It has long been established that biblical scholars are unsure of exactly when Jesus was born. The fact is that the day we celebrate as Christmas was moved to December 25th during the reign of Constantine. An excellent overview here of the story is located here.
As usual though, the bible gives us all the clues we need to figure this out. In Revelation 12:1, we read about the alignment of the stars. There is amazing symbolism throughout the bible and here it is no different. First lets discuss “a great wonder in heaven’. Reading the entire verse, we read that ‘heaven’ is located up above us where the stars are. “Stars” are both stars and religious symbols of angels as we read in Revelation. The fact that there are 12 stars mentioned may point to the 12 tribes of Israel. There is an angel over every ordained Christian church (Revelation 1:20). The Jews likely had the same organizational setup. The fact that she wears them as a crown upon her head is symbolic of the ascension of Jesus to the role of Messiah to the Jews.
Since when do we tell stories with the sky?
In Genesis 1:14 we read about the stars in the sky. “Let them be for signs and for seasons.” Let them be for signs. Here we get our biblical authority to use the sky as a kind of road map, to which the religious orthodox Jews use even today to foretell future events. This is not widely known in the USA and is not preached on much if at all.
How did I come to find a date for Jesus’s birth?
While doing research for my book, I remembered what God wrote to us about the stars being a kind of road map, so the following verse rang a large bell in my head. If you read the verse carefully, it denotes an exact arrangement of the heavens. I then began to use free software called Stellarium to hunt for the right arrangement at the right time.
Revelation 12
[1] And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
[2] And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
The hints about the birth of Jesus left to us are explained clearly on this website and help us narrow down our search. Two facts stand out. He was not born in the winter, because Rome had decided to conduct a census and everyone had to travel back to their birth place. If you want to ensure maximum participation, you don’t put an extra weather hardship on the people. Second, the scholars believe he was born in early fall.
Here’s how I found his birthday.
With all the clues gathered, I viewed the historical alignments of the stars until I came across the right alignment. Here’s the picture, which is complete with the date of August 20, 2 BC. Here in the first image you can see ‘the woman’ Virgo, clothed in the sun (sun drenched) and the moon at her feet.
This second image shows what this date looks like at night time.
Notice the tail of Leo above Virgo’s head. Below you see the night sky the evening before. (A new day for traditional Jews begins at sun down.) Leo, which normally has 9 stars that make up its image, now has 3 additional ‘stars’ near it. That’s 12.
Interestingly, the Urantia Book picks August 21 as the birthday. If a day starts at sundown, then this equates to the 20th as well.
So there you have it. The birth of Jesus was August 20, 2 BC. If he died in 33 AD, then he was 35 years old when he was crucified.
