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Transcript - NT504 The Gospels/The Life of Christ

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LESSON 03 of 24NT504

The Birth and Boyhood of Christ

The Gospels/The Life of Christ

Terry C. Hulbert, Th.D.Distinguished Professor Emeritus at

Columbia Biblical Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina

We come now to the events surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, His incarnation of which John the apostle wrote so eloquently some 60 years after in that prologue that we were just studying.

First of all, we need to start with Rome. And we see that the Emperor Caesar Augustus in Rome had a couple of problems at this time. One problem he had was a declining birthrate. And a second was not unusual for many governments, he needed additional revenue. He saw a solution in both of these by having a census registration that would give him a benchmark for his population decrease problem and a census registration of the hometowns in Palestine for a new tax. So that 1,500 miles away from Palestine, decisions were being made that would vitally effect the incarnation of God coming into our human scene.

These background events had considerable implications for Joseph and Mary, as we will see. For Joseph, there was the problem of the pregnancy during the betrothal period. And the solution was that the child was to be the Son of God and to be Messiah. And the angel would announce this. But the other problem was that: If this was to be the Son of God and Messiah, that would explain the pregnancy without their having lived together as a virgin birth, but Nazareth would be the wrong place in which the birth would take place. It was necessary for Messiah to be born, according to Micah 5:2, in Bethlehem. So the solution to that was actually offered by Caesar Augustus as he ordered the registration to take place in Bethlehem.

Then the next problem would be the journey, the distance for the family. But He [God], in their obedience, looked after this. And Mary arrived safely down there for the birth. So we see that for Mary and Joseph (they were thinking of this pregnancy during the betrothal) Nazareth was the wrong place. And what about this long journey they had to make?




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But God had, in His wonderful way, made provision for each of these.

As we go back to the background of the announcement to Joseph, we turn to Section 11 which, of course, is Matthew 1:18-25 concerning the angel coming to Joseph to explain to him what was going on. Let’s set this back chronologically and, first of all, understand that Luke describes the announcement to Mary and the birth of Christ. Matthew does not describe the birth of Christ, but records the announcement to Joseph and records the events that happen after the birth of Christ. So we have put these two parts together and we get the complete scene. So the so-called “Christmas Story” is not found in either Matthew or Luke in its completeness. But we must put both of these together to get the total story.

The scene now, of course, comes back to Nazareth at the time that Mary had come back from being down with Elizabeth. Now Mary would be some four months pregnant and her pregnancy now would be obvious. Of course, this is interesting in the light of the fact that it would not be known that she was pregnant when she left Nazareth and went down to the hill country. She stayed there for three months with Elizabeth. Now, she comes back and Joseph discovers her pregnancy, presumably for the first time. And it’s necessary for an announcement to be made to him to explain this situation.

In Matthew 1:19: “Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly.” I was mentioning that betrothal period and how that one year was actually, in many cases, to test the bride’s fidelity. And it was as binding as marriage. So when Mary returned to Nazareth, Joseph had really three options.

First of all, he could accuse her of adultery, which would be the obvious simple one to do. Accuse her of adultery, and then he could have had her stoned. And if he had her stoned for adultery, then that would have protected himself, his reputation and standing in the community. And he could also recover the bride price. So that would be an attractive option for him.

Or second, he could divorce her privately and that would clear his name, but probably not recover the bride price. In other words, it would do pretty much the same thing, but it wouldn’t do it as obviously and as thoroughly.




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The third option would be marry her immediately. And this is what he did. And that was evidence of the faith, the trust that he had in the Word of God and obedience to the Word of God.

So in verse 20: “When he had considered this,” that is, what he should do about the situation, “behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying, ‘Joseph, son of David.’” You notice several times that this term, “son of David,” comes in. We’re actually going to find it throughout the ministry of Christ. And every time we have “son of David,” we have a messianic term of address. We’re going to see that that woman up in Sidon (that I mentioned earlier), she said, “Son of David, have mercy on me” (Matthew 15:22). And Jesus would not respond to her because she was using a messianic title and she was a Gentile, and that had some implications, which we will be noting later. “Son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife” (Matthew 1:20). That is, to actually go ahead with the marriage ceremony at the end of the year. “For that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (1:20)—clear evidence of the divinity of Christ. And, of course, this is a condensation, we might say, of the verse that we read back in Luke 1 concerning how this child was to be conceived. “And she will bear a son and you will call his name Jesus” (Matthew 1:21)—confirmation, just coming in stereo almost as the angel had given it to Mary. “For it is He who will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Again, we notice that the dominant theme here is salvation from sin, redemption—salvation from sin. As he addressed Mary, he mentioned the throne and the house and the kingdom. As he addresses Joseph, he emphasizes this other part of it. Now, again, the kingdom was depending on righteousness. It was a kingdom of righteousness.

