Scientists reveal the exact date of Jesus’ birth – and say it WAS NOT on December 25th

For millions of Christians around the world, the celebration of Christmas has a deeper significance than presents, tinsel, and turkey.

According to their beliefs, December 25 this year will be the 2,023rd birthday of Jesus Christ.

However, the surprising reality is that Jesus almost certainly wasn’t born in the winter of 1 AD.

Experts say Jesus may be significantly older than most people would expect, dating his birth back to the first century BC.

And, in bad news for anyone planning their festive celebrations, historians say there is no reason to believe that Jesus’ birthday is really December 25.

Based on ancient astronomical records, experts theorize that Jesus was likely born in the Spring.

While it might seem shocking that Christ was born ‘before Christ’, the confusion can be traced back to a 1,500-year-old clerical error.

Professor Lawrence Mykytiuk of Purdue University told MailOnline: ‘It remains a humbling fact that despite various claims, no one in modern times is really certain of the exact year of Jesus’s birth.’

According to the traditional view that Jesus was born on December 25 1 AD, he should be turning 2023 this Christmas.

No matter your religious views, there is almost no denying that there really was a man named Jesus, born in the Roman province of Galilee around 2,000 years ago.

However, as a man born into the peasant class there would be no birth record.

According to Professor Mykytiuk, the best evidence for determining when Jesus was really born is relating his life to famous figures who left lots of evidence behind.

One key reference scholars refer to is the life of King Herod the Great of Judea, who Rome appointed to rule over the lands, including Bethlehem and Jerusalem, from about 37 BC.

According to the Bible, upon hearing that the ‘King of the Jews’ was about to be born, Herod decreed that all Jewish boys under two years old were to be killed.

If this is true, Jesus must have been born at least two years before King Herod’s death.

Luckily for us, many contemporary sources provide evidence about King Herod’s life and death, like Jewish historian Flavius Josephus’ vast ‘Jewish Antiquities,’ which was written just 60 years after Jesus’ death.

Critically, Josephus tells us that there was a lunar eclipse shortly before Herod’s death.

This could refer to four possible dates: September 15, 5 BC, March 13, 4 BC, January 10, 1 BC, and December 29, 1 BC.

Professor Mikytiuk says: ‘Josephus also tells us in two places that the Jewish Passover occurred soon after the death of Herod the Great. Because the Passover is observed in the spring; September, January, and December are ruled out.’

This tells us that King Herod must have died shortly after March 13, 4 BC.

Based on this calculation, most scholars date Jesus’ birth year to sometime around 4-6 BC which would make him about 2029 this year. The only snag is that we don’t have a single shred of evidence outside of the Bible that King Herod ever really ordered the fabled massacre of the innocents.

While the historical record certainly paints Herod as a tyrant, ordering the death of thousands of children stretches credulity a little far.

However, massacre or not, the Gospel writers themselves are certain that Jesus and Herod briefly lived at the same point in time.

Since the Bible is correct about the dates of other historical figures such as Pontius Pilot and emperor Augustus, it is fair to suggest that it is roughly correct about Herod.

The first real reference to December 25 as the date of Jesus’ birth appears in the mid-fourth century AD within a Roman almanac listing the death dates of various Christian martyrs.

However, most scholars agree that this date probably bears little relation to the actual day of Jesus’ birth.

Professor Mykytiuk says: ‘It is most unlikely that Jesus was born on any day in December, let alone on December 25th, because “there were shepherds living out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks at night”‘.

‘During winter, shepherds kept sheep in the fold to protect themselves and their sheep from severe weather.’

Another key point is that the grass which the sheep fed on was most abundant in March before it was scorched by the heat of the sun.

‘This fact of plentiful grass in March fits with the lunar eclipse occurring shortly before the death of Herod the Great,’ says Professor Mykytiuk.

‘The narrowest date one can confidently arrive at for Jesus’s birth seems to be the month of March, during the years 6, 5, or 4 BC.’

In search of a more precise answer, some scholars have followed the example of the Three Wise Men and looked to the stars.