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THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:27 am
by Paidion
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

No, the first Christmas wasn't the birth of Christ. In fact, the birth of Christ wasn't a Christmas (Christ's mass) at all.
The first Christmas took place in the fourth century when the catholic (universal) church held three masses in honour of the three births of Christ:

1. His birth before all ages (Revelation 3:14)
2. His birth from the virgin, Mary (Luke 2:7)
3. His birth in the hearts of the faithful (Galatians 4:18)

Re: THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 2:26 pm
by 3Resurrections
Hi Paidion,

Looks as if their list totally ignored Christ's birth on His resurrection day in AD 33 as the Rev. 1:5 "First-begotten among the dead". That birth was predicted in Psalms 2:7 (cp. Acts 13:33). "...THIS DAY have I begotten thee." It fulfilled the reason for the dedication to God of every first-born male under the Old Covenant. Every prophetic date in scripture is anchored to that singular event in AD 33 of the "First Resurrection" of "Christ the First-fruits", resurrected to stand for the first time before God in heaven that very day in His glorified human form. He "opened the matrix" for every one of His siblings, God's children, to eventually receive the same type of inheritance of a resurrected, glorified, incorruptible body form standing in their Father's presence.

Christ was uniquely defined, not only as the virgin Mary's firstborn with His earthly birth, but also as God's "First-born", according to Ps. 2:7's description of Christ's "birth" in heaven that resurrection day in AD 33.

My husband gets a peculiar satisfaction of thinking he might very well share the same date for Christ's birthday on earth during the Feast of Tabernacles week. The symbolism of Christ coming to "tabernacle" with us on earth, with His birth coinciding with that festival, seems too significant to be an accidental connection.

Re: THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 9:55 pm
by Paidion
Looks as if their list totally ignored Christ's birth on His resurrection day in AD 33 as the Rev. 1:5 "First-begotten among the dead".


Yes, it does look as if the early catholics missed that one.

Actually it's "first-born from the dead." The Greek word means "first-born" not "first-begotten."
All the translations with which I have checked render the word as "first-born."

Re: THE FIRST CHRISTMAS

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:37 pm
by 3Resurrections
Hi Paidion,

Well, it seems that Christ can claim both titles: the "First-born", as well as the "First-begotten". I'm relying on the KJV for Rev. 1:5, which is the verse I presume we are both looking at, yes? "And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth..." (In my hurry, I did copy it a bit off-track in the above comment. Thanks for checking the accuracy, Paidion.)

As a matter of fact, as of the time John 1:14 was written, Jesus was still called the "ONLY begotten of the Father" that the disciples had seen, because, at that point in history, no one except Christ had yet ascended to the Father in a resurrected, glorified body form (as attested to in John 3:13 and Rev. 15:8). That then-present status for Christ in John 1:14 as the "ONLY begotten" changed later in AD 70, when the 2nd bodily resurrection event took place on that year's Pentecost Day. That was when Christ received unto Himself His "many brethren"; the "many sons" who were brought unto glory. (Which does not exclude a third resurrection event in our future, as my username indicates.)

In addition, there's a fine line of distinction that needs to be drawn between the "First-begotten" title and the "First-fruits". Christ is the only one - ever - who can claim that birth-order title of the "First-begotten of the dead", since He was the absolute first one to ascend to the Father and stand in His presence in a glorified, resurrected human form. But there were some saints bodily raised before Christ, such as Lazarus. They just never ascended to the Father in their resurrected state before Christ did. No one. Not even Enoch or Elijah, who only seemed to go by a whirlwind "as it were into heaven" (II Kings 2:1, 11 in the LXX).

That title of the "First-fruits" is not unique to Christ alone, however. There were 144,000 other First-fruits saints raised along with Christ the First-fruits in the "First Resurrection" of AD 33 who shared that same title with Him. In other words, they were the Matt. 27:52-53 resurrected group of saints, which I take to be a literal as well as a highly-symbolic number of 144,000.