There are 7 Feasts of the LORD besides the weekly Shabbat. On three of the seven Feasts of the LORD, Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), and Succoth (Feast of Tabernacles) all the Jewish men were commanded by God to come up yearly to Jerusalem to bring an offering to God. Of these three Feasts, the two most important Feasts are Passover and Succoth. (This also will be held during the Millennial Kingdom years. See Ezekiel 45:17-25)
Yeshua died on Passover. But the greatest of these 7 Feasts of the LORD is Succoth. There is much biblical evidence that clearly proves that Yeshua was born on Succoth. I have written two books on this subject of Yeshua’s true birthday on the Feast of Succoth. One is called, ‘Yeshua’s True Birthday on Succoth!’ This was published in 2018. And the other book is called, ‘Yeshua’s True Birthday, 20 Points of Evidence that Yeshua was born on Succoth’ This was also published in 2018. Both of these books are free to download off my website.
Most believers in Yeshua today know that Yeshua was not born on December 25th, Christmas day. For Yeshua’s true birthday was on Succoth, the Feast of Tabernacles.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and tabernacled among us, and we beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of Grace and Truth.
However this paper is written primarily about the mystery of our Lord Yeshua’s Conception, which happened nine months prior to His birthday. Was Yeshua’s Conception prophesied in the Scriptures? Was this also around the time of year nine months prior to Succoth in what is known as the Chanukkah and Christmas time of year? Is this when those most special events took place in Israel that were recorded in the Bible in the first chapter of the book of Luke? Let’s read those Scriptures and find out …
Luke 1:11-17 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the Altar of Incense. And when Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the angel Gabriel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisheva will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Yochanan (John). And you shall have joy and gladness; and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijahu, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Luke 1:24-38 Now after those days his wife Elisheva conceived; and she hid herself five months… Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Miriam. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Miriam, for you have found favor with God. And, behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Yeshua (Salvation)!
He shall be Great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the LORD God will give Him the Throne of His father David. And He will Reign over the House of Jacob forever; and of His
Kingdom there will be no end.” (See Isaiah 9:6, 7)
Then Miriam said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God!
Now indeed, Elisheva (of Aaron) your relative (the Greek word used for ‘relative’ meant blood relative; and in Hebrew this is ‘karov,’ which means close relative), has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible!”
Then Mariam said, “Behold the maid servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:39-44 Now Miriam arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah. And entered into the house of (the Aaronic priest) Zechariah and greeted Elisheva (of Aaron). And it happened, when Elisheva heard the greeting of Miriam, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisheva was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the Fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”
Yes, indeed, Miriam was ‘highly favored’, and also blessed’ among women! For it had been some 4000 years prior when God had first spoken the prophesy to Eve about her special Seed, who would one day destroy the serpent. (Genesis 3:15) Woman’s contribution to that Seed would be the physical body of the only begotten Son of God, Heaven’s King and Great High Priest, Melchi Zedek, (my King of Righteousness) who would be coming to earth, and fulfilled that day with Conception in the young Jewish virgin Miriam. (“… but a body You have prepared for Me.” quoting from Hebrews 10:5, which comes from the Septuagint in Psalm 40:6.) And that Seed from Eve would travel through two Hebrew tribes and family lines, through the line of kings from king David and also through the line of high priests from high priest Yehoshua of high priest Zadok of Aaron. For the King and High Priest of Heaven would be born fulfilling these two family lines of the earthly kings from David and also high priests from Zadok, through Yeshua’s virgin mother Miriam’s father and mother. See Jeremiah 33: 17,18, 24; Zechariah 3:1, 8; Zechariah 6:11-13, and also there are many more biblical Scriptural proofs.
Yes, Elisheva’s baby Yochanan had been filled with the Holy Spirit and had leaped for job in the womb of his mother when Miriam greeted Elisheva (fulfilling the prophesy given to his father Zechariah (who was the mystery Zadokite Aaronic high priest) by the angel Gabriel, in Luke 1:15. For Yeshua the Son of God, had now come into the world during that special time of Conception, and was fully Alive, and living safely with God, the Holy Spirit, within the womb of His mother Miriam. For the Human Life of Yeshua, the Son of God and Son of Man had begun at His Conception.
