The Star of Bethlehem

The birth of Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of human history. Our years are numbered in accordance with the eras BC and AD signifying Before Christ and Anno Domini, i.e., "in the year of the Lord." We celebrate the biggest holiday of the year in remembrance of His birth but amazingly, we still do not know the actual day He was born. For over two thousand years now, the date has remained shrouded in mystery. However, God may have provided for us just enough information to untangle this longstanding riddle. Sifting through that information will be the focus of this book. Using a combination of secular history, archaeology, astronomy, and Holy Scripture, we will develop a comprehensive theory, piece by piece, that supports the chronology for the birth, ministry, and crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. The evidence will be built on a firm foundation starting with God's declaration in Genesis 1:14 that among other things, the heavens are for signs. The famous star that "stood over where the child was," or the "Star of Bethlehem" is one of those signs. Step by step, we will sort through the evidence to build our case one layer at a time, comparing our theory and chronology with secular history, supporting our belief that God's only Son truly walked among us, and that the Bible has provided for us an actual historically accurate account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The book was developed and organized in an attempt to enable the reader to validate, challenge, or refute the evidence for themselves. A total of four hundred and forty-seven (447) endnotes have been provided to facilitate independent assessment and verification of the source references by the reader. The book's findings are supported by a variety of illustrations, having seventy seven (77) figures and tables covering a wide range of topics using: celestial sky maps to illustrate the Star of Bethlehem's course in the heavens, detailed timelines from the course of Abijah in Luke 1:5 to the birth of Christ in Luke 2:7, Herod's last years, the Passion Week, Josephus' histories of King Herod, and the Census of Quirinius. Tables dating the Governors of Syria, images of ancient coins, timelines of Gaius Caesar's Syrian governorship, the War of Varus, and much more.