“Now all this took place, that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled saying, ‘A virgin shall be with child’” (Matthew 1:22-23). This, of course, is an interpretive problem that we can’t get into here. But as the Holy Spirit guided Matthew in the writing of this, this passage was referred definitely to the coming of Messiah and given prophetic significance in that regard. The emphasis being on “Immanuel, . . . God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

“Joseph arose from his sleep” (Matthew 1:24). Notice, he slept. And I can only presume that he slept better after that announcement than he had tried to sleep before.




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This was a real problem to him. What conversation had they had? What had Mary told him? Maybe he had just seen her and gone off by himself and refused to talk to her. We don’t know what the circumstances were. But it must have been a very difficult time for Joseph. And now the angel breaks through and relieves him of this tension. And he did as the angel commanded him, and he took her as his wife and kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and he called His name Jesus. You notice that they finish this sequence of the one year of marriage. They’d have the marriage feast and so on, but he did not live with her during this time.

Then we come to the birth of Jesus. And there is some great detail given concerning the time that this took place. The decree going out from Caesar Augustus about the census; it was not taxation, but rather a census that was to be used for his population problem, apparently, and also basically for tax. And, of course, as a Roman, he had a little bit of cultural sensitivity. And rather than just taxing the people wherever they had scattered to, he allowed them to go to their home area to be taxed. All of which is very significant in where Jesus was born. But he didn’t realize it at the time.

Luke 2:3: They all went, “everyone to his own city.” Keep that in mind. Because in the details of these verses, there is a strong suggestion that Joseph had a strong affinity to Bethlehem. I’m going to suggest later on, as Thomas and Gundry suggest, that he planned to stay down there, to live down there, after the birth of Jesus. So he’s going down to his home area. He is not just going away to a strange city to get a motel there, to stay for a day or so, and to go down to a registry and do the formalities and then leave and go back home again. He’s going to his own home area, his own city. “Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David”—remember son of David, city of David—“which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David” (Luke 2:4). And up until the time of Christ, they kept these genealogies very carefully and everyone knew from what tribe he or she had come. “In order to register with Mary, engaged to him, who was with child. While they were there, the days were accomplished for her to give birth. She gave birth to her firstborn, wrapped him in cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:5-7).




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I want to just digress, I guess you’d call it, for a few minutes on this, concerning some assumptions that were not supported in Scriptures. I’m saying these things concerning the birth of Christ not to have you revise all of your Christmas cards, or to take away too much from Christmas pageants, but because I believe that we have Westernized this scene in such a way that it has lost much of the original meaning. And we are losing something in cross-cultural communication with this, I believe. I’m going to cite several assumptions which are not supported by Scriptures.

First assumption: Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem late at night—just as you and I might come off an Interstate late at night looking for a place to stay. There is no indication of the time of arrival. And furthermore, Joseph would not likely have planned or paced their travel to arrive at an inopportune time. You see, we travel 300, 400, 500 miles a day, and we don’t know exactly where we’re going to be at 8:00 p.m. But they walked. And they only walked about 10 or 15 miles a day. And they would know exactly where they were going to be. Furthermore, Bethlehem was 6 miles south of Jerusalem, and it’s not likely that they went into Jerusalem. They probably came up the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, bypassed Jerusalem, and cut across and went into Bethlehem. Furthermore, Elizabeth lived in that hill country. And they very likely stayed with Elizabeth and Zechariah and little John at this time. And that would at least allow them to pace it. So they were on a long journey, that suddenly, they just came screeching in - not knowing what time they were going to get there? They would have paced it so that they didn’t come in at night.

Second assumption is that the “local inn” was where Mary and Joseph sought accommodation. The word translated “inn” is kataluma. And it is used elsewhere only in Luke 22:11 and in Mark 14:14. In both of those instances, it refers to the upper room in which the Last Supper took place. The upper room was the “guest room” in a house. That’s the only other two times it’s used in Scripture. So I’m suggesting that this was not a motel they stayed in. It was not an inn at all. It was a guest room in a home. Jesus requested a kataluma, to use the kataluma, the guest room, for the Last Supper and, of course, that was granted to Him. Furthermore, in Luke 10:34 we have the only other reference to an inn. And this is Luke, the same writer, using a different word, pandocheion, literally “a place that received all.” And that was the place where the Good Samaritan took the man who had been beaten up to the inn.




