THE RIVER JORDAN

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13.HE IMPORTANCE OF

THE RIVER JORDAN

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he sources of the river for the water are the foot of the “Hermon Mountain” probably

the melting snow at the top of the mountain and other small rivers near by. The river is about

1700 feet above the sea level. In a distance of 12 miles, it drops down, to the sea level, at the

‘‘Lake of Hula”. This decent continues for six miles, until it enters the Sea of Galilee which

lies about 682 feet below the sea level. Although the distance between the Sea of Galilee and

the Dead Sea is only sixty five miles because of many twists and turns, the distance became

two hundred miles between them. The river is normally between 100 to 200 feet wide. But the

figure may change at the time of floods.

Its importance

1. Joshua passed through that river to Canaan with the Ark of Covenant. (Jos. 3:13-17)

2. Elijah smote the water. He and Elisha crossed the river. (II Kings 26:8)

3. Naaman was healed of his leprosy in that water. (II Kings 5:10-14)

4. Elisha made the axe head swim in the water. (II Kings 6:4-7)

5. John the Baptist ministered and baptized in that river. (John 1:19-28)

6. John baptized Jesus (John 1:29-34)

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The river Jordan is more important than any other like the Dead Sea or Red sea or the

Sea of Galilee in the Bible. This river is mentioned in the Bible six times in the first book of

Genesis alone and many times till Jesus took baptism, in the New Testament.

God told Joshua that His servant Moses was dead and asked him to lead Israel towards

the Promised Land. God further said “as I was with Moses, I shall be with you, be not

afraid and be not dismayed. I shall never fail thee where ever you go, I shall be with

you”. Then Joshua took forty thousand army to attack the city of Jericho. He had to cross the

River Jordan. (Joshua 1:5)

He marched with them and the Levite priests carried the Ark of Covenant. The river

was full due to harvest season. As soon as the priests touched the water with their feet and

the Ark of Covenant, the water was separated like the Red Sea. They crossed freely as if

they walked on the dry land. God again spoke to Joshua saying “Today, I shall magnify thee

before all Israel so that they can know as I was with Moses I shall be with you”. (Joshua

6:7) Then God asked for a sign. God told Joshua to select one man from each tribe to take a

stone from the bottom of the river, and keep it before their tents, as a memorial for their

children and their children to tell about the wonder of the river Jordan.

ELIJAH:

Elijah may be called one of the greatest

prophets. We know how he was fed by

ravens, and two times by an Angel. Before

he was taken to heaven by God on a chariot

in a whirl wind. Elijah went with Elisha and

asked him to stay at Gilgal. But Elisha replied

he wanted to follow him where ever he would

go. So they went to Bethel and from there to

Jericho. The sons of priests told Elisha that

his master was going to be taken to heaven

by God. From there they went to the river

Jordan and about fifty sons of the priests

followed them and stood at a distance.

Elijah took his mantle wrapped it and

smote the water and the water was divided

into two. They walked through the river as if

they walked on the dry land. (II Kings 2:8)

After they crossed the river Elijah asked Elisha

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what he could give to him before he would be taken to heaven. Elisha asked him "the double

portion of the spirit to be upon Him". Elijah felt that he asked for a hard thing. Even then he

said, when Elisha sees him going to heaven, it shall be so unto him if not it shall not be so. As

they still went on talking

together, a chariot of fire and

the horses of fire appeared

and parted them. Elijah went

up by a whirl wind to heaven

then Elisha cried helplessly

“my father, my father” and

the mantle of Elijah fell up on

him.

ELISHA:

Elisha took that mantle

and stood before the river

Jordan. Like Elijah Elisha also

smote the water of the river

and said "where is the Lord

God of Elijah?" the water

was separated and made the

way. Elisha walked on the dry

land and finally reached

Jericho. In that city, he

changed the dirty water into

fresh drinking water. It is

called even to day “Elisha

spring in Jericho”

NAAMAN:

Naaman was the captain of the host of Syrian King. He was a mighty man of valor but

was a leper. His companies went for a war and brought some people as captives from Israel.

From those captives, a young girl spoke to the wife of Naaman. She told her that there was a

prophet in Samaria who could heal her husband‘s leprosy. So Naaman came with his horses

and chariots and stood before the house of the prophet Elisha. The prophet could understand

the cause of his coming from a distance and sent him a messenger saying that he should go

and wash in the river Jordan seven times, and his flesh would come and he would be clean. (II

King 5:10) But Naaman got angry because he thought the prophet would come to him and

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touch him in the name of his God

and say something about his healing.

