An angel appears to Mary and tells her she will become pregnant with the Messiah.
An angel appears to Joseph and tells him Mary's pregnancy is supernatural.
Mary and Joseph head to Bethlehem to pay taxes.
Mary starts going into labor but they can't find a room to stay in. :(
They end up in a stable and are visited by shepherd and three wise men who give extravagant gifts to Jesus, gold and the other two, frankincense an myrrh, were burial spices.
Mary took baby Jesus to the temple to be consecrated to God. Simeon and Anna saw Mary and Jesus and praised God that he had sent the promised Savior, Jesus. Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her soul, which was most likely regarding his eventual crucifixion.
Mary and Joseph have to flee to Egypt with baby to Jesus, to save him from King Herod. Herod was trying to kill Jesus out of jealousy or fear that Jesus would one day replace him as king.
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus then move to Nazareth and Jesus is raised there.
Age 12, Jesus goes to Jerusalem with his parents and they loose him. :(
It turns out he was "teaching" the Pharisees in the temple, but his mom, Mary, is mad when she finds him. lol poor Mary.
There are no more accounts of Jesus again until he is about age 33.
Jesus is walking along and sees John the Baptist who says, "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!"
John the Baptist baptizes Jesus and the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus as a dove and God says from heaven, "This is my son, in whom I am well pleased."
Jesus is "driven by the Holy Spirit" out into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan for 30 days. Jesus fasts and has no food or water for 30 days, supernaturally.
Satan poses three temptations to Jesus but Jesus refutes his temptations by speaking truths from Scripture.
Jesus tries to preach in Nazareth but is rejected because it is his home town; none of them believe him to be great, most likely since they saw him as a child. :)
Jesus drives out demons and heals many.
Jesus prays and then chooses his 12 disciples, probably as God led him. :) Peter was the first one he called and renamed him Peter meaning rock; "Upon this rock I will build my church." yay Peter! :)
Jesus performs the miracle at the wedding feast in Cana of turning water into wine.
Jesus then performs many signs and wonders, healing people, curing those with leprosy, making the blind see, the mute talk, the lame walk, casting out many demons, and raising Lazarus who was dead back to life.
Jesus feeds the 5,000 and then the 4,000 and gives the "Sermon on the Mount" which can be found in Mt. 5-7. :)
Jesus speaks to the storm that was tossing the disciples' boat and commands it to stop, and it does. :)
The disciples start to actually believe that he is the Old Testament promised Messiah spoken of by the prophets, somewhat. :)
Jesus sends out the 12 disciples to witness about him in various Jewish towns. He gave them the authority to drive out evil spirits and heal anyone who needed to be healed.
Jesus goes away to pray, a lot, by himself.
Jesus tells the parables of the Sower, Weeds, Mustard seed, Hidden treasure, Net, Wedding banquet, the Prodigal Son etc.
Jesus walks on water and freaks his disciples out. lol They think he is a ghost.
Peter confesses that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the Living God."
Jesus tells his disciples that he is going to die. Peter rebukes him, because Peter wants Jesus to raise to power and make him powerful too lol. But Jesus says to him, "Get behind me Satan!"
Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James and John and they get to see, what I believe, is a glimpse into the future of Jesus' second coming. Moses and Elijah are there with him, and they are the two witnesses spoken of in Revelation.
Jesus calls and sends out 72 more disciples, in pairs, to the towns he is about to visit.
Jesus visits Mary and Martha and tells Martha not to worry so much. :)
Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray.
Jesus argues with Pharisees in temples constantly. He repeatedly insults them :) and is angered by their overwhelming pride.
People brought babies and children to Jesus and he said, "Let the little children come to me....for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these....anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." :)
Jesus rides on a donkey into Jerusalem and people spread palm branches before him and sing "Hosanna in the Highest."
Jesus makes a whip out of cords and drives out everyone in the temple. He is very angry that people are selling things inside God's only place of worship.
Jesus talks to Nicodemus about having to be born again, of the Spirit, to have eternal life.
Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman at the well. He tells her that she can get living water from him and many Samaritans believe that he is the promised Messiah, "the Savior of the world," and are saved.
Jesus tells many that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood, which causes many disciples to desert Jesus.
(He was using this analogy, I believe, to talk about how we must eat, or read, the Bible and drink the Holy Spirit. "Do not get drunk with wine but be filled with the Holy Spirit." Hence, the filling of the Holy Spirit is a kind of drinking. In Revelation John eats the scroll, which may be to show that we are to eat the words of God in the Bible; digest them, feed on them, hunger for them etc. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness" right? Amen. :) Jn. 7:37-39 says, " If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ 39 But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive." Amen :)
Jesus somewhat curses the Pharisees with the 7 Woes in Mt. 23 and says that they children of the devil in Jn. 8.
Jesus tells the signs of the End Times, which I think are happening now, in Mt. 24. :)
Jesus tells the parable of the 10 Virgins, the Talents, and about how the sheep will be separated from the goats in the end, at the Final Judgement and the Great White Throne.
Jesus is anointed with expensive perfume from an alabaster jar by Mary, the sister of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead. She pours it on his head and feet and wipes his feet with her hair. She cries and kisses his feet, humbling herself before him. This is most likely to publicly say an enormous thank you to Jesus for raising her brother back to life. :)
Judas decides to betray Jesus.
Jesus has the last supper, the Passover supper with his disciples and tells them indirectly that Judas will betray him. He also tells Peter that he will deny him that very night.
Jesus washes his disciples feet.
Judas betrays Jesus to the Pharisees for 30 measly pieces of silver. :( He later regrets this.
