emperors maxentius and constantine and their armies met on the banks of the tiber river near the milvian bridge to fight for control of the empire. though constantine s soldiers were outnumbered four to one, he had a secret weapon. before the battle, he had a vision in which he saw a sign of the cross in the sky, and the words written over it that said by this conquer he didn t know what this meant, so he called in some dream interpreters, and they told him this meant that it was the cross of christ that would allow him to be victorious.
on october 28th in 312 a.d., emperors maxentius and constantine and their armies met on the banks of the tiber river near the milvian bridge to fight for control of the empire. though constantine s soldiers were outnumbered four to one, he had a secret weapon. before the battle, he had a vision in which he saw a sign of the cross in the sky, and the words written over it that said by this conquer he didn t know what this meant, so he called in some dream interpreters, and they told him this meant that it was the cross of christ that would allow him to be victorious.
near the milvian bridge to fight for control of the empire. though constantine s soldiers were outnumbered four to one, he had a secret weapon. before the battle, he had a vision in which he saw a sign of the cross in the sky, and the words written over it that said by this conquer he didn t know what this meant, so he called in some dream interpreters, and they told him this meant that it was the cross of christ that would allow him to be victorious. and so he arranged to have the image of the cross painted on the shields of all of his warriors.
it s a dangerous, tumultuous time in the roman empire. nowhere more so than in the province of judea on the far edge of the mediterranean. its capital, the holy city of jerusalem, is teeming with pilgrims for the springtime feast of passover. many of them looking for an earthly key, a messiah who will deliver them from the yoke of roman oppression. into this powder keg walks jesus of nazareth. his protests against the romans make him a popular hero. to some, he is the messiah. but to the romans, he s political trouble, so they crucify him. the followers of jesus believed that he has risen from the dead and will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven, but when and how will this new faith survive after jesus? today, more than 2 billion people call themselves christians, people who believe jesus rose from the dead. but perhaps it s a miracle that christianity did not disappear when the romans crucified jesus on a lonely hill outside jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. this region
jerusalem, is teeming with pilgrims for the springtime feast of passover. many of them looking for an earthly key, a messiah who will deliver them from the yoke of roman oppression. into this powder keg walks jesus of nazareth. his protests against the romans make him a popular hero. to some, he is the messiah. but to the romans, he s political trouble, so they crucify him. the followers of jesus believed that he has risen from the dead and will soon usher in the kingdom of heaven, but when and how will this new faith survive after jesus? today, more than 2 billion people call themselves christians, people who believe jesus rose from the dead. but perhaps it s a miracle that christianity did not disappear when the romans crucified jesus on a lonely hill outside jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago. this region, jerusalem and judea, represented an important land bridge between syria and egypt. so throughout history, this has been a critical place. jerusalem had been the holy