LESSON 1 | HUMAN CONDITION IN SCRIPTURE

Learning Outcome: Students can understand the meaning behind the primary themes that can be found
in Genesis: Creation, the Fall, and Redemption.

Self-Test!
Q: What descriptions do you usually associate with when you read or hear these words in the Book of
Genesis? Example: “Leaves – feeling ashamed”

1. Serpent
2. Image
3. Garden
4. Fruit
5. Creatures

LESSON CONTENT

The Creation and The Fall

Humanity is first seen in the Bible in the acts of God on the sixth day of
creating "the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:27-30). God creates humanity in his
image, blesses them, commands them to multiply, gives them dominion over the
earth, and prescribes their diet. Genesis two describes the creation of humanity
in greater detail and introduces the Garden of Eden with the tree of life and the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here also God gives his commandments
regarding the trees of the garden.

These initial pictures of humanity portray them in harmony with God,

one another, and the earth. Here there are no harsh words for the first couple,
but there is God's blessing and his recognition that all "was very good." Adam
rejoices at meeting his wife, and they are not ashamed to be exposed to each
other and the world. The animals of the
earth do not run in fear from Adam, but they receive names from their appointed master. The glorious garden
is open and available to the first couple.

These initial pictures, however, do not capture humanity's present state. The fundamentals of
humanity's present condition are seen in Genesis 3. Vss. 1-7 describes the first act of human disobedience
toward God. This act attacks and wounds humanity's relationship toward God. In the rest of the chapter, God
makes his presence known and the wounded relationship with God becomes visible. The first couple feel
shame and fear; they try to cover their nakedness and to hide from the presence of God. They also suggest
that God is partly responsible for their disobedience (Genesis 3:12-13). The first couple, however, not only
wounded their relationship with God, but they aligned themselves with a power that opposes God and calls
him a liar. They chose to believe the creation—the serpent—instead of the creator—God. Before the rebellion
of the first couple, there was the rebellion of the serpent. Also, the couple's submission to the authority of the
serpent is an attack on their relationship to the world; they have failed to rule over the serpent according to
God's commission to them.

Having a wounded relationship with God and a new relationship with the serpent, the first inter-
human relationship begins to suffer. Not only are the first couple unable to be exposed to each other any
longer, but Adam looks to his wife as the source of his disobedience.

In Genesis 3:14-19, God outlines the consequences of the disobedience of the serpent and the couple.
The serpent is cursed with a lowly existence, and God will break up the new relationship between the serpent
and humanity. The woman will be given pain in childbearing, and the marriage relationship will no longer be
a relationship of equals. Nature will be transformed, and gaining food from it will be more difficult. The first
man will return to dust—he will die.

Another consequence of disobedience for the first couple is exile from the
garden and the tree of life. Mortality is confirmed; God's statement that the first man
will return to dust is being established.

From Genesis 3, therefore, one sees a humanity estranged from God, from
each other, and from the world around them. Since the time of these broken
relationships, humans have been attempting to bridge these gaps and to find internal
peace.

The portrait of humanity's present condition, however, would be

bleak and incomplete if one did not take note of one other thing that God does
after the first couple's
disobedience: The LORD God made tunics of animal skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them (Gen 3:21).
Here is a
sign that God still cares for humanity. God could have sent them out of the garden without anything. Here also God
actively provides a replacement for humanity's attempt at dealing with their shame. They had put fig leaves together
to cover themselves, but now God provides a fuller garment. God goes further than just providing the clothes; God
himself clothes them. God's provision in this instance points to a solution to humanity's broken relationships: trust
God to deal with it. There is also here a hint about how God will deal with healing humanity's broken relationships.
God did not provide tunics made of linen, but tunics that required the life of another.

The present human condition then is not only filled with broken relationships and human attempts to mend
them; it also includes a God who has not turned away from the disobedient, but has given them salvation. This is the
picture that is found not only in Genesis 3, but the rest of the Bible. And within this picture is a hint of what will one
day be the human condition: a humanity that is in communion with God, with each other, and with the world around
them. This restoration of relationships will exist because God has shown mercy to his wayward creations. 1

Why the Fall Need Not Have Happened

The first lesson obviously taught by the story of the fall is that it was a free fall. It need not have happened. One
way of stating this doctrine is C. S. Lewis’: if there are other intelligent and free beings on other planets (as seems
possible considering the size of the universe and of God’s imagination), they need not have fallen. To be a person is not
necessarily to be a sinful person. To be in God’s image is not necessarily to be in a defaced image. To be married to God
is not necessarily to have sued for divorce, as we did in this disastrous rebellion. There are only three basic
explanations for evil. It is to be blamed either on God above us, nature below us, or us. Genesis 3 rejects the two
convenient excuses that either God or evolution made us this way. The message of Genesis 3 is that the buck stops
here. The finger that points blame is curved one hundred and eighty degrees. Jews, who have and believe this
Scripture just as Christians do, say they do not believe in “original sin” because they think of that doctrine as
Calvinism, as a denial of the goodness of God’s creation even when defaced by sin. But Genesis 3 does not teach
Calvinistic “total depravity” (except in the sense that we are totally unable to save ourselves without divine grace,
which is also taught in Orthodox Judaism). Rather, the forbidden fruit was “the knowledge of good and evil”, not pure
evil. There’s still a little good in the worst of us, but also a little bad in the best of us.2

The Need for Redemption

The three stages of history—creation, fall, and redemption—are reflected in the three parts of Genesis. This
third chapter explores the third and longest part, God’s “redemption” or “buying-back” of His creatures who sold
themselves into Satan’s slavery. This began immediately after the fall in chapter three, when God pronounced the
“curses” on Satan (vv. 14-15), on Eve (v. 16), and on Adam (vv. 17-19). All these punishments
are also mercies for us. These are like tourniquets, stemming the flow of blood, or like
quarantines, stopping the spread of disease. Death is the most obvious example. We know
little about many of the names in the genealogies, but we know with certainty the one thing
repeated about every single one: “And he died . . . and he died . . . and he died”. The next event
narrated, after the fall, is a death—in fact, a murder. Not every death is a murder, but all
death is a consequence of sin. Thus, murder shows the meaning of death more clearly than a
so-called “natural” death does. Cain’s murder of Abel is the Fall flowing out, like Abel’s blood.
It is a kind of icon of our whole fratricidal history of violence, both inner and outer, both
small and great.3

A God of Infinite Justice and Infinite Love

It’s often said that the Old Testament, especially Genesis, teaches a God of justice, in stark contrast to Jesus,
who teaches a God of forgiveness and love. It is a lie, of course. The God of the Old Testament does all that He does out
of love; and the Father of Jesus needs to satisfy justice as well as love; that’s why Jesus had to die. I used to think that
only those who never read the Bible could fall for this fallacy. But experience has taught me otherwise. Why is it so
common? I think it comes partly from misunderstanding the literary style of Genesis. It is not meant to be psychology,
either of God or humanity. The modern style of storytelling emphasizes psychological motive and scrutinizes inner
consciousness. This is simply not the style of premodern writing. Augustine’s Confessions is the only personal
introspective autobiography in premodern literature. Thus the “wrath of God” is not meant as a description of God’s
own private feelings, but of His public deeds, of how those deeds look to fallen, “wrathful” man. Psychologically, this is
“projection”. When God gave Lady Julian of Norwich a “showing” of His wrath, she said, “I saw no wrath but on man’s
part.” God is indeed a God of justice and thus of punishment, which is part of justice. But love is the motive behind all
His deeds of discipline. “For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves…. If you are left without discipline, then you are
illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb 12:6-8).4

1
Ian R. Brown. (1999). What Was, What is, and What Will Be the Human Condition. Retrieved from:
http://www.andrews.edu/~irbrown/Condition.htm.
2
Kreeft, Peter. (2005). You Can Understand the Bible. Ignatius Press, San Francisco. p. 27.
3
Ibid. p. 33.
4
Kreeft, Peter. (2005). You Can Understand the Bible. Ignatius Press, San Francisco. p. 35.
3
 Main Activity for LESSON 1
Basic Meaning

Instruction: After learning the important and central themes regarding the human condition based on the Genesis
story of creation, give a brief explanation for each theme in the table. Write you answer on a separate sheet of
intermediate paper or bond paper.

Themes Meaning/Message

Creation

Fall of Man

Salvation

Original Sin

God’s Love

God’s Justice

*This table serves as a guide.

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 LESSON 2 | THE COVENANTS BEFORE THE LAW

Learning Outcome: Students can differentiate the rationale behind the succeeding covenants between
God and humanity starting with Adam until Abraham.

Self-Test!
Q: What do you think is the difference between covenant and contract or are they just the same?

Give two (2) concrete examples from real-life situations.

LESSON CONTENT

What is a Covenant?
In Hebrew, term used was “berit” meaning “to bond or to fetter”, more specifically it denoted a relationship
between a master and a servant. The relationship implied by the term "berit" is the relationship between a lord and
his servants, for in Hebrew, a "berit" is a promise that is made unilaterally by a lord to his servants that he will protect
and provide for those servants. The promise is not required by law nor forced on the lord by his servants—it is
entirely voluntary. The word "covenant" means "business deal," or "contract," and implies a promise to deliver one
end of the contract if the other end is met. But a covenant is a bilateral agreement; it takes the participation of both
parties and they are bound only by the terms of the covenant or agreement. 5

This is particularly important when studying Sacred Scriptures because the entirety of the Bible relies on the
concept of Covenant. Studying the bible without keeping in mind the importance of covenant leaves the student with a
very half-baked understanding of scriptures. Everything becomes connected when covenant is taken into context.

Covenant: More than just a Contract

In polytheistic and animistic religious traditions, we find instances of contracts between a person (or people)
and a higher power (i.e., a deity or a spirit) for protection, prosperity, and many other kinds of favors. For example,
the princess Andromeda was demanded to be sacrificed to a sea monster to appease the god
Poseidon. In the Christian tradition, a covenant is regarded to be a sacred and special
relationship between God and His people. Where a contract is established for the fulfilment
of the terms between two parties and it is extinguished when the terms have been satisfied,
a covenant is established to bring the two parties closer than before and it does not expire
even if one side does not fulfill their obligations. A covenant, then, is meant to be a bond of
love between the two parties, namely, God and His people. This is why marriage between a
man and a woman is regarded to be more than just a contract but a covenant intended to
bring the husband and wife to love each other more and more as time goes on. In the same
view, the Bible is regarded as a “love story” between God and His people.

Old and New – Covenants and Testaments

For Christians, there are two covenants which encompassed the history of salvation. The Old Covenant was
established by the Lord (God) so that he can form a deeper relationship with the Israelites (His people). The New
Covenant which was established by Jesus Christ (God) so that he could form a relationship with His Church (His
People). We can notice the parallelisms between the two covenants right away because, for Christians, the Old
Testament existed or happened to support and to prove the New Testament.

The Covenant with Adam (Adamic Covenant)

When Adam (literally meaning Man), was created, he was created in the image and likeness of God, which
meant he was God’s son (cf. Lk 3:38). This is called a “filial relationship” (a relationship between a parent and a child).
He was placed in the Garden of Eden and was tasked “to till it and keep it”, the Hebrew terms used here won’t be used
again until in the book of Numbers (3:7-8) which described the role of the priests at the place of worship, so this
would denote that Adam had a priestly role. He was also given “dominion” over all other creatures on earth (cf. Gn
1:26, 28) which implied that he was also given a kingly role. Only creators and makers had the right to name their
creations and it was God who created them yet why was Adam giving names to God’s creatures? It was because he was
given that divine privilege by God. This, in effect, made him someone who spoke in behalf of God, denoting his
prophetic role. Finally, when God created woman, Adam launches into a poem instead of simply naming her like the
other creatures recognizing that woman was equal to man who was far different from all other creation. He declares
her as the “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh”, they have become husband and wife, giving Adam his last role as
bridegroom. Why is this all important? So far, Adam has been painted in these roles as the model for every human
being in their own individual

5
Hooker, Richard. (1996). The Hebrews: A Learning Module. Washington State University: Pullman, WA.
5
roles as: a) children of God, b) kings or queens, c) priests, d) prophets, and e) brides and grooms. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church explains that through the grace of Baptism we share in Christ’s ministries and in His identity. And
Christ’s identity which should be highlighted here is the “last Adam” or the “Second Man”. Yet in spite of all these
privileges and roles that the first Adam received, he still went against God. The first covenant which was made with
Adam was settle in the garden, till it and keep it, he was free to eat form all the fruits in the garden, except the one
from the tree of knowledge of good and evil or else he will die. Simply put these were terms of this covenant: a) obey
what I command you, b) you will live happily and comfortably and not die. Yet eventually, they disobeyed. The
covenant was broken, humanity was doomed to die, not because of the fruit itself but because he has sinned, meaning
he has broken his connection with God, the source of his life. From then on, humanity would have to work hard for
their food so that they could live instead of relying simply on what nature gave. In the same way as Adam was the
model for our identity, he also became the model for our fall.

