Jerusalem AD 30

Jesus entered Jerusalem on the back of a donkey for his final Passover festival. Crowds of people spread palm branches along the roadway, fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah.

The next day, furious with the way in which they had polluted the House of God, Jesus drove the money-changers from the temple.

The Last Supper

Knowing that the time had come, Jesus shared a solemn meal with His disciples. He rose from His meal, and laid His garment aside. Taking a towel, He filled a basin with water and proceeded to wash the feet of His disciples. When Peter objected, Christ answered him, saying, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."

Turning again to the table, and to His disciples sitting there, He foretold that one of them would betray Him, and told them of his coming death. Then He used the bread and the wine to symbolize that which would follow. Just as they shared the bread and the wine together, so they would share in His death. Jesus was to take the sin of the world upon Himself, bringing it down into death, once and for all.

Then they went into the garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was arrested, betrayed by Judas Iscariot, one of His twelve.

Condemned and Crucified

Upon his arrest at Gethsemane, Jesus was taken before Caiaphas for a hearing. When He answered the high priest's question, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?" with the words, "I am," this was enough to convince them that He should be put to death for blasphemy.

But under Roman rule, the Jews did not have the authority to carry out a sentence of death, so they took their prisoner to the Roman governor, Pilate; but Pilate couldn't find a reason under Roman law to punish Him. He tried to reason with the Jewish leaders, but by then an angry mob had assembled, incited by the Jewish religious leaders. Intimidated, Pilate sentenced Jesus to death by crucifixion.

Jesus had to carry His cross to Golgotha, the place of crucifixion, after having been whipped by Roman soldiers. He died, with convicted thieves crucified on either side of Him.

And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, "Father,
into Your hands I commit My spirit." Having said this, He
breathed His last.

By late afternoon, Jesus' body had been laid in a tomb dug into the rock of a hillside. The Romans set up a guard to avoid any trouble.

He Has Risen

On the first day of the week, at early dawn, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and some other women came to the tomb, bringing spices which they had prepared. They found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance and, when they went inside, they found that Jesus had gone.

Then, not once, but several times, they met Jesus, risen from the dead. In a room in Jerusalem, and by the Lake of Galilee. Others met Him while traveling to a village west of Jerusalem. They talked with Him, and they ate with Him. At one point, He appeared to 500 followers. He was alive.

This was a turning point for His disciples. They had been discouraged, but now their faith was renewed with the certainty that Jesus had risen from the dead. He was none other than God Himself, the Messiah.

The Foundations of the Church

Jesus had promised that His church would be built upon the rock, who was Peter; and Peter was the first to speak out, with a call to believe in Jesus, crucified and risen, now at the right hand of God. Those entering the new community of believers would be baptized.

The early days of the church were marked by conversions. The early believers lived together, celebrating their faith in a common meal, a love feast that echoed that last supper with Jesus.

The Jewish leaders quickly struck out. Believers were thrown into prison. Stephen, one of the church's first deacons, was stoned to death. Participating in his death was a man named Saul.

Despite persecution, the church continued to baptize new believers. With enthusiasm, they fanned out from Jerusalem, spreading their faith to new lands