Happy Presentation Day!

Happy Presentation Day!

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, January 4, 2026 (Donate)

January 4 is the tenth day of Christmas! It is also called Anna and Simeon’s Day where Jesus was presented at the Temple. Sacrificial lambs needed to be inspected to make sure they were without blemish. Jesus, being the final and ultimate Passover sacrifice, he too was inspected by Simeon and Anna.

Anna and Simeon with the Child; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

The Scripture

Luke 2 (NKJV, formatted)

“Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord,

“Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.”

And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother,

“Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”

Timings

Based on Leviticus 12:2-6, Jesus, being a male child, had to be presented at the Temple after 40 days (after 33 days beyond the initial 7 days). So, Anna and Simeon would have seen Jesus after this point, and then made their perspective proclamations. Jesus was indeed perfect! 

Of course, Anna and Simeon, being later in age, would have passed into glory long before Christ was later sacrificed on the Cross. This would have occurred about 37 years later.

But let us celebrate the Holy Spirit’s work through Anna and Simeon on this day. Happy Presentation Day!

The Temple; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

 

Happy Holy Name Of Jesus Day!

Happy Holy Name Of Jesus Day!

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, January 3, 2026 (Donate)

Today is the ninth day of Christmas! It is the day we remember the naming of Jesus and the significance of it. Some also honor this as Triune Day; others even denote it as Malachi Day.

The Holy Name of Jesus Day reminds us of Who Jesus is. He is the Creator who stepped into history and took on flesh and became our relative—man. Jesus often called Himself the “Son of Man”. He was also called Emmanuel which means “God with us”.

He is also called Mighty God, Prince of Peace, the “I Am”, the Messiah (which means Christ), God, and so many more.

Christ is God in the flesh.

Being that He is God, many often study and honor the Triune God on this day—hence Triune Day. Here is an excellent article to learn more about the Triune God and the passages proving this nature of God in His revealed Word.

Biblical Authority Ministries: God Is Triune

Some also read the Athanasian Creed (reprinted below) as a reminder of the nature of God. On the eighth day after His birth, Jesus was circumcised in keeping with the Law of Moses. A local Levite priest would have been the one to show up and perform the act. It is likely that he would have registered his name on this date, for legal purposes.

Athanasius, Public Domain

If you would like to read more about the many names of God with Bible references see here. Have a Happy Holy Name of Jesus Day!

Athanasian Creed, ~AD 500

“Whoever wants to be saved should above all cling to the catholic [editorial note: meaning the universal] faith. Whoever does not guard it whole and inviolable will doubtless perish eternally. Now this is the catholic faith:

“We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit. Uncreated is the Father; uncreated is the Son; uncreated is the Spirit. The Father is infinite; the Son is infinite; the Holy Spirit is infinite.

Eternal is the Father; eternal is the Son; eternal is the Spirit: And yet there are not three eternal beings, but one who is eternal; as there are not three uncreated and unlimited beings, but one who is uncreated and unlimited. Almighty is the Father; almighty is the Son; almighty is the Spirit: And yet there are not three almighty beings, but one who is almighty. 

Thus the Father is God; the Son is God; the Holy Spirit is God: And yet there are not three gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord; the Son is Lord; the Holy Spirit is Lord: And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord.

“As Christian truth compels us to acknowledge each distinct person as God and Lord, so catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords. The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten; the Son was neither made nor created, but was alone begotten of the Father; the Spirit was neither made nor created, but is proceeding from the Father and the Son. Thus there is one Father, not three fathers; one Son, not three sons; one Holy Spirit, not three spirits.

And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the Trinity in unity and the one God in three persons. Whoever wants to be saved should think thus about the Trinity. It is necessary for eternal salvation that one also faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became flesh.

“For this is the true faith that we believe and confess: That our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is both God and man. He is God, begotten before all worlds from the being of the Father, and he is man, born in the world from the being of his mother—existing fully as God, and fully as man with a rational soul and a human body; equal to the Father in divinity, subordinate to the Father in humanity.

Although he is God and man, he is not divided, but is one Christ. He is united because God has taken humanity into himself; he does not transform deity into humanity. He is completely one in the unity of his person, without confusing his natures. For as the rational soul and body are one person, so the one Christ is God and man.