There were elements in the Fall: a) man and woman were tempted and then
fell into temptation so they consumed the fruit, b) their eyes were opened and they
saw that they were naked, c) God called them but they did not answer because they
were ashamed by what they did, d) God administers punishment which is naturally
consequent to what they did and so they were cursed (simply being the opposite of
blessed). Sin and evil had now entered into humanity. Yet despite this happening,
God still wanted to find a way to save humanity and restore us to our original place
in the world.

The Covenant with Noah (Noahic Covenant)

After the Fall, humanity had become depraved and the earth was full of evil. The world had begun to be full of
chaos just as how the universe was before God gave order to all things. God had decided to start everything anew once
again. He would flood the earth as a “restart” and intended to destroy everything but then he decided to save the
whole of creation through one man, Noah. Noah was tasked by God to build an enormous ark which would hold his
family and the rest of creation as God flooded the world and plunged the world into a watery chaos. This is the first
actual instance of the word covenant in the bible. In this covenant, God established these terms: a) obey what I
commanded you and b) you, along with your family and the rest of creation, will be saved. After the flood, Noah has
become the new Adam. This is supported by God reaffirming his original blessing on Adam upon Noah, “be fruitful and
multiply”. He also adds that he will never destroy the world again and he sets the rainbow as a sign of his covenant
with the Noah’s descendants.

Not long after God had blessed Noah and his family, sin and evil found another
way into humanity once again. Noah had planted a vine and then a grape was the fruit.
He made wine out of these grapes. He got drunk and then he got naked. Later, one of his
sons saw him naked and the first thing he did was make fun of his father. On the other
hand, his other sons immediately covered his nakedness. After this, Noah cursed that son
who made fun of him. We can see this as another version of the Fall. Noah consumed the
fruit (drunk the wine), then he got drunk and was naked, his son made fun of him and
so Noah was ashamed, and then Noah cursed his son. Once again, sin and evil had
entered into humanity despite God choosing a righteous man and his family. This just
goes to show that sin had “infected” every human being. There are no purely good people
because “evil” and “sin” come from the “shortcomings” of man. As St. Paul puts it: “All
have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God” (Rm 3:23).

Humanity has fallen once again, the world is becoming evil and chaotic again (Tower of Babel) but God had
promised that he would not destroy the earth like before because unlike the human party, God will never break his
end of the covenant. So, what does God do now?

The Covenant with Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant)

God starts again. This time with another man named Abram. God intended to choose this man to slowly
reintroduce blessing back to the rest of humanity. Abram wasn’t specifically chosen to be specially blessed over other
humans but he was chosen to be an instrument of bringing back the blessing to all other humans: “[You] will be a
blessing… in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gn 12: 2-3). It is important to realize that the Old
Testament is a book about salvation and blessing for all human beings. Many people think the Old Testament is a
Jewish book about salvation for the Jews alone. But the while reason the Jews are special is because their ancestor
Abram was chosen by God to bring blessing to everyone. This has always been God’s mission for Abram’s descendants.

When we first read about Abram, we see God promises to give Abram three blessings: a) a great nation, b) a
great name, and c) a blessing to everyone. Take not that God first makes a promise and not yet a covenant. Slowly
and progressively, God will make to work each promise into a formal covenant. The difference between a promise
and covenant is like the difference between an engagement ring and a wedding ring, “One” symbolizes a strong
hope, a firm intention; the other symbolizes an unbreakable commitment. The terms were simple: a) Abram obeys and
follows God, and b) God gives Abram his promised blessings.

6
 Eventually, God decides to take the promises to the next level and makes it a covenant. He instructs Abram a
“covenant duty” to perform: circumcision. This is symbolic in many ways. First, it will be a sign that Abram will be
special to God. Second, it is a reminder for Abram that if he does not uphold his end of the covenant he will be “cut-off”
from God much like how his foreskin was cut off from his body. Lastly, it symbolizes that shedding blood or
experiencing hardships is part of the covenant-blessing deal he and his descendants will be making with God. God
ratifies this act with changing Abram’s name to Abraham signifying that he has begun a new mission and
a new identity.

Now we come to the final part of Abraham’s saga. When one talks about Biblical
Covenant, this scene is immediately what resonates most with the subject. Abraham was
given a son through his wife, Sarah, and they named him Isaac. Although, Abraham has
another son, Ishmael, God intends to bring His blessing through Isaac. When Isaac was
born, Abraham and Sarah were already advanced in years. One day, God commanded
Abraham to offer his ONLY son, Isaac. God had promised Abraham that he would be
blessed with many descendants as numerous as nations through Isaac and now God is
asking for that same Isaac to be sacrificed! In spite of this dilemma, Abraham still
honored
the covenant and obeyed God. Just when he was about to willingly put Isaac to the knife (interestingly Isaac is
relatively silent throughout this ordeal implying that he was also willing to be sacrificed), an angel had stopped
Abraham from killing Isaac. Later, God had told Abraham that his obedience and his faith will be greatly rewarded
through Isaac. What’s the take away of this scene? A father was willing to sacrifice his son for the sake of obedience
and blessing. God had made Abraham and Isaac participate and prefigure the very same sacrifice that the Father and
the Son will act out thousands of years later at Calvary for the sake of the salvation (blessing) of all of humanity. We
can see here again, how the Old Testament still paves and prepares the way for the events of the New Testament.

Main Activity for LESSON 2

Thematic Enumeration

Instruction: Enumerate what is asked in following questions. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper or
bond paper.

What were Adam’s five (5) roles in his covenant with God?

What were the three (3) elements of the Fall which we could see in Adam’s and Noah’s stories?

What were the three (3) promises that God gives to Abraham if he enters into a Covenant with God?

*The table serves as a guide.

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 LESSON 3 | THE MOSAIC AND DAVIDIC COVENANTS

Learning Outcome: Students can pinpoint in the Bible the key event in the covenants God has made with
Israel through Moses and David.

Self-Test!
Q: Are “promises meant to be broken?” What happens when you break a promise?

Write a brief answer from personal experience.

LESSON CONTENT

The Covenant through Moses

Years after these events, Isaac had two sons named Esau and Jacob, they would later be renamed Edom and
Israel respectively, and who would later become fathers of two great nations. God had chosen that the blessing would
go down to the younger son Jacob (Israel). Jacob had 12 sons, the basis for the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. One of
them, Joseph, had become a governor in Egypt and rescued his family from a drought in Canaan by asking them to
move to Egypt. This would set the stage for the slavery and bondage of the people of God (Israelites) in Egypt.

At first their slavery was mild but then their treatment eventually became so harsh that they “groaned under
their bondage, and cried out for help… And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with
Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob” (cf. Ex 2:23-24). God had chosen Moses to be an instrument of his will. Moses
was one of the Israelite baby boys who were sentenced to be executed to cull the number of the Israelites. His mother
had hidden him in the Nile and Pharaoh’s daughter had found him and adopted him as her own. Later on in life, he
killed an Egyptian who beat his countrymen. He fled from Egypt as a fugitive and lived in the desert as a shepherd,
while finding a wife and having a son with her.

It was at this point, that God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush with the name “YHWH” or “I am”.
This name is particularly held sacred to the Israelites that they would not dare to utter that name but would replace it
with “Adonai” or “Lord” out of respect for his revealed name. Up to this day, we, Christians
uphold that same practice. The Lord commanded Moses: “You shall say to Pharaoh, Israel is
my first-born son, and I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me” (Ex 4:22-23).
Moses did as he was told, albeit with apprehensions. Pharaoh later denied this request and
in fact increased the workload of the Israelites to discourage them from further asking for
emancipation. Then the Lord ensues a battle against Egypt and her gods with a series of
plagues designed to humiliate them.

The final plague, the death of the firstborn was the most catastrophic of them all.
In this plague, God sends the angel of Death to kill all the first born of the Egyptians,
both
humans and animals. So that the Israelites would be spared, the Lord gave them instructions for each house to kill a
lamb and paint its blood on their doors so that the angel will “pass over” their houses and spare them from death. It
was after this last plague that Pharaoh let them go and the Israelites left in a hurry so they only brought unleavened
bread for the journey. This is why Jews celebrate the Passover every year with a slaughtered roast lamb with
unleavened bread and bitter herbs (to remind them of the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt). While the Israelites
were about to flee, Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued after them. Up until this time, the cloud which led them
into the desert stationed itself at the back of the Israelites and became a pillar of fire to defend them against the
pursuing Egyptians. This was also the moment when God parted the waters which allowed the Israelites to cross the
sea on dry land. This was regarded as the moment of liberation for the Israelites.

Their destination was Mt. Sinai, where the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Here are some
interesting elements to this part of the story: a) when the Lord told Pharaoh that “Israel is my first-born Son”, this
indicated that the Lord wanted to adopt Israel into a filial relationship, b) God makes a promise to them: “If you obey
my voice and keep my covenant… you shall be to me a royal priesthood and a holy nation” (Ex 19:5-6). These two
elements recall the role of Adam as God’s son, a king, and a priest. We also see how God also intends to fulfill his
covenant with Abraham making his descendants into a great nation.

God gives the Israelites his Law and in exchange, the Israelites become a special nation to Him. This is similar
to how a family works. In every family, there are house rules that everybody in that house should respect. If God is the
Father and we are his children. This is where the 10 commandments come in. The first 3 commandments govern the
relationship we have with God, our Father. The rest of the 7 commandments govern our relationship with other
human beings, our siblings.

After Moses read out these commandments and the other laws that God had set out for them, the people gave
their consent: “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do!” (cf. Ex 24:3-7). When people made sacrificial offerings to God,
they would drain the animal(s) of their blood, cut them up into pieces, and burnt the offerings for God to receive.

8
Moses

9
set up 12 stone slabs to symbolize each of the tribes and did the sacrifice with the assistance of some young men from
each of the tribes. He took half of the blood of the sacrifices and splashed it on the altar.
Moses took the other half of the blood to sprinkle on the Israelites saying: “Behold, the
blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you!” (Ex 24:8). Throwing blood on
the altar and on the people was particularly important. a) This was a ritual the covenant
was made in blood, b) God and the people are now one family sharing the same blood,
and
c) it should remind the people that if one party should break the covenant, “may his
blood be shed (die)”. Later on throughout the Bible, we will see that Israel will break the
covenant so many times yet God will remain ever faithful. Because of this, God establishes
2 more addenda on top of the existing laws that he first gave to the people: these were
laws pertaining to purity and sacrifice after worshipping the golden calf, this is where we
get the book of Leviticus; and laws pertaining to the discipline of the people because of
multiple rebellions, this is where we get the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.

As a reminder the terms of this covenant are: a) Obey my commandments and live by my law, and b) you will
become a people special and holy to me. “I will be your God and you will be My people.”

The Covenant of David

From the time of Moses up until our next covenant, there were lots of things that happened. The Israelites
returned to their Promised Land, Canaan. The very same land where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob settled before their
descendants went to Egypt. They fought with the other people who have settled there since then. Over the centuries,
the people would repeatedly forget their Covenant with the Lord by practicing the religion and customs of the gentile
people who settled there. It was during these moments that the Lord would allow their enemies to overwhelm them
and then the Israelites would conveniently pray to be delivered. The Lord would hear their prayers and send
temporary military leaders, called judges, to save the people and direct them to return to the Lord. The people would
do so for a short time and then they would forget and then cycle would start all over again. Among these judges were
Gideon, Deborah, and the most famous of them all, Samson. The last of these judges was Samuel.

It was during his time as judge that Israel asked him for a king. Up until this moment, it was believed and
practiced that there would be no king in Israel because they agreed that it was the Lord who was their king. But still,
the people clamored for a king. When Samuel asked the Lord what to do, the Lord allowed the Israelites to have king
and then He pointed out to Samuel who he appointed to be the first king of Israel, Saul of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul
proved to be a good king but he is not without his flaws. The Lord had told Samuel that Saul lost His favor and told
him to find a new king, David.

David was an impressive warrior. This was proven on his first battle against the Philistines and their giant,
Goliath. He served under Saul faithfully but Saul grew jealous of David and tried to kill him. This was one of the many
reasons why the Lord no longer favored Saul to be king. Although Saul committed many grievances against David,
David still treated Saul like a father and still forgave him up until the end. When Saul fell in battle with his sons, David
was proclaimed the new King. He was a significant person in the Old Testament in 3 categories:
Political, Liturgical, and Eschatological.

