Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit
― Jesus' last words.
Jesus Christ, or otherwise known as Jesus of Nazereth is widely recognized as a sacrificial savior and son of God.
Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE), also known as Jesus Christ, was a Jewish preacher and is the central figure of Christianity, which views him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament, with most Christian denominations believing him to be the Son of God who was raised from the dead. Islam considers Jesus a prophet and also the Messiah. He is one of the most influential figures in human history.
Christian beliefs include Jesus' virgin birth, performance of miracles and ascension into Heaven.
According to most Christian interpretations of the Bible, the theme of Jesus' teachings was that of repentance, unconditional love, forgiveness of sin, grace, and the coming of the Kingdom of God. Starting as a small Jewish sect, it developed into a religion clearly distinct from Judaism several decades after Jesus' death. Over the centuries, it spread to most of Europe, and around the world.
Etymology
Jesus comes from the Latin word Iesus. The word is a transliteration of the Greek Iesous, a rendering of the Hebrew Yeshua, a rendering of the earlier name Yehoshua, or in English as "Joshua". At the time of Jesus' birth, the name Yeshua appears to have been used in Judea.
Since Early Christianity, Jesus was known by multiple Christians as "Jesus Christ". The name Christ was not a given name, it was a threefold office. It comes from the Greek word Christos.
History
Genealogy and nativity
According to The New Testament Books of Matthew and Luke, Jesus Christ's mother, Mary was announced by Archangel Gabriel that a child would be born from her and he would be named Jesus. She was given pregnancy by The Holy Spirit so Christ's birth would be by virginity. Joseph (Mary's bethroted man) did not know any of this until Gabriel appeared to him in a dream and told him Mary was pregnant with The Son of God. Joseph felt upset at the beginning but when he talked to Mary, he understood she was pregnant as a virgin. But King Herod The Great found out soon about a prophecy of an upcoming newborn king, so he ordered an instant consensus so all families would be forced to depart Nazareth. Mary and Joseph left Nazareth too, but within the journey, Mary's pregnancy increased so they came to a close village called Bethlehem. The way she gave birth was way different in the two Books.
According to Matthew, she (and Joseph) knocked from door to door looking for hostage until one gentleman received them, this man was called Desmas. Mary finally gave birth to baby Jesus in Desmas' barnyard. According to Luke, they never received hostage but she rather gave birth inside a cave. Out in the desert, many shepherds knew about the birth of Jesus when they saw the biggest star they ever saw and followed it. It told them that the savior has born. It impressed so much the sheperds that they followed the star to the barnyard (or the cave) in Bethlehem. According to Matthew, when a shepherd was sent to Herod's palace to tell the news, he got furious, so he ordered his three prophets to kill the boy.
Their names were Melchior of Persia, Gaspar of India and Balthazar of Arabia, The Royal Magi. When The Magi made the journey to Bethlehem to "Give their presents" to the newborn king, when they saw him found out what he was really worth so they literally gave him their presents: Gold, Frankinciense and Myrrh, For his Worth, for his Glory and for the Sacrifice he would do in some time later, respectively. Everyone worshiped Jesus in that moment, knowing that The Son of God was born. The Magi would never return to Herod after disobeying his orders, so after finding out the trick, he order an immediate execution of all firstborns all around Jerusalem. When Joseph and Mary heard about the bad news, they ran to Egypt carrying baby Jesus until he got to 11 years, when Herod the Great aged and died.
When Mary and Joseph were in they're way back to Jerusalem, they found out that Jesus wasn't with them anymore, so they traveled back to Egypt to look for him without finding him. They finally found Jesus inside a temple talking to a group of priests, who actually looked amazed of the child's wisdom for his short age. When Mary found him, she looked upset since she asked him "How could you scare us like that, Joseph and I were looking for you everywhere?" and Jesus answered "Don't you see I must be where my father is?" Mary did not answer that.
