December 25th has long been the accepted date for the birth of Christ.  It has been noted that it coincided with the Winter Solstice or the feast of Saturnalia, in which the Romans believed occurred on December 25th, that it was the last of the shortest days.  Therefore, celebration was to be done because now the days were to become longer and longer until Spring arrived.  But was the Christ child really born on this day?  A simple perusal of Scriptures finds in the Gospel of Luke 2:8

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night."

It is highly improbable that shepherds would be out at night in the fields, watching their sheep at the end of December, which would be very cold, not just for the sheep but for the men as well.  Because the very lifestyle of a shepherd was primarily nomadic, moving from field to field in order to graze the sheep, therefore, temporary lean-to's would have been constructed, or succoths (which is where we get Tabernacle from).  Therefore, the men would not have much shelter on a freezing night.  This is why placing the birth of Christ on December 25th is a poor choice.  Even while tradition has placed it there, it did not actually fully take hold until after the reign of Constantine during the 300's.  More can be read about it in my last article, Kringle-kring-a-ling. 

Others have cited a likely target date somewhere in March, around the time of Passover, but during this author's studies, it is posited that a birthday in September is the most logical.  The Feast of Tishri falls generally within this time frame and this particular feast is also called the Head of the Year, or the civil New Year for Israel.  This was also the time that Israel's kings were coronated.  Upon this day, the trumpets were blowing in Jerusalem signalling the New Year and if a king was being installed, it heralded this as well.  How apropo that the Lord Jesus Christ is also known as the KING OF KINGS and therefore how appropriate that trumpets would be blowing on the day of His birth.  It is also recognized in the book of Revelation, at "the last trumpet" will be when Christ is revealed for the last time before He reigns upon earth as the Eternal King.  Also, since female gestation lasts approximately nine months, so if the time of gestation is counted backwards to determine the date of conception, it is found that it goes back to December.  Another factor is that the Feast of Hanukkah is held in December and it is also known as the Feast of Lights.  Again, how appropriate, since the Lord Jesus is also called the Light of the World, that He should have possibly been conceived during the Feast of Lights and then His birthday occured around the time of the Feast of Tishri, which is also called the Feast of Trumpets.

With the advent of super computers, the calendars have been ran backwards, and along with the known movements of the stars in the galaxy, it was prophesied that the Star of Bethlehem was excessively bright, perhaps a super nova and in conjunction with Regulus, a King star and Jupiter, the King planet.  An approximate date found would be that of 3 B.C. and most likely on September 11th for that year which would have the stars and planets at their brightest, which is what the Magi would have been viewing.  Also, most likely they would have first viewed this phenomenon at the time of his birth and began to travel towards the apex.  It is posited that their arrival coincides with the biblical record of King Herod wanting to know where this child was and his subsequent plans to murder the Christ child out of his own insecurity concerning his throne.  This is why Herod had all of the male children from two years and under, ordered to be slaughtered which would place the arrival of the Magi around the time that Jesus was already approximately one and half years old.  So although tradition shows the Magi arriving to find an infant in swaddling clothes, they would have found a toddler playing at Mary's feet.

However, this author states emphatically that the birth of Christ should be held in our hearts every day of the year and not just one one particular day, whether in December or September, but every day that we may glorify the Christ....who name is JESUS, or as it is properly pronounced in Hebrew, Yeshua which means Savior.