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So that was an inn like we think of it, but a different word is used there is my point.

Furthermore, inns were only on the main roads, Jerusalem to Jericho. Bethlehem was not on the main road. And inns were more likely to be near Jerusalem 6 miles to the north. Inns were normally used only by Romans and foreigners and certainly not by Jews, those of modest means, and I add this for emphasis: Jews of modest means with family nearby. If you had family in a town, close family, and you’re going down there with a pregnant wife, would you stay in a motel somewhere? What would the family think of that? That’s in our American situation. But given the situation of the close family ties in that kind of a culture, it would be unthinkable to stay in an inn. And even if there were an inn in Bethlehem, for a woman about to give birth to have stayed in the inn where the family was nearby would be really unthinkable. So I’m objecting to the assumption that the local inn was where Mary and Joseph sought accommodation.

Third assumption: The innkeeper had no alternative but to put Mary and Joseph in a stable at night. Of course, if he wasn’t at an inn, you didn’t need an innkeeper and you didn’t have a problem. Stables, as we know them, were not in use. Sheep were protected in sheepfolds made of stone walls, and other animals were brought into a section of the house for safety and to provide warmth. This is done in many parts of the world today. Accommodation would have been available in the family homes at anytime. The only alternative was not a so-called stable, but rather a family home. The reason for the journey was that their ancestral home and family were in Bethlehem. So that is why they went down there. Certainly, they’d stay with a family.

Fourth assumption: Mary gave birth to Jesus the night they arrived. This is all kind of sudden. They got in late at night. There was no place for them. And unfortunately, the baby was to be born at that particular time—not likely at all. Why? Luke says that “while they were there, the days were completed” (Luke 2:6). Does that sound like the night they arrived? “While they were there, the days were completed” is an expression that doesn’t seem to point to an event that took place immediately. Likewise, even though no permanent accommodation was available when they arrived—I think it was—but even if it weren’t, they would have time to get better accommodation. And it may be conjectured that God gave a rest period to Mary after the journey before the baby was born.




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Fifth, then, the last assumption: Mary was alone in the stable when Jesus was born. Well, if there’s no stable, then where was she? Well, in a middle or lower-class home, there were three parts. There was a large room, which we would call a family room. That is where they ate and slept, and that was just a large family room. Adjacent to that and often connected with it was a place where the animals would come in at night, and that would probably be on a level slightly lower. And then as part of the family room, there would be an apartment, a room partitioned off, either on the main floor or upstairs (as in the case of a city dwelling, like the upper room), but more likely just partitioned off in a peasant home in Bethlehem. And that was called the kataluma, the guest room, so that the family all stayed together. Remember the parable when Jesus said that the man knocked on the door and asked for bread at night? And he said, “I can’t go because my family is all asleep with me and I would step over all these kids getting out to the door” (see Luke 11:5-9). They all slept together in the family room. But when they had guests, there was a guest room to separate them from the family.

What I’m suggesting is that since that’s how the word is used, that that’s where there was somebody else staying. So it wasn’t that the inn had no place or the guest room had no place. Why? Because probably Uncle Solomon and Aunt Esther had arrived early. And they had priorities on the room. And they said, “We’re so sorry, Joseph and Mary, but somebody is already in the guest room.” All right, but they’re still within this family situation. This would also account for the fact, in this little diagram idea, of why the animals were adjacent to this and the manger was there right beside them.

So she gave birth to Jesus presumably in a corner of the family room with all of the female members of the family gathered around encouraging her. And the women of a family in that situation would never have left the woman about to give birth. We say, “But Jesus was rejected by His people. He came to His own, and His own received him not.” Wait a minute! John 1:11-12 was written 60 years afterwards looking back from a great perspective on the situation. There was absolutely no kind of rejection of Jesus until he was in the synagogue at Nazareth in Luke 4 at the beginning of His public ministry, in fact on into his public ministry. And that’s when they took him outside to throw him over the cliff. But there is no rejection. Herod was not an official representative of the Jewish people.




