public class ReadDateZeroWithJDBC {
    public static void main(String args[]) throws ClassNotFoundException, SQLException {
        Connection conn = setupJDBCAndConnect();

        //expected epoch unix time
        java.util.Date dateExpected = new java.util.Date(0);

        //actual created_at_utc from the user record in DB
        PreparedStatement stmtRead = createSelectStatement(conn, 1);
        ResultSet rs = stmtRead.executeQuery();
        rs.next();
        java.util.Date dateRetrieved = new Date(rs.getTimestamp(3).getTime());

        System.out.println("Dates comparison result:"
                + "\nExpected:          " + dateExpected
                + "\nExpected as UTC0:  " + dateExpected.toGMTString()
                + "\nExpected as long:  " + dateExpected.getTime()
                + "\nActual:            " + dateRetrieved
                + "\nActual as UTC0:    " + dateRetrieved.toGMTString()
                + "\nActual as long:    " + dateRetrieved.getTime());

        conn.close();
    }

    private static PreparedStatement createSelectStatement(Connection conn, int userId) throws SQLException {
        String sql = "SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = ?";
        PreparedStatement stmt = conn.prepareStatement(sql);
        stmt.setInt(1, userId);
        return stmt;
    }

    private static Connection setupJDBCAndConnect() throws ClassNotFoundException, SQLException {
        Class.forName("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver");
        String url = "jdbc:sqlserver://localhost;databaseName=test";
        String userName = "tester";
        String password = "test";
        return DriverManager.getConnection(url, userName, password);
    }
}