He also said that there were rivers

in Damascus with better water than

the water of Jordan.

The servant advised him to

honor the words of the prophet.

Naaman immediately went to the

River Jordan and took seven dips.

As the man of God said a new flesh

came to him as the flesh of an

innocent child. He was clean. He

was very happy at this change and

came to the prophet with some gifts.

But Elisha did not accept the gifts in

the name of God. Then Naaman

commented “there is no God on

earth except the God of Israel”.

The Prophet’s servant followed

Naaman for some gifts. The prophet

came to know it and cursed him with

with the leprosy of Naaman. When

we visited Turkey, Israel and

Palestine, in connection with Holy Land tour, we also took dips two times in the river at

different places.

What is the importance of the dip?

When the people take a dip at the time of baptism, it is believed that their sins will be

washed away and they will be clean. We may have to observe the following at the time of

Baptism.

1. We must be born again

2. We must have pure, perfect and faithful heart

When Christ was taking baptism, the heaven was opened, the Holy Ghost came in the

form of a white dove and a voice from heaven said “thou art my beloved son I am pleased

with Thee”. So let us hope we may also have the same exciting experience in our lives which

taking baptism in the river Jordan.

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C

JOSEPH AND MARY:

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oseph’s parents were Jacob and Timna and Mary’s Joachim and Anna. Both were the

children of David. Jacob lived in Bethlehem. When Joseph was two years old, the family left

Bethlehem and came to Nazareth. They settled there. Joachim and Anna lived in Jerusalem.

They also left their place and came to Nazareth and settled down there. Anna remained

barren for a long time. Only Joachim’s immense patience and devotion prevented him from

giving divorce to Anna for want of children.

Nazareth is called “the flower of Galilee”. It was only a village at that time. . Anna used

to weep for her barrenness. But one day God heard her prayers and blessed her with a child,

Joachim was very thankful to God because He answered their prayers and gave them a baby

girl. They gave her the name “Mary”. The parents thought that she was a “child of God”.

After sometime they also got a son but he was crippled and blind with twisted limbs

Joachim thought that if Mary were to be a boy, he would have been another David or

Solomon. She was actually a gift of God to them.

As Mary grew up, she came to know about Joseph and his family who were maintaining

carpentry shop at the end of a street. She used to go to bring water through that shop only.

Joseph had a friend by name Samuel. He was a business man from Jerusalem. He used to go

to all the places around Jerusalem, including Nazareth on business. He developed friendship

with Joseph. Joseph used to tell him about the family matters, and there were no secrets

between them. It was a custom in Nazareth and surrounding places that a girl should be

betrothed at the age of twelve and to be married at 13.

Even at the age of 11 Mary looked very beautiful, and became a center of attraction. A

man by name Abner from Nazareth who studied law wished to marry her. Another by name

Cleophas the richest man in Nazareth wanted to marry her. But she rejected both of them.

The family wanted her to marry Joseph only. Everything went on in favor of Joseph and Mary

and their betrothal took place in a synagogue in Nazareth. Many people attended the function

some days passed after the betrothal.

God sent his message through Gabriel the angel of God to Mary. It was almost sunset,

when she was giving water to her donkey in the stable, an angel came and the light entered

through the door and fell on the donkey. It stopped drinking water in surprise. Then followed

a voice “Mary”, she thought that her father was calling her. So she replied ‘yes, father’. The

voice was heard for the second time. The spirit made Mary close her eyes and listen to what

the angel would say.

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Gabriel spoke “I am sent by God who always loves you. He had watched you while

you were growing from child hood to womanhood. Now God had a message of great

importance. You shall conceive and bear a son. You shall call him Jesus; He would be

great and be called the son of God, The son of the most high”. Then Mary replied “the

messiah?”. The angel added “God will give him the throne of his father David and he

would reign over the house of Jacob”. Mary by closing her eyes and by feeling the fur of

the donkey listened to all these words from God. But in the Bible, the same angel said “blessed

art thou among women”. (Luke: 1:28)

Mary then replied “I am the willing hand maiden of the Lord”. Then the Holy Spirit fell

on her. She trembled for some time as how to tell all that to Joseph. The finger of God also

touched Mary. God spoke to her on certain occasions. Really, she is blessed among women

ZACHARIAS AND ELIZABETH

They lived at “Ein karem” (Luke 1:39) a small town. It was 4 miles away from Jerusalem.