Politically, David was an excellent strategist and a very good leader. He was able to
secure the position of the kingdom of Israel by successively winning wars against all their
neighboring enemies. In addition to that, he wisely established an unconquered city,
Jerusalem, as the new capital of the kingdom. This is considered to be significant because
the location of the capital between the two culturally distinct regions of the Kingdom of
Israel: the North (comprising 10 of the tribes) and the south (comprising the remaining
two). This made a statement that he was not advancing on the territory of the northern
tribes as well as he was not favoring his own tribe located in the south. Al though Jerusalem
is undoubtedly
the most important city for all Abrahamic religions, before this point the Bible scarcely mentions the name Jerusalem
but after this event, Jerusalem is mentioned over 800 times. Every time we hear Jerusalem, we need to remember
David. Without David, there would be no Jerusalem.

Liturgically, David was a great reformer of the worship of the Israelite people. After making Jerusalem the
new capital, David immediately ordered that the Ark of the Covenant, which was like the portable throne of the Lord,
be moved to the new capital and decreed that worship would be centered in Jerusalem. He introduced a new form of
worship by singing songs and hymns to God. Worship and sacrifice for God had been completely silent until David
introduced this form of worship. Additionally, it is believed that David composed most of the Psalms which had been
passed down to us. We can see in the psalms about David’s special relationship with the Lord.

Eschatologically, David foreshadowed Christ who is to come. Christ literally meant “anointed one” it is the
Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah”. Being anointed literally meant “to be smeared in oil” which was a
mark of being chosen by God. Being anointed does not only mean to be covered with oil but also covered with the
Spirit of God. David had the ability to cast out demons (cf. 1 Sm 16:13-23). This is why when Jesus casted out demons
in his time the people wondered: “Can this man be the Son of David?” (cf. Mt 12:23) even if they did not know about
Jesus’s ancestry. In addition to this, David was a prefiguration of Christ’s suffering. When he was chased after Saul and
later, after his own son Absalom, both of whom tried to kill David, we can read in the psalms the anguishes and the
reflections David made during that time. These psalms would perfectly and prophetically predict the sufferings the
10
Jesus would undergo during his own Passion.

11
 When David’s palace had been finished, he felt guilty that he could live comfortably in a lavish palace while
the Lord stayed in a simple tent. He intended to build a magnificent temple for the Lord and the ark. Through the
prophet Nathan, the Lord gave this reply:
Go and tell David my servant, Thus says the Lord: Is it you who would build me a
house to dwell in? ... Now then, speak thus to my servant David, Thus says the
Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to become
ruler over my people Israel. … And I will make your name like that of the
greatest on earth. … Moreover, the Lord also declares to you that the Lord will
make a house for you: when your days have been completed and you rest with your
ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, sprung from your loins, and
I will establish his kingdom. He it is who shall build a house for my name, and
I will establish his royal throne forever. I will be a father to him, and he
shall be a son to me. If he does wrong, I will reprove him with a human rod and
with human punishments; but I will not withdraw my favor from him as I withdrew
it from Saul who was before you. Your house and your kingdom are firm forever
before me; your throne shall be firmly established forever. (2 Sm 7:5, 8-9, 11b-
16)

This can be said as: You will build me a house (temple)? It will be I who will build you a house (dynasty). God
was delighted that David took the initiative to build Him a temple. In reply, God makes a covenant with David that He
will make him a great name. This way he also fulfills His covenant with Abraham. God will establish David’s house as
a ruling family that will rule forever. It will not be David but it will be his offspring who will build God’s temple.
Finally, God shall be a father to him (the offspring) and he shall be a son to God.

To summarize the Davidic Covenant: God promises to David that he will a) make
his name great, and that his offspring will b) build God’s Temple, c) be the Son of God,
and d) rule over Israel forever.

Later, Solomon, David’s son who became the next king, would fulfill the covenant by
building the first Temple and becoming favored by God, yet this all goes to naught when
Solomon starts taking wives from the gentile foreigners. Even though this happened, God
intends to fulfill his covenant with David. Thus, the true beginning of the downfall of the
kingdom of Israel was after Solomon’s death. The kingdom was split into two: the kingdom
of
Israel comprising the 10 northern tribes ruled by another family and the kingdom of Judah comprising the tribes of
Judah and Benjamin ruled by David’s descendants. The history of Israelite people begin to go towards its downfall
from that point on. The northern kingdom would fall to the Assyrians and then the southern kingdom would fall to the
Babylonians later. This led to the destruction of the temple and the exile of the Israelite people to foreign lands. It was
in this declining era that the prophets proliferated reminding the people of the Law and the Covenant with God. These
prophets would also predict the coming of a Messiah who would one day restore Israel to its former glory. And so
begins the watch for the coming of God’s Messiah.

Executive Summary
All of these covenants can be simply expressed this way: God offered Divine Filiation to humanity but then
humanity rejects because of sin (Adamic Covenant). God restarts the world to try and introduce blessing back into
humanity but humanity again falls back into sin (Noahic Covenant). God decides to introduce blessing through a single
race through a single person. God will make Abraham’s name great and make his descendants as numerous as the
stars. He will become a father of nations. (Abrahamic Covenant). God has liberated the descendants of Abraham and
offers again the Divine Filiation to the people. The people accept but then they broke the covenant and rebelled many
times resulting into God giving them stricter laws (Mosaic Covenant). Instead of the entire people, God attempts to
give Divine Filiation to a single person, the king. This way, the blessings coming from that arrangement would
indirectly be trickled down to the people (Davidic Covenant). Unfortunately, not soon after David, the kings would
also lapse into sin which eventually led to the destruction of the kingdom and the scattering of the Chosen People of
God. Although the prophets remind the people that it was their fault that all these things were happening to them,
they still speak of the hope of another Messiah, from the line of David, who will one day rescue the people of God and
return them to His favor.

12
 Main Activity for LESSON 3
Verse Search

Instruction: The preceding lessons narrates the story of the Israelites from Egypt to the desert and the covenants
within it. Below is a list of key events that took place. Write down the verses that correspond to the listed events of the
two covenants. Write your answers on a separate sheet of intermediate paper or bond paper.

Mosaic Covenant
1. Pharaoh begins the harsh treatment of the Israelites.
2. Moses meets God in the burning bush and receives instructions.
3. The Passover
4. The Israelites leave Egypt and cross the Red Sea.
5. God gives the 10 commandments.
6. Israel ratifies the Covenant with God.

Davidic Covenant
1. David was chosen and anointed by Samuel
2. David defeats Goliath and becomes a trusted retainer of Saul
3. David becomes King and unites Israel
4. David brings the ark of God to Jerusalem and makes the city the new Capital
5. David builds a temple
6. God makes a covenant with David

LESSON 4 | JESUS ACCORDING TO THE GOSPELS

Learning Outcome: Students can describe who Jesus based on the four gospels of the New Testament, as
well as the background of the gospel origins.

Self-Test!
Q: Who is Jesus for you?

Write at five (5) figures or statements.

Example: “Jesus, Pelican of Heaven” or “The Good Shepherd”

LESSON CONTENT

Who is Jesus?
Jesus was the Messiah (Christ), the Son of God who was crucified for the sins of
humanity before rising from the dead, according to Christian Gospels and early Christian
writings.

According to the Gospels, Jesus, who was born around 4 B.C., was able to perform
supernatural feats such as healing a wide range of diseases by simply touching people or
speaking to them. He supposedly also had the ability to walk on water, instantly create vast
amounts of fish and bread, resurrect the dead, rise from the dead himself, calm storms and
exorcise demons from people.

The stories told about him have led many scholars to explore these questions: What was Jesus really like? Did
he really exist? Today, many of the supernatural feats Jesus is reported to have performed are regarded by scientists
as impossible to do — certainly by someone who lived 2,000 years ago.

Trying to understand what Jesus was really like is complicated by the fact that the earliest surviving texts that
discuss Jesus’ date to the second century A.D., about 100 years after the life of Jesus — although, presumably they were

13
copied from documents that date to the first century. In 2015, there were claims that a copy of the Gospel of Mark
dating to the first century had been found, although it now appears that this copy dates to the second or third century
A.D.

Despite many challenges, recent archaeological and historical research has allowed scholars to shed light on
several aspects of Jesus' life, such as what he looked like and what life was like in his hometown of Nazareth. 6

The collection of the four gospels is where we discover the person of Jesus, along with the depth of the nature
and power of the Son of God. Each account from the life of Christ found in the gospels depicts the nuances of Jesus that
define His character, which give us a taste of what we come to know fully as we walk in relationship with Him.

But why does God provide us with four gospels, rather than a single documentation of Jesus?
When reading the gospels, it is important to remember that they should not be viewed as a narrative or
biography of Christ, but rather as a “theography,” or an account of God telling His own story, revealing His Son to His
people. Through the four gospels, God gives us four different portraits of Jesus, each revealing a unique perspective of
our Lord.

In Matthew, we find Jesus as the Sovereign King, the Lord prophesied through the Old Testament prophets.
Matthew emphasizes the fact that Jesus is the Messianic Savior and has come to earth to lead His Kingdom. Matthew’s
Gospel has been called “the Gospel of the Kingdom”. He emphasizes the kingly aspects of Jesus, as Luke emphasizes
His priestly ministry and John His prophetic wisdom. The term Kingdom appears fifty times, and Kingdom of heaven
thirty- two times. What is this Kingdom? It is His Church, the new Israel, where God is known and worshipped, where
sins are not only forgiven but removed, where eternal life is poured out for all her citizens. This is not a political
kingdom, but a spiritual one. But Matthew also clearly presents Jesus as establishing a visible institution, headed by
visible men. Though the Church is spiritual, not political, she is also visible—just as you are spiritual (you have a soul),
yet visible. Christ made Peter the “Rock”, the foundation and ruler of His Church on earth (Mt 16:13-19) after Peter
confessed the reality the Church has always most centrally confessed and taught: “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God.7

Mark depicts Jesus as the Servant of all, the One sent by God to serve His people and to submit Himself to the
Father’s will, even to the death. In this book, we find our King in the form of a servant willing to suffer for the purposes
of God. Moreover, Mark portrays a very human Jesus who expresses his emotions. For example, in Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is
angry and “grieved at their hardness of heart” (3:5) and compassionate to the man who wanted to know how to be
saved (10:21). Mark also records Jesus being inquisitive, for example, asking questions like “How many loaves do you
have?” (6:38).8

In Luke, Jesus is seen as the Savior for all mankind, and we find His humanness in instances such as the
nativity, as well as references to Jesus’ genealogy being traced back to Adam. Not only that, Luke made it clear Jesus’
mission, at the beginning of his public ministry, as he announces that he has been anointed to “bring glad
tiding to the poor,” to heal the conditions of blindness and captivity that lead to poverty, and to free the
oppressed (Lk 4:18).9
John presents us with Jesus as I AM: the living, perfectly divine Son of God. He is the Word of God, the Creator
who breathed life into the world, and who still works among us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus echoes these words in
John 8:24 by describing himself in the same way: “For if you do not believe that I AM, you
will die in your sins.” By using these words, Jesus was teaching that he is God.
Continuing his teaching, Jesus was asked by his contemporaries how he could speak so
authoritatively about Abraham, as though he and Abraham were contemporaries. Jesus
responded: “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM” (Jn 8:58). In
essence, Jesus was teaching that not only is he God in the present, but he has always
been God, even before he was born as a human, since he has always existed.

With these four accounts emphasizing a different portrait of Jesus, we can see
more of His completion, His beauty, and His dimensional divinity. The gospels are
intended to reveal God in His fullness. When we read the gospels, it is to our advantage
to read them vertically rather than horizontally; in other words, to read each as its own account rather than
comparing them side by side.

Even though each gospel contains different details unique to themselves, we can believe them to be the living,
inspired Word of God. The gospels were written around 70 A.D., by people who were Jesus’ disciples and firsthand
witnesses of His life. Because the gospels were written within the same generation of Jesus’ life on earth, those who
lived during this time could have countered the testimony of the gospels, and no contradictory writings from this time
exist.

Also, Jesus’ life fulfilled Old Testament prophecies with stunning accuracy. From His virgin birth to death and
resurrection, Jesus fulfilled every prophecy, all of the 109 concerning His first coming. The odds of this accuracy
would be one in one quadrillion.

6
Jarus, Owen. (August 03, 2019). LiveScience. Retrieved from: https://www.livescience.com/3482-jesus-man.html.
7
Kreeft, Peter. You can understand the Bible. Ignatius Press, San Francisco 2005. Pg. 176
14
8
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Guide of God’s Word, p. 204.
9
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Guide of God’s Word, p. 217.

15
 God has given us an amazing gift in each of the four gospels, full of grace and truth—grace that is seen
through four unique perspectives, and truth that is prophetically and historically accurate and unchanging. 10

The Communities of the Gospels

It is an important not to consider that the Gospels do not speak to us directly as if we Christians today are the
primary recipient of the Good News. These books have an original audience and they are the Christian communities in
at the time when the Church was still growing in number.