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Herod was an Idumean and so on. And I’m not counting Herod in this situation. But we will see, as we go through the life and ministry of Christ, that He was very well accepted for many, many months into His ministry; in fact, all through His ministry by certain groups of people, from the Galileans and so on.

So we cannot read John 1:11 back into this and say He couldn’t find a place to be born because He was rejected by His people. It has nothing to do with that situation.

So I’m saying that they arrived not at night, but in daytime. You did not travel on the roads at night. It was too dangerous. It was dangerous in the daytime, let alone at nighttime. They arrived at a family home and went into the family home, but the guest room was occupied. So they couldn’t use it, but the birth was given somewhere in the family room and the baby was put in a manger, which was a perfect place to put the baby—just the right height, straw in there, just the right size, you couldn’t make it any better. And in this way there was access to the shepherds.

Let me suggest three implications of this. And this is really why it took a little bit of time to go into it. First of all, there are implications concerning the cross-culture or communication of the gospel. Jesus was born, grew up, and worked and lived and died in a cultural context very similar to most people on the earth today. Not to New York or Dallas. To impose a Western view, cultural norms and lifestyles (for instance, the inn with no vacancy) on Jesus would diminish the reality of the event for ourselves, and deprive the majority of non-Western people of an important identification with this event. Another implication is that linguistic and cultural data would indicate that Jesus was born in a home reflecting the simplicity and earthiness of a majority of homes today throughout the world.

My wife and I traveled in Ethiopia several years ago. And we happened to be there on New Year’s Day. The day they celebrate is actually New Year’s in September. And we were with some church people after the service. And we were taken to a home that had three parts to it. One was a living room and one was a kitchen and one was where the animals were. We toured them all. And as we sat and drank our strong coffee and so on, a sheep wandered in out of the animal part and looked over my shoulder while I drank this coffee and tried to retrieve the spoon from it. And afterwards, we went in and looked and we saw several animals in this, all part of the same home.




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And, of course, in Germany this is very common in small towns in the rural areas of Germany today. In the context of an extended family and cherished as a firstborn child would be, this is how Jesus was born as a result of supernatural conception but according to normal physical processes. So there is an identification here with people that is very, very important in terms of cross-culture communication of the gospel.

Then, a second area is an area of poverty and priority. Sometimes we speak of simple lifestyle. And we think of the birth of Christ as being quaint and old-fashioned and so on. But it was very appropriate for one who is rich but for our sake became poor. It was appropriate. It was proper. It was culturally acceptable. It was simple. And these people were undoubtedly poor as in the eyes of many. But it was right. It fit in that situation. God was making a statement about real values when He arranged these circumstances. We’ve all heard of many stories. What would happen if He were born in a modern maternity ward and so on? Well, this is true: The Sanhedrin went first class, as we would say today. And Jesus Christ went peasant class, we might say, all the way from heaven to earth. Jesus understands the poverty in which people live today.

The third area is accessibility of Jesus to the shepherds; and of course, by implication, to sinners. Shepherds at that time were not respected. They would not be welcome in every home. And yet, when they came and moved into the situation, they were welcomed in this situation. They felt at home. They felt comfortable here, as we’ll see in just a few moments. So the circumstances of Jesus’ birth emphasize the fact that though He was God in a human body, He could be approached and would welcome all people that would come to Him. So there are some strong overtones to how and where Jesus was born in this situation.

Let’s go back then and pick up in Luke 2, in section 13, verse 8: “And in the same region there were shepherds staying out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.” It is interesting that Jesus was the son of David. David was the shepherd. David perhaps wrote the 23rd Psalm within a few hundreds yards or a few miles at most of where this event took place. “The angel of the Lord appeared suddenly before them, stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them” (Luke 2:9). I picture this, almost a ring of fire around them to frighten them. And they were terribly frightened. Here they had gone out in




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the field that night to watch their sheep, and you could say that they were simply watching “sheep sleep.” We count sheep to go to sleep. How would you stay awake if you were a shepherd watching sheep sleep? So, my point is, it was not a very exiting or stimulating moment, and this glory of the Lord would burst upon them. And the angel said, “Don’t be afraid” (Luke 2:10). Every time the angel appeared, he had to say, “Don’t be afraid . . . I bring you good news of great joy to all people” (2:10). Notice the implications of the birth of Christ: “For today in the city of David there has been born a Savior”—notice the emphasis on Savior—“who is Christ the Lord” (2:11).

