#16 Lu. 2:39-40;  THE EARLY YEARS OF JESUS

 

Introduction:

 

     None of the Scripture writers tell us much about the

early life of Jesus.  They tell about His birth.  They tell

us about His ministry.  They tell us about His crucifixion

and His resurrection.  But they say almost nothing about

those years in between.

     Luke, like the others does give us a little bit, but he

skips over a great deal.  The best that we can do is to take

the little bit that each gospel writer gives us and then try

to put together the pieces so that we can get somewhat of a

picture.

     I would not at all want you to think that I am critical

of the writers of Scripture for not telling us more about

this part of the life of Jesus.  After all, they wrote by

inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God and we know that the

Holy Spirit did not make a mistake.  It was not God's

intention to write a story for our entertainment.  It was

God's purpose to give us the information that we need to get

saved and we need to live our lives within the will of God.

And, after all, that is the part that we are most interested

in.

     Yet if we will but take the little bit of information

that the Bible does give us about the early life of Jesus, we

will see that this, too, is am important part of the inspired

word of God.  Without it we would be missing out on some

valuable information.  Every part of the Bible is important

to us and every part of the life of Jesus is important to us.

     Let me remind you that when Joseph and Mary carried

Jesus into the temple of God at Jerusalem to present Him to

God the Heavenly Father, Jesus was but forty days old.  In

verses forty-one and forty-two where Luke tells of them

carrying Him again to the temple, Jesus is twelve years old.

So it should not be surprising to us if Luke skips over some

information that some of the other gospel writers tell about.

 

I.  The story as Luke begins it

 

     Note verse thirty-nine.  V. 39, "And when they had

performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they

returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth."  Luke

first tells us that while Joseph and Mary were at the temple

on the fortieth day of the life of Jesus that they performed

all that the Law of Moses had instructed them to do.  For one

thing, they presented Jesus to God the Father in keeping with

the Law of Moses.  When God delivered the Children of Israel

out of Egyptian bondage, God spared the firstborn sons of

Israel because the Israelite families had the blood of the

Passover lamb on the door posts.  The firstborn of the

Egyptian families were all killed because they did not have

the blood of the Passover lamb on the door posts.  God said

that therefore every firstborn son in every Israelite family

belonged to God and the parents were to bring him to the

house of God and give him to God.  This Joseph and Mary did

on that fortieth day of Jesus' life.

     Another thing that the Law of Moses required was that

the mother of a newborn child present two offerings to God.

One was a sin offering.  It was intended that in the

presentation of this offering the mother would acknowledge

to God that she is a sinner and that she is in need of

forgiveness of sin.  Mary presented such an offering to God

on this occasion in keeping with the Law of Moses.  Actually,

it was an expression of what she had already done in her

heart a long time ago.  Long before she ever told that she

would conceived Jesus, Mary had repented of her sin and

trusted in the coming Christ as her Savior.  She was already

a saved woman before she conceived the Christ-child.

     Secondly, the Law of Moses required the mother of a

newborn child to do was to present a burnt offering to God.

The whole animal was to be burned on the altar of God.  It

was intended that in the presentation of this offering that

she would present her whole life to God.  Just as the whole

animal was to be burned on the alter, even so her whole life

was to be presented to God and to be surrendered to His will.

God wanted people to know that He not only wanted them to be

saved, but He wanted them to surrender their lives to Him

after they were saved.  God does not approve of saved people

living ungodly, immoral, dishonest lives.  God wants saved

people to live clean, upright, honest lives.  God does not

approve of people whoremongering around.  God does not

approve of lying, cursing, and filthy tongues.  God does not

approve of drinking and gambling and whatever else one's

depraved sinful nature might incline him to do.  Saved people

are God's people and God wants them to live like they are

God's people.

     Mary had already been saved and she had already

surrendered her life to the will of God the Heavenly Father.

When she presented that burnt offering to God there in the

temple of God on that fortieth day of Jesus' life, she was

but re-committing her life to Him to do His will.  She was

giving evidence of this by doing all that the Law of Moses

required her to do on this occasion.