Mark’s gospel is indicative of its vivid portrayal of Jesus as the suffering Messiah and the hardships of
discipleship [in fear of great suffering], living in a time of great persecution by Rome or during a rebellion in Syria. The
point is to expose us to the reality, as Christians, that we all face suffering in our lives and have to confront some
terrible evils in the world around us. Mark’s Gospel wants its readers to understand how close Jesus is to that suffering.
Jesus doesn’t understand the human experience from some far-off heavenly throne because of his infinite knowledge
and wisdom. He knows our greatest pains of betrayal, abandonment, and bodily anguish, from the inside out, as a human
who experienced them himself. The message of Mark’s Gospel is that Jesus is right there with you, sharing your
pain.11

The Gospel of Matthew seems quite aware of and sensitive to Jewish sensibilities, practices, and beliefs since the
listeners are largely Jewish both from Judea and form the Diaspora, as well as to help Jewish Christians to understand
the Jewish roots of their faith—that Jesus was an observant Jew should be obvious, but Matthew’s Gospel makes the
point more clearly than the others, in great part because the author was almost certainly Jewish, as was a significant
proportion of his audience. They understood, appreciated, and identified with Jesus’
native culture.12

In Luke’s gospel, on the other hand, Jesus draws the attention of his disciples to
the needs of the poor. It may seem curious that Luke, coming from an affluent
family with access to lots of privilege himself, was so clearly focused on the care
of the poor and the necessity of setting aside worldly goods and pursuits for the
sake of the Gospel. the affluent and powerful who made up Luke’s audience were
better able to do something positive about the conditions of those who had
little. As a result, Luke had to be more forthright and challenging to his audience
while addressing poverty and possessions. Jesus identified with the poor and
lowly. He
came into the world humbly. He came to proclaim the Gospel to the poor (Lk 7:22). Generous service of God
and others, with compassion for the poor and outcast, are mandatory for all followers of Jesus.13

John’s gospel, unique as it is, is notable for the closeness it has with the eye witness. It should be
noted that this beloved disciple is never named “John” in any of these passages. Whoever the beloved
disciple was, he was clearly both a disciple and eyewitness to Jesus, and also the founder of a community
that had taken his message of the Good News to heart. He passed on his memories of Jesus to this
community. This disciple probably did not refer to himself as Jesus’ “beloved disciple.” It seems more likely
that the community he had brought to faith by his evangelism referred to him that way, in essence, because
they loved him. He must have been a very special person. They were convinced that Jesus must have loved
their founder with as much enthusiasm as they did. If this is true, he was able to engender this love from
others, all the while never making the message center on himself; it was always about Jesus. 14

10
Orlando, First. March 9, 2016. Four Gospels, Four Portraits of Christ. Retrieved from:
https://www.firstorlando.com/stories/four-gospels-four-portraits-of-christ/.
11
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Guide of God’s Word, p. 208-209.
12
Ibid. p. 212.
13
Ibid. p. 217-218.
16
14
Ibid. p. 222-223.

17
 Main Activity for LESSON 4
The Christ from the Gospels

Instruction: Using the knowledge you have acquired about the descriptions of Jesus Christ from the four gospels, give a
summary of his distinct identity according to each gospel. In the same manner, provide a general statement about
Jesus based on the commonalities from each gospel. Write you answer on a separate sheet of intermediate paper or
bond paper.

According to Mark According to Matthew

According to Luke According to John

Who is Jesus then?

*This table serves as a guide.

LESSON 5 | JESUS CHRIST IN SALVATION HISTORY

Learning Outcomes: Student express both in writing and verbally the purpose and meaning of the
Paschal Mystery in the Scripture.

Self-Test!
Q: Why can’t God snap his fingers and save us all? Why does he need to become man and die?

Write your initial thoughts about the question in brief.

LESSON CONTENT

Preliminary
In the previous lessons, we discussed covenants with God and His people and how Jesus Christ is presented to
be the fulfillment of God’s promises and covenants. In this lesson, we will look into the person of Jesus Christ in the
Gospels.

18
 This becomes important for us to study since we are Christians. By that very identity of professing to be
followers of Christ and His teachings, we look into certain aspects of His life which hold significant value in the History
of Salvation.

The Incarnation
Christ is divinely revealed to be the Second Person of the Trinity, God the Son. The first part of the Gospel of
John identifies Christ as the “Word” or the “Logos”. Where the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) write
their gospels in a strictly chronological sequence, John’s gospel launches into a theological discourse about the
identity and the role of the “Word” in the plan of God’s salvation for the world:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through
him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was
life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his
glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. (John bore witness to
him, and cried, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me
ranks before me, for he was before me.’”) And from his fullness have we
all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the
only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. (Jn
1:1-5; 14-18)

The first part of God’s saving plan for humanity is that He has to assume human nature. The Nicene Creed
states: “For us men and for our salvation, he came down from heaven. And by the power of
the Holy Spirit, He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary and became Man.”

But why was it important for the Word to become Flesh? Won’t it be easier for God
to simply wipe away our sins and re-establish a relationship with us? Our previous lesson
about covenants points out that it was not God who was at fault when the relationship
between God and Humanity was severed. The most “optimal” solution to restore the
relationship is that God would guide humanity back to Himself and the “optimal” method
was that God Himself would become human.

There are 4 reasons explaining why (CCC 457-470):

1. In order to save us by reconciling us with God 15. God became man so that we can go back to the loving
relationship we originally had. Jesus, who is both true God and true Man, is the only person who can heal the
break in that relationship as he represents both God and Man at the same time.

2. So that we might know God’s love16. God loved us so much that he was willing to send his only Son to save us
and to concretely show to us what God’s love is in our earthly human understanding.
3. To be our model of holiness17. Jesus is the model for the Beatitudes and the norm of the new law: “Love one
another as I have loved you”

4. Partakers of the divine nature18: The saints have explained this quite well- "For this is why the Word
became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the
Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God" (St. Irenaeus). "For the Son of God
became man so that we might become God" (St. Athanasius). "The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make
us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods" (St. Tomas
Aquinas).
Another important and divinely revealed aspect of the Incarnation is Christ’s Virgin Birth. This is how Jesus
becomes 100% God and 100% Man. He is not a demigod with 50-50 heritage but the circumstances of the Incarnation
give him that unique identity of being both God and Man at the same time. It was through the power of the Holy Spirit
that Jesus was conceived through the Blessed Virgin Mary (Lk 1:24-25).

It is very important to stress that it was absolutely imperative that Jesus should be both God and Man for the
salvation of all humankind. Since the bond and covenant(s) have been broken by man over and over again, a new
Covenant should be established to recreate a new and stronger bond. This bond could only be properly made by a
Mediator, a middle-man. This Mediator is not just God and not just Man but someone who was both at the same time.

15
cf. 1 Jn 4:10; 4:14; 3:5.
16
cf. 1 Jn 4:9; Jn 3:16.
17
cf. Mk 9:7; Jn 15:12.
19
18
cf. 2 Pt 1:4.

20
The Paschal Mystery

1. Passion
The word “passion” would literally mean, “a radical love”. Jesus had a radical love for his people. This could be
seen in the Gospel of John when he prayed to the Father (cf. Jn 17). At the Last Supper, he created a New Covenant by
instituting the Holy Eucharist. This was, in a way, an assurance to his disciples that He would continue to be with them
always. The radical love continues to be shown even if he was betrayed by one of his closest friends, he even knew
everything about it (cf. Jn 13:27).

At the Garden of Gethsemane, he was praying for strength for what was to come (cf. Mt 26:42). He was God,
he knew what was necessary for salvation. He knew about the inhumane horrors he would have to undergo for the
sake of all humans. He knew what was going to happen until he was about to die. He foresaw all of those things
happening: trials with the Sanhedrin, Herod, and Pilate, the scourging at the pillar, his crowning of
thorns, the carrying of the Cross to Mount Calvary and the many times he would fall from
the weight of the Cross, and of course, his own Crucifixion. These were just the physical
trials he would undergo and then there were the psychological trials: the crowd which
welcomed him at the gates of Jerusalem with palms were the same ones who shouted for
his crucifixion, one of his most trusted friends betrayed just for money, his disciples all ran
away from Jerusalem, Peter denied knowing him 3 times, he was stripped off his clothes
near the entrance of the city, he was crucified with two thieves beside him, and many other
terrors. He knew all these things would happen to him and then he still said “You will be
done”. He willingly accepted it all for two things: his love for all people and his obedience to
the Father.

2. Death
In Exodus, God “passed over” the Israelites while the angel of death delivered the final plague. In
commemoration of this event, He established the Feast of Passover so that the Israelites will always remember the
great deed God has done. At the rite of Passover, the Jews are going dress up as if they are going for a trip. They will
slaughter an unblemished first-born lamb and roast it. The meal will be accompanied by unleavened bread and bitter
herbs. The symbolism of this sacrifice of the lamb is that the innocent lamb (a baby sheep) who has done nothing
wrong will die in place of the very sinful humans. In our previous lessons, a sacrifice was made to symbolize a
covenant. A covenant is made in blood, if one of the parties break the covenant may his blood be poured just like the
animal which was sacrificed. The sacrifices also remind people that they are sinful and have many sins. Sins are
transgressions that warrant death, so instead of the person dying, the animal must die instead. The sacrifices are done
every year multiple times a year but God does not benefit from these sacrifices. He does not get full or gain more
power from these sacrifices (cf. Ps 50:12- 14). These sacrifices were meant for the people. They were supposed to
remind the people to change and do better. But meaningful symbols slowly became routinary rites and few people
understood what the sacrifices were meant to do. But God wanted something more than that, He wanted people to
return to him (cf. Ps 51:18-19). Because no matter how many sacrifices the people make, those offerings won’t be
enough to return the original relationship God had with humanity (cf. Heb 10:4).

This would all change when Christ came. First of all, Christ is the Lamb of God (cf. Jn 1:29). The most
innocent person on this earth who did no sin (cf. 1 Pt 1:19). Christ’s sacrifice was significant because it fulfilled all the
previous sacrifices “once and for all” (Heb 10:10), this meant that men no longer needed to continue offering sacrifices
every year. Christ’s sacrifice is the only one to take away our sins and restored us to salvation (cf. Heb 10:11-14).
Normally, someone (priest) would offer an animal to be sacrificed (victim) for his own or for others’ sins. The sacrifice
of Christ was unique because Jesus was the one who was sacrificed (Victim) and the one who offered the sacrifice
(Priest) and he offered it for the sins of all the world both in the past, present and the future. This is why Christ is
referred to as Priest and Victim. Christ was crucified around the time when the Temple would start accepting the
Passover lambs and then he died around the time when the Temple would start slaughtering them. This moment of
Christ’s death became a link of the Old Covenant (the sacrifice of the Passover Lamb) and the New Covenant (the
sacrifice of the Lamb of God).

Why would this have restored the relationship between Humanity and God? One word: Obedience. If Adam
destroyed the original relationship with Disobedience, Jesus restored it with Obedience. Why couldn’t have God
restored it without the sacrifice of Jesus? It is because there won’t be enough effort on the
part of humans in the plan of salvation. God needed to show the people that he was willing
to become human like them and die like them so that eventually they will rise again like
him. God did not want to just restore the original relationship He had with Adam. He
wanted to improve it. He desired to make it more complete. Adam introduced Sin and Death
with his disobedience. Christ introduced Salvation and Resurrection with his obedience (cf.
1 Cor 15:22). It was like hitting two birds with one stone: 1) Humanity will be restored to
their relationship with God; and 2) Humanity will gain eternal life and immortality.

3. Resurrection

21
 Salvation did not only mean restoring blessing and grace back to humanity. It also meant rescuing humanity
from sin and death. Exodus is all about liberation from slavery from Pharaoh and Egypt. This served as a precursor or
a preparation for the reality that Christ did for us later at his own Resurrection. Another reason for God to become
Man is to defeat the power of Death. When Adam and Eve were banished, the gates of heaven were closed to humans.
All humans who died since then went to Sheol or Hades, an underground dark and gloomy place where all the dead
gathered separated from God by virtue of the Original Sin. When Christ died, he also truly went through the suffering
of Death just like any human. He also went down to the realm of the dead where all other souls of the dead waited. But
unlike any other Man, Christ was also God. He was not chained to death like other humans. He could break out of it
anytime he wanted but he chose to look for the sheep who were lost in death. An ancient homily of Black Saturday
beautifully describes how Jesus who was Adam’s son in the flesh went to look for Adam to save him and the others
who were trapped by the power of Death. Adam, who was the son of God, recognized Jesus’ voice who was calling him
as the very same voice who created him. This is the explanation of the part of the creed when we
say “he descended into hell (the dead)”.

