The Christmas Conspiracy: Caesar Augustus, Sibylline Prophecies, Isaiah and Bethlehem.

For those of you who love historical research to enlighten Bible prophecy I offer you the fascinating historical background to Rome's Sibylline prophecies, the elevation of Augustus Caesar to Pater Patriae in 2 BC and why Joseph and Mary had to vote in Bethlehem in 2 BC so that Jesus could be born there in 2 BC.

The reign of Augustus was contemporaneously heralded as the dawn of a new Golden Age, a fulfilment of long-awaited prophecy. The poet Virgil, a close contemporary of Augustus, famously wove this expectation into his poetry, blending it with Sibylline prophecies. In his Eclogue IV (often called the “Messianic” or “Golden Age” eclogue), written in 40 BC, Virgil proclaims: “Now the last age by Cumae’s Sibyl sung has come… Justice returns, returns old Saturn’s reign, with a new breed of men sent down from heaven”. He speaks of a miraculous child whose birth will inaugurate a world where “the iron age will cease and a golden race arise… He shall receive the life of gods… and with his father’s worth reign o’er a world at peace”. This poem, couched as the oracle of the Cumaean Sibyl, (the female prophets of ancient Rome) uses prophetic and mythic imagery (the return of the goddess Justice/Virgo and reign of Saturn) to signal that a utopian era of peace and prosperity is imminent.

Later, Virgil’s epic Aeneid (composed under Augustus’s patronage) explicitly links this Golden Age to Augustus himself. In Aeneid Book 6, Anchises shows Aeneas a vision of Rome’s future and identifies Augustus as the promised great ruler: “And this in truth is he whom you so often hear promised you, Augustus Caesar, son of a god, who will again establish a golden age in Latium amid fields once ruled by Saturn” Here Virgil plainly calls Augustus the divi filius (“son of a god,”) and credits him with restoring the Golden Age on Earth.

In February of 2 BC on the 25th anniversary of Augustus reign and the 750th year since the founding of Rome in 753 BC the Roman senate gave him the exalted honour of Pater Patriae meaning "Father of the Fatherland". . By the time Augustus accepted Pater Patriae in 2 BC, many in Rome saw this prophecy as coming true: the bloody civil wars were over, the Pax Romana (Roman peace) prevailed, and arts and fertility (hallmarks of Saturn’s Golden Age) flourished. The granting of Pater Patriae itself could be seen as a confirmation that Augustus was the leader who fulfilled the Sibyl’s oracle by renewing the world.

Luke’s Gospel opens the nativity story with a note on global history: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered” . In fact, sources indicate that around 3–2 BC, as Augustus was to be honored with Pater Patriae, a universal oath of allegiance and census of loyalty was organized in the Empire. Augustus “sent out a decree” in 3 BC to “all the Roman Empire, including the Jews, requiring them to register their approval” of him as Father of the Fatherland This was not about taxation and more a political demonstration of loyalty – every free person in every province was to swear allegiance and acknowledge Augustus’s patriarchal leadership. An inscription from Paphlagonia (northern Anatolia) explicitly records such an oath taken by the inhabitants in 3 BC, stating that “the same oath was sworn by all the people in the land at the altars of Augustus”. The Jewish historian Josephus also describes that, around the end of Herod’s reign, “all the people of the Jews gave assurance of their good-will to Caesar”, but a faction of 6,000 Pharisees refused to swear loyalty (they were subsequently fined by king Herod). This corresponds precisely with the period Augustus became Pater Patriae. In other words, as part of celebrating Augustus as “Father of the World,” the whole world was indeed “assessed” or enrolled – not only to count heads, but to publicly approve Augustus’s supremacy.

Luke says this required everyone to go to their ancestral towns to enrol, which is why Joseph, of David’s lineage, travels with the pregnant Mary to Bethlehem (David’s city) The decree then went out from the Roman government that the whole Roman world should endorse this decree by their signatures.

Cyrenius, the great expert on enrollment and taxation, was sent to Syria to begin this project. The governor of Syria was Saturninus, who wanted to be in Rome that summer for the festivities celebrating Augustus' silver jubilee--his 25th anniversary since being proclaimed "Augustus" in 27 B.C. This is how Cyrenius came to be lieutenant governor of Syria just for the summer of 2 B.C., standing in for Saturninus for a short time. (Saturninus' successor, Varus, came as governor of Syria by the following November.)