Jesus goes with his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane to pray while the disciples keep falling asleep on him.
Jesus asks God three times in a row if He can "let this cup pass from him" but seems to hear no, since he goes through with all that he knows he has to, to save us. :) Thank you Jesus! :) You are wonderful! :)
Jesus tells a final teaching to his disciples in Jn. 14-16, about being the only way to the Father, the Holy Spirit coming soon, him being the vine, warning them that the world will hate them, and promising that he will rise from the dead and they will see him again. :) He then prays for his disciples and all future believers.
Judas comes with soldiers to arrest Jesus and kisses Jesus on the cheek to identify him and he is then captured.
Jesus stands on trial before Caiaphas, the high priest, who cannot condemn him to death as he would like to, so he sends Jesus to Pilate.
Peter denies Jesus three times and then the rooster crows. Peter weeps bitterly.
Judas hangs himself due to the immense guilt he must have felt for betraying Jesus.
Pilate tries to send Jesus to Herod but Herod sends Jesus back to Pilate.
Pilate is disturbed about having to rule against Jesus and does not want to condemn him; he finds him to be innocent.
But to please the crazed and angry mob, Pilate yields and orders that Jesus be crucified.
Jesus is beaten, whipped, spit on and forced to carry his own cross.
Simon from Cyrene also carries Jesus' cross for him.
The soldiers mockingly give Jesus a crown of thorns and a purple robe and insult his kingship.
Pilate orders that a sign be made for Jesus' cross saying, "Behold, the King of the Jews."
Jesus is nailed to the cross in his wrists and his feet.
Jesus saves the thief on the cross due to his faith in him and says, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." :)
Jesus tells John, while on the cross, to care for his mother Mary now that he will be gone.
From the 6th to the 9th hour there is complete darkness; the sun stops shinning.
Jesus then cries out to God, "My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me!?" God the father had to turn his back on his son, because all the sins of the entire world were on him at that point.
The soldiers give Jesus wine and vinegar to drink on a sponge.
Jesus breaths his last and says, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. It is finished."
(I believe this statement was to signify that his death was all that was needed to save us. The deed had been done. His taking our place and our punishment was finally finished. :)
There is a loud earthquake, lightning, and rocks split in two. Tombs break open and many who were dead are raised to life and walk out, perhaps symbolic that Jesus' death brought us life. He dies so we can live, REALLY live. :)
The curtain of the temple is torn in two, which blocked most from entering the Holy of Hollies. This symbolizes that God no longer is just in the temple but will soon be inside of us who believe via His Holy Spirit. :)
After the earthquake some of the soldiers believe and say, "Surely he was the Son of God!" aka. "Oops" or "What have we done!" :(
After Jesus dies, a soldier pierces his side and water flows out.
He is taken down from the cross and a man named Joseph buries Jesus in his new tomb. Nicodemus helps Joseph with the burial customs for Jesus.
A stone is rolled over the tomb and three days pass.
Meanwhile Jesus is in Hell, as Paul wrote that he descended and brought home captives with him. This was when he must have brought Abraham, David, Joseph etc, faithful men of the Old Testament, to heaven as they were waiting in what some call "Abraham's bosom" kind of in hell.
After three days Jesus rises from the dead. Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and sees that the stone has been rolled away. She runs and tells the disciples.
Then Peter and John run to the tomb and also see that it is empty and two angels and Jesus appear to Mary Magdalene.
Then Jesus appears physically to the disciples. Thomas puts his hand in Jesus' side to confirm it really is him.
Jesus visits Peter on the lake, who has gone back to fishing, most likely because he feels unworthy of being a disciple since he denied Jesus. :(
Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him and Jesus says, "Feed my sheep."
Jesus appears to the disciples many times after he rises from the dead and teaches them several more things.
Before Jesus leaves to go back into heaven he breathes on his disciples and says, "Receive the Holy Spirit."
Jesus tells his disciples the Great Commission; to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." :)
He then says goodbye and ascends into heaven.
In writing this summary of Jesus' life it made me cry when I wrote about Jesus crying out to God on the cross "My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me!?" That was by far the saddest time of Jesus' life.
It is good for us to remember what Jesus did. So often we go about our lives and forget about it and take for granted that we are, if we are, destined for heaven because of him! We don't think about what it took for Jesus to pay the price for us and often we don't remember to thank him for that all he did. Not only did he pay our way, he set an example for us while he was on earth of how we are to live. He was the perfect model for us, and he wants us to follow in his footsteps as best as we can. :)
Something that stood out to me as I wrote this summary was that Jesus was not "nice" like most people think of him. He was intense; he shook things up a lot; he changed the entire course of human history! He was dangerous. :) Picture Maximus in Gladiator. This is how I picture that Jesus was. :)
His overwhelming influence on people and the change he brought was why he was crucified. The Pharisees were jealous that they were loosing their power over people.
Jesus metamorphosed our relationship with God from duty and somewhat slavery to God becoming our loving Daddy. :) He bridged the gap between God and man, for anyone who chooses to walk across that gap on Jesus. He is our road to God. There are no other roads to God. There is only one, and that is Jesus.
Have you walked over the Jesus bridge to God the Father? I pray that you have. "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you WILL be saved." But you have to SAY it and it has to sink into your HEART, not just your head. You have to tell people the decision you made and the new faith that you have. And if you are truly saved you Will have a hunger to read the word and to pray as much as you can. :)
May God give you eyes to see and ears to hear him calling out to you, as I believe he is calling out to everyone to come to Him.
Be blessed! Grace and peace be with you! :)
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