Had Yeshua’s Conception been prophesied in the Old Testament?
Yes!
Where is that found in the Old Testament Scriptures and what does it say? It is found in a few places.
“Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a Sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanu El (God is with us).” Isaiah 7:14
Could God have also revealed to us in His Word exactly what time of year when this great miracle of Yeshua’s Conception would happen? And could God also have revealed to us in His Word what specific month and what specific day of the year this would happen?
Yes! God told us all these things in His Word. This can be found in the book of Haggai, chapter 2 and versus 18 and 19.
This happened around 520 B.C.
“Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, (the ninth Hebrew month is called Kislev, and generally is in December), even from the day that the Foundation of the LORD’s Temple was laid, consider it … from this day I will bless you.” Haggai 2:18, 19
I believe from the Scriptures that this was the actual day of our Lord’s Conception! This day occurs nine months before Succoth, which was Yeshua’s true Birthday.
The 24th day of the ninth Hebrew month is the 24th of Kislev. The feast of Chanukkah (164 B.C.) begins on the 25th of Kislev, and lasts for eight days.
In the year 2005, Christmas day December 25th, fell on the 24th of Kislev. In the year 2016, Christmas eve, December 24th fell on the 24th of Kislev. In 2019, the 24th of Kislev fell on December 22, etc…
Isaiah 28:16 Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I lay in Zion a Stone (Yeshua) for a foundation, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.”
Can we also find any possible evidence that this Truth of Yeshua’s Conception was also revealed by Yeshua Himself in any of the Gospel’s? Yes.Yeshua spoke about His Conception during Chanukah! Let’s read about it in the book of John 10.
John 10:22-38 Now it was the Feast of Dedication (Chanukah, which begins on Kislev 25) in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Yeshua walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Yeshua answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them Eternal Life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is Greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are One!”
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Yeshua answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” Yeshua answered them, “Is it not written in your Torah, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? (Psalm 82:6) If He called them gods, to whom the Word of God came (the Scripture cannot be broken), verse 36, do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I Am the Son of God’?
If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the Works, that you may know and believe that My Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (John 16:28 thru 17:18)
Yeshua was telling them during Chanukah, an eight day feast, perhaps also on the first day of that feast, on the 25th of Kislev, that His Father had sent Him into the world. He spoke this after Kislev 24, His Conception. Yeshua was sent into the world by His Father at His Conception, which was nine months before His birth on Succoth.
His Conception in the virgin Miriam was the Foundation of the LORD’s Temple being laid, which happened in Israel in the winter and on the 24th of Kislev. And here, during Chanukah, was one of the three times in the Gospel’s when Yeshua spoke about His Father sending Him into the world.
The other two times when He spoke about His Father sending Him into the world were both on the day of His death, on Passover. Why? Because Yeshua was sent into the world to die for our sins, to open up ‘the Way,’ for us to be able to come Home to our Creator, our Father, the Almighty God.
John 20:17 Yeshua said to her, “ … go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’ ”
John 16:27 “… for My Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. 16:28 I came forth from My Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to My Father.”
John 17:14 “I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17:15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17:17 Sanctify them by Your Truth. Your Word is Truth! 17:18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the Truth.
By the way, the feast of Chanukah could never have been Yeshua’s Conception day. Why? Chanukah (165 B.C.) was when the Maccabees took back the Jerusalem Temple from Israel’s Greek enemies, and also cleaned the Temple. But recorded in Jewish history, but not mentioned in the bible, this was also when the Maccabees took over the Jerusalem Temple, kicking out the Zadok high priest and the other Zadokite Aaronic priests, and thus corrupting the whole Temple priesthood, in violation of God’s Word given only to the Zadokite priests, until the Temple was finally destroyed in 70 A.D. Read and study God’s Word given to the Zadokite priests in Ezekiel 43:18, 19 and 44:15, 16.
It had been prophesied in a few places in the Scriptures that the Messiah would be coming from two families through the virgin, David’s family and also Zadok’s family. Jeremiah 22:17, 18; Zechariah 3:1-8; Zechariah 6:11-13. And then the whole Zadokite high priest family was then forced to go into hiding, possibly setting up some of their community out at the Dead Sea.