They were relatives to Mary’s family. So after she was conceived by the Holy Spirit wished

to go to them and spend some time. Only her parents knew about the conception. Joseph also

did not know about it. It was four days

journey from Nazareth to Ein Karem.

Elizabeth was also conceived in her old

age as God blessed her just six months

earlier than Mary. The same Gabriel

angel met Zacharias in the altar of the

church and gave him the news from God.

Zacharias happened to be in the sacred

place for he got his chance to burn the

incense at the altar. Just at that time the

Gabriel angel, appeared to him at the right

side of the altar and told him that he would

get a son and his name shall be John.

Zacharias could not believe his

words, because they were too old to have

children. The angel due to his disbelief to

the words of God made him dumb and

went away. So he came out of the church

and could not speak with the people who

awaited him

All the time Mary spent about two months with her cousin and returned to Nazareth.

After she returned home, Joseph came to know about Mary and was disturbed. But the angel

came to him in his dream and clarified everything. He was convinced and decided to help

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Mary as a foster father because he had a “gift of faith”. His mother Timna accepted the

conceived boy as a son of Joseph but Mary said “he was the son of God”

JOSEPH AND MARY – JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM

The distance between Nazareth and Bethlehem is about 87 miles. The means of

transportation, in those days, was donkey only. Mary was full pregnant at that time. It was the

time for the people to go to their respective native places for the purpose of the record of

census.

Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for he belonged to it. Mary wished to go to Bethlehem

with Joseph in such a conditions. She said “I must go to Bethlehem” and “I must go with my

husband”. Finally they got ready and travelled to Bethlehem. They took about seven days to

reach the place. Bethlehem was a small town at that time. They, at last, found a place at the

back of an inn. There were three caves used for keeping the baggage and also they were

used as stables for animals.

They settled in one of the caves. The time had come for her delivery. It was a custom in

those days that no man should see a woman while she was delivering. So “the son of God and

the son of man “came into this world with blood and pain in that cave. When Christ was born,

a large number of angels came down from heaven and sang songs in his praise, saying “glory

to God in the highest and on the earth peace and good will towards them. “The angels were

the first who came and sang songs in celestial language. After two hours of the birth of Jesus

the shepherds came who were guided by the star. At that time, they were feeding their sheep

on the Jericho Mountains. The star that showed them the way changed its colors from time to

time. The shepherds reached the place and saw

the baby Jesus and worshiped him. They brought

some gifts also to Christ. They were:

1. Rabbit skins

2. A sack of fig fruits

3. A new born lamb

The next people that visited Jesus were the

three wise men called “magi”. They came from

Persia and Chaldea. They were philosophers, and

physicians. They studied about the heavenly bodies,

and had great knowledge. They took weeks to

reach Bethlehem. They met Jesus and worshipped

him. With their knowledge they prophesied that the

child would change the history of the world. They

also said Jesus would become the king of Jews.

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The Magi brought some gifts to baby Jesus. They were:

1. Jars of precious myrrh

2. Frankincense

3. A ruby and gold in a velvet case

They, at last, advised Joseph and Mary to leave that place as early as possible because of

the mad man king Herod. Then they went to their places in a different way as they were also

afraid of the beast like man king Herod. The correct birth place is well preserved even today.

In the church of Nativity if we go down through the narrow steps, to the underground there is

a chapel and there is a small marble altar attached to the wall. There is a hearth with fourteen

point star that marks the exact place of Christ's birth. A Latin inscription is there on the star

saying “Here, Jesus Christ was born to virgin Mary”. The fourteen points Silver Star

indicates fourteen generations between Jesus and David and also fourteen generations between

David and Abraham. The holiest spot in Bethlehem shows the roots between Judaism and

Christianity. Both the Jews and Christians believed that the blood of David passes through

Messiah. The birth of Christ changed the history of the world. The B.C (before Christ changed

to A.D.) Ano Domino in the year of our Lord.

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When King Herod came to know that the king of Jews was born, he became restless. He

thought the three wise men deceived him. So he gave a declaration that all male children in

less than two years must be killed in Bethlehem. Joseph and Marry came to know this news

and went to Egypt and hid themselves there. Within a short time of his declaration, King

Herod died.

According to historical information, the king died in 4th B.C. Before Joseph and Mary

went to Egypt they took baby Jesus to Jerusalem temple for the presentation before God. It

was on the 8th day of his birth. There was a man called Simon living in the temple of Jerusalem.

