Thread by @johndyer

December 25:
Probably not Jesus’s birthday, but it could be the day Jesus was conceived and became an incarnate God-cell.

Here’s how ...

Zechariah belonged to the priestly division of Abijah (Luke 1:5)

Abijah served in the temple in the eighth slot (1 Chr 24:5,10), in the month of Sivan (late May, early June)

When he returned home, Elizabeth would have conceived sometime in June.

We know Elizabeth stayed in seclusion for five months (Luke 1:24)

Then, “In the *sixth* month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.” (Luke 1:26-27)

If Mary was pregnant six months after Elizabeth, and Elizabeth became pregnant in June, it’s reasonable that Mary became pregnant in December.

December 25? Maybe!

Jesus was then likely born around September, before the shepherds (Luke 2:8) went in for the winter.

So today, December 25 could be the day that a single cell broke into a broken world and began growing into the baby who would become a man who would suffer and save the world.

“And she [Eve] will be saved by the childbearing [of Jesus]” (1 Tim 2:15a)