MembersHow to Follow the Gospel’s Breadcrumbs to the Birthday of Jesus

Did you know that the Gospel of Luke has left us breadcrumbs that lead us to the exact month that Jesus was born?

Here’s how to follow the map that Luke cleverly laid out for us.

Luke begins his Gospel by telling us that the angel Gabriel appeared to the priest Zachariah and told him that his wife Elizabeth would conceive and have a son who was John the Baptist (Luke 1:5). From the date of this angelic announcement, Luke goes on to give us clues to all we need to know to determine when Jesus was born.

The first clue is to establish that the announcement of Elizabeth’s conception came while Zachariah was serving in the Temple. 

Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. (Luke 1:8-9)

Priests were chosen to serve in the Temple in one of 24 divisions throughout...