He had been in that temple for years. He came and took baby Jesus into his hands. He said

that once an angel told him he would see “the Messiah before he dies”. Simon felt very happy

because he saw the Messiah before his death.

There was another woman by name Anna, aged about 107 years. She had been a widow

for 84 years. She spent all her widow hood in the temple in praying to God and also saw Jesus

and felt happy. Thomas, one of the desciples wrotre a book “The Infancy of Gospel of

Thomas” In that book he mentioned some miracles of Jesus in his childhood days. As his

foster father was a carpenter, Jesus used to help him now and then. While helping, if he found

two wooden pieces in different sizes, he would put them together, and they became equal on

all sides without cutting. This is one of the miracles. The other one is he used to make pigeons

in his leisure time with mud, and tell them “go”. They flew into the sky as living birds. Jesus

went to school regularly in Nazareth. It is said he recited the books of Moses in the school.

Those were the days of hatred among people for foreign rule (Roman rule). The young

people in towns and villages hated Romans for their crimes. And the old people were dreaming

of the coming of Messiah, to liberate them from the tyrannies of the Romans. He could

understand how people were anxiously waiting for Messiah, because he, himself was the

Messiah. He also remembered one incident how two thousand Jews were arrested at a time

and miserably crucified. In addition to that he heard in schools and public places what people

were talking about the Messiah. As Nazareth is on highways, he often met travelers from

Asia and Europe. When the travelers talked about ‘nirvana’ he understood it. He was also

familiar with Indian Vedic books and some stories from the Mahabharata.

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When Jesus was 12 years old, his parents took him to Jerusalem for Passover, festival.

It was an important festival for the Jews because it was in the memory of the death of the first

male child in Egypt before the people of Israel were liberated from the bondage of Pharaoh.

So, the Jews were very particular about this function. They used to conduct prayers for seven

days. When they were returning from Jerusalem to Nazareth, they missed Jesus. They returned

to the city again and searched for him. They took three days to find him. Jesus was found in

Jerusalem temple addressing the people with his wonderful knowledge. The people who gathered

in the temple were amazed at his knowledge. He said, “Love your enemies; do good to them

that hate you hoping for nothing. Then you will be called the children of the highest for

he is kind even to

the unthankful and

evil”. These words

were spoken by

Jesus when he was

12 years old. When

Jesus was between

18 and 30 years of

age, his foster father

Joseph died. He was

growing in age and

able to understand

the existing problems

of the people. He

began to think how

he could be able to

provide joy to the

people through

searching for truth.

He thought that the

kingdom of God

could be provided

through love only.

He understood at

that age why God

sent him into this

world .

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hrist, after knowing the political conditions of his time, how the Jews were ill treated

by the Romans, He decided to serve the humanity. But his plan was different. It was not like

his foster father’s friend Jesus Barabbas who followed violence. Christ wanted to tell the

people that they should love God first and then their fellow men for happy living. Just at that

time Jesus heard about John the Baptist, his cousin. He was preaching and giving baptism. He

used to say to the people about the coming of Messiah. He met John the Baptist for the first

time, to take baptism. John was surprised to see Jesus coming to him for baptism. By looking

at each other, they understood their mission and also knew that they

were doomed men.

When Jesus was taking baptism, at the age of 30, in the Jordan

River, the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost came down in the

form of a white dove and fluttered the wings on Jesus shoulders.

Then a voice was heard from heaven saying “thou art my beloved

son. In thee I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22) John the Baptist sent

two of his disciples to know whether he was the same man they were

looking for or they had to wait for Messiah. Actually everybody including

John the Baptist was anxiously looking for the coming of Messiah.

The people came to know later that Christ himself was the Messiah

Jesus answered some of the

questions put by John’s disciples.

Jesus told them that they

should inform John what they had

seen what they heard about him.

The disciples saw the miracles of Jesus how he healed

different people with different diseases. The blind saw,

the lame walked, the lepers cleansed the deaf heard and

the dead rose. They also saw his attractive preaching to

the multitudes and to the poor. Jesus and John knew that

they were going to die for a noble cause.

John the Baptist happened to meet Jesus for the

second time. He said “behold him. Who takes away

the sins of the world this is the son of God”. John the

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Baptist was six months older than Jesus Christ and he died earlier than Christ. He was beheaded

by Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the great. Jesus saw the wonderful work done by John in

his limited time. So in appreciation he said the following words "among those that were born

out of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist but he that is least in

the kingdom of God is greater than he". (Luke 7:28) Both talked about various existing

problems for some time, and then departed never to meet again in their life time.