It was important for Jesus to die so that he could show that he could rise again. It
was important for God to die so that He could defeat Death itself. Jesus is our role model
who showed us that as natural as we could die, we would also naturally rise again just like
him. God had the power to resurrect people from the dead but it would be more dramatic
and more meaningful if God used the cause of our downfall (Death) to be the means of our
salvation (Resurrection).

Jesus also had a reason to stay on earth for about 40 days before going up into heaven. It was important to
appear to the apostles and his other disciples so that they can truly believe and testify that Jesus is alive. They were
there when he died, many of them were hiding when they saw him crucified, and there he is every now and then
appearing to his disciples to show them that he rose again: immediately after his resurrection (Jn 20:11-18; Mt 28:9-
10; Mk 16:9-11), on the road to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35; Mk 16:12-13), in the Upper Room (Jn 20:19-23; Lk 24:36-43),
in Galilee (Jn 21:1-14; Mt 28:16-20; 1 Cor 15:7) and finally at Bethany where he ascended (Lk 24:49-53; Acts 1:3-11)

When Jesus ascended into heaven, its gates opened up and according to tradition, Christ brought the souls he
rescued with him to heaven. Where to this day, he is seated reigning over all of creation until he comes again. That
part of the God’s plan for salvation has been completed. We are now at the part where we wait for Jesus to return to us
the way he returned to heaven (cf. Mt 24:30). In the meantime, we do everything that He commanded us to do.

The history of Salvation has not finished yet. We have yet to see the end of this story.

Main Activity for LESSON 5

Concept Mapping the Mystery

Instruction: Since you have gained a general understanding about the preceding lesson, create a
concept map of the ideas found in the lesson about each part of the Paschal Mystery. Use key words, ideas, or
statements to create a comprehensive summary for each mystery.

Incarnation Passion

Death Resurrection

*This table serves as a guide to divide each concept map.

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 LESSON 6 | JESUS: FULFILMENT COVENANTS

Learning Outcomes: Student can explain how Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the promises of the Old Testament
covenants, and the establishment of a new covenant in the New Testament.

Self-Test!
Q: Have you experienced waiting for promise to happen? How did it felt while waiting for its fulfillment?

Express your thoughts into writing.

LESSON CONTENT

Awaiting the Messiah

Whilst the Israelites experienced a decline in their overall history as a people, their temple was destroyed and
they were exiled from their homeland. The prophets still continued to be the mouthpieces of God throughout these
times. Even though many times these prophets had rebuked and remonstrated the people because of their infidelity to
their covenant with God, here and there, we can find prophecies of hope: a time when the old curses of infidelity to the
covenant would no longer be necessary, a time where the House of David will return to the throne and usher in a new
and glorious era of prosperity for the people of God.

But all was looking bleak when they find a family of priests, called the Maccabees, ruling as kings after driving
out the Greek invaders who tried to culturally proselytize the Jews into Hellenistic society. They were not of David’s
tribe but of Levi’s. The Maccabean rule ended when the Roman’s invaded the Palestinian region. They installed
another king named Herod whose family would rule over the area until 92 AD. But Herod was also not of the line of
David. He wasn’t even an Israelite but an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, the older twin brother of Jacob. It was at this
point that the Jewish people had started to wane in their waiting for the promised Savior from God. Up to this day,
Jews are still waiting for the Messiah, unlike us Christians who know that he has already come.

Jesus, the Messiah

We start this lesson by taking into consideration how Matthew begins his gospel: “This is the genealogy of
Jesus the Christ, the son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1). We take note about how Matthew doesn’t call Jesus
“a” son of David or “a” son of Abraham but “the” son of David and “the” son of Abraham. Matthew here wishes to point
out that Jesus is the one promised to David. In addition, he will be the one who will fulfill the covenants made to Abraham
and David. Although the beginning verse mentions only of Abraham and David, this lesson will cover all the previous
covenants discussed in the last lesson.

Jesus and the Adamic Covenant

In the previous lesson it was discussed that Adam had 5 roles: a) God’s Son, b) Priest, c) Prophet, d) King, and
e) Bridegroom. There we also discussed about how Man (Adam) fell from grace and was cut off from God. In the New
Testament, we see Jesus repeating these roles when he becomes the New Adam returning humanity back into God’s
grace. First off, Jesus is the actual and literal Son of God. His mother Mary, though a virgin, was able to conceive him
through the power of the Holy Spirit. In that moment, God became Man (Mt 1:18-25). In addition to this, the Father
confirmed His relation to the Son when a voice at his baptism said: “This is my beloved son,
in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). The Father repeats almost the same words at his
Transfiguration (Mt 17:5). When Jesus was at prayer he calls God his Father or “Abba” (Mt
6:9; 11:25-27; Jn 17:1-26; Mk 14:6). Abba is a form of endearment children use for their
fathers. It isn’t formal as it is closer to Papa or Daddy.

Second, we can clearly see that Jesus is a King. Matthew and Luke provide a long
list of names providing proof for the connection between Jesus and David (Mt 1:1-17; Lk
3:23-38). The angel Gabriel tells the Blessed Virgin Mary before his birth: “The Lord God
will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob
forever” (Lk 1:32-33).

Third, Jesus is regarded as our High Priest which explained in length in the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 4:14 –
5:10; 7:1 – 10:18).

Fourth, Jesus is a prophet. He regarded himself as one. When he is scorned by the people in his own
hometown, he says, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house” (Mt 13:57).
When Jesus finally rides into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the crowds announce, “This is the prophet Jesus from
Nazareth in Galilee” (Mt 21:11).

Finally, Jesus is a Bridegroom. When questioned about Jesus, John the Baptist explained, “You yourselves bear
me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom the

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friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice; therefore, this joy of
mine is now full. He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:28-30). In many of his parables, Jesus frequently paints
the picture of wedding images for the kingdom: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a
marriage feast for his son” (Mt 22:2) or, “The Kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten virgins who took their
lamps and went to meet the Bridegroom” (Mt 25:1). When the Pharisee asked Jesus why his disciples do not fast, he
replies: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Mt 9:15). Jesus is the New Bridegroom, who offers
himself in marriage to all humanity. To be “married” to Christ is to become part of the Church, his bride.

Noahic Covenant
Since Noah was presented to be a Second Adam and his covenant with God presents a restart of creation, we
will continue to discuss about Jesus’ relation to Adam.

Jesus has repeated and fulfilled all the roles that Adam used to have. This signals a new chapter for all
creation. In the words of St. Paul, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!” (2 Cor 5:17). We can find other parallels
with Adam and Jesus, the new Adam. 1) Just as Adam was ejected from Paradise so that he could eventually be saved
from his disobedient sin, Jesus came down from Paradise to the dwelling place of Adam (this
world) to save us all from Adam’s original sin. 2) Just as Adam’s disobedience to God
allowed sin and damnation to enter the world, the obedience of Jesus, the new Adam, to
God, his loving Father, allowed salvation to enter the world. 3) Just as Adam threw away
his sinless status through disobedience, Jesus kept his sinless status through obedience.
4) Just as Adam betrayed God in a garden (Eden), Jesus was betrayed by Judas in a
garden (Gethsemane). 5) Just as Adam covered himself because he was naked and was
ashamed, Jesus was stripped naked and was brought to shame. 6) Just as Adam brought
sin and death because he ate from the fruit of a tree, Jesus brought redemption and life
because he hung from a tree (cross). 7) Just as Adam was given life through the breath
of God, Jesus stopped breathing so that all of humanity may have new life in fullness. 8)
Just as
Adam was given a wife coming from his side (rib), Jesus brought forth his own wife (the Church) when he was stabbed
at his side. There are so many parallels to show that Jesus is the new and Final Adam but these examples would be
enough to showcase this.

Abrahamic Covenant
Earlier in this lesson, it has been discussed that Jesus was the son of Abraham. In this lens, we refocus on the
drama of Abraham’s sacrifice. Abraham was obedient and very willing to sacrifice his only son to follow the command
of his God. Isaac was made to carry his own wood up the mountain for his own sacrifice.
Jesus was also made carry his own cross to the place of his own crucifixion. Isaac was
silent when he was about to be sacrificed indicating his obedience to the will of God.
Jesus was also mostly silent all throughout his passion and speaking only when he
needed to. Although an angel had stopped Abraham from touching his son and saving
Isaac’s life, Jesus truly died and was sacrificed for the greater good of all mankind. God
wanted to show to those who read the account of Abraham and Isaac what it meant to
give up your only son for the realization of a greater plan for the salvation of all. The near
sacrifice of Abraham’s son would make Abraham blessed. The sacrifice of God’s son
blessed the entire world of humans. In fact, it is Jesus who is that seed of Abraham by
which all of the nations of the earth will be blessed (cf. Gn 22:18).

Mosaic Covenant
As a review, God entered into a covenant with the Israelites. Through Moses, God gave to them his laws and
the people must follow them. If they do, they get blessed. If they don’t, they will suffer consequences from
the transgressions. The Israelites didn’t just disobey once but at least 9 times during the lifetime of Moses not
counting the many times they did so after his death. So, God imposed even more rules to discipline the people relating
to sacrifices, purity, rituals, and punishments. This is where we get the other books in the Pentateuch: Numbers,
Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. The laws permitted divorce and commanded hatred of enemies all because of the
“hardness of their hearts” (cf. Dt 24:1; Mt 19:8). When Jesus came, he rectified that. He abolished divorce and
restored it to the original character of permanence (Cf. Mt 5:31-32). He summarized and completed the law that God
gave to the Israelites. The old Mosaic law given by God on Mt. Sinai demanded discipline and respect only for those
who were deemed worthy of respect, i.e., other Israelites (neighbors). Jesus amended that with his teachings in the
“Sermon on the Mount” discourse (Mt 5-7). One should not only respect his friends
and fellow Israelites or neighbors but one should give due respect to everyone, even
your enemies. Neighbor was originally a term which denoted someone who was close
to you in friendship or in blood. Jesus expanded that concept of neighbor to mean
absolutely everybody and anybody, especially the enemies.

Moses once told the people: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a
prophet like me from among you, from your brethren: you must listen to him” (Dt
18:15). But then, towards the end of Deuteronomy we find: “And there has not arisen
a prophet since in Israel like Mises, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Dt 34:9). Do
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we take this

25
to mean that Moses is not equal to Jesus? Yes! In fact, this is true because Jesus is GREATER than Moses. In the gospel
of John we find this verse: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one
has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known” (Jn 1:17-18). Whenever
Moses and God spoke, Moses would usually cover his face and only saw God’s back (cf. Ex 33:18-23). Jesus, on the
other hand, is not only able to speak with the Father but he is able to show to us God himself. He made this known
when he told Philip in the Last Supper: “He who has seen me, has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). Like Moses, Jesus has a
great connection to the Passover, but this will be made clear in the next lesson.

Davidic Covenant
We remember that God made a covenant with David promising that his offspring will make his name great,
will build God a temple, will also be a son of God, and will rule over his kingdom forever. Even if Solomon fulfills these
promises, they are not exactly complete. Solomon ruled for a long time but that does not equal to forever. He was like
a son to God through adoption but he was not exactly and literally the son of God. He built God a temple but that
temple was made of stone which could not even hope to contain God’s glory and was even destroyed. He made David’s
name a royal dynasty with great power but that did not stop the Kingdom of Israel from splitting apart.

In the Gospels, we find two genealogies (Mt 1 and Lk 3) of Jesus. Both genealogies serve to legitimize Jesus’
claim that he is the heir and descendant of David. Where Matthew’s genealogy serves to prove that Jesus is the legal
heir of David through Joseph’s adoption, Luke’s genealogy serves to prove that Jesus is also the biological heir of David
through Mary, who was also a descendant of David. And because Mary conceived Jesus through the Holy Spirit, we can
rightly say that Jesus is the literal Son of God. Through these circumstances, God has fulfilled two of his promises:
Making his name (dynasty) great, and that the “seed” of David will be a Son to God.

Next, Jesus fulfills the promise of building a temple. When Jesus drives the moneychangers out of Herod’s
temple (temple which was used during the time of Jesus) in the gospel of John, the Jews are
offended:
The Jews then said to him, “What sign have you to how us for doing
this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I
will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years
to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he
spoke of the temple of his body. (Jn 2:18-21)

What Jesus gives is a temple much better than a temple made out of stone. His body is a
temple where God perpetually is present. This continues up until today in the Mass when the
bread is transformed into the Body of Christ where God is truly present. This gets even better
since we, who receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist, also become temples of God ourselves.
Each of us
individual temples, comprise the visible Temple of God here on earth, the Church. With this set-up, God has an
infinitely more fitting dwelling place than a stone temple which will never be destroyed no matter how many times
attempts will be made to destroy it.