In the opening scene of the whole New Covenant, some 165 years later, priest Zechariah, the future father of Yochanan, proved to be the real mystery Zadokite high priest when God sent angel Gabriel to speak to him while he was ministering at the Altar of Incense in the Temple before God. (Luke 1:8-20) How can we know for certain that priest Zechariah was a son from the Zadokite high priest family, and secondly that he was also the mystery Zadokite high priest of Israel?
King Herod had appointed two high priests for the Jerusalem Temple, Annas and Caiaphas. (Luke 3:2) These two men may have been Aaronic priests, but they were not from the Zadokite family, the only Aaronic priest family that God said would be allowed to serve Him in the high priest position. Read Ezekiel 44:15, 16 and also Ezekiel 43:18, 19.
When the angel Gabriel was sent by God to speak to Zechariah in the Temple, this proved that priest Zechariah was a son from the Zadokite family, the only family which God said He allowed to minister in the Temple. (Ezekiel 44: 18, 19) Also the Altar of Incense was the place given to Aaron, the first high priest, and to his future generation of sons, who would serve Him as high priests before God at the Altar of Incense. See Exodus 30:1, 7; This is where the angel Gabriel had appeared to priest Zechariah, at this place which God had given only to His Aaronic high priest.
Also, why did God open the New Covenant in the book of Luke with the first scene being about the Aaronic Priesthood? And what did this old Aaronic priest Zechariah and his wife Elisheva of the daughers of Aaron who could not have children, have to do with Yeshua and with His mother?
What was the mystery relationship between virgin Miriam of Judah and her close blood relative (‘karov’ in Hebrew) Elisheva of Aaron? Why was this young virgin Miriam, pregnant with God’s Baby Yeshua, directed by God through God’s angel Gabriel to spend her first three months with the Aaronic priest Zechariah and his wife Elisheva of Aaron? Who really were they, as Miriam’s closest blood kin relatives? And what role was their yet unborn son Yochanan to play in Yeshua’s life?
Also why did their unborn son have to be called Yochanan? What would be his true relationship to Miriam’s newly conceived Son, Yeshua? What were all these bible mysteries really about?
The answers to these and so many other bible mysteries found in the Gospels reveal so many amazing revelations that God has kept hidden related to Yeshua and His family only until recently, for these End Times, specifically for the Salvation of Israel.
To me the greatest mystery of all is this mystery about the true identity of our Lord Yeshua coming from the Zadokite high priest family of Aaron, which God first began showing me in 1993, and which He then first had me start teaching and writing about 20 years later, in 2013. I have written five books and dozens of articles on this mystery of Yeshua coming from the high priest family of Zadok of Aaron. My most recent book was published in 2018 and is called, ‘Yeshua, my King of Righteousness … Heaven’s King and Great High Priest, from the ‘Seed’ of King David and High Priest Zadok of Aaron.’ All my books and articles are free to download from my website.
In conclusion, I want to leave you with one true related riddle, and also with its answer: What was the only time in Jewish history where three real high priests of God were all in the same room at the same time?
It was the time when Miriam came to visit Elisheva and priest Zechariah. Priest Zechariah was the true mystery Zadokite high priest of Israel. In Elisheva’s womb was Yochanan, the next Zadok high priest of Israel. And in the womb of Miriam was Yeshua, the High Priest of Heaven.
Before concluding this special teaching, I want to comment on one more important proof that Yeshua was born on Succoth.
There is one other major teaching concerning the mystery of Yeshua’s true birthday taught by another leading Messianic rabbi, who says that Yeshua was not born on Succoth, but that He was born on the first day of the month of Nisan, the first biblical Hebrew month of the year, Passover the 14th day of that month.
If that teaching were true, then because Yochanan was six months older that Yeshua, he would have begun ministering six months before the month of Nisan, during the fall season.
Mark 1:5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
Since that was during the time from October to April, it could not have been possible for that would have been during the Israeli cold winter months. This new information proves that this other teaching about the mystery of Yeshua’s birthday is not correct!
Why is the Chanukah and Christmas time the most wonderful time of the year?
Because this was when God’s Love came into the earth with the Conception of Yeshua in the womb of virgin Miriam!
This is when Yeshua, the Son of God and the Son of Man came into the earth!