Passion
According to the Four Canonical Gospels: Jesus Christ's wisdom was so unique that everyone around Jerusalem was amazed (in both, the good and the bad way). There was a man who was thought to be the Messiah: John the Baptist, who knew who the real messiah would be and would come to the River that day to be baptized by him. When Jesus, having his 33 years of birth, came to The River before John who was amazed when seeing Jesus: "It's me who should be baptized by you." When baptized, Jesus received the Holy Spirit within him, so God would always be within him. And both John and Jesus, as loved they were by part of the crowd and Jesus' twelve followers, some other part hated them, alongside The New Ruler of Jerusalem, Herod Antipas, his Roman Captain of the Guard, Pontius Pilate, and The Hebrew High Priest Caiaphas, alongside the Priest Society.
What was more amazing was the miracles he did (which just led them more upset since they thought it was all made up): According to Mark, while in a fishing travel with his followers, a storm came in the Sea of Galilee, and everyone were in deadly danger. Suddenly, Peter spotted Jesus standing on his feet over the sea water. Then, he literally walked over the sea back to the boat and everyone looked mouth-opened at what Jesus was doing. In other fishing travel, there were no fish that day but when Jesus put his hand on the water, the fishing web filled with fish. According to John, Jesus had a close friend called Lazarus, but one day, he got sick by leprosy. His sisters, Mary Magdalene and Martha tried to convince Jesus to help him, but he knew that he should repent his sins.
But when Jesus found out that Lazarus really needed his help, Mary told him that it was too late, Lazarus died. Jesus told her "It's never late for God". Then, he went to Lazarus' grave and she told the same as Mary and before doing his work, he weeped for him. Then he extended his arms before the grave and talked to the dead Lazarus to rise from the dead. Then, someone came out of the grave involved by bandajes and everyone out couldn't believe it: Lazarus was alive! Everyone thanked God for this. Jesus was other day invited with his mother to a wedding party in Cana, but everyone looked frustrated, since the only thing to drink was water. Jesus, after seeing everyone, told everyone to follow him to the barrels in the attic (those barrels were filled with water). Everyone saw what Jesus would do: Jesus touched one of the barrels and when when he opened them to pick out the drink, it was wine what came out of the barrels. All the barrels were filled with wine! According to Matthew, Mark and Luke, when the Easter Season came, Jesus commemorated the forty days being alone in the desert and it was the best chance for The Devil to take advantage for The Son of God.
After feeling exhausted and hungry, and had a stone before him, Jesus saw the stone turning into bread. But then, Satan introduced holding it: "If you're The Son of God, turn these stones into bread and end your hunger". But Jesus replied "Man shall live with more than bread". Then, The Devil took him to a cliff and told him "If you're The Son of Son of God, throw yourself from this cliff and The Angels will save you". Jesus replied "You shall not put The Lord Your God in test". The Devil then placed Jesus in the tallest place in all Earth "You shall be the Ruler of Heaven and Earth only if you worship me". Jesus replied "You shall only worship The Lord Your God For Ever and Ever. Now Begone Satan!" Satan was gone then, and angels helped Jesus, who went in his journey until coming back to the city. Jesus' teachings were also important, in fact, many people gathered were he was to listen every word he said. One good way he used to teach was with parables (The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, The Talents, Lazarus and the Rich Man, The Mustard Seed and others, for instance). When someone had questions, everyone came to Jesus to ask him. Once, a priest asked him why he teached with parables. All his answers were mouth-opening, most of the time, in the good way. But when in the bad way, it was when all his deeds came to The Authority(The Romans, The Priest Society and King Herod)'s ears.
One day, The Priests gathered and talked about Jesus: According to them, he had gone too far with his deeds, going against the Hebrew Church, so they had to do something to him to stop him (and his followers) once and for all. And to join the Easter party, Jesus announced to his followers and the crowd around him that they would commemorate when God let them into The Promised Land by entering into The City of Jerusalem. Among the twelve followers, Judas raised a sword for the big day, but Simon told him that as Jesus told all of them, neither would need a weapon for their entrance into the city. Judas knew the Great War in Jericho, so he did not undersand why Jesus would ban weapons in this ocasion. When sunday came, Caiaphas and the other priests noticed Jesus alongside his mother, his followers and a big crowd coming into the entrance of the city.
