Thursday, January 22, 2026

The Dates of Jesus' Earthly Sojourn

As best I can piece together, with a fair amount of speculation, these are the hallmark moments of Jesus' walk amongst us...

Birth: someplace around March 10,  2 BC, Jesus was born into this world on a date that would have coincided with sacrificial lambs being born in Bethlehem. See this for the details. 

Relocation to Nazareth: sometime after Herod died (late winter/early spring 1 BC), the holy family left Egypt where they had gone seeking shelter from Herod. They would have been domiciled in Nazareth when the trip to Jerusalem occurred when Jesus was 12 and he remained behind when they returned home. Christ remained in Nazareth until his ministry began.

Baptism: this is absolute speculation, but sometime near, but prior to Yom Kippur in 29 AD (October 5-6, 29) when repentance would have been the fulfillment of righteousness according to the Law, Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan. That which isn't speculation is that John would have began his ministry sometime in the year prior (the 15th of Tiberius' reign).

Temptation by Satan: Immediately after his baptism, Jesus was driven by the Spirit of God into the desert where he was tempted by the Devil for 40 days. This period would have ended around the middle of November, 29 AD. According to this reckoning, John would have been arrested while Jesus was being tempted, or while he was making his way to the Galilee after his temptation.

Ministry: In the time that it took to get from the desert to the Galilee (so by the start of December in 29 AD) Jesus arrived at the shores of the sea and began his earthly ministry. He recruited Simon, Andrew, James, and John to follow him at that time. His ministry up to the crucifixion would have encompassed about 3 years and four months in time and included four Passovers.

Crucifixion: on April 3, 33 AD, Jesus was nailed to a cross and died. This is not a controversial fixing of the date. It fits with Thursday evening being Passover and Friday being the crucifixion with the Sabbath beginning that Friday evening.

Resurrection: on April 5, 33AD Jesus rose from the dead, and set about showing himself to his disciples multiple times over the next forty days. 

Ascension: on May 15, 33 AD Jesus ascended into the heavens, not to appear to the world again until he returns to reign in Jerusalem.

Rapture: on a date that no one can possibly know, yet nonetheless soon, Jesus will appear in the heavens to catch away (Rapture) his church and have 144,000 believing Jews marked with a seal to preserve them through the period of God's wrath known as The Tribulation.

Christ's Return: Seven years after the Rapture, Jesus will return to the earth with all the saints of God raised during the Rapture, and his holy angels, to begin ruling on earth.

The biggest historical controversy in all this is the date of his birth. Once that is established all other dates fall, more or less, into place. 2 BC works well as a birth year if Herod died in 1 BC, a la W. E. Filmer. It also works well with Jesus being about 30 when he began his ministry. Dates in the 4-6 BC range don't fit nearly as well into the details of scripture and are therefore highly unlikely. The controversy surrounding Quirinius' census is intractable, not readily resolved by any suggestion to date.

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