The video begins with the imminent invasion of Jerusalem, defended by King Hezekiah, by the Assyrian armies. Hezekiah was one of the ablest kings of Judea, and as he prayed for divine help against the superior armies riding toward the Holy City, the prophet Isaiah told him that God had promised that no soldier would enter the city. The truth of this promise was seen the next day, when Hezekiah learned that an angel of the Lord had killed huge numbers of Assyrian soldiers during the night. Isaiah went on to prophesy that Jerusalem would fall in later generations but that God would send a Messiah to save his people. At this point, we move to the time of Joseph and Mary, following the couple as they learn, individually, of God's plan for each of them, make their way from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the Roman census, and ultimately see the Son of God delivered under the roof of a common stable.
As this video begins, Jesus has already been borne in the town of Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph take him to the temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised, and during this time they meet an old man named Simeon and a faithful widow named Anna. Simeon recognizes the child as the Messiah before he even sees Jesus, for he had been promised by the Lord that he would not die before setting his eyes on the Son of God. Next we meet the three wise men from the East who, having followed the star of Bethlehem, have come to honor the newborn king of Israel. They of course make their initial inquiries of Herod, assuming that the current king is familiar with the future king. Thus, Herod now learns of this new threat to his ill-begotten throne and, when the wise men, following advice received in a dream, purposefully return home on a path far outside the bounds of Jerusalem, an angry Herod orders all male children under two years of age in and around Bethlehem to be killed. An angel of the Lord warns Joseph in the nick of time, and this video ends with Joseph, Mary, and the infant Jesus setting out on their journey to Egypt.
This chapter recounts the early life of Jesus Christ. With the death or king Herod, Mary and Joseph return to Nazareth from Egypt. When Jesus is twelve, they journey to the great temple or Solomon in Jerusalem for the passover feast. As they journey back home, they discover that Jesus is missing. Returning in haste to Jerusalem, they find Jesus conversing with the teachers and wise men in the temple, all of whom are amazed by his knowledge and intellect. The episode ends with the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. This event marks the end of Jesus’ childhood and the beginning of his ministry on earth.
Following his baptism, Jesus wanders in the wilderness of Judea where he meditates and prays for 40 days and 40 nights. During this time, Satan appears to him and tempts him, taunting him to prove that he is truly the Son of God by turning stones into bread or leaping from a great height and having the angels or heaven descend to rescue him. Emerging from the wilderness after successfully confronting Satan, Jesus travels to Capernaum, where he performs the first of his miracles and meets four of his disciples.
In this chapter the early ministry of Jesus is portrayed. The first four apostles—Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John — have joined Jesus and travel with him through Galilee. News of Jesus’ teachings and miraculous powers has begun to spread, and has come to the attention of the Pharisees. Jesus befriends the hated tax collector Matthew, who also becomes a disciple, and proclaims that he has come “not for the sake of the righteous but to save the sinners.”
Jesus formally chooses the twelve disciples that will accompany him for the rest of his stay on earth. His fame has now spread through Galilee and Judea, and huge crowds appear whenever he stops to speak. Jesus teaches the apostles how to pray by reciting for them the words of the lord's prayer and delivers the sermon on the mount, one of his most important and memorable sermons. Word of his miraculous powers spreads even wider when he cures a leper of his painful affliction.
Jesus is at the height of his fame as a preacher and miracle worker, but upon his return to his home in Nazareth, he is rejected by the townspeople as the son of a mere carpenter. At a wedding feast in Capernaum, he changes water into wine and continues to heal the sick as he travels through Galilee. While visiting the Samaritans, Jesus tells his disciples the story of the good Samaritan. This is an important period in the ministry of Jesus, and includes many of his most important teachings on faith and love for our neighbors.
The growing fame of Jesus Christ finally brings him to the attention of the Roman authorities in Judea and to Caiaphas, the high priest of the great temple in Jerusalem. Many throughout Galilee and Judea now openly acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, much to the concern of the Pharisees and chief priests. They fail in their attempt to persuade the Romans to arrest Jesus, but the ever-growing fame of his teachings and miracles are now seen as a threat to their political and religious authority. Jesus’ reputation as a healer and a miracle worker grows even greater when he restores a blind man's sight at the pool of Siloam.
John the Baptist, the messenger sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus Christ, is beheaded by Herod Antipas, the son or Herod the Great and now King of Judea. Jesus realizes that the time for his sacrifice is now also drawing near. The Pharisees, King Herod, and the Romans see Jesus as a threat to the political and social stability or Judea. Known only to Jesus, the chain or events has begun that will eventually lead to his crucifixion on the hill on Golgotha.
Jesus prepares his disciples for his trial and ultimate sacrifice on earth. Warning them not to tell anyone that he is the Messiah, he informs them that he must go to Jerusalem for the Passover. There he tells them he will meet his death, but after the third day he will rise again. On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus performs the last and most famous or his miracles: he restores Lazarus to life, who had been dead for four days. Jesus enters Jerusalem on the eve of the Passover as his final days on earth come to a climactic close.
Jesus goes to the holy temple or Soloman to pray and is outraged by the sight of the money-changers conducting their business inside its walls. Overturning their stands and tables, he rebukes the chief priests for turning God’s temple into a marketplace. Convinced that Jesus must be put to death, Caiaphas and the high priests plot with Judas to bring a charge of treason against Jesus in the hope that the Romans will put him to death. Jesus eats the Passover feast with his twelve disciples before going to the garden of Gethsemane to pray. Betrayed by Judas, Jesus is charged with blasphemy by Caiaphas and is taken first to Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, and then to Herod Antipas, King of Judea. Neither is willing to condemn Jesus to death. Finally, at the insistence of the high priests, Pontius Pilate reluctantly agrees to have Jesus killed. The stage is now set for the final episode of Jesus’ life: his death by crucifixion and his triumphant resurrection.
Following his sentence of death by crucifixion, Jesus is taken to the hill of Golgotha where he is nailed to a cross and condemned to a slow and painful death. After his death, his body is placed in a tomb previously reserved for Joseph of Arimathea. Mindful of his prediction that he would rise again after three days, the high priests seal the tomb and place a guard in front of it. This precautionary act assured them that the disciples could not remove the body and claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. On the third day following his death, Mary Magdalene and a group of women come to the tomb to anoint the body only to find that the stone sealing the tomb has been rolled away, and that the body of Jesus is missing. An angel of the Lord appears before them, announcing that Jesus has risen. Rushing back to the disciples to share the news of Jesus’ resurrection, the women, at first, are not believed. Only when Jesus himself appears before the disciples are they finally convinced of the miracle of his resurrection. The resurrection marks the final chapter in the life of Jesus Christ on earth. Son of God, the Messiah, born of a carpenter and his wife in a manger. His short life ended on the hill of Golgotha; where he later rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. Surely, the story of Jesus is the greatest story ever told.
