Ten Biggest Myths - Jesus Christ Myth #1

Luke 1

Introduction

¹Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled^[a] among us, ²just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ³Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

⁵In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. ⁶Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. ⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.

⁸Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, ⁹he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.

¹¹Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. ¹³But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. ¹⁴He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.^[b] ¹⁶Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord."

¹⁸Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."

¹⁹The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. ²⁰And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time."

²¹Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. ²²When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.

²³When his time of service was completed, he returned home. ²⁴After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. ²⁵"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

³⁴"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

³⁵The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called^[c] the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God."

³⁸"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴²In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Mary's Song

    ⁴⁶And Mary said:
   "My soul glorifies the Lord
       ⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    ⁴⁸for he has been mindful
      of the humble state of his servant.
   From now on all generations will call me blessed,
       ⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
      holy is his name.
    ⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear him,
      from generation to generation.
    ⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
      he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
    ⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
    ⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things
      but has sent the rich away empty.
    ⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,
      remembering to be merciful
    ⁵⁵to Abraham and his descendants forever,
      even as he said to our fathers."

⁵⁶Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they shared her joy.

⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, ⁶⁰but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."

⁶¹They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

⁶²Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵The neighbors were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. ⁶⁶Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

Zechariah's Song

    ⁶⁷His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
    ⁶⁸"Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
      because he has come and has redeemed his people.
    ⁶⁹He has raised up a horn^[d] of salvation for us
      in the house of his servant David
    ⁷⁰(as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
    ⁷¹salvation from our enemies
      and from the hand of all who hate us—
    ⁷²to show mercy to our fathers
      and to remember his holy covenant,
    ⁷³the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
    ⁷⁴to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
      and to enable us to serve him without fear
    ⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
    ⁷⁶And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
      for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
    ⁷⁷to give his people the knowledge of salvation
      through the forgiveness of their sins,
    ⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God,
      by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
    ⁷⁹to shine on those living in darkness
      and in the shadow of death,
   to guide our feet into the path of peace."

⁸⁰And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the desert until he appeared publicly to Israel.

There are two different lines of lineage. On Satan's side there is the elder son, elder king and elder parents. This group has to be restored back in order to rejoin the heavenly lineage. Simply speaking, we have to restore the secular families back to the heavenly families. This is what is needed. From God's point of view there are two different kinds of mothers and children. In order to restore them it requires that the younger son take the elder son's position. Father should become the son and the son should become the father. This kind of reversal is needed.

Adam was in the position of head of the family. Jacob was in the position of head of the tribe. In Jacob's time, he had to implement this course of restoration which was the reverse course. In the Garden of Eden, Eve cheated God's elder son, Adam and God. Through this she turned over the entire family to Satan. Therefore at the time of Jacob, Isaac's wife Rebecca, who was the mother of Jacob, cheated her husband, father and elder son figure, Esau. Rebecca took this family back to the elder son and God. This was the reversal of this course. That is the course of indemnity. Rebecca, in Eve's position, had to take the indemnity way and reverse the course.

Israel means victory. What is the meaning of this victory? The reversal of the lineage from Satan back to God's side. At the time of Tamar, she was married to two of Judah's sons. Both of them died without leaving children. Tamar felt the importance of the continuation of this lineage and knew she was the one to carry it on. She wanted to marry the third son. However, Judah forbade it. Risking her life, Tamar deceived Judah, her father-in-law, into having a sexual relationship with her by disguising herself as a prostitute in order to continue this lineage. She conceived twins, who fought in her womb to be born first. God told her that two nations were fighting in her womb. The restoration which took place at the time of Jacob between the elder and younger brother, now took place directly inside the womb of Tamar between her two sons.

Through this complicated course of restoration through indemnity at the time of Jesus, mother Mary, had to indemnify the course of Tamar before she could give birth to Jesus. This is the brief history of the Old Testament era and the dawning of the New Testament era. By the time Jesus was born the Roman Empire had spread throughout the world. Therefore, Jesus needed the national level foundation in order to deal with the Roman Empire. If Jesus had not died, but rather had been supported and accepted by the Israelites and Judaism, then and only then, upon that foundation he could have conquered the Roman Empire within seven years. However, he was crucified.

We need to clearly understand the relationship between mother Mary and Zachariah's family. If Jacob's family was the starting point at the tribal level, then Mary and Zachariah's family were the starting point of the national level providence. In the family of Jacob, Rachel should have become the first wife, not Leah. However, Leah became the first wife. In this regard, that particular providence failed. The mother was supposed to assist her daughters so that order could be established in the correct way. However, this was reversed. If Rachel's mother had been totally united with Rachel and had pushed Leah away, then at the tribal level Rachel could have become the first wife of Jacob.

