What is the most important holiday of the year for Arabs, Jews, and Gentiles? Is it Christmas, Passover, Easter, or the Muslim “Feast of the Sacrifice? We find some interesting answers. Traditions often lead us down strange roads – very different from the reason they were started.  Such is the case with these major holidays.

This Pictorial from Ancient American Tradition gives us the Truth about the date of Christmas.

I will explain later in the context of this article the fascinating information depicted here. It depicts the moon rise at the time of the Savior’s birth. FASCINATING INFORMATION. I will explain that later as well.

Where are we today with Christmas?

Christmas has become highly commercialized and is the biggest money-making season for many businesses. Today, Christmas is way overdone from the original intent. Nowadays commercialization starts well before Thanksgiving. However, on the positive side, many are turned to Christ, His birth, and the love that surrounded His life – causing many to unselfishly give of their means and their time to bless the lives of others. The beautiful Christmas music is inspiring to the soul.

Christmas or Easter

Which is the more important holiday to celebrate, Christmas or Easter? If we ask the question of most Christians, considering the money expended and the time and focus spent, it clearly indicates Christians have lost focus. It is the infinite atonement that opens the door to the greatest of all the gifts of God, the gift of Eternal Life. The Easter season should be our most important time of reflection, celebration, and commemoration so that the Lord would know the feelings of our hearts and our deep feelings of gratitude for this most important event in the history of the Earth.

Interesting

Question

It is interesting to ask the question, “Why did the Lord Jehovah specifically take Abraham from Hebron a three days journey all the way to Mt. Moriah? Here we have another cornerstone message to all who will heed. He led Abraham to Mount Moriah for a type and shadow sacrificial offering – the same Mount where Jehovah knew that He, himself, would be sacrificed. For we read that the Father “so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son” (John 3:16). We give gifts at Christmas. The most important gift ever given is the gift of His Son. Father’s gift of His Son provided the infinite and eternal atonement – the most important work ever to be performed on the face of this Earth.

Both the Father and the Son knew that this was necessary for us to return to the Father through our Faith in His Son and our repentance so that we may receive fully the grace extended by Him. The Father allowed the suffering of His Beloved Son because of His love for us, and the Savior was held to the cross, not by nails, but by love. He could have come down had He chosen to do so – knowing that if He chose to come down, we could not return to the Father. His love for us held Him there.

We cannot comprehend His infinite suffering for us. I just watched a documentary on the “Shroud of Turin” that  touches you to the core about what Christ went through.

Abraham’s Offering is Type and Shadow

Abraham’s willingness to offer his “only” son is a type and shadow of the infinite atonement for us all. It is interesting that the word “love” in the Bible first occurs, as the Lord shares with the world this monumental event. This type and shadow is especially poignant for the descendants of Abraham who are Arab, Jewish, and Christian. For Abraham was told, “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering…” (Gen. 22:8) In the Hebrew, this verse indicates that Jehovah will give himself, the final and great sacrifice.

Important Celebrations

Intriguingly, Muslims, Christians, and Jews all had very important celebrations at the same time of year when Abraham made his famous three day heart-wrenching journey to Mt. Moriah. We saw this specifically among our Muslim friends, while we were serving a mission in West Africa. They celebrate Eid Al-Adha, which means, “The Feast of the Sacrifice” and commemorates Abraham’s willingness to be obedient and sacrifice his son Ishmael to God. In God’s mercy,  the Lord provided a LAMB and saved Ishmael. The Muslims replace Isaac with Ishmael, because the descend from Ishmael.

The Jews’ Passover commemorates their “deliverance” from Egypt. The Lord caused the exodus from Egypt to happen at the same time of year as He would work out the infinite atonement. Thus, as a Jew ponders the Passover, they are led to look to their ultimate “deliverance” through the atonement of Jesus Christ. There are now over 350,000 Messianic Jews, and the number is increasing rapidly.

Many of the Jews converted to Christianity still celebrate the Passover for they can see that it points to Christ. Though most Jews and Muslims unknowingly commemorate the atonement in their celebrations, if they seek, they will find through the eye of faith that grand connection – leading them to Christ.

Christian Tradition

The tradition of celebrating Christmas on December 25th has been shown to not be a valid date for the birth of Christ.  Christmas is celebrated on December 25 in most Western Christian churches (Protestantism and Roman Catholicism). However, the Eastern Orthodox churches have not accepted either the Gregorian calendar or the Revised Julian Calendar reforms. They celebrate Christmas on the 7th of January. A few Christian churches, most notably the Jehovah’s Witnesses, view Christmas as a pagan holiday and do not celebrate it. And their research is valid.

