Exploring the Bible

The Nazareth Inscription, sometimes called the Nazareth decree, is a first century marble slab inscribed with a warning about stealing corpses. It is inscribed by an unknown Caesar and has been dated to the first century A.D. or perhaps as early as the late first century B.C. Some have claimed the inscription is proof of the resurrections of Jesus and is a direct reference to His missing body on Easter morning. Now new scientific test have caused a great many to question if the inscription refers to Jesus, or another incident entirely. Some are saying the new study debunks any reference the inscription has to Jesus and are making many bold claims, but before making too many assumptions, we should first carefully examine all the facts of the case. The marble slab is inscribed with a rather lengthy decree by Caesar stating that anyone found guilty of stealing a body (corpse) can and should be put to death. The inscription is written in rather poor Greek. Edict of Caesar It is my decision...

  In 2002 a bone box, or ossuary was presented to the world. The unique feature of this ossuary was an inscription which read, “ James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus ”. It was immediately assumed this ossuary had once held the earthly remains of James, one of Jesus’ half brothers. Almost as quickly critics began questioning the authenticity of the artifact and what followed was called the fraud trial of the century . The defendants were eventually found innocent but doubts remained concerning the  ossuary.  After careful review by some of the top experts in the world, the evidence for this being an authentic find began to mount. While there are still some who claim the engraving is a forgery, many scholars now believe the ossuary to be from the first century A.D., but one question still lingers unanswered. If it is authentic, this in itself makes the artifact both interesting and important, but does the inscription “ James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus ” refer to th...

 Jesus selected twelve men to be His close followers and nearly constant companions.  These men had the privilege of seeing Jesus perform His miracles and listening to His teachings. Some of these individuals are better known than others. In all Jesus had fourteen Apostles. This includes the original twelve selected by Jesus, as well as the Apostle Paul who Jesus selected to send to the gentiles. Also included in the list of Apostles is the man selected by the Apostles to take the place of Judas after his death.  The twelve Apostles are held in very high regard and are mentioned in the Book of Revelation. In the writing by the Apostle John we see that the names of the Apostles will be remembered in the foundation of the new city. "And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb." - Revelation 21:14 During His lifetime Jesus was obviously the focal point and the Apostles played very much a secondar...