Jesus' Early Years

Jesus' early years teach us about His conception, birth and all that happened to show Who He really is.

The Angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah, and God would be His Father, not Joseph (Luke 1:26-38). When she told Joseph, he was about to break up with her for unfaithfulness, even though he loved her, but he just couldn't believe this fanciful story. Then the Angel told him in a dream that it was all true, and he didn't need to doubt her (Matthew 1:18-25).

The culture in that day gave engaged girls freedom to travel, and Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth. Here is where Mary's beautiful prayer, the Magnificat, is recorded, where she admits that God is her Savior. She stays with Elizabeth three months, long enough to learn first-hand about childbirth, the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:39-56).

About six months later, Caesar Augustus' decree had Joseph travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem, and he brought Mary with him at the most difficult time for her, so late in her pregnancy. We all know the Christmas story, with the stable, the manger and the shepherds, with God announcing to the shepherds by His angels that their Messiah was just born (Luke 2:1-20).

When Jesus is eight days old, He is circumcised and officially receives His name. Then when the rest of Mary's 40 days are finished for her purification (Leviticus 12:1-4), they go to the Temple in Jerusalem and both Simon and Anna prophesy about Jesus.

When Jesus is about two years old, they are still living in Bethlehem, but have moved into a house, and the Magi came to worship Him and present their gifts (Matthew 2:1-12). Joseph had another dream, and takes his little family all the way to Egypt to live, until the death of "those who were trying to take the Child's life." When they returned to Israel, they didn't stop in Bethlehem again, instead continuing all the way to Galilee, to their original town of Nazareth (Matthew 2:13-23).

By the time Jesus is twelve years old, his parents have apparently forgotten about His Divine origin, having focused on the every-day mundane living of life, and He reminds them of Who His Father really is (Luke 2:41-52).

We are told that Mary "treasured all these things in her heart," but that didn't mean that she was thinking about them all the time. 

I'm glad that God saw fit to share with us all these amazing things about Jesus' birth and childhood, that prove He was not just an ordinary boy. But He lived a very ordinary life as the son of a carpenter, learning that trade. 

Even the Lord of the Universe grew up as a normal boy, learning and relating in a family situation, like the rest of the human race. And He suffered the loss of His dad, Joseph, before He reached adulthood, so He probably was the family bread-winner with His carpentry until He began His public ministry.

So Jesus was God, having been conceived supernaturally, yet He was also now a genuine human Man, being born of a woman, the same as every other man. We'll see later in this series how both His genuine Divinity and His genuine humanity were both necessary for Him to redeem us.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!