So by late summer of that year, the Syrian enrollment was complete, and it was time to move south to enroll all the Judeans. Joseph then took Mary to Bethlehem to sign this document, because everyone had to sign it in the town of their family inheritance. Bethlehem was the "city of David," and both were of that family. This is how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem, according to the prophecy of Micah 5:2.

When Jesus was eight days old, He was circumcised and named Yeshua, which in the Greek language was Iesous (Luke 2:21). When Jesus was 40 days old, He was taken to the temple in Jerusalem, which was about five miles northwest of Bethlehem. Luke 2:22-38 tells of the events that occurred that day. Mary's time of purification was according to the law in Leviticus 12, where a woman had to be purified 40 days after giving birth to a son, or after 80 days if she gave birth to a daughter. Because the family was poor, they brought "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons" (Lev. 12:8 and Luke 2:24).

The Magi finally arrived late December in Bethlehem. The Magi who were from Parthia would have had access to the saved scrolls of Daniel from the Persian court records. The Magi had been following Jupiter, the King's Planet, in its westward movement. Between September of 3 B.C. and May of 2 B.C., Jupiter and Regulus, the King's Star, had had three conjunctions. Jupiter, in fact, formed a loop over Regulus, "crowning" the King's Star. It was an astronomical event that had great significance, because Regulus was the bright star between the feet of Leo, the lion. This is the star referred to in Gen. 49:9 and 10, when Jacob prophesied to Judah, "Judah is a lion's whelp . . . The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes."

That "law-giver" was represented by Regulus, the King's Star, for it was located between the feet of Leo, the Lion of Judah. So when the King's Planet crowned the King's Star in the year before Jesus' birth, the Magi understood that this was the fulfilment of Jacob's prophecy. They probably had preserved Daniel's copy of the book of Genesis.

No doubt they would have had to observe these astronomical events for many months and to discuss their significance. But once they were agreed that the prophesied King had been born in Judea, they began to prepare for the long journey, finally arriving in December of 2 B.C. When they left Herod's palace, they looked up and saw the "star" (actually, Jupiter) positioned directly over Bethlehem

The Magi first went to Jerusalem expecting to hear of where the coming new great king prophesied to save Israel would be born. They caused enormous consternation in Jerusalem and that night an angel warned them and they escaped to Bethlehem to give Mary and Joseph the treasure they would need to flee to Egypt and finance their escape.

In a few days Herod sent troops to kill all the children in Bethlehem. Herod only knew that the heavenly signs had begun in May of 3 B.C., with the main signs coming in September of 3 B.C. The signs, then, had been occurring for about a year and a half. Interpreting signs is a bit subjective, of course, so Herod still did not know the age of the child. He could have been born as early as May of 3 B.C. So to be on the safe side, he ordered the troops to kill all the children up to the age of two (Matt. 2:16).

Herod died a month later on January 28 of 1 B.C., and his death was celebrated for a time as a festival. Josephus tells us that there was a lunar eclipse that same night (Antiquities of the Jews, XVII, vi, 4). In fact, the lunar eclipse fixes the date of this historical event, and indirectly fixes the date of the arrival of the Magi a few weeks earlier. It also shows that Jesus was born some time prior to the death of Herod. There was a partial eclipse of the moon (less than 50%) in 4 BC and many commentaries mistake this as the date of the birth of Jesus. But the lunar eclipse of 28 January 1 BC was a full lunar eclipse and which was the real date of Herod's death and also places the birth of Jesus correctly in 2 BC.

The Church and Rome's Emperor Cult
When Augustus died in AD 14, the Roman Senate performed the ritual of apotheosis, officially declaring him a god (Divus Augustus). Suetonius describes Augustus’s elaborate state funeral and reports that “there was even an ex-praetor who took an oath that he had seen Augustus’s spirit ascend to heaven” from the funeral pyre. This account indicates that Augustus’s soul was witnessed rising – a sign to Roman sensibilities that the emperors joined the company of the gods. The Senate’s deification decree meant Augustus could be worshipped in the Roman state religion as a god. Coins and inscriptions soon styled him Divus Augustus Pater – “the Divine Augustus, the Father.” Here we see the culmination of the Pater Patriae idea: Augustus, the father of the Roman state, was now eternally its pater in heaven, watching over Rome as a guardian deity.

