christianity Explored Us
Israel - The Birth Place Of Christianity
Christianity is one of the major religions in the world today. It’s very interesting to learn the history of how Christianity began. Present day Israel was once called Judea and Christianity began there about 2,000 years ago. Israel at this time was a melting pot with many businesses, cities and farms. rome had control over Israel at this time and the Jewish people hated it. The Romans were a pagan people and the Jews refused to conform. The one hope that the Jews had was that their Messiah would come and deliver them from roman rule.
It was during this tempestuous time that Jesus of Nazareth was born. He was a well-taught Jew who observed the Jewish faith. He also knew Jewish law very well. When Jesus was in his early thirties, he began going to various villages, teaching and healing people along the way. His teaching began to revolutionize the world. Jesus questioned the religious leaders of that day, telling them that they needed to repent for their self-righteous attitudes and become servants. People began to question their leaders and the whole community was in an uproar.
Soon after Jesus began his ministry, a group of men began to follow him and recognized him as a teacher of the law. These men became known as the twelve disciples. Jesus taught his disciples about the will of god and a “new covenant” in which man could be saved without obeying the laws of the Old Testament. Jesus spoke of a loving, faithful God who was going to extend grace to people who serve him.
The new covenant that Jesus spoke of was a result of Jesus himself dying on a Roman cross, judged unjustly, for the sins of all humanity. He promised to rise again three days after being crucified, proving that he ws their promised Messiah. This was exciting to the disciples and they began to tell everyone about this new way of hope and forgiveness of sins.
To make things even more interesting, the life of Jesus fulfilled many of the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the coming of their Messiah. Jesus' ability to understand and quote the law upset the religious leaders and scholars of the day, along with his knowledge of the prophets. They decided that the only way that Jesus could be silenced was for him to be put to death.
Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' own disciples, betrayed him and Jesus was then taken before the Roman ruler, Pilate. The people demanded that he be killed, even though Pilate could not find any reason to judge him. In fact, they requested that a thief and murderer, Barabbas, be released instead. Pilate ultimately decided to allow Jesus to be crucified, consenting to the demands of the Jewish people.
On the third day after Jesus’ crucifixion, some ladies came to place spices on the body of Jesus. To their amazement, he was gone. Of course, when the disciples heard, they immediately remembered that Jesus had promised to rise from the dead. Although the religious leaders did their best to stop the gossip, word quickly spread that Jesus did indeed rise from the dead.
Soon after this, Jesus visited his disciples and told them what they needed to do. Jesus told them that they would receive the gift of the Holy spirit in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. He also told them about the power they would have after this event. They left, excited and ready to build churches for the kingdom of God.
If you visit Israel on one of the many Holyland tours, you will be privileged to see where many of these events took place. You will have the privilege to see where Jesus was born, lived, taught in the temple and was crucified. An Israel trip will also take you to the Upper Room, where the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost. Walking where Jesus walked and imagining all that happened there so many years ago is truly the dream of a lifetime.
Explore Christianity.
We thank you taking the time to visit our website
and hope that we were able to assist you in your search for the information that you are looking for.
We do realize that with many articles written, it is possible
and even likely that you will find errors along the way.
We would appreciate you using the "contact us" page to let us know if you come across any mistakes
in our articles or if you simply have some ideas for articles that you would like to see in the future.
Thanks again for taking the time to visit,
we hope you have enjoyed it and hope that you will visit us again someday very soon.
