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Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
[Bible]The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree is a parable of Jesus found in Luke 13:6–9. In it, the owner of a vineyard wants to cut down a fig tree that has borne no fruit for three years, but the vinedresser asks him to leave it one more year. The parable calls for repentance and illustrates the patience of God.
Crossing of the Jordan
[Bible]The crossing of the Jordan is the event in which the Israelites, led by Joshua and preceded by the Ark of the Covenant, crossed the Jordan River on dry ground and entered Canaan. It is recorded in Joshua 3–4.
Massacre of the Innocents
[Bible]The Massacre of the Innocents was the killing, ordered by King Herod, of all male children two years old and under in Bethlehem and its surrounding region in an attempt to eliminate the newborn "King of the Jews." It is recorded only in Matthew 2.
Tablets of the Covenant
[Bible]The Tablets of the Covenant are the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai. Scripture also calls them the tables of testimony and records that they were kept inside the Ark of the Covenant.
Parable of the Friend at Midnight
[Bible]The Parable of the Friend at Midnight is a parable of Jesus recorded in Luke 11:5–8. It teaches about prayer through the story of a man who receives a guest at midnight and asks his neighbor for bread.
Healing of the Centurion's Servant
[Bible]The healing of the centurion's servant is a miracle in which Jesus, at Capernaum, healed the sick servant of a Roman army centurion by his word alone. Recorded in Matthew 8 and Luke 7, the account is known for Jesus' commendation of a Gentile's faith.
Healing of the Man with a Withered Hand
[Bible]The healing of the man with a withered hand is a miracle in which Jesus, on the Sabbath, healed a man in a synagogue whose hand was withered. The account appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where it gives rise to a controversy over the Sabbath and prompts a plot to kill Jesus.
Consecration of the Priests
[Bible]The consecration of the priests was the seven-day ceremony in which Moses installed Aaron and his sons as priests of Israel. The command for it is recorded in Exodus 29, and its performance in Leviticus 8.
Parable of the Growing Seed
[Bible]The Parable of the Growing Seed is a parable of Jesus found only in Mark 4:26–29. It describes the kingdom of God through the image of seed sown in the ground that grows, without the sower knowing how, until the harvest.
Healing of the Royal Official's Son
[Bible]The healing of the royal official's son is the miracle in which Jesus, while at Cana in Galilee, healed by his word alone the son of a royal official in Capernaum. It is recorded in John 4:46-54, and the Gospel of John calls it the "second miracle" or sign that Jesus performed after coming into Galilee.
Anointing of the Sick
[Worship & Rites]The Anointing of the Sick is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, a rite in which a priest prays over a gravely ill or frail elderly person and anoints him or her with consecrated oil. Protestant churches do not recognize it as a sacrament.
Resurrection of the Body
[Doctrine & Theology]The resurrection of the body is the Christian doctrine that on the last day the bodies of the dead will be raised and reunited with their souls. It is one of the articles confessed in the Apostles' Creed.
Parable of the Great Banquet
[Bible]The Parable of the Great Banquet is a parable of Jesus recorded in Luke 14:15–24. When the invited guests make excuses and fail to come, the host calls in the poor and people from the roadsides to fill his banquet.
Bride of the Lamb
[Bible]The Bride of the Lamb is an expression in the Book of Revelation for the bride who is married to the Lamb, Jesus Christ. It is commonly read as a symbol of God's redeemed people, that is, the church.
Light of the World
[Bible]An expression Jesus used of himself (John 8:12) and of his disciples (Matthew 5:14). It denotes one who reveals God's truth and salvation to a world in darkness.
Book of the Covenant
[Bible]The Book of the Covenant is the book that Moses read aloud to the people in Exodus 24:7. In scholarship and in the church, the name is commonly applied to the collection of laws in Exodus 20:22–23:33.
The Nations
[Bible]In the Bible, "the nations" refers collectively to the peoples and countries outside Israel. The term is closely tied to the biblical theme that God's salvation extends to all peoples.
The First and the Last
[Bible]"The First and the Last" is a biblical title expressing that God alone exists before the beginning of all things and after their end. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah it appears as the LORD's self-declaration, and in the New Testament book of Revelation it is used as a title of Christ.
Immortality of the Soul
[Doctrine & Theology]The immortality of the soul is the belief that, although a person dies and the body decays, the soul does not perish but continues to exist. Many denominations teach it together with belief in the resurrection, though views differ on its basis and on how it should be expressed.
Water from the Rock
[Bible]The water from the rock refers to the events in which God, through Moses, brought water out of a rock when the Israelites in the wilderness complained because they had no water to drink. The events are recorded in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.