Incidentally, we use the word “Christ” as a proper noun. But it’s really a term referring to the office. It is the Christ, the Messiah. It is an office of “messiahship.” Christ is from the verb chrió, which means “to anoint.” And Messiah is from the Hebrew verb meaning “anoint.” So you’ve got three terms virtually synonymous: Messiah, Christ, and Anointed One. And the concept of anointing here is anointing as king. It is also anointing as prophet and priest. But when we read of His being the Anointed One, it means the Christ. It means the Messiah—all referring to Jesus as Lord.

“And this will be a sign to you” (Luke 2:12). How did we know this was going to happen? Notice he doesn’t wait for them to ask for a sign. But he gives a sign. “A sign: You’ll find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12). They used to wrap up the babies with sort of gauze. And they would tie their legs together. Apparently, they didn’t like the idea of the babies being born with crooked legs, sort of bowlegged. And so they would tie them together. And I think that they always figured that when they tie them together and wrap them together and left them that way for awhile, that that’s what straightened them out. They didn’t know that if you just left them, they’d get straightened out anyway. But this is how apparently they did it.

“And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13). How long had they been practicing? How excited would they be about this great event? And now they come down and they sing their great chorus, Hallelujah Chorus, we might say: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth” (Luke 2:14). Notice the contrast in verse 14, highest and earth. “Glory to God in the highest” is the cause, is the basis, of peace on earth among men “with whom He is well pleased.” Notice that there is a horizontal peace that results from a




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vertical peace. And the Prince of Peace was to make possible a vertical peace between God and man, so that there would be a horizontal peace among men. And this is an overtone of the kingdom age when they will not fight with each other, when they will lay down their weapons and so on. And there will be perfect interpersonal relationships because of this vertical relationship.

“With whom He is well pleased” (Luke 2:14); in other words, those who have His salvation—those who are pleasing to Him. So the angels go away, and the shepherds look at each other, nudge each other, and they say, “Let’s go to Bethlehem. Let’s see what’s happened which the Lord has made known to us. And they came in haste” (Luke 2:15-16). Can’t you see them trot in there? I don’t know who looked after the sheep, but maybe God had to send an angel to take care of them. But they go hustling into Bethlehem, and they ask around. Now Bethlehem was a small village. And I don’t know how they found this baby. But maybe they knocked on a few doors first. But they made haste. And they come in there, and they come to the family home where Mary and Joseph are staying. It’s possible that they had heard about this woman arriving from Galilee before. We don’t know that. In other words, it is a small village. The word might have gotten out to them. On the other hand, they’re shepherds out in the field and they perhaps had not heard this.

And they come into the house, and just imagine their eyes. Imagine how they reacted in verses 16-17: “They found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as He laid in the manger.” Notice the emphasis here is not on poverty or rejection, but the emphasis is on identification, these two ways of identifying this person. “And when they had seen this,” when they had seen this baby in this manger wrapped in this way, “they made known the statement which had been told them about the child.”

Now there are some important considerations here. Let’s go back and think of Mary for a minute and Joseph. Mary had been told that she was to have a child, and this child was to be generated by the Holy Spirit. For 9 months, Mary may well have wondered what the child was going to look like. And what about Joseph? He was told the same thing. We know what normal babies look like. But what about a baby whose father is the Holy Spirit—what’s that baby going to look like? And so when the baby is born, and they look at the baby and they see that it’s a little 7-pound baby with curly black hair, with two eyes and a nose and ears and limbs like any other baby, they might be tempted to




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think, “Well, it looks just like any other baby. How do I know that God’s the Father of this baby?”

And at that moment, or shortly after it, shepherds come in with this message. These shepherds were not just casual props to make an interesting story or pictures on Christmas cards. They came in at just the right moment, because they had an independent testimony. Talk about independent witnesses. They were totally independent. They came in, and they say, “Out there in the fields, we saw angels come down.” Shepherds, you know, they weren’t likely to think about angels coming down, this was good witness. “They sang, ‘glory,’ all around us. They told us that we would come into this town, and we would see this; and we’ve just seen it.” And Mary looks at Joseph and Joseph looks at Mary and says, “Well, He looks like an ordinary baby, but thank you, Lord, for this confirmation.”

And I see these shepherds as being very important in this whole sequence to give confirmation on this. And you’ll notice that in verse 18, “And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds.” You see, it is the testimony of the shepherds of what God had revealed that gave confirmation to this child and all those who heard it -- I think those are the family that were around at that moment. “Mary treasured these things in her heart,” (Luke 2:19). It was confirmation.