 

II.  The short-cut that Luke takes

 

     Now keep in mind that Jesus is only forty days old when

this took place.  It is right at this point that Luke takes a

short-cut.  He tells us that after Joseph and Mary had done

all that the law required them to do that they went to their

home in Nazareth.  And they did.  I would not at all want to

imply to you that Luke did not tell us the truth.  He told us

the truth in what he said, but he took a short-cut.  He did

not tell the whole story.  He skipped over some things that

Matthew has told us about.

     Matthew told us about the coming of the Magi, the  wise

men from the east.  They came to see Jesus while He was at

Bethlehem.  It was as a result of their coming to Bethlehem

to see Jesus that Herod gave order to kill all the male

children in and around Bethlehem from two years old and

under.  It was as a result of this murderous order of Herod

that Joseph and Mary took Jesus and fled to Egypt.  And they

stayed there for about two years until that particular Herod

died.

     It was only after they returned from Egypt that Joseph

and Mary moved back to Nazareth.  Luke does not tell us all

that.  He tells us only that after they had fulfilled all

that the law required of them that they returned to Nazareth.

They did.  They were just a long time getting there.

 

III.  His growth as Luke describes it

 

     In verse forty Luke makes a statement that stretches out

over the entire span of those early years between the

appearance of Jesus at the temple and His return there twelve

years later.  V. 40, "And the child grew, and waxed strong in

spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon

him."  Let us take what little Luke has told us and see what

God has intended for us to get out of it.

     First of all, note that Luke tells us that the child

grew.  He grew as other normal children would grow.  The

Bible does not tell us how much Jesus weighed when He was

born.  But we are to understand that since He was born as a

baby, He weighed somewhat about the same weight as other

normal children are when they are first born and was about

the same length.

     He was born rather small and He grew at about the same

pace as any other normal child would grow.  He nursed and

drank milk just like any other child would do.  He would have

to be burped like any other child would have to be burped.

     Eventually He began to eat solid food, like other babies

would do.  Pretty soon Joseph and Mary would notice that He

was heavier than He used to be.

     Let me say to you right here that Jesus was a full-

fleged human being.  He was fully human in every way.  He was

also Deity God, but He was a human being.

     Like other children, He could not talk when He was first

born.  He had to learn to say, "Mama" and "Dada" like other

human babies learn.  He had to learn to say words and then He

had to learn to put sentences together.  He had to learn His

ABCs and learn to read and write like other human children

learn to read and write.

   He had to learn to walk like other human babies learn to

walk.  He could not walk when He was first born.  He had to

learn to work those legs and to crawl.  Then He had to stand

on His two feet and to put one foot in front of the other.

He probably took a few falls just like any other normal baby

would fall.

     Jesus had a human brain and a human body and human

emotions just like any other human being would have.  Now

here is a mystery.  Spirit God which indwelled that human

body was never anything less than Almighty God.  The Second

Person of the Trinity was always at all times all powerful

and all knowing.  But the human brain that was in that little

boy had to learn just other little boys had to learn.  His

little arms and legs had to develop strength and skills just

like any other human being had to develop.

     I repeat:  He was human in every way.  If this were not

so, He could not have been a substitute for us when He died

on the cross for us.  You see, we have sinned and the penalty

of sin is suffering, and when Jesus went to the cross He had

to be able to feel pain and to suffer every bit as much as

other men are capable of suffering.

     There was, however, one great difference between the

human body that Jesus dwelled in and the human bodies that we

dwell in.  His body did not inherit the sin nature from Adam.

Jesus was not born of an earthly father.  He was conceived in

the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit of God.  Therefore, He

did not inherit Adam's nature, but rather He inherited the

nature of the Holy Spirit of God.  The human body of Jesus

was just as capable of sinning as our bodies are, but the

Spirit God which indwelt that body could not---or at least

would not---sin.

     Jesus was a model child in every way.  Luke said that as

He grew in body, even so He grew in spirit.  He waxed strong

in spirit.  He learned what Joseph and Mary were telling Him

to do or not to do and He obeyed.  Even from the very

earliest stages He obeyed His parents.  The threw no temper

tantrums.  If they another child wanted to play with His toy,

He was willing to share.

