Over four hundred years passed between the history of the Old Testament and the history of the New Testament. During this period the Greek and Roman empires emerged as world powers. The Romans had conquered Jerusalem and the religious practices of Judaism had also changed. The synagogue was their place of worship and played a major role in Sabbath observance. Rabbis were teachers of the Jewish religion and focused on the Torah, the Pentateuch of the Old Testament (Duvall, Hayes, 2012). At the beginning of the New Testament the announcement of the conception of the angel Gabriel breaks the silence of God with the introduction of key characters, John, who paved the way for Jesus Christ and was born to Elizabeth and then Jesus, the Messiah, who was born from Mary, virgin. Mary was engaged to Joseph when Gabriel told her she was pregnant; so Joseph intended to divorce her but God intervened in a dream and stopped him. Joseph was of the royal line of King David, so his marriage to Mary fulfilled the Davidic covenant that a descendant of David will rule the kingdom of God forever. The birth and childhood of Jesus carried forward the theme of humble beginnings for the Christ. Likewise John also lived a humble life in the desert eating locusts and honey. John re-establishes the theme of the need for everyone to repent. As John prepared the way for Jesus, he taught repentance, baptized those who repented with water, and preached about the Messiah who would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Duvall, Hayes, 2012). Jesus received power from God for his ministry when he was baptized by John. When Jesus emerged from the water the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit anointed Jesus. God spoke recognizing and praising Jesus: “This is my Son, whom I love... middle of the page... The apostle John wrote the Apocalypse after receiving a vision. The revelations can be difficult to understand due to the many uses of symbolism throughout the story. Revelations has three main themes. The first theme is hope. The Apocalypse reminds everyone of the promise that God will destroy evil and defeat death. The second theme of the Apocalypse is persecution. While believers will not feel God's wrath, they may face times of testing, persecution, and even death because of their beliefs. The third theme of Revelation is that God's people are still in Satan's territory and need to overcome his hold every day by trusting God and following the teachings of Jesus. The Bible ends with God's covenant that he will destroy evil and death to recreate his creation and live among his people in a new heaven. The consummation will be complete when Jesus returns. (Duvall, Hayes, 2012).