The True date of the Birth of Christ

Jesus’ true birth date was known by the North American Natives. Near Newark, Ohio, they constructed earthworks mapping out the plan of salvation. The date of the Savior’s birth was revealed to them. They made these earthworks to show the world the date of the Savior’s birth. And they knew the moon would be lined up with the 51.8 degree divine ratio at that great celebrated moment of his birth. This alignment depicts the great octagon connecting a perfect sphere. The great octagon depicts the millennium and the sphere depicts the celestial kingdom. The Savior’s birth opens the door for everyone who will come unto Him to enjoy Eternal Life. They knew His birth would be on the 6th of April, and this lunar alignment occurred at that time.

Most scholars believe that the birth of Jesus was probably in the spring and is highly unlikely to have fallen in deep winter. Originally, the Christmas date was set to correspond with Greco-Roman festivals. As early as A.D. 354, the Birth of Christ was celebrated on Dec. 25th in Rome. Other cities had other traditional dates. The word “Christmas” is often abbreviated to “Xmas”, the “X” being an uppercase Greek letter chi, which is the first letter of “Christos” in Greek. The abbreviation is widely known, but not universally accepted and some view it as demeaning to the name of Christ

Dates Given by Revelation

Interestingly, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been given by revelation that the birth date of the Savior is 6 April (Doctrine and Covenants, Section 20). To commemorate this date, in 1830 the Church was organized by Joseph Smith
In the Book of Mormon, the Christians in America were given a sign of His birth. They also saw the new star and began the dating of their calendar with the birth of Christ. They were also given to know of the crucifixion and resurrection. The Book of Mormon calendar properly ties together the Savior’s birth and His infinite atonement.

“And there was also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder, insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to divide asunder. And there were exceedingly sharp lightnings, such as never had been known in all the land. …the whole face of the land was changed, because of the tempest and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings and the lightning, and the exceedingly great quaking of the whole earth; And the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled, and many smooth places became rough. …And behold, the rocks were rent in twain; they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams and in cracks, upon all the face of the land. And it came to pass that when the thunderings, and the lightning, and the storm, and the tempest, and the quakings of the earth did cease—for behold, they did last for about the space of three hours;… —and then behold, there was darkness upon the face of the land. And it came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen could feel the vapor of darkness; And there could be no light, because of the darkness, neither candles, neither torches; neither could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood, so that there could not be any light at all; And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land. And it came to pass that it did last for the space of three days that there was no light seen; and there was great mourning and howling and weeping among all the people continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.” (3 Nephi 8:6-23)
The three days of darkness are still remembered among some of the American Indians, and caused them “… to exclaim: “The God of nature suffers.” (1 Nephi 19:12)

The Savior’s glorious resurrection was most dramatically manifest to those, who were more righteous and who remained after these destructions, by His visit to them. He showed them the marks of the nails on his hands, wrists, and feet. Their calendar gives the date of His crucifixion as being 33 years and four days after his birth. (3 Nephi 8:5).

Marvelous Work and Wonder

Chapter 29 of Isaiah tells of “voices” from the dust sharing a “marvelous work and a wonder. The Book of Mormon beautifully tells of the Savior’s visit to North America and the enormous impact it had on society at that time. There are many Hebrew relics that have been found in North America bearing witness to this monumental event. (I did a podcast with Brian Nettles and Michael Claridge describing the infinite atonement on one of these stones.) https://itsabouttimebook.com/two-hundred-names-for-jesus/ .

So, from the above information, we see that the Savior’s birth, the Jewish Passover, the Muslim’s “Feast of the Sacrifice,” and the infinite and eternal atonement are all concurrent dates of the year (within a week or so), and needs to be our greatest celebration.
What a unifying thing it would be if Muslims, Jews, and Christians would come together in the realization that they are all celebrating the same thing. The Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the most important event in the history of the earth, for all of Heavenly Father’s children.

It is my prayer, that all faiths, cultures, and races will unite in the spirit of love. It would honor the life and death of Him who gave all that we may receive all, even a fullness of joy in the mansions of the Father. May we forgive as He forgave. May we love as He loves. And, that our repentance be complete so we may receive fully of the infinite grace extended by Him.

Starting with Gethsemane and ending with His glorious resurrection, He completed the seven steps to His infinite atonement.  He was held to the cross by love, and because of Him we now partake of His loving embrace and partake of His grace. The fullness of His gospel offers eternal life and a fullness of joy, and we look forward to a glorious resurrection. For me we should celebrate Him continually and especially celebrate Easter, when He overcame all things.

David W. Allan
Photo: John Lefgren

PS His suffering in Gethsemane was greater than what the Jews and Romans put Him through with His trial and crucifixion. Dr. John Campbell shares incredible insights about this in his video about the “Shroud of Turin.”