The A.D. Chronicles series (books 4-8) by Bodie and Brock Thoene.
Fourth Dawn - No one is secure in Judea. Betrayal and suspicion are the coin of the realm as King Herod plunges deeper into madness, determined to hold on to his kingdom… no matter the price. Young Mary of Nazareth receives an unusual visitor as she tends a cow in her parents’ barn. What he tells her will change everything about her life and impact all those in Judea and beyond - for eternity! Yet will Yosef, her betrothed, believe her? Or will she lose the one she loves? Onias the Tutor puzzles over the ancient prophecies in secret. If anyone discovers what he knows, not only he, but his beloved wife and child, will be in imminent peril. Now signs are appearing in the heavens. But what do they mean?
Fifth Seal - Gossip swirls around the newlyweds Mary and Yosef. It is far too soon for her womb to carry the growing baby, neighbors say. Yet too much is at stake for Yosef to reveal the truth. He vows to protect Mary and the baby with his life, but how can he protect her heart from the barbs of betrayal? As beloved prophetess Hannah boldly foretells the coming of Israel’s true King, King Herod plots her doom… and that of anyone else he believes challenges his throne. When a dying slave stumbles into Bethlehem on a stormy night, shepherd Zadok and his wife, Rachel, wonder: Is her arrival guided by God or a trap set by paranoid Herod? As Mary and Yosef set out on a perilous journey to Jerusalem, astronomer Melchior sees unusual activity in the stars. He’s convinced something important will happen soon in Israel… and it will impact the world for all eternity.
Sixth Covenant - Bethlehem is compromised of simple folk who spend their days tending sheep, newborn lambs, and their own families. Among them are Mary, Yosef, and baby Yeshua, whose birth was announced by a miraculous conjunction of the stars and a throng of angels in the sheep fields. Convinced by their study of the stars and prophecies that the long-awaited Messiah has been born, foreigners travel toward Jerusalem. Surely the capital city will hold the answer to the mystery they have sought for months. Tortured by nightmares that someone is coming to take over his kingdom, King Herod grows more paranoid. He gives an order to his soldiers - one more devastating and evil than anyone could imagine. That very night soldiers and their mounts thunder toward Bethlehem, the village of the sacrificial lambs.
Seventh Day - Eve, the widow of Absalom the Scribe, has one thing to live for - her only son, Abel. She grieves over his every rasping breath. She’s heard of a great Healer who walks the earth. Could the rumors be true? Could there be a miracle for Abel? While rifling through the archives under the Temple Mount, religious leader Ra’nabel ben Dives discovers startling information about a child who escaped the slaughter of Herod the Great’s soldiers. “If King Herod Antipas and High Priest Caiaphas don’t know,” ben Dives schemes, “perhaps I can turn this news to my own advantage.” Meanwhile in Bethany, a close friend of Yeshua’s grows seriously ill. Miryam and Marta, his sisters, quickly send word to Yeshua, but Yeshua delays. “Why does He not come?” the sisters wonder. “Does He not care?”
Eighth Shepherd - Zachai, chief tax collector of Jericho, is the most hated man in all Judea. Outside his estate, he’s surrounded by four giant Nubian bodyguards. But at night he’s a prisoner of his aching heart. What would it be like to be loved? To have a family? Shimona, former leper from the Valley of Mak’ob, returns to her hometown of Jericho to proclaim that Yeshua has healed her. When no one believes her story, she is sent to live alone as the caretaker of a grove of sukomore fig trees. Month after month she holds on tightly to hope in the midst of her loneliness. A former prince among the Nubian tribes, Salmon was betrayed and sold into slavery. Now one of the few treasures he has - his little daughter Marisha - is dying. Salmon has heard stories of Yeshua’s miracles. But would the Great Shepherd have mercy on a sheep that’s outside Israel’s flock?
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