THE STORY THAT THE NEW TESTAMENT TELLS

 

The story that the New Testament tells us began two thousand years ago with the birth of Jesus during the rule of the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus (63a.C.-14d.C.), in the city of Bethlehem, Judea, Roman province of Syria (Luke 2, 1, 2). He would be just another poor Jewish child coming into the world if were not a child born without sin, generated by the Spirit of God in the womb of a virgin (Luke 1: 26-38). Yes, those who walked with Jesus recognized him as the Son of God and not as a man who surpassed himself morally and spiritually.

At the age of thirty, during his baptism, John the Baptist saw the Spirit of God descending upon him like a dove and heard a voice from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew3.13-17). After being baptized, He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the Devil. He overcame those temptations and all the others that came along in his life. Yes, Jesus was a man of flesh and blood who lived without sin. The author of Hebrew said that He was "one who, like us, went through all manner of temptation, yet without sin" (4:15).

His contemporaries recognized him as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. While He preached the kingdom of God among men performed many miracles. Evangelists testify that He had power to heal diseases, to cast out evil spirits, to alter the laws of nature as in the cases of the multiplication of loaves and to walk upon the waters of the Sea of Galilee. Also had power over death demonstrated in the three resurrections which He performed and God's power to forgive sins.

After three years of public ministry with his disciples, he was accused of betraying Rome by religious leaders, but made no defense before Pontius Pilate, mayor of a Roman province called Judea. He was condemned to crucifixion, but on the third day He rose from the dead and remained for forty days with his disciples giving final instructions. The Apostle Paul said that He "through the Spirit of holiness was declared the Son of God with power by His resurrection from the dead" (Romans1.4).

After his ascension to heaven, his disciples undertook a missionary movement to take the Christian faith to the ends of the earth. In the midst of persecution and Christian bloodshed, faith in Christ has grown and consolidated until the Church of today. But the story that the New Testament tells has not yet ended. There is a lot of prophetic content to happen. A second coming of Jesus into the world is planned to rescue his church and bring divine judgments about this established human system. It ends with part of humanity living again with God in a new world order (Revelation 21 and 22).

Antônio Maia – M.Div.

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