“He suffered death for our salvation. He descended into hell and rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead. At his coming all people shall rise bodily to give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, those who have done evil will enter eternal fire. This is the catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing this firmly and faithfully.”

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

 

Happy Church Father’s Day!

Happy Church Father’s Day!

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, January 2, 2026 (Donate)

Today is the eighth day of Christmas! Once Christ, the chief cornerstone of the church laid the foundation, the Apostles took over and upon the completion of the New Testament, the torch was then passed to the church fathers (Ephesians 2:20). That is, the elders, deacons, pastors/bishops/ministers, and those in authority in the various churches which were now growing and spreading.

The Gospel had been preached around the world and like yeast in bread, the church began to grow against all opposition (e.g., Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20-21; Romans 1:8). The New Testament was written and sufficient for use in training in righteousness and correcting and rebuking (2 Timothy 3:16-17; Jude 1:3). Church fathers, though not in positions of authority like Apostles, were still saints and given a charge of church leadership that we still have today.

Imagine Paul's disciples (e.g., some of the earliest church fathers) like Sosthenes, Timothy, Barnabas, and Luke receiving word that Paul had been executed in Rome by Nero; Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

Church fathers were called to stand boldly on God’s Word and go into all the world preaching the Gospel and discipling all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit (via extension of Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Timothy 4:2).

We still have many writings from fathers of the church. There were early church fathers, ante-Nicene and post-Nicene fathers (before and after the Council of Nicaea in AD 325) and many up through the Reformation. Then of course, we have Reformational fathers.

On this Church Father’s Day, remember and pray for those who continue to uphold the Christian faith as leaders in churches and Christian organizations.

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children. 

 

Happy New Year’s Day!

Happy New Year’s Day!

Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI

Biblical Authority Ministries, January 1, 2026 (Donate)

New Years, as it is affectionally known, is the seventh day of Christmas. Like New Year’s Eve, this is one of the two most popular holidays of the Twelve Days of Christmas that has stuck around and still has a big celebration.

Years in ancient times were very important as they marked time since Genesis 1:14—along with days (evening-morning cycle), weeks (per Creation Week), and month (moon cycles). The year is broken into 4 cyclical seasons—Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn (aka Fall). Though where I live, we often joke is Fall, Winter, Spring and Road Construction season!

Seasons Of The Year

Each season of the year is broken apart by the Winter and Summer Solstices and the Spring and Autumnal Equinoxes. The Equinoxes (think equal) are when the daylight portion of the day is equal the nighttime portion of the day. 

The Solstices (in the Northern Hemisphere) are when we have maximum amount of darkness (Winter Solstice) and the maximum amount sunlight (Summer Solstice) per day—of course, it is the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere like Australia and New Zealand.

Image requested by Bodie Hodge (ChatGPT)

But years marked our calendars based on the resetting of the constellations in the sky every ~365.25 days. That ~.25 is why every four years we have a leap year to get the calendar back to where it is supposed to be. Oh, did I mention that every 100 years we don’t have a leap year, unless is it divisible by 400. So, the years AD 1700, 1800, and 1900, there was no leap year. But the years AD 1600 and 2000, there was one.

So why is this? It is part of the factoring because that 0.25 isn’t exact! It’s actually 365.2422 days in a year. Did I mention that we also have leap seconds? They are tallied in every once in a while, at the end of June or December, but for a different reason. 

Years Are For Measuring

Even so, years are the primary measurement unit for longer amounts of time. Often dates were in relation to a king's reigned. Consider:

·       David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. (2 Samuel 5:4, NKJV)

·       In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. (Daniel 1:1, NKJV)

·       Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene. (Luke 3:1, NKJV)

It is only fitting to measure time of years since Christ, who is the King of Kings forever. This is why the AD/BC dating system exists (the CE/BCE merely copies this).

Let’s not forget the reason for each new year. Christ, who is God who came in the flesh at the first Advent, uphold all things into existence—the world, the cosmos, and time itself exist by the power of God. Give Him the glory for each new year.

Happy New Year!

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Bodie Hodge, Ken Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight Council.  

Bodie launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and universities. He is married with four children.