Before one priest stopped them by strength, Caiaphas stoped him and told Jesus: "Stop this mob of yours, they are fools and they should disperse!" But calmly, Jesus answered "Why do you waste breath by moaning at the crowd? If every tongue was still, the noise will still going on, even the stones will make noise themselves". And Jesus, alongside his followers and the crowd went inside the city only to realize what they actually do: They sell animals as merchandise in The Temple. Jesus then goes furious and destroys everything on the temple and releases all the animals "This temple should be a house of prayers, and you have made it a den of thieves!"
Then, a man comes before him and tells him they're sorry for corrupting a so holy place. Jesus then, picks a coin and asks who is that face of. The man tells him is The Caesar's. Jesus then says "Very well, then give The Caesar what belongs to The Caesar and give God what belongs to God".This, just led more upset The Authorities, yet they have noticed that one of the followers wasn't really happy with Jesus, not even since he looked different since he entered into the city (and not in the good way). This one was Judas, who would even be willing of leaving one night at the Temple with the priests and now they had one thing in common: They were all mad at Jesus. Once Judas met the priests, they made right that agreement, so they made a plan to get rid of him yet Judas refused at the beginning since it meant to betray his own master.
Caiaphas offered ten pieces of silver in exchange for telling them where and when they would find Jesus, so Judas talked: "You will find him praying on thursday night, in The Garden of Gethsemane". Thursday night, when Jesus gathered all his followers, he noticed the treason "The end is just a little hard to take when brought by a friend", then everyone found out that one of them was going to betray their master, then Jesus whispered to Judas "Go ahead and do what you must". Judas left to meet the Romans, and another announcement that Jesus made before the supper was that Simon would deny him three times, before the sunrise. Simon could not believe what Jesus said, he would never do such a thing! Once they began the supper, Jesus took the bread and divided it in a half "Take and eat for this bread could be my body that you will share tonight". Then, he took the cup filled with wine "Take and drink for this wine could be my blood, And this is The Cup of The Covenant that it is for ever to be shared".
Everyone ate and drunk "Now eat and drink, since I shall forever be remembered if you do". At the end of the supper, Jesus asked his followers to stay awake and watch if Judas or the roman soldiers came to take him, but no one listened and went to sleep. Jesus was the only one awake, praying at night when suddenly, a cup on fire appeared from Heaven, as a sign telling him that his end is for everyone's good. Jesus prayed asking God to take that cup away, there should be another way to resolve The Authorities' ways. But at the end, Jesus agreed to drink this cup's poison, after all, Jesus knew that his fate was in The Hands of his Father. When the apostles woke up, Jesus and them noticed Judas and the romans were coming to take them away. Judas went with the one to be arrested and kissed him so the soldiers would know who's Jesus. "Judas, must you betray me with a kiss?"
For the first time, the apostles had to use their weapons without a choice and once again, Jesus stopped them "Simon, put away that sword, it's all over. Stick to fishing from now on". And Jesus was arrested, beaten and took to the Temple were he was questioned by Caiaphas "Is it true what you say, are you The Son of God?" Jesus replied "That's what you say". After that answer, everyone agreed to take Jesus to Pontius Pilate, if he made a more official answer. In the Temple, a woman saw Simon. This woman saw him following Jesus when he got arrested, along his other followers. She came close to Simon and said "I think I know you, I remember I just saw you with that man they took away". He just replied "I don't know what you're talking about". Then, an old man came in "I just saw you with him too, yet you deny!"