Finally, Jesus rules forever over David’s kingdom. When Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven,
God fulfills this promise to David that his offspring will rule forever. Jesus is currently seated at the right hand of the
Father ruling over the entire Kingdom of God. David’s kingdom is incorporated into the Kingdom because his son and
heir is currently seating as the ruler of the new Kingdom. Jeremiah’s words are fulfilled when he said: “David shall
never lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel: (Jer 33:17). The Kingdom is the new and heavenly Jerusalem and Jesus
will forever rule that Kingdom.

Eucharistic Covenant
Now that we have reviewed and seen that Jesus had fulfilled all the previous Covenants, we take a look at the
New Covenant that Jesus instituted. We recall that a covenant calls upon two parties to fulfill each other’s terms and
that it binds the two parties closer to each other instead of ending and terminating it when it’s over. Jesus institutes
the New Covenant at the Last Supper:
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be
sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover
for us, that we may eat it.” (Lk 22:7-8)

And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said
to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I
suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom
of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this,
and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not
drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And he took
bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying,
“This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And
likewise, the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is
the new covenant in my blood. (Lk 22:14-20)

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 The key terms here are Passover and Covenant. These are reminiscent of the Mosaic (Old) Covenant. Jesus
intends to establish the New Covenant around the time when the Old Covenant was established. If we can recall, it was
the blood of the lamb which delivered the Israelites from death and slavery in the Old Covenant. In the New one, Jesus,
the Lamb of God, will be sacrificed to deliver the entire human race from the slavery of death and
sin. When Moses ratified the covenant between God and the people, he sprinkled blood on the
altar and on the people. Now, Jesus declares a New Covenant in his own blood. He does this in
the presence of his 12 Apostles who would be the proxies of the 12 tribes of Israel. This is re-
presented and done over and over again in our Mass for over 2 thousand years. So that in this
way, we won’t forget the Covenant unlike the people of the old covenant.

Sacramentally, this Eucharistic covenant was established in the Upper Room where
Jesus gave His Blood at the Last Supper with the Apostles. Physically, it was completed at
Calvary when Jesus literally and physically shed His Blood on the Cross. When Jesus was
stabbed at his side, blood and water flowed out. This image is important for Jews during the
time of Passover when the lambs are sacrificed and the blood of the lambs with the water used
for cleaning flowed out from the temple. Remember, Jesus said that his Body is the Temple he
will raise in three days.

This out flow of blood and water from the side of Jesus is regarded as the birth of the
Church. Eve was formed from the rib of Adam which was taken from his side. The Church as Jesus’ bride, is born from
the sacrifice of her bridegroom. This is how grace and blessing reenters into humanity once again, through Jesus
Christ and His Church. We benefit from this grace given by God in the way he intended: Grace is given back to
humanity which was lost (Adamic Covenant), through the new and final Adam (Noahic Covenant), through a
descendant of Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant), who was part of the people first chosen by God (Mosaic Covenant),
and who was the heir and inheritor of David’s kingdom (Davidic Covenant).

Today, it is part of Catholic theology that it is the Church who is the principal dispenser of the grace and
blessings of God. The graces are expressed through the giving of the sacraments. Although all the sacraments are
important, one can only receive God’ grace when one receives Baptism. It is the “gateway” to all the sacraments
because it is through Baptism, we are adopted into God’s family as his children. This is how in the end, we all receive
grace and how we fit into God’s original plan for all of humanity, to live as His children, loved by Him.

The entire Bible could be summarized this way: “It is a love story between God and His people”. It is filled
with all sorts of drama one would expect to see in a romantic series and a family drama television show. It is full of
triumphs and failures, joys and sorrows, friendships and betrayals and many more.

Main Activity for LESSON 7

Fulfilment of the Covenants

Instruction; Based on the preceding lessons on the covenants, to perform the activity by stating in brief old covenants
on the first column and how Jesus fulfilled them on the second column. State only one way Jesus fulfilled the covenant.

What are the Old Covenants? How did Jesus Fulfilled them?

*This table serves as a guide.

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 LESSON 7 | “THE WAY”

Learning Outcomes: Students can make comparisons regarding the life of the early Church with that of
the Church today.

Self-Test!
Q: From your standpoint, what does a “church” do?

Example: “There are many old people praying in the church.”

Give three (3) concrete examples.

LESSON CONTENT

Acts of the Apostles: Lessons from the Early Church

The book of Acts is a record of the growth of the early church, started by Jesus’s disciples and then expanded
by the Apostle Paul. It’s an exciting ride, from the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, to shipwrecks and
imprisonments, to life changing sermons delivered by ex-fishermen.

Tucked away in Acts there is also a beautiful little passage describing the nature of the early Christian church.
Acts 2:42-47 says:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the
breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many
wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and
had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone
who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to
their number daily those who were being saved.

1. They were devoted to the Apostles’ teaching.

The early church was devoted to the apostles’ teaching. This is what we now have as
the New Testament! They listened and put into practice what they learned.

Are we reading the Bible in the same way? Are we devoted to listening, learning and
letting what we read and hear change our lives?

2. They were devoted to prayer.

The early church was devoted to prayer. You see this again and again throughout Acts, as the Christians pray
for the apostles, for each other and for the spread of the gospel. They pray a particularly wonderful prayer in Acts 4,
asking God for boldness to spread the gospel:
“Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth
and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit
through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage

and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed one.’”

Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to
conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided
beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great
boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Are we devoted to prayer in this same way? Do we bring all our needs, worries and joys before God? And are
we praying for this boldness as we live as Christians in this world that desperately needs Jesus?

3. They had everything in common.

Something really remarkable about the early church is how committed they were to serving and supporting
one another. Acts 2:45 even says that they sold their belongings in order to care for those who didn’t have enough!

28
 This kind of remarkable generosity should be evident in our churches. But too often we get caught up in
loving the thought of having lots of money to ourselves. Could we be more generous to those around us, so no one is in
need?

4. Every day they continued to meet together.

The early church met not just on Sundays, or on Friday night, or for a mid-week Bible
study. They were committed to meeting together every day, to encourage one another, learn
together and worship the Lord.

This doesn’t mean we HAVE to go to church every single day. But these believers
clearly placed an extremely high priority on fellowship. Do we place the same value on
meeting together? Or do things like parties, sport and homework come before church, youth
group and Bible study?

5. They praised God.

The believers in the early church were so thankful for everything Jesus had done for
them, that they praised God fervently. This was even despite the persecution and alienation
they faced for following such a radical faith!

Often when we struggle, we are inclined to blame God. Perhaps we should be

praising him more for all the good things he gives us – and for simply who he is? After all, no
matter what is going on in our lives, God still created us and Jesus still died for us.

6. The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Every day, the early church grew as more people came to faith in Jesus Christ. This verse indicates that God
was behind this rapid growth, but God uses people to carry out his will, and I can bet that those who observed the
Christian community saw something really attractive and appealing there.

Wouldn’t you want to be a part of a community that were generous, thankful and truly
committed? And wouldn’t you want to follow a Lord who encouraged this attitude in his
followers?

Comparing our churches to the early church in Acts can be a helpful way to check if our
priorities are right. Bible, prayer, generosity, fellowship and evangelism should characterize our
Christian communities. Do they characterize your church?19

7. They continued Christ’s work.20

The Acts chronicle themes and events in the early Church, many of which paralleled
those in the life and ministry of Jesus. For example, as Jesus did, the Church

 healed of the lame and resuscitated the dead (Acts 3:1–11; 9:32–43),
 preached the Good News (Acts 3:12–26),
 opposed the religious leadership of the Temple (Acts 4:1–31), and
 accepted the guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead its ministry and prayer (Acts 4:8, 31).

What are the Pauline Epistles?

The Pauline Epistles—or the Epistles of Paul—were letters written to the early Church by the apostle Paul. God
preserved many of those letters for us as books of the Bible.

These ancient epistles contain valuable insight into modern-day Christian living, while also providing us a
snapshot of the early Christian Church.

Paul wrote more books of the Bible than any other author—including Moses, Solomon and any of the original
apostles. He is credited with writing at least 13 books in the New Testament (14, if we include the book of Hebrews).
His writings have been scrutinized by more scholars and students of the Scriptures than perhaps any other Bible
author.

The Pauline Epistles are essential to read and study if we want a fuller understanding of the Holy Scriptures.
But how much do you understand about these books? Why were they written? To whom were they written? What
were the issues that Paul was dealing with in these many letters?

19
Karter, Elizabeth. Acts: Lessons from the Early Church. Retrieved from: https://fervr.net/bible/acts-lessons-from-the-
early-church
29
20
Sacred Scripture: A Catholic Guide of God’s Word, p. 232.

30
 Some of Paul’s epistles were written from jail cells (commonly referred to as Paul’s Prison Epistles); some are
addressed to individuals; and some are addressed to congregations. Paul’s letters were mostly dictated to an
amanuensis (secretary), except for the letter to the Galatians, at least part of which Paul says he wrote with his own
hand (Galatians 6:11).

Paul wrote these letters over approximately a 15- to 20-year period between about A.D. 48 and 67. The
estimates of the dates these letters were written will vary slightly from authority to authority, but they were within
this general time frame.

The Purpose of Paul’s Letters21

It didn’t take long before heresy, false doctrine and spiritual compromises started to sneak into the early
Church. Much of the content of the Pauline Epistles was aimed at correcting false teachings and lax behavior that had
crept into congregations of the early Church.

But Paul was also an encourager. Many of his letters are filled with hope, always returning to “the prize of the
upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14).

Paul was filled with a “deep concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28). He wanted nothing more than
to see God’s people remain faithful to their calling and join him in claiming “the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing”
(2 Timothy 4:8).

Here are just a few of the topics that Paul addresses in these letters:Divorce and remarriage

 Speaking in tongues
 Christian conscience
 Works and grace
 Spiritual gifts
 The resurrection
 Vegetarianism
 Slavery
 A woman’s role in the Church
 Conduct at church services
 Parenting
 Identifying and appointing Church leaders
 The place of God’s law in relation to salvation

An Overview of the Pauline Epistles

The Letter to the Romans proclaims that Jesus Christ is the Savior of all men and women, whether Jew or
Gentile. It shows the way to everlasting life through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Both 1st and 2nd Letter to the Corinthians were written to the church at Corinth and deal with the need to
recognize and put sin out of our lives. The congregation is instructed to love one another and to look forward to the
glorious return of Jesus Christ to this earth.

In the Letter to the Galatians, Paul was dealing with some who were trying to convince gentile Galatians that
they needed to be circumcised to be made right with God. Paul shows that we can only be justified and forgiven by
faith in Jesus Christ. Then we need to live in the Spirit, producing the fruit of the Spirit, which doesn’t break the law.

The Letter to the Ephesians explains how it is Christ who brings all people together. When we embrace Christ,
we will put off the old man and embrace a new way of life, the way of love, the way of helping one another.

The Letter to the Philippians is a letter to the congregation at Philippi, encouraging them to continue with
their good works and dedicated service to God. The congregation at Philippi was a constant source of encouragement
to the apostle Paul.

The Letter to the Colossians is an admonition to resist some of the pagan, philosophical ideas of the times, like
asceticism and the ideas that developed into Gnosticism22. The way to God is through Jesus Christ and obedience to His
moral law of love.

21
Demarest, Roy. What Are the Pauline Epistles? Retrieved from: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/holy-bible/new-
testament/epistles-of-paul/.
22
Gnosticism is a belief that it is necessary to attain hidden knowledge for salvation. This is contrary to Christian belief that
everything necessary for salvation has been fully revealed by Jesus Christ.

31
 The two letters to the Thessalonians deal with the issue of when Jesus Christ will return. Many expected
Christ to return at that time, but 2 Thessalonians reveals that the end time will be preceded by certain events that
have not occurred yet.

The pastoral epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus were written to ministers to address issues directly
affecting the congregations they served, such as qualifications for elders and deacons; helping widows; and avoiding
useless arguments, foolish disputes and all contentions.

In the very short letter to Philemon, a member in Colossae, Paul tries to encourage reconciliation between
Philemon and a slave who had run away from him and become a Christian.

Hebrews does not give the name of its author, but some early traditions attributed it to
Paul. Hebrews deals with the making of the New Covenant between God and His people. The
Old Covenant between God and the descendants of Israel is now being replaced with a New
Covenant made possible by a new High Priest, that is, Jesus Christ. Instead of physical blessings
for obedience to the letter of the law for the descendants of Abraham, people of all nations who
please God by striving to obey Him according to the spirit of the law can be given the gift of
God, everlasting life through Jesus Christ.

