B.c. / A.d. Series

Scripture Reference: John 1:1-19

Preached at Mount Zion Baptist Church on December 22, 2019

Delivered by Rev. John Daniel Johnson

Introduction:

It is hard to believe that in a just a few more days that 2019 will be forever placed in history, and we’ll be having a new year called 2020. I don’t know if it has just been me or not, but 2019 flew by. It feels just like a few weeks ago, we were having an Easter Egg hunt here at the church, now Christmas and New Year’s Day is upon us.

We often don’t think about it, but when we say a certain date, what we mean is that it is about to be 2,020 years since the birth of Christ. It was Dionysius around the year A.D. 525 who created the current dating system that we use today of starting date for all history at the birth of Christ. That’s when we started using the phrases A.D. and B.C.

The other day in an interview, I was asked what my biggest weakness was. I had to think for a minute before I answered. If they had asked my wife what my biggest weakness was, she could have filled a book, but they asked me, not her. I thought for a moment and said, I really think I try too hard sometimes. If I can’t do something, I will do almost anything to achieve the talent. Whether is music or singing, or art or just knowledge, I want to be able to do it.

It is no surprise to many of you, but I’m a history nerd. I love it. I could read all day long about the impact the past has had on the present. I absolutely love learning something new from history. For instance, did you know that when we changed from using the Julian calendar to the calendar we use today, called the Gregorian calendar, the people were told to go to bed on September 4th, and when they awoke the next morning they were to call it September 15th. Literally, skip ahead 11 days. Talk about where did the month go?

There are a few events in history that have completely caused humanity to be remolded:

(1) One would be the Holocaust; the extermination of millions of Jews. What a sad thing, that because of evil, in a span of only a few years, complete families would be completely wiped off the face of the earth.

(2) Another would be the Space Race. The explosion of technology in the past 60 years (from microwaves, to televisions, to GPS in your car, to the cell phone in your pocket) have all been attributed to the race to get a rocket in space.

(3) How about the Civil War in America. For four years, nearly 620,000 Americans died; almost half of what has been killed in every other war combined.

(4) How about the Renaissance? During this time, more people learned to read and write. The printing press allowed for the Bible to be placed into everyone's hands. This period gave rise to some greatest creations in human history (the Mona Lisa, the Statue of David, and the King James Version in beautiful English).

(5) Or how has 9/11 shaped our Country over the past 20 years?

However, there is one event that not only completely shaped human history, but the event changed the calendar. On our calendar, we date a certain event with the letters A.D. or B.C. Today, for instance, is December 22, A.D. 2019. Those letters “A.D.” in Latin say “anno domini,” and means “In the Year of Our Lord.” It is the condensed phrase of the actual phrase “Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi", which translates to "in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Before the Julian and later, the Gregorian calendar, there never was a specific date for anything. Look back in the Bible. Periods of time were noted by who was the emperor or emperor, or a specific event. That’s why the Bible says, “In the second year off ___.”

However, the birth of Christ literally changed human history. The first Christmas is our starting point on the calendar.

Transitional Sentence:

Have you ever wanted to change the world? This morning my goal is for us to learn how the first Christmas changed the world. Because of Jesus, we’re going to learn how the world was forever changed.

Scripture Text:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.