The Cosmology of Christ’s Birth

The Messiah was first introduced to foreigners whose faraway quest ended in a Bethlehem manger. What are the oft-ignored lessons from this watershed event?

It is the season when Christendom officially commemorates the birth of the Saviour of the World. Even as biblical themes become rarer in an era of "Universal Christmas" — one stripped of its biblical connections — the world will yet be reminded of this watershed event through scattered hymns and sketches of the manger scene.

As I have written several times before, Christmas, when it is celebrated through a biblical lens, also serves as an indirect form of evangelism. So, we can indeed take some joy during this season.

The birth of Jesus was timed at the confluence of various interconnected developments — prophetic, spiritual, theological, cultural, political and even astronomical. Here is an encapsulation of the various forces and developments which shaped the Jewish world of that era.

Prophetic Promises

The advent, nature and role of the Messiah was promised several times in the Old Testament, notably with God’s pledge to Abraham that through his seed, "all the families of the earth would be blessed." (Genesis 28:14). It was a universal promise made for all mankind; not just a particular nation, although it would naturally begin with the ancient House of Israel.

Over time however, Jewish theological interpretations over the role and nature of the Messiah would become corrupted. He was to be a warrior-king who would emancipate Israel from foreign tyranny and establish a "godly" kingdom headquartered in Jerusalem. The foundations of this fatal worldview were already established by the time of Christ’s birth.

Spiritual Milieu

The remnant of Israel — into which the Messiah was born — was at its lowest spiritual ebb. Part of its governing priesthood (Sanhendrin), in particular the Sadducees, did not even believe in the afterlife. The concept of resurrection was already downplayed at this juncture, while heretical theologies and suffocating traditions began to proliferate.

There were other darker forces at work within the Sanhedrin and it arguably began with spiritual subversions that creeped in during the first wave of the Babylonian exile. (There were altogether three major waves of Babylonian exilement and a smaller fourth one). Ezekiel 8 is highly-illuminating in this context:

Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? (v6)

God was already being displaced from the Temple that was supposedly dedicated to Him. Ezekiel was given a preview of the vilest deeds practised in secret by the elders of his day (v10-13)

And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” He said also to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

The Lord then proceeded to show Ezekiel a scene of women weeping for Tammuz who is coincidentally a regional shepherd deity. It was as if the arrival and message of the Good Shepherd was already being preempted by the forces of hell. The final abomination witnessed by Ezekiel involved the familiar sun worship.

And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. (v16)

The Third wave of the Babylonian exile began with the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. The Ark of the Covenant, which was central to Old Covenant worship, was lost forever, along with its power. The remnants of Judah were forbidden from seeking or recreating it, implying that the Ark was destroyed during the Babylonian siege.

And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. (Jeremiah 3:16)

Another, infinitely greater priestly vessel was being readied to access the Divine, and it was none other than Jesus Christ.

Theological Backdrop

There was however another cardinal artefact that was likely lost during the destruction of Solomon’s Temple. It is rarely, if ever, preached from the pulpit, possibly out of a collective fear of opening a Pandora’s Box. This involved the lost original Torah (Pentateuch), written in Paleo-Hebrew, which had occupied a central spot in Solomon’s Temple. Unlike the scripts repeatedly propagated by Hollywood, the following is a variation of what the original Old Testament would have looked like in its Paleo-Hebrew form.

Source: Wikipedia: Leviticus Scroll fragment (Dead Sea Scrolls)

At this juncture, the reader may ask: So, how was the Old Testament reconstructed during the post-exilic period? They would have been compiled from various sources. For one, members of the Jewish priesthood had to memorize scripture by heart. They would have recited and propagated them during the Babylonian exile. Copies of the original scrolls may have also been secreted throughout ancient Israel in the face of the impending Babylonian threat. The Dead Sea Scrolls, among numerous other artefacts discovered elsewhere, points to this possibility. A few of the Minor Prophets — Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi and possibly Joel and Obadiah — were also around to guide post-exilic Jews to help re-compile their scriptures.

During the 70-year exile, Imperial Aramaic — the official language of Babylon — rapidly began to displace Hebrew as the common tongue of the Jews. To maintain religious continuity, the Targum, an Aramaic paraphrase and interpretation of the Paleo-Hebrew Bible, was introduced to Jewish communities during the post-exilic period. Rabbinic Judaism was likely invented to serve as a bridge between the Paleo-Hebrew and Aramaic epochs. The office of Teachers of the Law may have likewise been established to render old concepts into a new language. Post-exilic realities gradually necessitated the establishment of synagogues (it means “a place of assembly“) to instruct the faithful in the old precepts.

Ancient Jews finally regained a universal bible in the form of the Greek Septuagint (commissioned circa 3rd-2nd Century BC) by the time Jesus was born. And here is where it gets interesting: Nearly 80% of Old Testament references in the New Testament are drawn from the Septuagint. Therefore, when Jesus (and later the Apostles) quoted scripture, they were primarily referencing the Septuagint.

There was an attempt to recreate a Hebrew-language bible through an entirely new square-shaped alphabet as we know them today but the alphabets were only standardised in the first century AD. The reading and interpretation of the Old Testament in the new script were however wholly-dependent on the authority of a new class of rabbis, teachers of the law and the pharisees. Why? Simply because the new alphabet system lacked vowels and was therefore incomprehensible except to initiates. This is how the tradition of the elders, which Jesus universally condemned, began to creep into the Jewish faith. Now, I wonder which other entity had adamantly denied biblical literacy to the masses, upon the pain of death no less, until the 15th century AD?