Main Activity for LESSON 7

The Church Before until Today

Instruction: Using the table below, provide the things that early Church did before based on the
preceding lesson and in what form can we observe or participate in the Church today. Provide five (5) examples in the
past with its corresponding form today. Write your answer on a separate sheet of intermediate paper or bond paper.

The Church Did This Before The Church Does This Today

*This table serves as a guide.

32
 LESSON 8 | ON CHRISTIAN LIVING ACCORDING TO THE EPISTLES

Learning Outcome: Students can write an assessment of their [Christian] lifestyle with the lifestyle of the
early Christians as described in the Bible through the letters of the apostles.

Self-Test!
Q: What is your most favorite quality of a Christian? Why?

Write your thoughts on the question in brief.

LESSON CONTENT

Christian Living: Instructions & Exhortations According to the Pauline & Catholic Letters23
A Christian must be different! This was the single identifiable feature that separates a Christian from other
people. The apostles, in the early years of the Church strive to teach, encourage, later on imbibe in their members,
what it means to be a believer and follower of Christ. Jesus’ teachings and examples is the compass of a Christian
lifestyle. Their letters containing the apostles’ careful guidance, become the source of their strength and discernment
of early Christian communities in facing the challenges pose in the society they live in, whose lifestyles aren’t so
Christian at all.

This lesson, then, will highlight the instructions and exhortations of the apostles from some of the Letters of
Paul, James, John, and Peter on how to live the Christian way of life, a life patterned in Christ, a life pleasing to God!

“Be chaste.”
“To act like a Corinthian” was an ancient saying meaning debauchery (excessive indulgence in sensual
pleasure), especially prostitution. Men went to Corinth to take a “moral holiday” – magpaka sala usa. The city was also
full of idolatry, which centered around Aphrodite, the goddess of sex. An “advanced” world such as Corinth at that
time was also in “advanced” stages of decay. Sexual immorality, such as incest and prostitution and lax attitude that
accepted it personally or justified by law (a slogan “all things are lawful”24), Paul condemns them. A
Christian should realize as a member of Christ’s Body, such action makes Christ fornicate with
a prostitute!25

“Struggle to Live in Holiness.”

Christ always sought out the neediest and His Church has always followed His lead.
Christianity naturally flows to the lowest place, like water. Corinth was the world’s lowest
place, the spiritual gutter. Yet Corinthians thought of themselves as high, not low – like the
high and
airy temple of Aphrodite, proud of their riches because of their trade and prostitute, and well educated because of
philosophers teaching there. In this atmosphere heavy with lust, greed, and pride, Paul had introduced the clear light
of Jesus – calling for the hard way, the distinct way of living the life of Christ in a Christless world.

"Focus on Christ.”
Paul also writes to church of Corinth about boastfulness of their human wisdom. Faith unites while pride in
reason divides. Wisdom without Christ is schismatic and misleading. Paul sees the source of division as the proud
claim to possess superior “wisdom” and not submitting to Christ as God’s Wisdom. Being advance in wisdom in a
different direction is folly.

“Love one another.”

Christ had prophesied that Christians will be distinguished from the others by the special kind of love they
had (Jn 13:35), not having the same kind of love as the world had. This love (agape) is not a feeling or desire (eros) but
a life; it is as Fyodor Dostoyevsky put it, “love in action” against “love in dreams.” Love is the skeleton key that unlocks
all these doors – virtues. For instance, it is impossible to be patient with difficult people without love, but love brings
patience with it. Moreover, Paul also emphasized the eternal destiny of love. If we love now, we plant the seed for
eternity.

Paul also writes in one of the most eloquent statements saying, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not
envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked,
thinks

23
The contents of this lesson are taken from selected chapters of Peter Kreeft’s book, You Can Understand the Bible: A
Practical Guide to Each Book in the Bible.
33
24
Cf 1 Cor 6:12
25
Cf 1 Cor 6:15

34
no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things. Love never fails” (1 Cor 13:4-8).

This in the Bible is an excellent resource for Christian self-examination. It’s important to look at ourselves and
make sure the way we treat others matches up with this description of how God wants us to treat others. 26

“Obey.”
Relationships as taught in Christianity are based on reciprocity than domination. Wives, children, and slaves
are liberated by Christ from inferiority. But they are told to obey, not to disobey. For their obedience is to be no longer
that of the world, based on force and fear, but that of Christ, based on faith and love. If you think it is demeaning to
obey, consider who was the most obedient person in history: God incarnate. Christ obeyed His Father in all things (Jn
5:30; 6:38). If obedience is the mark of inferiority, Christ is the most inferior man who ever lived. We still think with
worldly categories if we shrink back from Christ’s call for obedience to each other. Wives being subject to their
husbands and husbands loving their wives seems chauvinistic but it is transformed when it is patterned in Christ: as
“Head of the Body the Church,” there is not lording over, no bossiness; and, as “Head” He loves his Body, not hate.
Here, we can now see the organic unity, ontological intimacy, the “one flesh” of head and body, a great mystery. 27

“Be Christ-Minded!”
Christ-mindedness is to live in sanctity, to align our minds with the mind of Christ. Persevere in faith and
doing God’s work. Learn to discern while loving. Imitate Christ in your life. Be sinless and innocent in the eyes of God
instead of being famous.28 Do the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, gracious, excellent or worthy of
praise.29 Trust in God as your strength and provider.30

“Be doers of the word, and not hearers.”31

A Christian’s faith should be evident in his or her life. James made it clear that “faith” and “works” are not
opposites but complementary. Our relationship with God must reflect our relationship with our neighbor. God sees
our faith; our neighbors see our works, our deeds. Faith justifies us before God; our works justify us before our
neighbor. When a person accepts Christ into his or her soul, He is accepted into his or her life, where it produces good
works as its fruits. A person with faith that works is then able to: (1) endure sufferings and trials, (2) obey the word of
God that it hears, (3) overcome favoritism and prejudice, (4) control the tongue and gossip, (5) be wise, (6) be
separate from the precepts of the world, (7) be submissive to God, (8) resist the devil, (9) put us in God’s presence,
and (10) to wait patiently for Christ’s Second Coming.

“Be Steadfast in Christ.”

Be steadfast in faith even in persecution.

Peter exhorts every Christian to stand fast in Christ amidst persecution and heresy and sin. Just as the pagans
of Rome saw how Christians were dangerously a different people with a dangerously different Lord, love, and lifestyle,
so too will the neo-pagans in our present de-Christianized society will scorn and sneer the faithful Christians of today.
So how does a Christian deal with this certain problem of suffering and persecution? Peter, in a tone full of grace and
encouragement, reminds us that Christ never promised a rose garden without its thorns: “If they persecuted me, they
will persecute you; if you kept my word, they will keep yours also.” 32 However, there is a promise of future glory and
joy for those who remain in Christ. Then, we must not be bitter or resentful to God for allowing us to suffer, but realize
that sufferings are God’s blessings, not His punishments. And so, Christians must be ready to defend your faith when
necessary33, continue to love as agape for “love covers a multitude of sins,”34 do not worry and trust in Him35, and to
be awake and quick to avoid occasions of sin for the devil has not day-off. 36

For Paul’s part, he was focusing less on his own imminent death and more on the incredible future that God is
preparing for the human race.

He wrote: “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the
crown of

26
Demarest, Roy. What Are the Pauline Epistles? Retrieved from: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/bible/holy-bible/new-
testament/epistles-of-paul/.
27
Cf Eph 5:22-23, 28-29, 32
28
Cf Phil 2:15
29
Cf Phil 4:8
30
Cf Phil 4:13, 19
31
Cf James 1:22
32
Cf Jn 15:20
33
Cf 1 Pt 3:15
34
Cf 1 Pt 4:8
35
Cf 1 Pt 5:7
36
Cf 1 Pt 5:8-9
35
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who
have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6-8).

Bear witness to the truth.

Peter assures us that we can be sure of our faith in Christ for two reasons: (1) the disciples’ and Peter’s own
eye witness experience of Jesus37 and (2) the written prophecies of Scripture that Jesus
fulfilled38: “…no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because
no prophecy came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke
from God.” And so be careful of false doctrine, false teachers which leads to false
practice. Just as true doctrine naturally produces true living, false doctrine always
produces false living: licentiousness, greed, arrogance and the despising of authority,
lust, and false “freedom” – to be free from the truth of God and yet enslaved to
corruption and sin.39 The best antidote for Christians against heresy is understanding
the truth. Rightly so, “reminding” is the business of the Magisterium and the papacy, the
Rock. So, let’s stick with what is true: what the apostles, disciples, the martyrs and
saints had lived and died for, because we can be sure of it.

To the same endeavor, John address to the Church on God’s command which is to love. “The command, as you
have heard from the beginning, is that you must all live in love.” 40 Therefore, love and obedience, love and God’s
commandment, love and law, are one. Likewise, love is also discerning, not naïve. It needs sound doctrine; it needs
truth. So, John warns us once more of false teaching. As St. Thomas Aquinas says, “The greatest charity (love) one can
do to another is to lead him to the truth.”

Finally, to stand for the truth requires us to speak in truth because there is real danger when falsehoods are
rampant, just as Jude warns about false teaching. Since God was gracious, we could live as they pleased? Is that right?
Sound familiar to you? Jude reminds Christians once more of the aspect of God which is oftentimes forgotten: justice
and judgment. He recounts past acts of God’s judgment on disobedient Israel, disobedient angels, and disobedient
Sodom and Gomorrah. Be on guard then against error. Speak the truth if you must!

37
Cf 2 Pt 1:16-18
38
Cf 2 Pt 1:16, 19-20
39
Cf 2 Pt 2:2-3, 10, 13-14, 19
40
Cf 2 Jn 1:6

36
 Main Activity for LESSON 8
Assessing my Christian Lifestyle

Instruction: This activity will help you in making a personal assessment regarding your Christian
lifestyle. The first column indicates the Christian Attitudes mentioned in the lesson. The three (3) consecutive columns
indicate your assessment on each specific attitude. The last column will be the space for your resolution based on your
assessment for each specific attitude. To make the assessment, place a checkmark ( ✓) under the column that fits the
description of your assessment for each attitude. On the last column, provide at a resolution (maximum of two (2)
resolutions) the things that you will do to continue or perhaps improve the Christian attitude. Write your assessment
on a separate intermediate paper or bond paper.

Christian “It is “In “It’s difficult

What should I do?
Attitudes my working for me.”
forte.” progress.”

To be chaste.

To
continue
striving for
holiness.

To follow the
Christian wisdom.

To love
unconditionally.

To do the just and

right thing.

To live what I
believe.

To defend my faith
in Christ.

To speak the truth.

*Use this table as your guide.

37
 LESSON 9 | THE BOOK OF REVELATION: VICTORY OF THE KINGDOM41

Learning Outcome: Students can identify the Scriptural bases for the realities of the Christian faith: the
significance of the liturgy, the Church, and the fulfillment of God’s promise of salvation.

Self-Test!
Q: What is your initial idea or impression when you encounter the word “Revelation” from the Book of
Revelation?

Write your thoughts in brief.

LESSON CONTENT

Preliminary
You have reached the final chapter of you journey through Scripture! Certainly, we need to establish some
important details regarding this fascinating book in the New Testament before venturing into its content.

This book is one of the most sensational in scripture in which many would become
obsessed and giving it thousands of different interpretations. The full name of this book is The
Revelation of John or The Apocalypse of John. The words “revelation” (Latin) and “apocalypse”
(Greek) mean the same thing: to reveal, to uncover or to remove the veil – God “revealing” his
plans for the end of history, as well as unveiling of the bride of Christ, the Church, in all her
beauty at the end of this book. It’s like a wedding feast so to speaks.

The Book of Revelation is a record of visions that St. John (the same John who wrote
one of the gospels) experienced on his exile to the island of Patmos, during a period of Christian persecution in which
Peter and Paul died.

There are two general comments on the Book of Revelation before we unravel its meaning.

First, the Book of Revelation gives us an experience similar to watching a movie with flashbacks. The events
in this book are very visual, with vivid scenes following one after another abruptly – but the scenes do not always
follow a chronological order. Thus, let us not assume that all the visions refer to historical events, where there are clear
flashbacks42 and some are sequences43.

Second, the Book of Revelation is a thorough liturgical document. It was meant to be read in church. At the
opening of the book, John calls down a blessing on “he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are
those who hear,”44 meaning the lector (reader) and the congregation. Then follow the letters to seven churches, all
meant to be read when the local church gathers for mass. John shows us what the heavenly worship looks like, just as
he witnessed a heavenly liturgy or “mass as it is in heaven.”45 God communicated to John using images (objects such
as candles, incense hymns, altars, etc.) of worship so that he would understand from his Judeo-Christian background.
And so, his visions have guided what we do in the Mass today.