At the time of Adam and Eve, Eve was supposed to become the first wife of Adam, but only after she had made a relationship with Satan did she become Adam's wife. This meant the order was reversed. Same situation. In the family of Jacob, the two sisters, Leah and Rachel were never able to unite with one another. There was always disharmony. Eventually their children formed into two separate tribes. The mission of the prophet Elijah was to unify these two tribes before the coming of the Messiah in order to make straight the way of the Lord as predicted in the Old Testament.

At the time of Jesus, on the national level, in the family of Zachariah this order had to be straightened out. The position of the original wife was taken by Elizabeth, Zachariah's wife. Elizabeth's son was John the Baptist. However, through them alone there was no way to complete the restoration. There had to exist the younger sister's position in order to establish the heavenly lineage. In the family of Zachariah, Elizabeth was in the position of elder sister and Mary was in the position of younger sister. The younger sister, in the course of restoration, was supposed to take over the elder sister's husband. Mary became the elder sister and Elizabeth became the younger sister. Because of the Fall of Man, restoration always has to come about through the second wife, the concubine line. That has been the history of restoration.

In Jacob's family, Leah hated her younger sister Rachel and she completely dominated Jacob and produced ten children, whereas Rachel had only two children. However, Elizabeth, the wife of Zachariah actually volunteered to introduce Mary to Zachariah because of her revelation from God. This was completely opposite to Leah who desired to occupy Jacob and his family. Whereas Elizabeth's desire was how to save God's providential foundation within their family. Because of God's revelation she invited her younger sister Mary to take the position of wife to her husband.

She allowed Mary to stay in her family for three months. A woman doesn't become pregnant through staying overnight. If you really research into the Bible you will see this. Therefore, after three months of staying in Zachariah's household Mary became pregnant. Mary had the responsibility to indemnify the failure of Eve as well as the failure of Rachel and Leah. Therefore while she was pregnant she had to deceive her husband figure (Joseph) as well as her father figure. Let us imagine ourselves in that time when the younger sister Mary actually took away Elizabeth's husband and became pregnant.

Mary was Jesus' mother, but Joseph was not his father. When Joseph married her, Mary was pregnant and Joseph knew that it was not his child she carried. Joseph did not know anything except what he was told in one short dream. He was a righteous man so he married Mary as he was instructed to do by an angel, but how long do you think Joseph could feel righteous and happy about it? Don't you think he kept on wondering and repeatedly asking her, "Whose baby is it?" Could Mary just casually answer, "Oh, it was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so you should be happy'? Even if Mary had truthfully said that, do you think that Joseph would have responded with joy?

Be realistic and imagine yourself in that position. Suppose everyone respects you as a very generous man, but you have to marry some woman who is pregnant with someone else's child. If she told you that it was conceived by the Holy Spirit then perhaps one day you would not have resentment, but could you still feel generous for all the years afterward? If one of you were in Joseph's situation, hearing gossip and criticism all around, would you feel very happy and content with Mary? Would you be glad to serve the child once he was born and sacrifice to protect him from evil? It is likely that Joseph asked Mary many times whose baby she carried, because he was curious and because he tried to understand.

Remember that at that time an unmarried woman who became pregnant was required by Mosaic law to be stoned for committing adultery. At first Joseph probably thought he would understand, but in the long run he could not accept the situation. Do you think that their relationship was happy for very long? It is probable that they quarreled and distrusted each other rather than fully understanding and cooperating in love. Once Jesus was born the rift no doubt became even greater, and Joseph looked upon Jesus as something which was not wanted and which had ruined his relationship with Mary.

Judging from the reality of human nature this was the situation that probably existed all through Jesus' life. Because of their parents' attitude towards Jesus, even his own brothers and sisters would not have respected him, much less have thought that he was the son of God. They would have even treated him worse than other children because he was different.

Because of Mary's success in reversing the course which had failed at the time of Eve, Rebecca and Tamar, now the son she had in her womb at the national level was sanctified. That is why she was able to give birth to the Holy Son of God, Jesus. Jesus was born completely free of Satanic accusation. God controlled everything concerning his conception and birth. He was God's begotten true son; begotten son, begotten father, begotten king, like Adam. Turn back everything to God from Satan's world.

At the time of Jesus, John the Baptist stood in the position of Cain while Jesus stood in the position of Abel. This means that John the Baptist stood in the position of the Archangel while Jesus stood in the position of Adam.

Jesus Christ Myth #1:

Jesus came into the world by "virgin birth" and has no biological father.

Fact: