Whiteboard: When Does the Bible Say Jesus Was Born?

How can you nail down a time frame of when Jesus Christ was born? Christmas is celebrated as His birth, but when was Christ born? The Bible does help us have a good idea of when He was born. There are a few keys to know the answer. This video will focus on one - that is, John the Baptist’s birth. The true date of Jesus’ birth can be identified by figuring out John the Baptist’s birth. John’s birth can be identified by figuring out when Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother) became pregnant. And the Bible does give clues as to when Elizabeth became pregnant! It tells us when John’s father was serving in the Temple, when he finished, when he went home, and when Elizabeth became pregnant.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World whiteboard.]

3 Steps to Answer: When Was Jesus Born?

If Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th, then when does the Bible say He was born?

It’s actually provable and very simple. In order to identify the time when Jesus was born, we have to start with John the Baptist, because we know exactly how many months that Jesus was born after John (Luke 1:36).

The gospel of Luke shows that before John was born, his father, Zacharias, was performing his priestly duties in the temple, when an angel appeared and told him that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son named John.

So when he finished his priestly duties, he went home, followed instructions, and Elizabeth became pregnant. She conceived shortly after Zacharias came home from the temple.

So if we can determine when he served in the temple, we can know when she became pregnant, when John was born, and finally when Jesus was born.

1. Know the Levitical Priesthood Assignments

The priests were broken into 24 groups or divisions (1 Chronicles 24:7-18), with each division serving in the temple for one week at a time, from Sabbath to Sabbath (2 Chronicles 23:8; 2 Kings 11:5).

They continued in their weekly rotation except during the three annual Holy Day seasons, when all 24 divisions served together (2 Chronicles 5:11).

Zacharias was “of the division of Abijah” (Luke 1:5-8), which was the eighth of the 24 divisions (1 Chronicles 24:10).

In the year 5 BC, which many scholars agree was the year John was conceived, the first group of priests began their service on the Sabbath of what today we would call April 8. Their service ended the next Saturday, April 15.

So the second week in the weekly rotation was from April 15th to the 22nd.

The next week was actually the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when all the priests served together. This was from April 22nd to the 29th.

Divisions 3 through 7 lasted from April 29th to June 3rd.

Then June 3rd to the 10th was the 8th division, when Zacharias served in the Temple.

But the Feast of Pentecost was actually on Sunday the next week, when all the priests would be in town from June 10th to the 17th.

So Zacharias would have been serving in the Temple for two consecutive weeks. It was during this time the angel told him that he and his wife would have a son and name him John.

2. Calculate When John the Baptist Was Born

Luke 1 verses 23 and 24 say:

As soon as the days of his service were completed… he departed to his own house… [And] his wife Elizabeth conceived (Luke 1:23-24).

Assuming she became pregnant during the following two weeks (June 18-July 1), we can count the normal 40 weeks of pregnancy from that time and know that John would have been born between March 25th and April 7th in 4 BC the following year.

3. Add Six Months to John the Baptist’s Birth

Now that we know the approximate time John was born, we can know when Jesus was born, because in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Mary became pregnant with Jesus (Luke 1:36), meaning Jesus would have been born right at six months after John the Baptist.

This would bring us to the fall of 4 BC.

Jesus Was Born in the Autumn of 4 BC

So using this evidence in the Bible, we see that Jesus would have been born somewhere between September 16 to September 29 in the fall of 4 BC.

His fall birth actually corresponds with the chronology given in the gospels indicating that Jesus was 33½ years old when He was crucified in the spring of 31 AD.

And this autumn birth would have also been on or around what the Bible calls the Feast of Trumpets, a day that pictures the return of Jesus Christ.

Being able to prove these truths from the Bible strengthens our foundation as Christians.

If you found this video helpful, share it with your friends, click the like button, and subscribe to our channel.

To learn more about Christmas click the link in the description below.

To see a timeline of the three days and three nights Jesus was in the grave, click here.

Thanks for watching! To learn more, go to our website TomorrowsWorld.org.