Basic HTML Version
From Garner Ted Armstrong's new book
~REAL
JESUS
THE GREATEST STORY
NEVERTOLD
"Jesus was born sometime in the late summer or early autumn of 4 B.
C."
The first
time
1
ever made this statement
1
was received with a combination of doubt, incredulity, hostility
and outright pity.
11
How in the world could Jesus have been born before Christ?"
1
was
asked. This article, excerpted from my new book
The Real J esus,
wi/1 show you just how Christ
could have been born B.
C.
and recount more of the fascinating
circumstances surrounding His nativity.
F
roro early on, Mary understood
that sbe was pregnant- after
aU, hadn' t an angel told her
this would happen?
And naturally, she and her new
husband Joseph had been living
with the pain of growing notoriety
ever since it became obvious to
friends and relatives that she had
"jumped the gun ." They were fu lly
prepared to accept this social dis–
grace, but still
it
was tough- they
were as human as you and
I.
There were, though, close friends
and relatives who knew the truth.
Joseph and Mary could spend time
with such people, away from the
smirks and knowing stares of the
others. For example, Elizabeth and
Ma ry were cousins, and Elizabeth
was carrying a baby who would
grow up to become John the Baptist.
8 oth remembered the remarkable
occasion when
this
unbom child had
reacted so obviously when the two
expectant mothers met (Luke 1).
Even though Mary and Joseph
had probably spent many sessions
poring over the scriptural proph-
by
Garner Ted Armstrong
ecies referring lo the baby within
ber body- explaining this remark–
able transformation in their own
prívate lives which had turned their
world upside down- they did not
have perfect understanding of many
vague scriptural references which
on ly later carne into focus after th e
events they referred to had tran–
spired .
So they suffered when friends
talked behind their backs; they hurt
when former friends shunned them;
they probably had second, or even
third, thoughts about the tremen–
dous burden they had assumed. Still
they had the courage to see it
through.
But now yet another tria! faced
them : the need to travel to Bethle–
hem, Joseph's fami ly's ci ty of origin,
to be counted in the vast worldwide
census decreed by the Roman gov–
ernment.
Since Joseph was of the lineage of
David (as genealogical records in
both Matthew and Luke prove). he
had to journey with his wife in an
advanced state of pregnancy froro
Nazareth to Bethlehem, which is
called the "city of David."
lt
may have seemed a cruel twist
of fate- to be required by the Ro–
mans to travel all that distance dur–
ing Mary's final, crucial month of
pregnancy. It is clear that Joseph
and Ma ry were not deliberately act–
ing ou t any Old Tes tament proph–
ecy, or, knowing that the Christ was
to be born in Bethlehem, they
would have tried to travel earlier, at
an easier time, and would have ar–
ranged accommodations more suit–
able than tbe hasty, las t-ditc h
improvisation of a stable.
Neither could they have known
that at the end of a terribly difficult
trip they would become exiles in a
fo reign count ry, wa iting for Herod
the Great to die.
Chrlst Was Born B.C.
The census in Palestine took place,
acco rding lo fault y mod e rn
chronological reckoning, about the
year4 B.C.
It so happens that in the Western
Christian-professing world the
4
From lhe book
The Real Jesus
by Garner Ted Armstrong. Copyright @1977 Garner Ted Armstrong.
Pubhshed by Sheed Andrews and McMeet. tnc.• Shawnee Mission, Kansas.