Most ancient nations related their history to the lifetime of some central figure or to the reign of a king. For example, the inspired historian Luke writes, "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" (Luke 3:1). This system gave a fairly complete chronology of an individual’s time, but the history of the nation was often unrecorded between the death of a king and the accession of his successor and by the omission of obscure or unpopular kings from the written records. Julius Caesar, in an attempt to bring more order to the recording of historical events, established what came to be known as the Julian Calendar. He changed the name of the 7^th month of the year to July, after himself. Later the 8^th month was changed to August, honoring Caesar Augustus.

During the reign of Augustus a baby was born to a young peasant girl, a virgin, married to a carpenter named Joseph. Today, we count time from the birth of this baby, not from the beginning of the Julian calendar, which had been established about 45 years prior to the birth of Jesus. Believers and unbelievers, righteous persons and unrighteous persons, great and small—all of us count time from the birth of this baby.

Herod, king of Judea, attempted to kill Jesus before he could walk. Another ruler, Pilate, obliged the unbelieving Jews of his day and nailed Jesus to a cross when he was 33 years old. That was the end of the matter, or so everyone thought. But Jesus would not stay dead. Persecutions arose in an attempt to kill Jesus in the hearts of his disciples, but the more they were persecuted, the more the faith concerning Jesus spread. The devil changed his tactics and the church entered an age of apostasy, leading to what has become known as the Dark Ages. However, the faith would not die. When it burst forth from the tomb of apostasy during the Protestant Reformation, it began to spread again, like wild fire.

Some Christians in distant lands still suffer persecution. There is an element of our secular society who are doing all that they can to wipe every trace of Jesus from all that is considered secular. This attack, coupled with indifference on the part of many professing Christians causes some to fear that faith in Christ will vanish from the earth. We have reason for concern, but not for despair. Christianity has been resilient. It has refused to die. Whether one realizes it or not, every time one writes a date on a letter, a check, a legal document, or just a scrap of paper, one is acknowledging that 2000 years ago a baby was born who has changed the world.

Each of us has a destiny, and someday our destiny will cross his. Are you ready for that day?