We do know that in the scriptures, the year (and day) of Christ's conception and birth is not terribly clear.

In one of the few passages referring to it, Luke 3:1, John the Baptist commenced his ministry in the 15th year of the Roman Emperor Tiberius's reign. In historical records - click here - Tiberius's 1st year had commenced on September 18, 14 AD which meant his 15th year ended on September 17, 29 AD. As his fame grew, John baptized Jesus, when in Luke 3:23 Jesus was beginning to be as it were 30 years old — i.e. at the start of 30 AD.

Three of the gospels record that Jesus's baptism was followed by 40 days in the wilderness. John chapter 2 then indicates that after the call of the first disciples, a wedding feast in Cana, and a few days in Capernaum, the month of March was spent going to Jerusalem with these disciples for the Passover. The four gospels then record one year of ministry — the acceptable year of the Lord — mostly covering Jesus's work in Galilee and the surrounding area, starting in April in 30 AD, visiting Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles (about September), the Feast of Dedication (about December), and ending in Jerusalem the following March.

A passover mentioned in John 6:4 at the feeding of the 5000 following Herod's execution of John the Baptist, is taken by many to refer to the second month passover, the weekend the manna began. Click here for a possible sequence of events between the first and this second passover in John.

Then finally, we have those events leading up to the crucifixion and his resurrection on Sunday March 25^th in 31 AD.
Earliest records show that Jesus entered Jerusalem to huge acclaim the previous Sunday, March 18^th. The Jews sought to have him killed but were unable, due to the crowds everywhere see Luke 19:47. It was the day for the selection of a sacrificial passover lamb, the 10^th day in the month of Nisan in the Jewish calendar see Exodus 12:3. The following Wednesday, two days before Passover Friday, as the priests and scribes met to plot his death, Judas who hypocritically had been indignant over Mary's anointing of Jesus the previous Saturday, March 17^th, reveals his true side, meeting with them to betray Jesus in exchange for payment Matthew 26:1-15, Luke 22:1-6, John 12:1-8.
John incidentally reveals Judas's father Simon to be the leper Simon, owner of the house in Bethany where the anointing occurred and the receiver of a humbling object lesson from the Lord.

And now, it was Thursday, March 22^nd, the 14^th day of the Jewish month, and the day a passover lamb was due to be killed see Numbers 28:16, Luke 22:7. Following the passover meal Thursday evening, Jesus was betrayed and then on the Friday crucified — cut off from humanity for the sins of all. It was now the 15^th day of the Jewish month, the first day of seven of the feast of unleavened bread see Numbers 28:17.
Jesus was laid in a tomb prior to Saturday, then resurrected early on Sunday morning, March 25^th, now the third day in that passover week.

As he had prophesied Matthew 12:39-41, from Thursday - Saturday he had been three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, like Jonah, in the belly of the monster, at the mercy of and constrained by the earth's wicked thoughts and plans.

In terms of his birth, as there was never a starting year called Zero AD, Jesus's first year occurred in what we now call 1 BC (when he was in Egypt). And according to early tradition, Jesus was circumcized — his foreskin cut — and given his name on Friday January 1^st 1 BC, born Friday December 25^th 2 BC and conceived by the Holy Spirit Wednesday March 25^th 2 BC.

If so, then John the Baptist, who was 5 - 6 months older, would have been conceived in September/October 3 BC, the same month as the Jewish New Year (not January or March), as they hold it was in this month that Adam was created. It is the seventh month in their religious year, the month for the sounding of the ram's horn.

Though there is no scripture to confirm a Friday December 25^th birthday - called "day of Venus" in Latin and "Venerdi" in Italian, it was certainly recorded in early writings - e.g. the consul lists of Philocalus of 354 AD, with 2 BC matching that date with the correct day of the week. Click here to view numerous other early references. And we also know, from Luke 1:15, John, the forerunner of Christ, was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.

Luke 16:16 "The Law and the Prophets were until John; from then the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is pressing into it".

Matthew 12:28 "If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you".

Click here for more background on the change from BC to AD, formally implemented by Dionysius, using scholarly Easter data obtained from church councils in Alexandria in Egypt. And click here for an account of the death of King Herod, almost certainly in 1 BC, or 1 AD at the latest.

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