulfilled, as I just mentioned, a number of biblical prophecies. And we, as the Church of God, we as God's people, are not ashamed to read these prophetic scriptures. We will not avoid reading these scriptures whenever we desire. They're there. They're significant because they're part of God's Word. And it reinforces in our minds the fact that Jesus was born to be a Savior. So in conclusion, we've just witnessed a time of year when many people have sincerely attempted to honor Jesus Christ by celebrating His birth. And most people do that in a sincere fashion. They're just sincerely wrong. They are misguided, as Jesus said to the Samaritan woman. You're just misguided. You think you can worship Mount Gerizim the way that you want to, and the Jews worship the way that they want to. Jesus said what's really important is to worship the Father the way He wants us to, and that is in spirit and in truth. Many evangelicals like to use a phrase that a number of them have thrown at me over the years. They like to use a phrase, fulfilled in Christ. Now, this phrase is usually used by them to describe scriptures and biblical teachings and acts of worship they feel are no longer commanded or important. They might be referring to the Sabbath or the Ten Commandments or the Holy Days. And they'll say, oh, we don't do that because that's fulfilled in Christ, one of their favorite mantras that I've heard and read over the years. But, you know, let's be honest here. If you look at the birth of Jesus Christ for a minute and what people do to celebrate His birth with a holiday they call Christmas, there is no record of Jesus or His disciples later celebrating His birth because it was fulfilled in Christ on that day that He was born. The birth of Jesus is only again mentioned in the New Testament all the way back to Revelation 12 as a prophecy regarding the protection of the end-time church.

There's an allusion to His birth. Nothing else is said in the entire rest of the New Testament. Biblical scholars and historians candidly admit that the birth of Christ was not celebrated for centuries after His death and is today immersed in borrowed pagan celebrations and myths. You don't have to believe me. You can look at virtually any encyclopedia. You can go to YouTube and you will easily see the symbolism and the paganism that was introduced in the Christmas holiday. That's why I don't need to repeat what is so easily found today in our social media. My point is, if any event in the Bible was ever fulfilled in Christ, it was the event of His birth. He was born only once, and all the ancient prophecies spoke of His time of that birth and the fulfillment of His birth on that day. So if anything is fulfilled in Christ, it was a one-time event, and then it's time to look to the future for something else. It was the birth of Jesus Christ, what people today celebrate as Christmas. I also hear many people say that they want to bring Christ back into Christmas, where you can't bring Him back into something He was never a part of. In contrast to that, we can either go back to the movie Groundhog Day, or go back every year to celebrate a 2,000-year-old event, which in its time, and in its place, was certainly a significant event. It did fulfill prophecy. You can relive that episode over and over again, or as an alternative, you can observe God's feast days, which not only teach us what God did in the past, but it teaches us what Christ is going to do in the future, what His plans are for all humanity, including His return, including the removal of the influence of Satan in this world, and including the literal establishment of the kingdom of God on earth, followed by, a thousand years later, an incredible part of God's plan of Him raising from the dead all of those billions upon billions who never had an opportunity for salvation. I don't know about you, but I'll keep God's holy days.