We often hear the name of Jesus coming out of our mouth(s) without having any reason to do so. Why is this name now invoked and often in a completely wrong light? It is much more important to know who this Jesus is, hence here an article about the life of Jesus in a nutshell. Also the answer to why Jesus died on the cross and the article ,God as a human being on earth,.
The life of Jesus in a nutshell
Jesus was born at the time when the Roman Emperor Augustus ordered a census to be taken throughout his empire. Everyone had to go to the town or village of their ancestors to register. And because Joseph was a descendant of David, he had to go to Bethlehem of Judea, because that was where David used to live. Together with the Virgin Mary, who had become pregnant by the Holy Spirit, Joseph left Nazareth in Galilee to be registered.
While they were in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor. She gave birth to her first child, a boy named Jesus. She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because Joseph and Mary could not find shelter in the inn of the village. Jesus spent his childhood in Nazareth in Galilee.
Little is known about the childhood of Jesus. His fame and ministry only begin when He is baptized by John the Baptist. Then He begins to gather disciples around Him and goes through towns and villages proclaiming ,the Kingdom of God,, pointing to a different way of life. All this was accompanied by signs and wonders and a special attitude of love and understanding towards fellow human beings.
About the year 30 He went to Jerusalem for the Jewish Passover festival. There He caused a stir in the temple with His teaching. In Jerusalem He had a last meal with His disciples, in which He prepared them for His death. One of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, the treasurer, betrayed Him. Jesus was captured and questioned about His views by Jewish authorities in Jerusalem. He was then executed by order of Pontius Pilate, the governor.
Jesus was tortured and crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem on a hill called Golgotha (Golgotha is the Aramaic word for place of skull). He was buried in a yellow end grave provided by Joseph of Arimathea. After three days He rose from the dead and appeared many times to His disciples, whom He taught for another forty days. Then He ascended into heaven. He instructed his disciples to tell others about God’s love for people.
Why did Jesus die on the cross?
God has shown, by crucifying His Son, that He is willing to do anything to forgive our sins. At that time, crucifixion was the worst punishment you could receive. Below is an explanation of how the crucifixion actually happened.
The writer Cicero described the crucifixion as the cruelest and most gruesome form of torture. Jesus was stripped naked and bound to be flogged. (A third-century historian named Eusebius describes the Roman flogging as follows: The victim’s veins were exposed, and the muscles, nerves, and intestines were exposed. Jesus was then taken to the camp, where they gave Him a placed a crown of thorns on His head. He was mocked and punched in the face and on the head and spat upon. Then He was forced to carry the heavy beam of the cross on His bleeding shoulders until He collapsed under it. Then Simon of Cyrene was forced to beam for Him. When they reached the place of crucifixion, He was placed on the cross and six inch nails were driven through His forearms, just above His wrists. His knees were bent to the side so that the ankles could be nailed through the He was lifted up on the cross, which was then placed in a hole in the ground,
where He hung in the heat of the sun, with unbearable thirst, exposed to the ridicule of the crowd. He hung there in excruciating pain for six hours as life slowly drained from Him.
The hardest part of the suffering, however, was not the physical torture and crucifixion, or even the pain of being rejected by the world and abandoned by His friends. The most severe was the spiritual torment : being cut off from God, His Father, for us, while He bore our sins.
God as man on earth…
Somewhere in a far country, in a big city, many people came together. It was a kind of conference where people had heated discussions about the question: Where would God get the right to judge man? What does He know about our suffering? There were people who showed scars from their torture and there were people who talked about their less than successful careers/lives. Actually, everyone was annoyed.
Everyone addressed their complaints to God because He had allowed evil and suffering. God had it way too good in his beautiful heaven. For there were no tears and no fears, and there was no hunger or hatred. Does God actually know what man has to endure? Doesn’t he himself lead a far too sheltered existence?
Discussion groups were formed and each group had a spokesperson, who was always someone who had suffered many blows in life and felt unfairly treated . In time the accusation against God was formulated. Actually the matter was very simple. A God who wanted the right to judge people had to first put up with what people have to put up with!
The verdict was therefore as follows:
,God had to be condemned to live as a human being on earth., But because He was God, a number of conditions were set. He should not have the ability to help Himself because He was God. No, He had to become fully human, especially a suffering human. So the following was devised. . .
He would be born a Jew (because Jews know better than anyone what suffering is). The legality of His birth had to be questionable. No one was allowed to know who His Father was (if only He could experience that). And then He should try to explain who God is. He should be betrayed by his best friends. He should be indicted on false charges, heard by a biased court and convicted by a cowardly judge. Finally, He should also feel what it is like to be completely alone, abandoned by people. He should be tortured and then die. All this had to be done in public. And so terrible that there would be no doubt that He was dead. There had to be a large crowd of witnesses to confirm that.
As each speaker announced his part of the verdict, more and more people began to whisper. When the last speaker had finished, there was a deep silence. All those whom God had condemned suddenly stole away. No one dared to say anything anymore, because everyone suddenly knew: God had already taken on all that suffering and borne the judgment. . .