(AN: I finally found a use for this Biblical epic that I had been working on years ago. It's purpose is to re-arrange the tale of the Gospels in a cohesive story, rather than four separate witnesses. No offense to the original authors, because I am neither them nor do I take credit for their work. Furthermore, I have striven to keep the names of our Jewish characters as Hebrew-sounding as possible - ie. Jesus will be Joshua, Mary will be Miriam, Simon will be Simeon, etc. Because, after all, it is not my intent to de-Jew-ify the heroes of the Gospel epic, because they were Jewish...there, I said it! Therefore, I will even call them by their Hebrew names rather than their Greek names. Hopefully you will catch on.)
Prologue
He is known by many names. Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the King of Kings. This five-letter Greek translation of the name Joshua has caught up many. Some it has driven in them a desire to do good, while yet others have twisted His meaning and used it as an excuse to do evil. But who was Jesus, the Joshua of the New Testament?
Since the fall of Man in the Garden of Eden, there has been a scar placed upon this Earth: sin. This plague has infected the minds of all descendants of Adam, turning their hearts and minds into the service of self, vice, Mammon and Belial. The wages of sin have always been death. If one was to sin, the only way for that sin to be made right was for the sinner to die. But amid the gloom of the Scar of Sin, there was the faintest glimmer of hope.
The Exiles from Eden were taught to sacrifice a spotless and pure lamb on an altar as an offering for their sins. Though the death of the lamb did not take away from the initial scar and wages of sin, it pointed forward to something even greater. As the Hebrew Nation became powerful under the leadership of the Ancient of Days Himself, He taught them to reverence this precept of sacrifice, for it pointed forward to a great event that would forever change the lives of men and women across the world.
But the nation of Israel had fallen into decay. After sinning millions of times over forty years in the Arabian Deserts, they finally inhabited the Promised Land of Canaan. But even once it was partially secure, they cried for a visible King, an icon to supplant the Supreme Creator who had been leading them since before the Exodus began. Though this was not what God wanted, the people wanted it and so God gave them a king. The first king was fierce, debased and corrupt, turning in his latter days to sorcery which proved to be his downfall. His successor, a Bethlehem shepherd by the name of David, was known as God's Beloved and one after God's Own Heart. It was he who took Jerusalem and made it Israel's capital. But even he had his faults: he took many wives, and failed to train his sons to be worthy of the name of king.
After the rule of Solomon the Wise, the Israeli kingdom became divided. Those in the north soon began to worship the pagan gods of the Canaanites, and those of the south, though with King Solomon's Temple ever in sight, began to fall into idolatry just like the north. After refusing the prompting of the Holy Spirit, God had to punish Israel for their obstinate wickedness. With the Assyrians from the North, and the Lion-like Babylonians from the South, Israel and Judah were left desolate. The old palaces and high places of worship destroyed, Jerusalem's mighty walls crumbled and King Solomon's Temple desecrated.
After a period of many years, during the reign of the Monstrous Bear-kingdom of the Medes and Persians, the Hebrews, now called Jews, were allowed to return to their ancient land of Judaea, with permission to rebuild Solomon's Temple. But this was to be met with opposition when the Persian Empire was overthrown by the pagan Macedonians, and later by the First Reich, or Empire, the Pagan Romans. With their mighty legions and their sound battle tactics, they soon overthrew all of Alexander's crumbling kingdoms, with their seat of power on seven hills on the Italian Peninsula; Rome.
It was during this time that the same hope that was seen in the Garden of Eden, was now coming into full light. In accordance with Malachi's prophecies about the Return of Elijah, a man named in Greek John was born to a priest and his aged wife Elizabeth. At the same time, another was to be born, even more important than John: that would be the Heavenly Joshua, Michael in human form, Jesus the Holy Christ.
There is almost no evidence about Christ's youth from his birth to the Beginning of His ministry at the age of thirty. What is known is that, seventeen years before His thirtieth birthday, He and His family went to Jerusalem for the Passover. While there, the young Christ wandered away from His guardians and stayed at the Temple, where He talked with the Pharisees. These descendants of the Levite Priesthood were amazed at how the young child answered their questions and how He spoke so eloquently about the Prophets. When His guardians discovered that the child was missing, they returned to Jerusalem and searched for three days until they found Him in the Temple. When asked why He left them, He replied that He was doing "His Father's business". From that day until He began His ministry, He placed Himself under their protection.
Apart from this, there is little else known about what He did before His ministry began. From what He said about how we should act, it can be safe to say that He behaved Himself very well under the protection of His guardians. As our divine example, He would not have done anything that would have brought sin upon Himself. In other parts of the Bible, it is said that the Savior even had brothers. These were born of Miriam and Joseph, but were only half-brothers since they were of His earthly mother but not His Heavenly Father. Since He had to know everything that man could have thrown at them, it may be safe to say that His half-brothers spared no expense in saying that He was not of them. This must have been a point of much sadness on the Savior's part, and yet still He did not sin or grow angry at their treatment of Him.
According to tradition, Miriam was of a very young age when she bore the Savior and her betrothed Joseph was much older. If that is the case, then it would seem possible that Joseph died sometime before Christ's ministry began. Until His thirtieth year, Joshua probably kept up His earthly father's business as a carpenter in order to support His mother. But this did not last long, and soon the Savior had to leave His mother in the hands of His half-brothers, for His ministry was about to begin.
It is at this time when substantial information can take over educated speculation. Here the Fourfold Gospel Narrative begins.
(The story begins proper shortly hereafter. Warning, it is mostly focusing on Joshua, so there will be no heroic Barabbas or Judas. However, there will be some extra-biblical events that I felt enhanced the story a little better.)