Learn Basic Bible Timeline
The Life of Jesus

Simplified Bible Timeline

Our study of the relative time periods of four Old Testament characters has now brought us to the very beginning of New Testament times and to the lifetime of the most significant individual of all, Jesus of Nazareth.

Brief Historical Summary

First we considered Abraham , who lived about 2000 BC. The story of his descendants for the next 500 years brought us to Moses, who lived around 1500 BC.

The story of the Israelites leaving Egypt, finally entering the Promised Land, and living during a period with no king over the nation covered the next 500 years.

Then, around 1000 BC we arrived at the time of the first king of Israel, Saul, and the central character of this time period, King David, ancestor of Jesus. The period of the kings of Israel and Judah up to the time of the captivity of nations of Israel and Judah covered the next 500 years.

Finally, we considered the prophet Daniel , who lived around 500 BC, and was part of the nation of Judah as it lived in exile in Babylon.

After the time of Daniel, many of the people of Judah who had been in exile were allowed to return to Israel, rebuild the temple in Jerusalem after some resistance by local tribes, and begin life as a nation again in their homeland. The next 500 years leading up to the birth of Jesus continued to be times of turmoil for the Jews. Although allowed to remain in the land, they were subjugated by a series of nations and never again attained the glory of the Kingdom under David and his son Solomon.

A number of prophets were raised up by God to speak to the nation and call to their attention their continued failure to live up to the original calling of Israel to be a light to the world to show the blessings of obedience to the Eternal. The last of these prophets whose words are recorded in the Bible was Malachi, who evidently wrote the book of Malachi somewhere around 400 BC.

From that time until the birth of Jesus, there were no more writings added to the collection of writings agreed by the Jews to be "inspired" by God., the collection now labeled "The Old Testament" in Christian Bibles.

The Birth of Jesus

No one knows the exact time or year of Jesus birth. Almost all biblical scholars agree it was likely not in December, and that it was not in the year 1 AD. There is no documentation that would allow us to pin down either the date or the year. However, many scholars agree He was likely born in about 4 BC.

This of course sounds odd, as the designation "BC" means "Before Christ"! But as we noted in an earlier article in this series, the original calculations for the year of Jesus birth were based on faulty information. Since the date had been accepted for hundreds of years before the error was discovered, and since it was later obvious that there was no way to pin down the exact year, scholars agreed to just leave the calendar "as is".

It is also impossible to pin down, to everyone's satisfaction, the year of Jesus' death. But since He started His ministry at about the age of 30, and it lasted for a little over three years, we can be quite sure that He died some time in the late 20s or early 30s AD.

New Testament Writings

The first book written that is now included in the New Testament was not written until some time in the late 40s or early 50s AD. This was likely one of the letters of the Apostle Paul. Again, we have no historical documentation to know exactly when any of the books of the New Testament were written, but it is generally agreed that all were written before the end of the first century.

The Old Testament addresses, in topics, events that covered a span of over 4000 years, and was written over a span of at least 1000 years. Surprisingly, in comparison, the New Testament covers events that took place during a period less than 100 years, and was written over a span of less than 50 years!

The material covered in the New Testament includes the life, death, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus, and the acts and teachings of His Apostles during a period of about 60 years after His death and resurrection. Thus, when considering the relative time period of Jesus and anyone connected to Him in the New Testament, you need only remember that ALL of these events and characters can be grouped in the 100 year period from just before 1 AD up to 100 AD.

Conclusion

This concludes the nine lesson series on Biblical Chronology MADE EASY! We hope you enjoyed it!