Luke's Detailed History

Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

Luke 3:1,2

The debate over the AD 31 date for the crucifixion, and therefore for dates of the prophetic timeline in Daniel's prophecies, is solid. 

Add 3 and half years of Christ's ministry following His baptism in AD 27 you end up in D 31. 

"Tiberius came to the throne in 12 AD. 

He was a co-ruler with Augustus Caesar from 12 AD. So if you add

15 years to 12, you get AD 27 as and this chapter here is dealing with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.

But if you happen to be living in Judea, this happened when Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea. 

And if you happen to be living in in um Galilee, it's when Herod was the tetrarch.
Philillip was the tetrarch  over the river Jordan and Trachonitis. 

And if you happen living in the Abalene area is when Lysanius was the tetrarch there. 

And it's when Annus and Caiaphas were high priests and the word of God came to John son of Zacharas. 

If you're in the Levitical families you will have known when this happened as well. 

So Luke is giving us all these historical characters. 

So if you're a Roman in Rome, if you are living in Galilee, if you're living in Judea, if you're living beyond the Jordan, if you're living in
Jerusalem, and if you're in the Levitical families, you have a point of reference in these two verses. 

What Luke is making sure is that nobody can dispute that Jesus of Nazareth was baptized in AD 27. That's the point of all this history." 

Conrad Vine