The True Birth-Date of The Real Jesus The Messiah

By Brother Richard Fliearman Jr.

The Birth-date of Jesus is hidden in the priesthood of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist  (Luke 1:5).  In this text, the Word tells us that Zechariah was of the Course of Abia or Abijah in 1Chronicals 24:10 or Abi of Nehemiah 12:17.  The Course was the eighth of 24 Courses of ministration performed during the year as ordered by David the King and prophet.  This Levitical ordering is also confirmed by the findings in Qumran, which gives us confirmation of Six-years scheduling for these priests.  (See Bromiley Vol.  1 pg. 688)

At the end of Zechariah’s ministration, he returns home and his wife conceives.  This gives us an irrefutable fixed point from which we can begin to chronologically trace the exact point of Jesus birth.  This chronology of events is detailed in the 1^st chapter of the book of Luke.

The priesthood ministered by Course (1-24) bi-annually, or for 1 week at a time with all the priests appearing 3 times a year (Lev. Ch. 23) at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets and Tabernacles, which is one Feast with two phases.  This Priestly ordering began on Tishri 1 which according to our time would be late August / early September, and was begun again on approximately Adar 29, or what our reckoning would be the late March / early April time frame, or about 14 days before Passover.

In any event Jesus was not born on October 25^th, November 25^th, December 25^th!  Nor was he born on January 25^th or February 25^th!  Jesus was born on or about the Feast of Tabernacles.

So, we can glean some very important insight from this in regards to our spiritual understanding of what the Lord has done, and yes, is still performing in his body, the Church.

The birth of Jesus fulfilled the Feast of Trumpets and Tabernacles in its first phase with the return of Jesus completing the prophecy and sealing up the vision. (Daniel 9:24)

The ministry of John for-told or preceeded Jesus, just as the ministry of Abijah  (the 8^th) preceeded the ministry of Yeshua (the 9^th) in 1 Chronicles chapter 24:10-11.  It is truly amazing to see that Jesus (Greek) ministered right after John the Baptist in the ninth Course of ‘Yeshua’, which means “Salvation”, in the Hebrew language.  

Zechariah ministers just before Pentecost, where the angel Gabriel binds his tongue because of unbelief. His tongue is loosed at the birth of John, he is filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesies, highlighting the Day or Feast of Pentecost declaring the soon fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28).  John the Baptist declares this also in Matthew 1:11 that the true baptizer, “the one who cometh after me” is mightier than I, he will baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire! (Pentecost)

Mary leaves Elizabeth just before the birth of John.  Obviously she did not want to draw attention away from the happy occasion of John’s birth, to the Holy child she was carrying.  Which was a demonstration of good taste and judgment.

The probability that Mary was entering into labor near the end of the Feast of Trumpets is very likely, therefore the Blowing of the seventh shofar or trumpet would have signified the birth-pangs and soon birth of Jesus.  Just as the seventh trumpet blown or sounded in the book of Revelation signifies the soon return of Jesus and the birth of the Kingdom age, that the scripture be fulfilled “Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God (Rev. 21:3).

John the Baptist was in the wilderness until his showing unto Israel (Luke 1:80).  This was due to the religious and social corruption within the priesthood, the sects of the Pharisees, Saducees, and the government at the time.  This was a common thing for many at the time, and several “Communities” were of a long time standing in practice since the days of the Selucid and Hasmonean empires.  One such community was the Essenes who at one point exceeded 15,000 members at Qumran and were the authors of the “Dead Sea Scrolls” found in the caves there.  The common thought among them was to “Go into the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord”.  This is the exact phraseology used by John “the Voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”.  By this association alone we can conclude that John spent a considerable part of his youth among such people who were mostly eunuchs (celibate) and lived in Kibbutzim type circumstances and shared all things common.  They were wholly occupied with prayer, fasting, writing and reading the word of God, and laboring for their meat.  Zecharias’ having such a proper child, who was to fulfill such an important role in preparing the way of the Lord Jesus, obviously felt that he should be sheltered and protected from a degenerated and corrupt society not at all unlike ours of this day, and hence removed him from the city and probably lived in proximity to the Essenes and it was through this wilderness life that the Lord preserved John.

  Reference Material:

1.            See Josephus complete and unabridged works, Book 18, pg. 477, paragraph 5.

2.            Between the Testaments; William L. Lane Th D. pg. 1391 “Sword Study Bible”

3.            Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Archeological supplement on “The Dead Sea Scrolls”, pg. 327-330.

4.            Jewish Sects and their Beliefs; George H. Sandison, Ph D., World Bible Publishers

5.            Bromiley Vol. 1, pg. 688