A voice in the wilderness

 

If I were to describe an event which happened when Queen Elizabeth first visited the USA, or when President Reagan won the election, or when a particular team won the football championship, or in the same month your cousin Elma got married, you would be able to pin-point the exact year I am talking about. Because these events are recorded in history and you can look them up as to when they happened. 

But of course we do not refer to events' timing in this way, do we? These days we say the actual year the event happened, or if we want to be precise we give the exact date of a royal visit or an election or whatever. 

But it wasn't always so. At the time of Jesus people referred to dates by stating when certain things happened. That is because they did not measure time and years as we do now; and also in order to pin-point a certain period of time that people can relate to. They also had different calendars like the Jewish, Greek and the Roman calendars, compared to now when we all refer to the same dates A.D. (Anno Domini). 

Let's read this bit from Luke 3:1-6:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.  

Note the many references: Caesar had ruled for 15 years, Pilate was Governor, Herod and his brother Philip were rulers, and so was Lysanias. Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.

By placing all these milestones in history together historians can pin-point almost precisely when John the Baptist started his mission. Around the year 28 or 29 AD as an educated a guess.

The reading continues:

He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

So not only do we pin-point the time period, but also the place where this happened - all the region around Jordan.

What do we learn from this? Simply that it is a fact which happened in history. The writer (Luke) is not telling a fairy story, "Once upon a time," but has taken care to research his facts and state precisely when and where what he is saying happened. He is providing evidence for his readers at the time which they can check independently to prove for themselves that these events happened.

The Bible is full of such references of times and places where things happened and the names of the people involved. Names like Herod, Pilate, Caiaphas, Simon of Cyrene, Joseph of Arimathea and so many others. Besides, the Sanhedrin (Jewish judicial and administrative council in the ancient Land of Israel that served religious, civil, and criminal functions) kept written records of Court cases and there is written evidence of Christ's arrest and trial. 

Which proves that the Bible is based on true facts. It is not a fairy story. Jesus, the Son of God, was born as a human here on earth and lived amongst us. He died and was resurrected and many testified to this. It is fact; not a fairy story.

Makes you think, doesn't it?