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Herod's Temple
[Bible]Herod's Temple is the Second Temple in Jerusalem as extensively renovated and expanded by Herod the Great beginning in the late first century BC. It is the "temple" of the New Testament, frequented by Jesus and the early church, and it was destroyed by the Roman army in AD 70.
Stadion
[Bible]The stadion is a Greek unit of distance found in the New Testament, measuring about 185 meters. In Revelation it is used to give the dimensions of the New Jerusalem.
Joseph of Nazareth
[People]In the New Testament, Joseph is the husband of Mary and the legal father of Jesus. He is presented as a descendant of David and is recorded as having worked as a carpenter in Nazareth of Galilee.
Cornelius
[People]Cornelius is a Roman centurion stationed at Caesarea who appears in Acts 10. After hearing Peter's preaching, he received the Holy Spirit and was baptized. He is remembered as the central figure in the event through which the gospel was opened to the Gentiles.
Ethiopian Eunuch
[People]The Ethiopian eunuch is the treasury official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who appears in Acts 8. After Philip the evangelist explained a passage from Isaiah to him and proclaimed the gospel of Jesus, he was baptized.
Manger
[Bible]A manger is a trough that holds feed for livestock. In the Gospel of Luke, it is where the newborn Jesus was laid, and in the Christmas story it serves as a symbol of Jesus' coming in lowliness.
Swaddling Clothes
[Bible]Swaddling clothes are the cloths or bands used to wrap a newborn infant. In the Bible they are best known from Luke 2, where Mary wraps the newborn Jesus in swaddling clothes and lays him in a manger.
Measuring Line
[Bible]A measuring line is a cord used to measure length and area. In the Bible it appears chiefly in visions that anticipate the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, and it also expresses the standard of divine judgment.
Rhoda
[People]Rhoda was a young girl in Jerusalem who appears in Acts 12. When Peter, newly released from prison, knocked at the gate of the house of Mary the mother of Mark, Rhoda recognized his voice and told those gathered inside.
Mary, Mother of Mark
[People]Mary, the mother of Mark, was a member of the Jerusalem church mentioned in Acts 12. She owned the house to which Peter went after his release from prison, where many people had gathered to pray.
Exodus 33
[Bible]Exodus 33 is the chapter in which, after the golden calf incident, God declares that He will not go with the people. Moses intercedes at the tent of meeting and receives the promise "My presence shall go with thee." He then asks to see God's glory and is permitted to see His back.
Acts 10
[Bible]Acts 10 is the chapter in which Cornelius, a Roman centurion at Caesarea, and the apostle Peter each receive a vision and then meet, after which the Holy Spirit falls on the Gentiles listening to Peter's sermon and they are baptized.
Revelation 20
[Bible]Revelation 20 depicts Satan bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years while the saints reign with Christ, followed by Satan's final rebellion and defeat and the Last Judgment before the great white throne.
Angel of the Lord
[Bible]The Angel of the Lord is an Old Testament term for a being sent by God who appears to people and delivers his word. Because the angel sometimes speaks as though he were God himself, interpreters disagree about the angel's identity.
Archangel
[Bible]An archangel is a chief of the angels. In the Bible the term appears only in two New Testament passages, 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and Jude 1:9. Michael is the only being whom Scripture both names and calls an archangel.
Thomas Aquinas
[People]Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and the leading theologian of medieval Scholasticism. He wrote the Summa Theologiae and is venerated in the Catholic Church as a saint and Doctor of the Church.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
[People]Pseudo-Dionysius was an anonymous Christian writer thought to have been active in the late fifth or early sixth century. He wrote under the name of Dionysius the Areopagite, who is mentioned in the Book of Acts. His negative theology and his account of the angelic hierarchy exerted a major influence on medieval theology.
William J. Seymour
[People]William Seymour (1870–1922) was an African American Holiness and Pentecostal preacher. In 1906 he led the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles, which proved decisive in the spread of the modern Pentecostal movement.
Seventy Weeks
[Bible]The seventy weeks are a period named in the prophecy that the angel Gabriel delivered to Daniel in Daniel 9:24-27. They are commonly understood as "seventy sevens," that is, 490 years. Interpreters differ widely over whether the passage should be read as a messianic prophecy, an eschatological prophecy, or a prediction of specific historical events.
Revelation 10
[Bible]Revelation 10 is the chapter set between the sixth and seventh trumpets. A mighty angel comes down holding an open little book, and John, after taking and eating the book, is commanded to prophesy again.