And then the shepherds leave. And they go back, “glorifying and praising God,” singing—they woke up the whole town of Bethlehem, probably— “For all that they had heard from the angels and had seen in that home, just as it had been told them” (Luke 2:20). So that is one of several phrases through there that emphasizes the apologetic value of what had just happened here. Then, moving on eight days later, in section 14, we find the circumcision of Christ. This was where He was named. And there would be a rabbi that would perform the circumcision here. And He would be given a name.

Section 15, 40 days later they go into Jerusalem, and here are two more confirmations. Both very old people—notice the variety of these confirmations and what is said. A beautiful story! And we’ll just move quickly through it. That as they go in to offer this sacrifice for purification—read about it in Exodus 13 and so on—but in 2:25: “There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; he was righteous, devout, looking for the consolation of Israel.” This is the same as the redemption of




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Israel, the visitation of Israel, that is, for Messiah’s coming. “The Holy Spirit was upon him” (Luke 2:25). This is telling us that everything he says is going to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, just as in the case of Elizabeth and Zechariah. “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ, the Lord’s anointed” (2:26).

“And he came in the Spirit into the temple” (Luke 2:27). The Spirit leads him up there at that time. And the parents come in, and he sees them and he says, “Let me have the child.” And Mary, with this precious child, the Son of God miraculously conceived, passes Him over into the gnarled old hands of this old man. And he holds him, and he says, “Now I’m ready to go, Lord.” Notice verse 30: “For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.” And you’ll see that coming through again and again, salvation/redemption and then to all peoples. And then he speaks about what’s going to happen, in verse 34: “Behold, this Child is appointed for the rise and fall of many in Israel.” And that happened because of Jesus. Jesus was a touchstone that many drew closer to God and many were driven away. Many rose, we might say, and many fell in Israel. Most of the Sanhedrin fell. This will be a sign to be opposed, “A sword will pierce your own soul” (Luke 2:35)—obviously referring to the crucifixion.

Then he gives the little child back. And they’re standing there and another person comes along, Anna, a prophetess. And she’s probably 84 years old. She lived most of her life as a widow. And why would she live? What would there be in life for her? She lived for God. She was a devout woman. All this time, “She never left the temple, day and night serving, fasting, prayers night and day” (Luke 2:37). That moment she comes up, and she begins to give thanks to God and continues to speak of Him “to all those who are looking for the redemption of Israel” (2:38). That’s a technical phrase, “those who are looking for the redemption of Israel.” It is also going to be used of Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:43). It is defining him as part of the believing remnant. Incidentally, it is interesting to notice that she was of the Tribe of Asher. So they, at least, knew who was of what tribe.

Now I’m suggesting, as Thomas and Gundry do in section 16, that Mary and Joseph take Jesus up to Nazareth, not to move back there to stay, but to get his instruments, to get his carpenter’s tools and to make a permanent transfer back to Bethlehem. You say, “Where do you get that?” Well, because when they were in Bethlehem, and the warning came from the




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angel that they should flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13), and they went to Egypt. And then the warning was lifted. And they were allowed to come back. Where did they head for—Nazareth or Bethlehem? They headed for Bethlehem. And I suggest the reason they were heading for Bethlehem is because that is where they had moved to and the angel had to intervene and send them back up to Nazareth. So apparently, they were going to stay down in Bethlehem.

Some have suggested that’s because in Nazareth there would be questions about the paternity of Christ and that situation. I don’t think we have to lean too much on that. But it is possible. But I think it’s rather that the family home was down in Bethlehem, and let’s remember that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They had lots of reason to go back there, sentimental reason, if you please, to go back to Bethlehem.

In any case, in section 17, the magi come, probably some time later. Of course, we pick this up from the fact that Herod asks about what time the star appeared. And they tell him when it was, and so he kills all the children under 2 years of age (Matthew 2:16). It doesn’t mean that this was two years later. But it does imply that it is at least some time after the birth of Christ. These Magi were very interesting people. And they follow a star; some have suggested as to where the star came from, whether it was a convergence of planets and so on. About every Christmastime, you find articles in the newspaper about this.

