New Testament
The Gospel of Matthew. Summary The Gospel of Matthew is a significant part of the New Testament. The main themes of this book are compassion and forgiveness, hypocrisy, immortality, sin, prophecy. The figures are Jesus, Simon Peter, Judas Iscariot and the other disciples, the Jewish religious leaders, Joseph and Mary, King Herod, Pontius Pilate. The main purpose of the book is to describe the life of Jesus Christ from his birthday, when some wise man follow a star to bring presents to a new-born king, until the day he is crucified and after three days is resurrected.
The book tells about the years when Jesus preaches of the kingdom of heaven, spends 40 days and nights in the desert and gets tempted by the devil. Then in the Gospel of Matthew the story about Jesus’ disciples is given. They join him and follow Jesus everywhere he goes, listen what he tells. Kiss of Death, given by Judas who betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver and handed him to the Pharisees, is of very symbolical meaning. Jesus is arrested, after some time is crucified, and in three days is arisen from the dead. The Book of Jude.
General Epistle. Summary The Book of Jude was written circa 75 A.D. by the brother of James and a half-brother of Jesus. The purpose of the book lies in the filed of addressing false teachings and presenting a vivid contrast between heretical teachings and the truth of the kingdom of heaven, taught by Jesus Christ. Thebook consists of the only chapter and 25 verses.
The personalities, which are described in the letters, are angels, false teachers, Moses, Jesus, Jewish people, etc. Jude points out that those who follow the wrong way and wrong teachings will be punished by the God, like disobedient angels and Jewish people were punished in the past ages. The main themes of the book are struggle between good and evil, sin and punishment, truth of Christian faith and life. Judas points out that the God forgives the sins of those, who follow His teachings and commandments. False teachers should turn to Jesus’ teachings as this way leads to eternal salvation. The epistles of Judas are addressed to the Jewish Christians, as well.
Acts The book of Acts was written by Luke circa 60-62 A.D. It is a sequel to the Gospel, written by Luke. Among the key personalities of the book are Paul, Peter, John, James, Barnabas, Stephen, Silas, Lydia, and Apollos. The purpose of the book is to emphasize the way how the believers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, do everything possible to spread the teachings of Jesus Christ, and make the first model for the church.
In the initial chapters, the events, related to the infancy of church in Jerusalem, are described. Then the events of witnessing the Gospel to Proselytes and Samaritans are presented. Paul receives the revelations to teach the other nations to convert them to Christianity. The main themes of the “Acts” are the readiness to sacrifice the former life in sins to acceppt Christianity and get changed by the Holy Spirit, dedication to Christianity, sins and forgiveness and more issues. The Book of RevelationThe book of Revelation was written by Apostle John, Jesus’ disciple, who followed Him and witnessed His death on a cross in approximately 85-95 A.D.
The purpose of Revelation is to encourage people and give them hope for Jesus’ return in all His glory to save those, who followed His teachings and punish those, who went the wrong way. Apostle John also warns Christians of the Final Judgment Day, which would be the Last Day for nonbelievers. The main themes of the book are awe and amazement, good vs. evil, judgment, revenge, perseverance, Violence. The personalities are John of Patmos, God and Jesus, The Angels, The Dragon, The Sea Beast and the Earth Beast, The Woman Clothed with the Sun, The Four Horsemen, and The Whore of Babylon. John describes very strange things in the Book of Revelation and insists that everything he saw is 100% truth.
First he sees the vision of Heaven, where he meets God and Jesus, six-winged creatures, angels, and elders. Jesus comes forward and opens seven seals, every of which looses God’s fury to Earth. Then John sees the vision of Earth, with strange creatures – dragon with seven heads and some other beast who likes the number 666. These creatures want to make all the Christians their followers. Thereafter, armies of heaven win and all the beasts and their followers are getting thrown to the Lake of Fire.