Simon replied "You got me with the wrong man! I don't know him!" Then a soldier questioned him "But I saw you too!" Simon couldn't keep it anymore "I don't know him I tell you!" Then, the sun rose and Simon could not believe what he just did, just as Jesus said he would do. For that moment, Jesus was still being beaten by the soldiers until getting on their way to Pilate's Palace. Pilate came out and looked the poor beaten man and asked who he was. A soldier told him he was The King of the Jews. With that name, Pilate knew it was Jesus Christ and asked if as everyone else, if he is The Son of God and still he said "Your words, not mine". With that answer, and knowing that he comes from Galilee, Pilate sent Jesus with King Herod. Herod, having The Sun of God at his feet, would have a very good chance to take advantage of him (right as his father before him). When Jesus was taken to his Palace, Herod asked him to play any kind of miracles to surprise him yet Jesus refused. Then Herod took Jesus as a fraud and told the roman soldiers to get out of there and never let Jesus in there. They went back to the city to be judged by Pilate again.
When Judas saw how bad Jesus looked, he began to feel guilty about what he did at the point he went with the priests and gave their money back yet they rejected it. Feeling out of solutions for his problems, he ran off, never to be seen anymore (Whether he looked for the closest tree and hanged himself, according to Matthew, or he used the money to buy a field but he burst asunder, all his bowels gushing out, according to The Book of Acts). Back, in Pilate's Palace, Pilate noticed that Herod wasn't really impressed with Jesus so he asked once again if he is The Son of God (since that's what the people want to know) and Jesus once more said "it's you who say I am". And the crowd that once followed Jesus, now insisted to sentence him to death. Pilate knew that this man was innocent and didn't deserve to die, however to shut all their mouths, ordered his soldiers to lash Jesus thirty nine times (If beat him while walking wouldn't be bad enough) Jesus' mother, Mary was within the crowd yet she never asked for any of that and she suffered by seeing her own son being brutally beaten by the Romans. Pilate told Jesus his life was in his hands but Jesus replied "There's nothing in your hands, my life's in the Hands of God, everything's fixed and you can't do anything about it".
The people insisted on killing him, at the point Pilate couldn't keep it anymore and shut their mouths ordering Jesus' execution and stating that his death would not be because of him. Jesus, main cause of mockery in that moment, was forced to carry the cross he was condemmed to die in. He was forced to walk carrying the cross to The Mount Golgotha, where he would get executed. There, his clothes were taken and was taken down to the cross, were he was nailed on his hands and feet, put a crown of thorns on his head and a sign that said "Behold Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews". And after the cross was lifted, Jesus said these final words, according to the Gospels "Father, forgive them, they don't know what they're doing".
Desmas, the man who once gave hostage to Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, was crucified alongside Jesus and a thief called Gestas "If you're the Son of God, end our suffer and make us come down these crosses". Desmas says "Don't listen to him, we've been mean and we deserve this punishment, but please, let us in The Heavenly Paradise with you". Jesus answers "I tell you, all of you are welcome with me from now on". "Mother, here's your son, John's here's your mother" "God, why have you forsaken me?" "I'm thirsty!" In this point, a roman soldier gives Jesus a sponge filled with vinegar in a spare and laughs at him.
"It is finished." "Father, into your hands, I command my spirit!" With these final words, Jesus took his final breath and died. A soldier rose another spare to his chest making him bleed and another soldier filled his cup with Jesus' blood. But then, all earth trembled and everyone looked at Jesus. A soldier looked at him amazed "He actually was the Son of God". The soldiers descended him from the cross and his mother held him one last time with sadness. The apostles embalmed Jesus and buried him in a cave under Mount Golgotha. When the Easter Party came over, Mary Magdalene came to Jesus' grave to wash Jesus' body, but when she went she just went to realize that his grave was already open. Did someone else already come in to wash the body?, she thought, but when she came in, Jesus Christ's body was gone!
