**(Location view of a shepherd's field near Bethlehem)**
Film GO BACK

**(Camera pans to Bethlehem)**
Graham (V.O.): Shepherds in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks, were the first to hear the angelic announcement. "I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.

**(A young man is shown with working with carpentry tools)**

Graham (V.O.): For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior, which is Christ the Lord." (The roofs of Bethlehem) Graham (V.O.): God had become flesh. God the Son, coming to Earth as a small babe on a bed of straw. He was the God-Man. He was God, but he was also man.

**(Location ruins of an ancient synagogue)**

Graham (V.O.): He labored with His hands as a carpenter's son, facing temptations and trials common to all men. And yet, He did not sin.

**(Close-ups of detailed ruins)**
Graham (V.O.): When the time came to begin His public ministry, He stood in the synagogue and declared Himself to be the one about whom the prophets wrote. "I came down from Heaven to do the will of Him that sent me. I and my Father and I are one," He said. "The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth. Heaven and Earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away."

**(The shores of the Sea of Galilee)**
Graham (V.O.): To those who consider his words and study His life, one must conclude that either He was an egomaniac, or a deliberate liar and deceiver of the people, or He was who He claimed to be. (The Galilean countryside) Graham (V.O.): In the Galilean countryside, the common people heard him gladly. He healed the sick, the lame, the halt, the blind.

**(The tomb of Lazarus)**

Graham (V.O.): He quieted the storm on the sea and in many a troubled heart. "What manner of man is this?" they asked, "That even the winds and the sea obey him?" He not only healed, He raised the dead.

**(Establishing shot of Jerusalem as seen from the Mount Of Olives)**

Graham (V.O.): At the tomb of Lazarus, He said, "I am the Resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." It was in Jerusalem that His words cut deep into the hearts of the people.

**(A herd of sheep are seen being driven through the gate into the city)**
Graham (V.O.): Jerusalem, capital of the religious world. But a city divided in its opinion. Some believed, and some rejected.

**(The subsequent description of the Crucifixion is set to a sequence of paintings depicting the event)**
	Graham (V.O.): Man can never be neutral about the claims of Christ. He is the one who said, "I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. Come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. I am the light of the world. He that follows me, shall not walk in darkness."

**Graham (On camera from mountain exterior resembling Mount of Olives):**

Graham (V.O.): The true purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ was not just to heal and teach. His primary purpose was to redeem. He was born to die. To be a ransom for many. On a rugged hill, a cross stood bleak against the sky and became the pivotal point in history.

What happened on that cross is a mystery. In some mysterious way, God took all of our sins and laid them on His Son. God was saying from the cross to the whole human race, "I love you. I will forgive you." On the morning of the third day after He was crucified, three women went to His tomb to anoint the body with spices. They were the first to hear the most dramatic announcement the human ear has ever heard. "He is not here! He is risen!" "I am He that lives and was dead," Christ said, "I am alive forevermore. And because I live, you shall live also." For the first time since sin entered the human race, there was hope for mankind.

**(Montage of sailing ships superimposed over map of the Mediterranean Sea)**
	From the Mount of Olives above Jerusalem, Christ gave a command to the eyewitnesses of His Resurrection. "Go ye into all of the world and preach the gospel to every creature," He said. What gospel? The word gospel means good news. Good news that God loves man. That sin has been atoned. That Christ is alive. That God will forgive sin. That God will give new life to all that believe. But those early followers of Christ as He stood on the mountain, just before He ascended into heaven, received another burning message. The Bible says that two messengers from Heaven appeared and said to the Disciples, "This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven, so shall come in like manner as you have seen Him go into Heaven." If the Bible teaches anything, it teaches that Jesus Christ is coming to Earth again, and that history is headed toward a dramatic climax. When Christ prayed that prayer, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven," He knew that that prayer would ultimately be answered. He knew that God's kingdom would ultimately prevail someday. Yes, there is coming a worldwide peace. But not through the efforts of man alone, but by the authority and the power of the Christ who ascended from this spot, 2000 years ago.

**(Establishing shot of the Acropolis in Athens)**
Graham (V.O.): The reality of Christ's resurrection power became the explosive dynamic that thrust the believers out of Jerusalem, and into the teeming Roman Empire. The trade routes that crossed the great sea, became lines of communication for the Good News of the Gospel. Proclaimed by inspired men. None was more prolific than the Apostle Paul, whose burning convictions drove him to the far corners of the Mediterranean world.

Graham (V.O.): Foundations for the Space Age of the 21st century were laid during the golden age of Greece. When the sciences of astronomy, mathematics, medicine and many other tools of man's quest for knowledge were shaped. Little wonder that Paul's words in Athens during the first century are equally relevant to the mind of man today.

Apostle Paul (V.O. performance): Gentlemen of Athens. While it is true that God has overlooked the days of man's spiritual ignorance, He now commands all men everywhere to repent. For He has fixed the day on which He will judge the whole world in justice, by the standard of a man whom He has appointed. That this is so. He has guaranteed to all men, by raising this man from the dead.

CONTINUE Film