Covenant themes are heavy in the Book of Revelation, that’s why we frequently see the number seven in it.
Seven in Hebrew language has a connection with oaths, thus connected to covenant, making it a “covenant number.” In
all the sets of seven in Revelation, we are seeing God fulfilling all his covenants and bringing all his promises to
completion, even many references to earlier covenants in Scripture, especially the Davidic Covenant – Jesus saying: “I
am the root and the seed of David.”46

And most of all, Revelation is all about the kingdom of God. A couple of times John praises God for having
made the followers of Christ into “a kingdom and priests to our God,”47 as well as angels proclaim, “The kingdom of the
world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.”48 At the end of the book, the perfect city of Jerusalem,
the capital of David’s kingdom, comes from heaven and rests on earth. The royal city becomes God’s home forever.
That’s why we say Revelation is about the victory of the kingdom.

41
The content and details of this lesson are taken from chapter 7 of John Bersgma’s book, New Testament Basics for
Catholics.
42
Cf Rv 12:1-5 as example.
43
Cf Rv 20 as an example.
44
Cf Rv 1:3
45
Cf Rv 1:10-16
46
Cf Rv 22:16
47
Cf Rv 5:10; see 1:6
48
Cf Rv 11:15; see 12:10

38
 From here one, what you will read are the important messages from the Book of Revelation and its
implication to us, the Church, the Bride of Christ.

Message to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2-3)

There were seven churches in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) in which Jesus appears to John in a
supernatural vision, dressed as a priest (long robe and the golden girdle) in a true holy place of God’s temple
(lampstands in the background) commanding John to write messages to each of the main churches of Asia.

Each of the seven churches has a different major issue they need to overcome:

 Ephesus, the loveless church

 Smyrna, the persecuted church
 Pergamon, the self-indulgent church
 Thyatira, the immoral church
 Sardis, the spiritually dead church
 Philadelphia, the powerless church
 Laodicea, the lukewarm church
The messages to the seven churches have enduring significance because these problems remain live issue for
parishes, dioceses, and national churches to this day. Then, the following problems in each of the seven churches is a
checklist for assessing our own parish. He who has an ear should hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Jesus fashions his message according to the cultural and spiritual situation of each church. Let’s examine
Laodicea being criticized for being lukewarm, poor, blind, and naked:

 Their spiritual condition is lukewarm just like there water supply: not hot enough for a healing bath
and not cold enough for a refreshing drink. Just spiritually “blah” – boring, lacking in real interest and
enthusiasm.
 Although extremely wealthy because of their clothing and drug industry, they were spiritually poor and
needy – refusing [spiritual] help, not growing in charity.
 Even if they wore their fine garments, they were spiritually naked – miserable.
 They may be rich with the medicines they produce, even sold ointment to heal people’s eyes, they were
spiritually blind – unbelieving and could not see the truth.
The Lord is calling the Laodiceans to look away from their material prosperity, to repent and return to Jesus
and to the sacraments, where they will find their true wealth, clothing, medicine and food (the Eucharist) for eternal
life, as it is the same to wealthy Christian of today.

The Vision of the Heavenly Worship (Revelation 4-5)

After Jesus dictates the letters to the seven churches, John is taken in spirit up to heaven to see God’s royal
courtroom where he sees the Holy Trinity: the Father seated on the throne, the sevenfold Holy Spirit burning in
“seven torches of fire,” and the Son as though a “Lamb that had been slain,” clothed in seven eyes that are the
sevenfold Holy Spirit as Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit. Before God’s throne are twenty-four (24) thrones for
twenty-four (24) presbuteroi (“elders” or “priests). The twenty-four probably represents the Twelve Apostles plus the
Twelve Patriarchs, the combined leadership of the Old and New Covenant people of God. Then the four “living
creatures” resembling a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle – the cherubim49 that guard the holiness of God.

The “Lamb that was slain” comes forward – he is the “Lion of Judah” and the “root of David” – and is prepared
to open the scrolls with seven seals, which is the Word of God. In early Christian worship, while the apostles were still
alive, it was likely that the breaking of seals and opening of scrolls was a common practice when the church gathered
for the Eucharist. The apostles would write letters to various churches, and when such letters arrived, the local bishop
may have held the sealed scroll up before the congregation – so all the people could see it was authentic – and then
broken the seal and read what the apostle had written to the church.

Only Jesus, the Lamb, is worthy to break the seals of the scrolls that hold the secret will and word of God. And
then we see in Revelation 5 that all the angels and saints sing out in praise as the Lamb steps forward to open the
scroll. When we gather in Mass, we participate in what John saw. St. Ignatius of Antioch speaks of this saying: “Be
eager to do everything in godly harmony, the bishop presiding in place of the God and the presbyters in the place of
the council of apostles and the deacons…entrusted with the service of God.” We can see this in a solemn Mass
at the Cathedral with the same ordering: the bishop sitting on this throne like God the Father,
the priests gathered around him, angels present although unseen but churches are decorated
with images of angels to remind us of their presence. Then the deacon, acting in the person of
Jesus, comes forward to proclaim God’s Word, the Gospel. Through it all, we sing hymns and
offer prayers just as the heavenly congregation “sang a new song” and held golden bowls of
incense “which are the prayers of saints.”50 Mass represents the heavenly worship, joined to
the heavenly worship through the presence of the Holy Spirit, and even is the heavenly
worship,

49
Cf Ezekiel 1 and 10.
50
Cf Rv 5:8-9
39
especially when we behold the Lamb of God who was slain to take away the sins of the world. In the Eucharist, we
partake of the slain Lamb John saw in heaven.

The Coming of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21-22)

Is the Church the “heavenly Jerusalem,” the “bride of the Lamb,” at the end of Revelation (chapters 19-22)?
Most obviously, the “holy city Jerusalem” is called the “bride, the wife of the Lamb,” and the Lamb is Jesus. St. Paul
teaches us that the bride of Christ is the Church, built on the foundation of the apostles 51: the same description of the
“holy city, new Jerusalem” which has twelve foundations with the names of the Twelve Apostles. 52

In Revelation 21, an angel measures the new Jerusalem for St. John and finds that it
is perfect cube. The only perfectly cubical structure in the Old Testament was the Holy of
Holies53 which the innermost part of the Temple. This means the New Jerusalem was the
new Holy of Holies, on a massive scale. The Holy of Holies is where God’s presence dwelled.
Now, St. Paul says this about Christians: “Do you know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?” 54 So the Church is one big “Holy of
Holies” because every Christian is what the Holy of Holies once was: the special dwelling
place of God.
The New Jerusalem is a Temple city, a city that is one massive Holy of Holies. St.
Paul calls the Church the new Temple as well, when he says that every Christian is “joined
together
and grows into a holy temple in the Lord…a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”55 The New Jerusalem has the “water of
life” flowing from the throne of God, and the “tree of life” growing along the river, producing fruit for food and
healing.56 These are the sacraments: Baptism is the “water of life,” and the Eucharist, as the fruit of the Cross, the real
“tree of life.” The old Jerusalem and its temple, then, were being replaced by a new one: the Church. 57

The Book of Revelation is very much like those “apocalyptic” chapters of the gospels (Mt 24; Mk 13, Lk 21)
that predict the upcoming destruction of Jerusalem. Only Revelation is much longer and more detailed. So, you might
be asking: “I thought Revelation was about the end of the world. And there are passages that sure sound like that. So how
can it be about the destruction of Jerusalem?”

The Revelation is about the end of the world. But it’s about the end of Jerusalem at the same time. Both events
are being described at once, just as we saw when dealing with Matthew 23. How can this be? This is only because the
Temple was the universe-in-miniature, a microcosm. The Jewish historian Josephus, who lived at that time and
witnessed the Temple destroyed, wrote that the furnishings and decorations of the Israelite Temple “were in every
one made in way of imitation and representation of the universe.”58 So when you destroy Jerusalem and its Temple –
which the Romans did – you symbolically destroy the whole earth. Therefore, the events of the siege, capture, and
destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 are the foretaste of the end of the world.

The Kingdom is Perfected

The kingdom of God is a major theme in the Book of Revelation. At the beginning of the book, John tells the
churches that Jesus “made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father” (v. 6). To be a “kingdom of priests” was a
promise of God made to Israel at Sinai, if they kept the Mosaic Covenant59. Of course, they didn’t keep it. So, John sees
the Church as the fulfillment of the promised “kingdom of priests” of the Mosaic Covenant.

At the beginning, John also calls himself “your brother” who shares “the tribulation and the kingdom and the
patient endurance.”60 So somehow the kingdom of God has already come, and we experience it as Christians. We saw
this in the gospels. John joins “tribulation” with “kingdom” just as did St. Paul who used to preach, “Through many
tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”61 Jesus was and is truly the King, but his only throne in this life was
his Cross. That’s how it’s going to be for each of us: we reign with Jesus in the kingdom even now; but in this life, our
royal reign is going to involve the cross!

51
Cf Eph 5:25-33, 2:20
52
Cf Rv 21:2, 14
53
Cf 1 Kgs 6:20
54
Cf 1 Cor 6:19
55
Cf Eph 2:21-22
56
Cf Rv 22:1-2
57
Cf Heb 12;22-24
58
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, book 3:180
59
Cf Ex 19-5-6
60
Cf Rv 1:9, with emphasis
40
61
Cf Acts 14:22

41
 At the end of the sequence of trumpets, heaven declares, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.”62 We can take this sentence as the theme of the
Book of Revelation. The final vision of the book, where we see the New Jerusalem as the bride of the Lamb, is also a
picture of the perfect kingdom. Jerusalem was, after all, the royal city. Jerusalem and its Temple were the heart of the
kingdom of David. The New Jerusalem is the perfected kingdom, where the whole kingdom is the royal
city and the whole kingdom is the Holy of Holies, the heart of the temple. Kingdom, city,
and temple all become one.

What brought us to this point of perfection? The sacred liturgy brought us. All
through the Book of Revelation, liturgical acts in heaven drive human history forward.
The liturgical acts of angels in heaven unleash plaques and other events that bring
judgment on the enemies of God, leading to the overthrow of the kingdom of this world
and its replacement with the kingdom of God.

You see, the breaking open of seals was a liturgical act, something that was done
with letter from apostles in early Christian worship. Blowing trumpets was feature of the Jewish Temple liturgy,
where priests or Levites would blast trumpets to announce feast or initiate sacrifices. Bowls were used for both
Christian and Jewish worship – the sacrifices, and in Christian worship held water and wine for the Eucharist.

In John’s vision, it is the heavenly liturgy going on above that conquers the “kingdom of the world” until it
becomes “the kingdom of our Lord, and his Christ” (Rv 11:15). That’s a powerful concept for Catholics because we
believe each Mass is a participation in the liturgy of heaven. To outsiders, the Mass appears as a quiet ritual we do
inside our own buildings, at best a harmless set of strange medieval rituals and superstitions. But in reality, however
nonspectacular it may appear, the Mass joins us with “the angels and saints” to worship around the stone of the Lamb,
celebrating the wedding feast of the Lamb right now. This is the engine of history. The heavenly Mass is pushing us
toward the perfect kingdom, and there is nothing more important each Sunday – or any day – that to take the
opportunity to pray at Mass.

Bringing All the Covenants to Completion

Seven is the covenant number, and Revelation is full of patterns of seven. This is God bringing all covenants to their
consummation, to their completion.

 The New Jerusalem fulfills every covenant of the Old Testament from the first (the Adamic) to the last (the
Davidic).

 The New Jerusalem is clearly the New Eden, even more; it has the river of life flowing out of it. It has the three
of life once more. The gold and jewels of Eden are present in even greater abundance. God dwells there in
close relationship to mankind – an abundance of people.63

 At the same time, the New Jerusalem is the fulfillment of all promises to David. David’s royal city has taken
over the world, transformed the world into one big temple, one Holy of Holies. That is why, even to the end of
the book, Jesus identifies himself with David and his covenant: “I am the root and seed of David, the bright
morning start” (Rv 22:16), referring to the prophecy of the royal “star” that will arise for Israel. 64

62
Cf Rv 11:15
63
Cf Rv 21:2-5
64
Cf Nm 24:17

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 Main Activity for LESSON 9
Scripture and Tradition

Instruction: The Book of Revelation narrated events that are important to the practices and beliefs of
Catholics today. In this activity, write in an abridged (brief) statement the visions of John from the book and in what
form do these visions have today practiced within the Christian faith according to the corresponding theme indicated
in the first column. The visions will be written on the second column, while the form that they have today are written
in the third column of the table. Perform this activity on a separate paper. You can encode your work.

Christian Realities What did John see? How did the Church practice it?

On divine worship.

On the identity of Jesus Christ.

About God’s kingdom.

About promise of salvation.

About the problems involving

members of the Christian faith.

*Use this table as your guide.

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