Then, she couldn't do anything but cry, since her master was gone in soul and now in body too. Then, a man in white clothes appeared behind her "Why are you crying?" This man asked. She answered that her friend and master was gone and nowhere to be seen. He told her to turn around. And Mary could not believe what she just saw: It was Jesus Christ! Mary went with the apostles to tell the good news "Our master is alive!" but no one believed her, since everyone was witness of Jesus' execution, so her faith was gone. And no matter what Mary did, she couldn't make them believe her. Jesus told her he would come with her where the apostles were. It wasn't easy to believe for them that their master was actually alive but when they saw him, they got amazed. They all hugged him, filled with joy, all except Thomas who was still thinking Jesus was dead and he was just a stranger. He would just be convinced if he touched his bloodless wounds. Then, Jesus told him to touch his wounds and Thomas found out that it was true, Jesus resurrected from the dead and hugged him.
The apostles and Jesus hanged out for a while, and in that moment, Simon felt terrible for his actions and he asked for forgiveness. Jesus asked "Do you love me?" "I always will, Master!" Simon answered. "Do you love me?" Jesus asked again. "More than anything!" Simon answered. "Do you love me?" Jesus once again asked. "I will, even after I die!" Simon told Jesus. Then he said "Then, you shall be The Leader of my Sheeps and you will place the stone for my church, so will no longer be called Simon. Your name is from now on Peter". And when the time had come, Jesus said goodbye to his friends, since it was the time for him to go where his Father is. After saying goodbye to everyone, they all saw Jesus being ascended to Heaven and disappearing in the sky. According to Scriptures, he is now sit at the right side of God in the Heavenly Throne, swearing one day to come back to humankind.
After Ascension
The story of Jesus was actually over in the four Gospels, but there's still many things to talk about in The New Testament. According to The Book of Acts, when Jesus ascended to Heaven, he made tongues of fire fall from the sky, so everyone around could talk any kind of language and spread around the world the good news, Our Lord shall come. In that moment, as Jesus commanded, Peter became the new leader of the israelites and after Jesus ascended, Pilate ordered to hunt him down along the other eleven and anyone else who believed in Jesus. Himself appeared once to Peter, when The Temple of Jerusalem was burned to the ground in an attempt to get the apostles once and for all.
However, Jesus was always with Peter, even when he was alive, he believed in him. Jesus was with Peter, even the day he died, when he finally got arrested. But since he was condemned to crucifixion, he thought it wouldn't be right to die as his master did, so he asked the soldiers to change the way of the execution, so they turned the cross upside down. Scriptures say that Peter is now at the Gates of Heaven holding it's keys. There was still many people spreading the word of God, however, also roman soldiers hunting them down, among them Saul, a roman soldier hired by Pilate. In one ocasion, one man was talking about the Word of God, and also that there can be good from anywhere. No one believed that and they stoned that man to death. Meanwhile, Saul was chasing a poor hebrew boy while in his way in Damascus, when a very shiny light coming from the sky stoped him, and a voice coming from the light talked to Saul "Saul, why are you chasing me? You are doing nothing but harming yourself. It is me, Jesus Christ who you are chasing.
Now raise on your feet, since I've appeared to you to make you my minister and witness, not only the ones you saw, but the ones I shall appear to you. I shall liberate you from your people, just as the gentles that I sent to you to open their eyes, to turn the darkness into light, from the power of Satan to God so they can have the sake of their sins, and heir for those who are sanctified by faith". The light blindened Saul, and he couldn't believe what he just saw, but he was blind at the point that he had to leave with the help of his soldier partners. Back, a man called Ananias cried for the loss for his friend called Stephen, who was recently stoned for telling the Word of God. Then, while praying, Jesus answered "Ananias, raise, go to the street that's in the right and ask in the House of Judas for a man called Saul of Tarsus, since he is praying and he has seen in one vision that you have put your hand on him to have his sight back"
"God, I saw all the evil that this man has done to all believers in Jerusalem". Ananias answered. "Go for I have chosen him to spread my word all around the world". And as Jesus said, Ananias went were Saul was and placed his hand on his eyes to give his sight back. Saul, then washed his sins in the house's pool and asked for forgiveness for his foolish ways in his past days when he was a witness for Stephen's death. Saul announced everyone that he changed all his ways thanks to God. And from now on he would no longer be called Saul, his name was now Paul, and as Jesus commanded, he spread the word of God everywhere and became a sailor, but became also charged by treason and chased by Pilate, and got arrested. God sent an earthquake to send him free and was still sailing around the world to spread the Word of God. But he ended arrested again, but this time, God just let him stay in prison, where he was until he died.