The Church of Beatitudes is built at the place of the mount where Christ gave his sermon.

Christ in his sermon on the mount gave to the people some instructions to follow in our Christian

way of life. He said “when you are giving alms, let not your left hand know what your

right hand is doing”. That means we must give our alms secretly. But God sees our alms

secretly and rewards us what we deserve. While praying also God wants us to go to a lonely

place so that nobody can

hear our prayer and what

we are asking for. God

knows our needs before

our asking. God wants us

to seek the kingdom of

heaven first and then

righteousness. Then the

other things follow them.

We must be an example

to others. We must be

strong morally and

spiritually. We shall

never try to remove a

mole from others eye by

keeping a beam in our

eyes.

He spoke many things in the Sermon on the Mount but whatever Christ spoke to the

people he spoke with authority. And people were surprised of his sayings and wisdom. One

day he was traveling in a ship with his disciples. At that time a storm came. All of them were

afraid of the situation, and then Christ questioned them about their faith and warned the storm.

It was controlled. The disciples questioned among themselves saying what kind of man he

was, as the wind and the seas obeyed him. Though the disciples were with Christ all the time

they could not understand him properly. The people who heard his sermons surprised of his

knowledge.

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They thought that some supernatural power was speaking, but not the son of man or the

son of the carpenter Joseph. Whatever was spoken by him, the people of his native place

could not believe him or his greatness. One day Jesus Christ happened to go with his three

disciples James, John and Peter to a mountain called Tabor. There appeared to them Moses

and Elijah. In their presence Jesus transfigured himself. The appearance of Moses and Elijah

and the transfiguration of Jesus Christ were a strange incident to the disciples.

The main work of Christ was to preach the word of God and to heal the sick from

various diseases. The disciples observed these two things in Christ and questioned among

themselves why they could not do what Christ was doing.

According to Jesus one can achieve any thing in life through “faith”. So he said “if you

have a faith of a grain of mustered seed you can remove a mountain from its place”

(Matthew 17:20). Nothing is impossible to man.

When somebody questioned him who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? For

that Christ simply showed him “a child”. He further said, “Unless you convert yourself as a

child you cannot enter the kingdom of

heaven”.

One must be humble and innocent as

a little child. Then a lawyer happened to

ask another question “which is the great

commandment of the law? Christ said

“thou shalt love thy God with all thy

heart with all thy soul and with all thy

mind and added love thy neighbor as

thyself” the lawyer could not understand

the meaning of Christ’s reference

immediately. Christ gave the example of

the story of Good Samaritan. We know

the story how the Samaritan was called

Good Samaritan in the Bible. He happened

to help a wounded man on the way

between Jerusalem and Jericho. Two men

went before him and saw the wounded

man. But they did not care for him and

went away. Apart from loving our

neighbor, God wants us to be merciful towards others. We should not judge nor condemn but

forgive others and God will forgive us “give and it shall be given to you”.

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God said “who ever comes to me, listens to me what I said and follows me, he is like

a man who builds his house on a strong and deep foundation on the rock and floods

cannot do anything to his house because it was on a rock. But he who hears not follows

me is like a house built on a loose soil and it would fall when the floods come.”

Christ told many parables to the multitudes. Among the parables, the story of the prodigal

son is really interesting. We know how the younger son took the share of his property from the

father and went out of his house. He wandered, went to many places and spent money like

water. And he enjoyed life only for some time. When he had no money to spend, no food to

eat, he experienced how starvation would be. He ate even bran, the food of the pigs. He

repented and cried for his foolishness. He, at last, decided to go to his father with repenting

spirit so that his father might pardon him.

When his father saw him he came and embraced him. He felt extremely happy. The

father arranged a grand feast for the return of his son. But his elder son grumbled for what

was done by his father towards his younger brother. The reference is here we are the prodigal

sons and God is our father. What ever mistakes we do in our daily lives, God will forgive us

and take us into his arms

One day Christ went to the temple of Jerusalem and found people doing business. He

got angry and threw away everything and disturbed them one of them asked Christ with what

sign (authority) he was controlling them. Then he said “destroy this temple and in three

days I will raise it” and another man said that King Herod had taken 46 years to rebuild this

temple and “how can he do it in three days”? Another Pharisee by name Nicodemus got a

doubt. He was a highly educated man among his community. His doubt was “how can a man

be born again”? When he already became old, “can he enter the mother’s womb for the

second time”? Christ replied “man must be born of water and spirit to enter the kingdom

of heaven”. God loved this world so much that he sent his only begotten son to save the

people from sin.

