It's that time of the year again... the "ber" months. Already malls are playing Christmas carols and displaying all sorts of decorations for the season. I feel sad for them because the Lord Jesus was NOT really born on the 25th of December. At the time of this writing, we are within a few days of His actual birth anniversary. Like I wrote in a post last year, I believe His birth was during the 7th month of the Hebrew calendar (Sept-Oct). At first I thought it was specifically during the Feast of Trumpets but after a few more months of study I now believe it to be at the start of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Lord Jesus' birth date can actually be counted logically using details revealed in the Holy Bible. One method uses a count from the conception of John the Baptist using the courses of the Temple Priesthood. It is quite complex so here is a link to the article.

There is I believe an easier way to count it arriving at roughly the same time. (Here I share my own method so please let me know if there is an error in my approach). This method involves the prophecy in the Book of Daniel about the coming of Messiah the Prince (Daniel 9:24-27). In that prophecy we are told that the Messiah would be "cut off" in the middle of His ministry. This means He will be killed in the middle of the last prophetic week. One day is one year in prophecy. His ministry spans 3 and a half years. From this we know two things: first, His death during Passover(14th Aviv-1st month in the Hebrew Calendar) and second, we know His baptism date by counting 3.5 years backward from his death. Now we must determine His age when He was baptized. From the Laws concerning the Temple Priesthood, we know that someone who is to serve in the Temple (that is to minister) must be of a certain age. In the previous passage we determined it to be 30. Note that the specific age is actually not important to our birth date study but the timing is. Here is the important point: We must in faith assume that our Lord would never delay the fulfillment of His Word in Daniel concerning Himself. I therefore say that His Baptism was on or near His birth date. It is safe to assume He was counting His years because He must fulfill the requirements of the Law. Knowing these facts, we count backward from the time of His death - the 14th of the 1st Hebrew month. Counting six months back we arrive at the 14th of the 7th Hebrew month to take into consideration the "half" year of the prophecy (the Hebrew calendar also has 12 months so half of it is 6 months). From there counting 3 whole years we arrive at His Baptism. Notice that we don't even have to count a full 3 years, it is enough to consider the "half" of the 3-and-half years because the 3 years are whole 12 month segments so the backward count will always fall on the same date. Therefore from our count and the assumption that the Lord Jesus Christ would not delay this prophecy in the Book of Daniel, we can safely say that He was born around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles which starts at the 15th of the 7th month. Making His name "Immanuel" or "God with Us" all the more meaningful.

These two methods arrive at the same date: between the 14th and 15th of the 7th Hebrew month. Which is September 22 and 23 in the Roman calendar year of 2010 (it falls on slightly different dates yearly because of differences in the Hebrew and Roman calendars). If we do not wish to be that specific, it should be enough to say that the birth of the Lord when He came in the form of a Man occurred during the 7th month of the Hebrew Calendar which falls in September-October of the Roman Calendar.

Therefore to all who were allowed by God Almighty to know, Let us celebrate the Feasts of the Lord knowing full well that the Lord's salvation plan is outlined in His Solemn Feasts. Let us observe them spiritually in remembrance and anticipation of fulfillment of the 7th month Feasts (without the sacrifices and oblations which the Messiah caused to cease) while we await the return of our Resurrected Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.

Please let me know of any error I may have made. May the Lord God Almighty forgive any mistakes here and cause us to come to the full knowledge of the Truth.

UPDATE 10/8/2010: It occurred to me that I did not consider leap years. If assuming a leap year (presence of Adar I) fell within the last half-year of the prophetic 3.5 year period, we would have to accept a margin for error. And even if we use a margin of +/-15 days (half a month - half Adar I), the Birth estimate would still fall within or around the seventh month. Given the other supporting Scriptures and the prophetic meaning of the Feast days, our overall conclusion of the Birth occurring around the time of the 7th Hebrew month still stands.

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