Second Coming of Jesus
One of the last prophets that ever lived, (friends of Jesus and evangelists) was John, who had a vision, in which in one word, this would actually happen nowadays. Well, according to The Book of Revelation, John had the visit of The Angel of God telling him that The Lord would finally end all evil and unify Heaven and Earth but at one cost: To end with the earth as we know it. The angel took John to The Heavenly Throne, where he saw Jesus Christ sat at the center, four creatures around him: An eagle, a lion, a cow and human-like, all of them had five wings, all around the hall were people: twenty four elderly men, twelve at the right and twelve at the left. At the bottom of the throne there were seven archangels, all of them holding trumpets. And at the corner of the room, came a lamb with many eyes that came before God.
This lamb had a scroll before him. Once he begun to pronounce it, four peculiar characters came from behind the throne through the hall and right to the Earth, as it was God's command, these four characters were: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. One of them had an arch and arrow, the other had a sword, the other had a weighing scale and the last one had an oz. The time to end the Earth had come. Later, According to Revelation 12, a Woman on the moon (Mostly presumed to be Virgin Mary) had her baby taken by a dragon. This dragon was actually The Devil. God rescued the baby but the dragon didn't give up without a fight so he drunk the water in the desert to kill the woman, but God fought the dragon, saved the woman and placed her in a safe place in the desert.
Then, John saw a war in Heaven, where Archangel Michael fought the dragon and many angels who followed him. Michael ended up defeating the dragon and condemning him to exile alongside his followers. He would no longer be back in heaven in good ways. Then, he saw one city falling for his sins and no one weeping for it: Babylon. Then, he saw the seven archangels with their trumpets coming down to earth, each one when they played their trumpet, a disaster happened (Earthquakes, fires, rains of blood, plagues). Then, he saw the dragon, but with someone (or something) else: The False Prophet.
The dragon was red, with seven heads, each one with a crown, and the false prophet was a leopard-like creature with four wings, two heads and blue spots. They both did everything to convince everyone that all what God was doing was just to kill them all, and if they worshiped them, this disaster would be gone for good. Everyone who believed in The Devil had The Number of the Beast (666), yet there were still many people loyal to the Word of God. And when the moment came, God, and a huge army of angels fought the dragon, the false prophet and the fallen angels.
God appeared mounted on a white horse, with a fire sword in his mouth. God defeated The Devil and condemned him to one thousand years into an abyss for all he has done. Then, He opened the Gates of Heaven for all who weren't wearing the Number of the Beast. For those, he opened the ground to a Lake of Fire and Sulfur. It was the Judgment Day, where the just ones were safe, while the mean ones would be punished. And once the thousand years passed, the dragon came out of his prison to cause more torment once again, so Jesus condemned him to the Lake of Fire and Sulfur, where he suffered alongside the false prophet and his own followers for ever and ever.
After all evil was destroyed for good, God kept his promise and unified Heaven and Earth by creating a new city: The New Jerusalem. A new world, where there would no longer be evil, only peace and prosperity. This city looked made all of gold, square-like shape all around it, with an archangel statue at every corner, and at the very center, one fountain and one tree, where the balance would be kept for ever and ever. And in the throne room, there was God, and by his right, his son Jesus Christ, also, before them, the lamb, the four animal-like creatures and the twenty four elderly man surrounding the throne room. Jesus was going to rule with peace from then on, as John could see.
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