     Luke said also that He was filled with wisdom.  That is,

He not only was quick to learn facts, but He also quickly

learned what the facts were all about and how they were to be

applied to life.  He was wise beyond His years in dealing

with other children.  He was wise beyond His years in dealing

with every situation.  Even in those early years, He was

often wiser than the adults.  Down in verse 52 Luke said that

He increased in wisdom as time went by.  He increased in

wisdom and stature.  As He grew taller in stature, He also

grew taller in His wisdom.

 

IV.  The grace of God the Father on Him

 

     Luke then makes a statement that the grace of God was

upon Him.  The word, grace, is normally used in Scripture to

mean "unmerited favor," "undeserved favor."  This, however,

could not be the meaning with Jesus.  All of the favor from

God the Father that Jesus ever got He well deserved.  It was

well earned.

     So what Luke is telling us here is that God the Father

was in some kind of special way showing that He was well

pleased with the life of His Son, Jesus Christ.  God was

bestowing favors upon Him that would make it obvious to

Joseph and Mary and to anyone else who would but oversee,

that God was pleased with Him.  This is the message that God

the Father actually put into word later at the baptism of

Jesus, but even now in these early years of one, two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and eleven years of

age God the Father was showing by the special favors that He

was giving Jesus that Jesus was no ordinary human being.  He

was One in whom God the Father in Heaven was well pleased.

     In verse fifty-two Luke even said that Jesus increased

in favor with God.  This does not mean that God liked Him or

loved Him any more than He always did.  What it means is that

God showed His favoritism toward Jesus more and more as time

went by.  Those who were close to Jesus could hardly help but

notice that God as especially good to Him.  If one failed to

notice it at the moment, it would soon become very obvious as

time went by and God increased His favors to Jesus.

 

V.  The things His childhood especially want to emphasize to

    us

 

     I have tried to point out to you that the writers of

Scripture had very good reason to skip over most of the

events of this part of the life of Jesus because they were

more interested in telling us about His ministry, His death,

His resurrection, and His ascension.  They were more

interested in having us know how to be saved, how to live,

and how to carry on the work of a New Testament church in

keeping with God's will.  But they did want us to know that

Jesus was every bit as much human as we are---yet without

sin.  And they wanted us to know that in spite of His

complete humanity, He is also Deity God in every sense of the

word.  And they wanted us to know that by the time He was

about to go to the cross, He was well aware of what pain and

suffering was like.  As a human being who had lived thirty

years in human flesh, He was well aware of what human pain

was like.  Yet knowing this----knowing this full well---He

was still willing to go to the cross and to suffer for us

that we might be saved.

     What I want you to know today is that Jesus Christ is

well worthy of your faith and trust.  If you are aware of

your own guilt of sin and you know that you deserve to be

punished in the everlasting fires of hell and yet you want to

be saved, then there is hope for you.  Jesus Christ was born

in human flesh.  He lived a perfect sinless life in human

flesh.  As the perfect sinless man, He went to the cross of

Calvary and there He suffered the anguish that was necessary

to be your substitute.  His suffering on the cross of Calvary

can be counted as your suffering the full penalty for every

sin that you commit.  What God requires of you if you want to

be saved is that you acknowledge your sin to God and ask

Jesus Christ to save your soul.

     If you will trust in Jesus Christ, then Jesus will

cleanse you of every stain of sin.  There will not be one sin

left to send your soul into hell.  God will then take you and

give special favors to you in somewhat the same way as He did

to Jesus.  He will bless you as long as you are submitted to

His will.  Then when the time comes that you breath your last

breath and your soul goes out into eternity, you will not go

into the fires of hell, but you will go into the Paradise of

God.  One of these days God will send Jesus back to this old

world and Jesus will call your fleshly human body out of the

grave.  You will re-enter that body.  That body will be

changed into a glorified body that can never die again and

you will live forever in the glory of God.  If you think you

receive good thing in this life, you just wait and see what

God is going to do for you in the next life.  All the good

things that you ever receive here is not to be compared with

the good things that God will do for you then.

 

Conclusion:

 

     But I must warn you.  There is no way that you will ever

get saved unless you call on Jesus Christ and ask Him to save

your soul.  Won't you do it today?  Won't you trust Jesus

right now, right here and get this matter settle with God?