You can see in this context why Jesus prayed to "Our Father in heaven" and told His disciples call no man your father. (Math 23:9) Throughout the empire the cult of Augustus was common with statues and shrines in his likeness. This however presented a serious problem of persecution for the Christians in the empire. Rome was ok with all the various gods of all the people in their empire.

With Augustus it was different. He was to be the recognized as the "Father Patria" the peace bringer, the one who all should acknowledge as the Father of the empire. It was a loyalty test. You dropped wine on the floor before a meal acknowledging him as the head of the empire and in death the spirit of Rome. Christians refused the acknowledgement of Augustus divinity. It was ok for you to have other gods but if you are to be considered loyal to the empire you acknowledged Augustus.

This pagan tradition is honoured in modern politics in America. In the rotunda of the Capital Building in Washington DC where the American presidents are inaugurated in the high ceiling is the grand mural painting called "the Apotheosis of George Washington". A painting of America's first president rising on a cloud into heaven deified as a "son of god".

Some thoughts.....

Isaiah lived and prophesied about the same time as the founding of Rome in 753 BC. Isaiah's scroll of a world timeline and a coming Son Of God (Isaiah 9:6) and nations flowing to the Messiah's reign (Isaiah 2) was known to scholars of Rome after the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek into what we call the Septuagint. This was also the scriptures that Paul used and refers to and Peter noted as divine,

These prophesies were a threat to Rome's claim of universal peace under a Roman empire. They needed their own prophecies of a divine son of God bringing in what they call the restored Golden Age of Saturn. Jewsus warned about this. Whenever God sows His seed in the world the enemy sows his tares to confuse people. Augustus the Roman "antichrist" in the place of Israel's "Christ". Expect the same today in various forms. Special note: I heard this last week on Youtube the famous broadcaster Megan Kelly a strong supporter of Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA literally saying "I was praying this last week to Charlie Kirk and Jesus about guidance regarding TPUSA". Megan is a committed Roman Catholic. Catholics pray to Mary and the saints. This is dangerous. The American conservative movement is filled with strong committed Catholics. How many more are now praying to Charlie Kirk?

Deep in the Christian persecution by Rome of the church was the acknowledgement that there was a rival Messiah and rival world empire of peace coming and it would not be out of Rome. This their demon possessed spirit diviners the Sibylline prophecies that were always consulted by the Roman senate in times of trouble...are we still on course for world empire?

Isaiah (and the other great prophets after him) served a similar function for Israel and the church. In the darkest of times when everything seems lost and we seem few and week...we had God's Word of His promises of His Kingdom coming.

When Constantine finally declared the Roman empire a Christian empire around 325 AD it would be exactly 1000 years after the founding of Rome and the prophecies of Isaiah's prophetic timeline.

Which gives me some thoughts to ponder....
I know people talk of conspiracies of world government control, of great secret powers of finance and technology. God laughs at the pretensions and follies of humananities vain imaginations.

Where are the prophets and gods of Rome 2000 years later? We the church of Jesus Christ did not topple the Roman empire with armies and war.....we conquered it with "the Gospel" the Good News. The real Father in Heaven the real Son of God who died for us because God so loved the world and who rose again from the dead assuring us of forgiveness and sins and resurrection and eternal life. This was the kind of Good News that Augustus and the Roman legions could not compete with.

Over time we win. Even if it took 1000 years from Isaiah's prophecies that a saviour would come as "God is with us" and suffered for us (Isaiah 53).

This coming year will have many international trials and problems. We have elections coming in South Africa. We get discouraged about the state of crime and the economy and "wickedness in high palces".

But be encouraged. We win over time. Southern Africa will manifest the spreading Kingdom of God. As God used the Pax Romana of Roman empire and the universal language of the previous Greek empire...all these international infrastructures were used by the Lord for spreading His Kingdom message. Even Paul's Roman citizenships.

We are coming into as era when enormous resources are going to be released into the Church for fulfilling the Christmas decree of the Hosts of Heaven....."peace on earth and good will to all mankind".

It won't come through Washington or the UN. It will not come from UN peacekeepers or Trump diplomacy. It will come through as it always has in ages past...common people filled with the Holy Spirit spreading the love of God and the Good News of the Gospel through their good works and their testimony of faith.

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