Passion Week of Jesus Christ

The crucifixion of Jesus is accepted by many scholars as a true historical event. It is recorded in the writings of Paul and the Gospels. The Jewish priest and historian and the Roman senator and historian Tacitus also has recorded the incident.

This study is an attempt to arrange the incidents of the Passion Week chronologically.

The challenge for an accurate chronology is that no single gospel gives a complete account of the Passion Week.

The events during the week are selected and narrated by the gospel writers according to their perspective and purpose.

So, in order to get chorological timeline, one must take pieces from all four gospels.

Thief on the Cross

The story of the thieves on the cross is very well known among us.

The repentance of the thief on the cross is a powerful story indeed. It shows us that conversions can happen even at the last moment of life; that even the vilest criminal will be accepted by God if they come to Him; that no more than a request for salvation made in faith is required by God.

Circumcision and Baptism

Welcome, once again to our Bible study program.

Today we are discussing Circumcision and Christian baptism. Our focus is on the validity of the argument that Christian baptism is a continuation or fulfilment of circumcision of the Old Testament.

To start our study, let us have an overall picture of circumcision.

Circumcision is a religious rite prescribed in the Hebrew Bible. It is mentioned nearly one hundred times in the Bible.

For the Jewish people it is an integral part of the Abrahamic covenant.

Circumcision was enjoined upon the Biblical patriarch Abraham, his descendants and their slaves as "a sign of the covenant" between God and him (Genesis 17:11).

Thus it is commonly observed by two Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Islam.

The tenth leper

This is a case study of the healing received by the tenth leper.

Once Jesus was going through an area between Samaria and Galilee.

On the way He was met by ten lepers.

They cried for mercy and Jesus healed them.

All of them, except one, rushed to show themselves to the priest to be declared as clean.

Only one of them, the tenth leper, returned to Christ to give a personal thanks.

This story is recorded by Luke and none other gospel writes have narrated it.

This miracle emphasizes the importance of faith. The account is full of salvific meaning.

And in this message we are focusing on the salvific meaning of this incident.

Let us read the story according to Luke:

Letters to 7 Churches

The book of Revelation in the New Testament is a record of end time events leading up to the return of Jesus Christ.

This is a record of a vision that Apostle John received while he was in the lonely island of Patmos.

There, Jesus Christ appeared to John and instructed him to: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamum, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

These seven churches were seven local congregations of early Christians living in each city.

The seven Churches are named for their locations.

All of them are located in the Asia Minor, present-day Turkey.

The order of these cities corresponds to the route along which a courier from Patmos would have carried the scroll.