Vowels (diacritical marks to be precise) were only added to the new Hebrew script during the Masoretic period, which stretched from the 5th to 10th centuries AD. Therefore the Hebrew-language Old Testament (Tanakh) as we know it today was only standardised 1,000 years after Christ’s birth. (I will touch on the significance of the Masoretes in a dedicated commentary soon.

The Warrior King

Between the Babylonian exile and the birth of Jesus, another more selective image of the messiah began to take shape among Jews. It was that of a conquering warrior-king who will liberate the nation from Roman yoke and thereafter bring the entire world under Jewish domination.

This worldview has since been turbocharged by a cohort prophesied in the Book of Revelation as "claiming to be Jews but who are not." (Rev 2:9; Rev 3:9). Old Testament verses which touch on the suffering messiah ( i.e. Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22) were later conveniently omitted in rabbinical sermons. In fact, Isaiah 53 is effectively regarded as the forbidden chapter in Judaism today. It is rarely, if ever, read in synagogues.

That is what religious hierarchy does; it hides what is inconvenient by claiming exegesis to be the sole domain and right of initiates. Most religious Jews today are not even aware that the chapter exists. Modern Judaism strongly discourages adherents from studying the Tanakh (Old Testament) except via the narrow funnel of supervised, Talmudic instruction.

The King of the Jews

By the time Jesus was born, the ancient Jewish faith was badly in need of the promised messiah. The priests and masses however were already conditioned to look out for another type of messiah.

All prior textual clues regarding the season and sign of the Messiah’s birth were lost during the Babylonian exile. Unlike Josiah’s scroll, they would never be recovered — not by the descendants of Jacob anyway. Instead, knowledge regarding signs heralding the arrival of the Messiah would pass on to the "wise men" of Babylon — over whom King Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Daniel as their governor. (Daniel 2:48).

This knowledge was later preserved and passed down through generations of Chaldean wise men until an extraordinary celestial alignment, illuminating the night skies, signaled the birth of the "King of the Jews." Upon encountering this stellar spectacle, the Magi or "magos" as they are called in the Gospel of Matthew (Chapter 2) wasted no time in following its lead to ancient Judea. And the rest, as they say, is history.

However, here is where rabid evangelical Zionists today misuse this passage to subtly promote kabbalah within the church. Their logic goes like this: if the Magi were indeed illuminated by the wisdom of ancient Jews back then, shouldn’t modern Christians likewise pay heed to contemporary Jewish mysticism, "harbingers" and fables as we approach the End Times? Some of them even go so far as claiming that the Magi were actually "Jews" who had opted to remain in Babylonia after their exile had ended. If the Magi were indeed Jews (or their descendants), they would have likely phrased their inquiry at Herod’s court with "Where is our King?" instead of "Where is he who has been born King of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2). The latter phrasing suggests they were complete foreigners.

There may be another reason why Zionist evangelicals keep twisting the Magi passage: the Talmud and its various fabrications were indeed compiled in Babylon centuries after the birth of Christianity. The Talmud, and Kabbalah in particular, needs to be mainstreamed as a source of deep wisdom among the gullible if Zionism is to succeed. Likewise, the Antichrist needs a fabricated ancient continuity if he is to succeed in his satanic End Times mission. The contemporary overload of speculations regarding the esoteric provenance, identity and knowledge of the Magi is yet another Zionist stratagem to nudge Christians in the direction of Kabbalah. Ever wondered where the word "magic" came from?

These wolves in sheep’s clothing remind me of the chief priests in Herod’s court who had pointed the Magi in the direction of Bethlehem. The credentials of these foreigners and their acquired wisdom would have been established at the scene of inquiry. It should have piqued Jewish priestly sensitivities as this was the pivotal event all Jews had been waiting for.

Yet, the Sanhedrin appeared least interested in investigating the matter. Furthermore, despite knowing full-well what Herod was capable of, they had failed to warn the inhabitants of Bethlehem and its surrounding regions of the impending massacre of male infants aged two years and below.

Therefore, the Sanhedrin of that era had blood on their hands at the time of Jesus' birth as well as at the time of his death. I posit that some of them were implacably hostile to Jesus’ ministry 30 years later because they were culpably-linked to an earlier attempt to have him murdered as a child.

For now, however, let us consider the final lessons we can glean from the visit of the Magi. After finally locating the child Messiah, they presented him with the following gifts that presaged his birth, role, and even death.

Gold: Representing kingship and acknowledging Jesus as a king.

Frankincense: A valuable resin used in worship, symbolizing divinity and Jesus' role as God incarnate.

Myrrh: A resin used for anointing and embalming, prefiguring Jesus's death and sacrifice.

These princely gifts were also timely as they enabled Joseph, Mary and the child Messiah to flee to Egypt and sojourn there until the danger was over.

God is not only the author and finisher of our faith, He will also send provisions from the unlikeliest of sources as and when the need arises. This is why Jesus is called the "Bread of Life" and the "True Manna from Heaven."

This should be the true meaning of Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone!

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