So whoever loved him and believed in him shall have ever lasting life (John 3; 16)

Among the miracles Christ did, raising of Lazarus from death is the most striking one,

because it touched Christ very much. So it is said “Jesus wept” (John 11:35)

Jesus wept two times in his life:

1. At the time of the death of Lazarus

2. When he looked at Jerusalem and God’s temple from the Mount of Olives he prophesied

that they would be destroyed without stone upon the stone.

And this happened after forty years of the death of Christ. It was done by Roman king

Titus in 70 AD and Christ died in 30 AD according to historical information.

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The miracle of the raise of Lazarus from death made some Jews even to kill Lazarus

again but made more Jews to believe in Christ. Christ did the miracle of feeding 5000 men

with five loaves of

bread and two fish

near the Sea of

Galilee.

His sermons

attracted the

multitudes. Many

people accepted

Christ and

Christianity. It was

like harvest time. So

he made another 70

disciples. He made

two persons as one

group and sent them

to villages with

empty hands. He

proposed eight important rules for them to follow. They are

called “beatitudes” which means beautiful attitudes. We can

find them in the 5th chapter of St.Mathew book. According

to Christ’s plan, they have to go to the houses and say peace

be to this house (Luke.10:5) as they are going to their houses

as lambs before wolves. Christ used this method also to

spread the word of God even to the remote places.

When he was going to be arrested by the Roman

soldiers, at the instigation of the high priest, he told his disciples

“love one another”. Some disciples expressed their desire

to see his father. Then Christ said “if you see me it means

you have seen my father. He is with in me. I am the image

of the invisible God, I am in the father and the father is

in me.”

Christ said that in his absence he would send a comforter,

to them from the father to guide them that is called “The holy spirit”. He further said “I am

the wine and you are the branches.” Christ asked God in his prayers to sanctify his disciples

through his truth as thy word is truth. (John 17:17)

It was a custom in those days that the dead bodies should not be kept on the cross even

on Sabbath day. Either they must be taken away or their legs must be broken. Accordingly the

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Roman soldiers came and broke the legs of the other two men. When they came to Jesus he

already died, then his body was taken away by Joseph of Arimathai who was a secret disciple

of Jesus Christ. He took the permission of the Pilate to take away the body of Christ.

Nicodemus also joined Arimathai with some spices. It was Mary Magdalene who went

first to the tomb of Jesus. She did not find him first and so she worried. But Christ already

arose from the dead and stood at a distance in the garden. He saw her and called her by name

Mary.

She was excited at this and called Christ “rabbi” which means master. Then Christ said

“touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my father”. After he rose from the dead, Christ

met the disciples three times and the third time he ate bread with them. (John 21:12-13)

It was also said he was found in a village called Emmaus which was about 7 miles from

Jerusalem.

According to historical evidence, Christ was born in 5 B.C. and the king Herod who gave

declaration at the time of Jesus’ birth that all male children below 2 years should be killed in

Bethlehem died in 4 B.C. itself. In the same way Christ’s death was mentioned as he died on

Friday 7th April at 4 PM in 30 A.D.

The prophets in the Old Testament mentioned 129 times of the coming of Messiah. His

second coming was mentioned 329 times. This figure shows that the second coming is more

certain. Jesus said that “I will come again” (John 14:3). John in the book of Revelation said

“behold he is coming with clouds” (John 1:7)

All the prophets of the old testaments happened to say 129 times about the coming of

Messiah, 500 years before he was born. If we look at the face of Jesus we find only love, and

mercy but not anger or hatred. He is called “the Greatest prophet of all prophets”. In his

three and half years of spreading God’s message, he prophesized more than any other prophet

in the Bible. His prophecies were numbered by the following apostles:

1. Mathew recorded 39 prophecies

2. Mark recorded 40 prophecies

3. Luke recorded 35 prophecies

4. John recorded 60 prophecies.

These figures show that Christ is unparalleled to anyone in prophecy. He said prophecy

about his disciples especially about John that he would write a book called “The Book of

Revelation” with a vision in his old age

It is the resurrection of Christ that made Christianity flourish. If he had not risen from the

dead “would anybody attend the church at all?” If we really believe in Christ that he died

for our sins we must pray to him in the following way “O! God I am a sinner. I believe that

you died for me on the cross. Now I receive you as my Lord and savior. I completely

surrender myself to you. Amen.”

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