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Wednesday Bible Study
Rev. Dr. Howard L. Woods, Jr.
Rev. Dr. Howard L. Woods, Jr.
Wednesday, October 20, 2021
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The Boyhood of Jesus

Luke 2:43 When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; :44 but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. :45 So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. :46 Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.

Mary and Joseph had lost track of Jesus on the way back to Nazareth.

They traveled a day out and a day back, and searched the city a third day before they found Jesus in the Temple.

He was engaged in a profound discussion of theological topics with the greatest religious leaders of the day anywhere on earth. They knew the Old Testament and Jesus questioned them, as well as answered their questions. What can we learn from this?

Luke 2:47 And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Christ’s understanding astonished everyone, even as His miracles would two decades later.

Luke 2:48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

Even His parents were amazed when they found Jesus participating so intelligently in a discussion with those who were so many years older than He.

Yet His mother expressed her accumulated anxiety and irritation by reproving Him. Didn’t He know that they had been worried about Him?

Luke 2:49 And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”

The Lord’s answer, His first recorded words, show that He was fully aware of His identity as the Son of God, and of His divine mission as well. “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” She said, “Your father and I.” He said, “My Father’s business.”

Luke 2:50 But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.

At the time, they did not understand what He meant by His cryptic remark. It was an unusual thing for a twelve-year old Boy to say!

Luke 2:51 Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. 

At any rate, they were reunited, so they could return to Nazareth. The moral excellence of Jesus is seen in the words “He … was subject to them.” Though Creator of the universe, yet He took His place as an obedient Child in this humble Jewish family. How can we apply this statement to our lives?

But all the time, His mother kept all these things in her heart.

Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Again we have the true humanity and normal growth of our Lord depicted:

  1.  His mental growth—increased in wisdom.
  2.  His physical growth—and stature.
  3.  His spiritual growth—in favor with God.
  4.  His social growth—in favor with men.

He was absolutely perfect in every aspect of His growth.

Here Luke’s narrative skips silently over eighteen years which the Lord Jesus spent in Nazareth as the Son of a carpenter.

These years teach us the importance of preparation and training, the need for patience, and the value of common work.

They warn against the temptation to jump from spiritual birth to public ministry. Those who do not have a normal spiritual childhood and adolescence court disaster in their later life and testimony.

Luke 3:1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, :2 while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

As a historian, Luke identifies the year that John began to preach by naming the political and religious leaders who were then in power—one emperor (Caesar), one governor, three with the title of tetrarch and two high priests.

The political rulers mentioned imply the iron grip with which the nation of Israel was held in subjugation. The fact that there were two high priests in Israel indicate that the nation was in disorder religiously as well as politically. Though these were great men in the world’s estimation, they were wicked, unscrupulous men in God’s eyes.

Therefore when He wanted to speak to men, He by-passed the palace and the synagogue and sent His message to John the son of Zacharias, out in the wilderness. What can we learn from this?

Luke 3:3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,

John immediately traveled to all the region around the Jordan River, probably near Jericho. There he called upon the nation of Israel to repent of its sins in order to receive forgiveness, and thus be prepared for the coming of the Messiah. He also called upon the people to be baptized as an outward sign that they had truly repented.

John was a true prophet, an embodied conscience, crying out against sin, and calling for spiritual renewal.

Luke 3:4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.

His ministry was thus in fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 40:3–5. He was a voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Spiritually speaking, Israel was a wilderness at this time. As a nation, it was arid and cheerless, bringing forth no fruit for God. In order to be ready for the coming of the Lord, the people had to undergo a moral change.

When a king was going to make a royal visit in those days, elaborate preparations were made to smooth the highways and to make his approach as direct as possible. This is what John called upon the people to do, only it was not a matter of repairing literal roads but of preparing their own hearts to receive Him.

Luke 3:5 Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth;

The effects of Christ’s coming are described as follows: Every valley shall be filled—those who are truly repentant and humble would be saved and satisfied.

Every mountain and hill shall be brought low—people like the scribes and Pharisees, who were haughty and arrogant, would be humbled.

 

Hinson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 121). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr., MacDonald, Farstad, Believers Bible; Hinson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 2195). Nashville: Thomas Nelson