Stephen Jones — Christology
b3 — Secrets of Time
The Birth and Incarnation
Jones establishes his thesis: “We will show in this booklet the evidence that Jesus was born in 2 B.C. at the time of Israel’s Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashana), which fell on September 29 that year.” (Ch. 9, §Introduction)
On the virginal conception: “We know from Luke 1:36 that John’s mother was five or six months pregnant with him when Mary conceived by the Holy Ghost.” (Ch. 9, §Ministry of John and Jesus)
On Luke’s historical reliability: “New evidence, however, has now come to light, which not only affirms Luke’s statement, but also dates the birth of Jesus in 2 B.C., rather than the commonly accepted date of 4 or 5 B.C.” (Ch. 9, §Cyrenius)
His definitive conclusion: “I believe that He was born on the evening of the Feast of Trumpets, which in that year fell on September 29.” (Ch. 9, §Jesus Born on the Feast of Trumpets)
Jones references Luke’s account of the shepherds: “Luke 2:8 says that on the night Jesus was born angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds in a nearby field.” (Ch. 9, §Introduction)
Interpretation: Jones connects the incarnation to the Hebrew feast calendar as a prophetic framework — consistent with his approach in b1 (Creation’s Jubilee) and b2 (The Restoration of All Things).
Patristic Witnesses to Jesus as Christ
Jones documents early church testimonies as historical evidence for Jesus’ birth year. Irenaeus (c. 180 A.D.) in Against Heresies III,xxi,3: “Our Lord was born about the 41st year of the reign of Augustus.” (Ch. 9, §Irenaeus and Eusebius)
Tertullian (198 A.D.) in An Answer to the Jews: “the Christ is born” in the forty-first year of Augustus. (Ch. 9, §Tertullian)
On the broad early consensus: “there were, before the year 500, no less than ten Christian witnesses who agreed on the year in which Christ was born.” (Ch. 9, §Early Church Witnesses; citing W.E. Filmer)
Justin Martyr (mid-2nd century) in his First Apology 34: “Now there is a village in the land of the Jews, thirty-five stadia from Jerusalem, in which Jesus was born, as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing made under Cyrenius, your first procurator in Judea.” (Ch. 9, §Justin Martyr)
Interpretation: Jones presents patristic consensus as historical-juridical evidence for early Christian recognition of Jesus as the Christ.
Royal Office (Messiah as King)
On the Magi as witnesses to Jesus’ messiahship: “These signs motivated them to make the long trip west to the land of Judea, knowing that the Messianic King had been born.” (Ch. 9, §The Magi)
Jones explicitly identifies Jesus as Messiah and High Priest: “In the nearby town of Bethlehem, they found the Messiah, the High Priest of the Order of Melchi-sedec.” (Ch. 9, §The Magi)
On Daniel’s 70 weeks and Jesus as Messiah the Prince, Jones quotes Dan. 9:25-26: “Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks… And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks)
On the Messiah’s cutting off: “The Messiah was to be ‘cut off’ sometime after the 62-week period.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks; Dan. 9:26)
Interpretation: Jesus’ royal office is supported both historically (Magi recognize Him as the Messianic King) and prophetically (Daniel 9).
Priestly Office and the Day of Atonement
Jones articulates his atonement theology through the Day of Atonement typology: “Jesus was, in effect, presenting Himself as the first goat, which was to be ‘killed’ for the cleansing of the sanctuary.” (Ch. 9, §Jesus’ Baptism as Day of Atonement; cf. Lev. 16:15)
On the second goat: “After His baptism, Matthew 4:1 says, ‘Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.’ In other words, He immediately fulfilled the pattern of the second goat, which at that time was being led ‘by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness’ (Leviticus 16:21).” (Ch. 9, §Day of Atonement)
Jones draws the typological parallel: “And so we see that Jesus’ baptism and the Spirit’s leading Him into the wilderness ran directly parallel to the temple activities on the Day of Atonement.” (Ch. 9, §Day of Atonement)
On the two great sacrificial presentations: “These are the two great days in which Jesus presented Himself to the Father as the Sacrifice for sin.” (Ch. 9, §Summary)
Interpretation: Jones traces two phases of the priestly office: the Day of Atonement (baptism, Sept. 29 A.D.) and Passover (crucifixion, 33 A.D.).
Atonement and Substitution
Jones quotes Heb. 9:12-14 as the foundation for substitutionary atonement. Verse 12: “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks; Heb. 9:12)
Verse 14: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks; Heb. 9:14)
On the juridical debt payment: “The whole world was found carrying an insurmountable debt to sin; but that entire debt was placed upon Jesus Christ, who paid it in full by His death on the Cross.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks)
On the finality of Jesus’ sacrifice: “No sacrifice after Jesus’ presentations had any relevance to the sin question.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks)
Jones adds a pointed theological warning: “My tolerance for other viewpoints is greater than average, but not when they begin to undermine the blood of Jesus and its effectiveness for sin.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks)
Interpretation: Jones combines the blood offering motif (Heb. 9) with a juridical debt payment model — consistent with his satisfaction theology in b1 and b2, here developed chronologically through Daniel’s 70 weeks.
Jesus as the Passover Lamb (crucifixion)
On Jesus’ death as fulfilment of Passover: “Immediately, thousands of lambs were hastily slain by a city full of worried people—and at that moment Jesus died as the true Passover Lamb who had come to take away the sin of the world.” (Ch. 9, §Crucifixion; cf. John 1:29)
Jones connects Jesus’ crucifixion to the end of the 70 weeks: “Jesus later presented Himself as the true Lamb at Passover of 33 A.D., marking the end of Daniel’s 70 weeks.” (Ch. 9, §Daniel’s 70 Weeks)
On the Passover Age: “The Passover Age began with Israel’s Exodus from Egypt on the day of Passover and ended at the Cross.” (Preface)
Interpretation: Jones locates the crucifixion as the terminus of a grand prophetic epoch that began at the Exodus.
Jesus as the New Moses (typology, prophetic office)
Jones articulates the Moses-Jesus parallel: “our study of chronology and astronomy seem to indicate that both Moses and Jesus were saved from death at the age of three months: Moses by going into the house of Pharaoh; Jesus by going to Egypt.” (Ch. 9, §Moses-Jesus Parallel)
On the parallel infanticide pattern: “Many have already made the connection between the slaughter of the children at the time of Moses’ birth and the slaughter at Jesus’ birth.” (Ch. 9, §Moses-Jesus Parallel)
Interpretation: The New Moses typology highlights Jesus’ prophetic office — both were rescued from a royal death decree to serve later as deliverer and mediator.
Jesus as Author and Finisher of Faith (Preface)
In the Preface Jones positions Jesus as the goal and focus of faith: “looking only to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.” (Preface; cf. Heb. 12:2)
Interpretation: This brief reference anchors the entire chronological study in a Christocentric framework of faith.