I suggest that it was not an actual star for this reason: That the star was so low that it could take them six miles from Jerusalem out to Bethlehem and stay over the house. Now, if it’s a star way up there a couple of million miles away, it’s going to be pretty hard to decide where it is in relation to that house. And God has led His people in this way before. He led them with a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire (Exodus 13:21), and I think this is a special heavenly body, if you please, of some kind that God used to specially lead them over there. And after all, if it were just a grouping of stars over Jerusalem or over Bethlehem, and they happen to see that way over in Persia or wherever they were, it really wouldn’t guide them. They said, “We saw His star in the East” (Matthew 2:2). So I’m suggesting something like the guiding of the people out of Egypt and through Sinai, that this was a special body that came across.




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At any case, they come to Jerusalem. And they ask Herod, “Where is this king who has been born?” (Matthew 2:2). Of course, this would be a great threat to Herod. He was fearful. He calls in the chief priests and scribes. And it is interesting that they say He’s to be born in Bethlehem. Now put that away in your minds, because later on in John they get in a great debate about where Messiah is going to be born. And somebody says, “When Messiah is born, nobody will know where He comes from.” Somebody else says, “This can’t be Messiah, because He comes from Nazareth and Messiah’s supposed to be born in Bethlehem.” So apparently in the 30 years, some of these people have died, and they have forgotten some of this. But at least they knew it at that time and were conscious of it.

And these magi, these leaders from the East, go out and worship Jesus (Matthew 2:11). Again, I see this as a confirmation to Mary and Joseph as to who this baby was. Perhaps we could even see a different emphasis in each of these. As the shepherds came in, they testified to the fact that this human baby really was God, really was the baby that was promised because of how God had revealed it to them. On the other hand, as the wise men come in, they worship Him as a king. So we might have here a combination of His deity, humanity, and His kingship by these two different witnesses that come in, again confirming this.

As we move on in the next section, we find them fleeing to Egypt because of the danger which is posed by Herod’s knowing that there had been a so-called king born. They go down to Egypt and the Scripture is applied to them: “Out of Egypt I will call My Son” (Matthew 2:15). This is applied in this case to Messiah, to Jesus. And Herod kills these babies. Perhaps, some have suggested, there were maybe 2,000 people or 2,500 people in Bethlehem at that time. There were probably maybe 25 babies, not all that many would be killed. But that’s, of course, not terribly important to us at the moment. And section 19—they come back. But they find now that Archelaus is even worse than his father. And they’re not allowed to go to Bethlehem. But they’re steered on up to Nazareth. Not just for safety, but because it is God’s purpose that Jesus be raised in Nazareth to fulfill a prophecy. He’s to be called a Nazarene. He’s going to go up and live and minister at first in Galilee of the Gentiles.

Where Jesus was raised was very important, because Bethlehem, where He was born, was only 6 miles from Jerusalem where all of that pressure of the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees and the



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The Birth and Boyhood of ChristLesson 03 of 24

priesthood and the politics were concerned. But Jesus was to be raised up in Nazareth where there was greater freedom and liberty and where He would gain a considerable following and have more opportunity for ministry.

And section 21—At 12 years of age, for I guess what we would call a Bar Mitzvah, He comes down and reveals the fact that there is something very unusual about Him. As you read the details of this passage, I’m sure you’re reminded of the fact that these same kinds of people—18 plus through 21 years later—would be those who would be sitting in judgment on Him. Many would die in the meantime. But some of the younger members of the Sanhedrin, who were interacting with Him on these questions and answers and so on, and be impressed with Him, would be on the Sanhedrin that eventually voted for His death.

As his family looked for Him, they couldn’t understand why He was not with them and why He had stayed behind. And in Luke 2:48, “Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He says, “Why is it that you’re looking for Me? Don’t you know that I had to be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). I think there’s a bit of a play on words here. That Mary had referred to Joseph as His father, which he was legally. But it seems that Jesus is reminding them that His Father is God and that He was ministering to Him.

Section 22—He went down with them. Everything, of course, was down from Jerusalem. You went up to Jerusalem. They went down to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them—a marvelous demonstration of the humanity of Christ. He stayed in subjection to His parents. “His mother treasured all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51). The same word that is used earlier in 2:19, that she “treasured these things.” “She pondered them,” mentioned several times. And Jesus kept increasing. How can one who is absolute increase? He kept increasing in “wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (2:52). Intellectually, physically, spiritually, and, we might say, socially, He was being prepared for the ministry that the Father had for Him as He grew up in Nazareth. In our next session we will begin in the public ministry of Jesus as introduced by John the forerunner.

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