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Lesson One of the Book of Daniel,
Introduction to the Book of Daniel
The Book of Luke,
The Disappearance, Discovery, and Declaration of Jesus -
Lesson 22
Luke 2:46-52,
And it came to pass, that after three days. 47And all that heard him
were astonished at his understanding and answers. 48And when they saw
him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus
dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49And
he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about
my Father’s business? 50And they understood not the saying which he
spake unto them. 51And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth,
and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
52And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God
and man.
Jesus purposed to
stay in Jerusalem, without His parents’ permission, and without informing them
of His actions.
As students of the
word, I think we may ask the question, why did he purpose so?
God permits us to
do so, for asking why indicates a heart seeking truth and every word of God is
given to us for a purpose and God expects us to have a desire to know that
purpose.
Our God does not
wish to have ignorant children and he gives us all that we need to not be
ignorant.
If we are ignorant
of the word of God it is not because God is negligent, but instead it is because
we are negligent.
We choose to be
ignorant! How many times do people reject being told the truth.
How many times
have people come to you and asked to be told the truth. We choose to be
ignorant!
Mary and Joseph
were not able to grasp the actions of their 12 year old son.
49And
he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about
my Father’s business?
Jesus did not ask
permission to stay on in Jerusalem because He was God.
On one level, the
level from which Mary and Joseph saw it, Jesus was but a young boy.
And as his parents
they saw him as a boy who was not old enough to stay by Himself in Jerusalem, a
boy who was too young to be discussing the Scriptures with the finest teachers
in Israel.
But while He was a
human being, a 12 year-old boy, He was also God incarnate, just as the angel had
said to Mary and Joseph years before (Matt. 1:20-25; Luke 1:32, 35).
Hadn’t Mary heard
these words?
Luke 1:32 He
shall be great, and shall be called the Son of Highest, and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David. Luke 1:35, that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
On the divine
level, God did not need to have man’s permission to act any way He saw fit, nor
was it required of God to explain His actions to man.
Indeed, God is
even free to do those things which cause men, even his parents, pain and
dismay.
God’s will be done
even if it causes pain and anguish.
It is only the
fact that Jesus was fully God (as well as fully man) that explains how He could
act as He did and not be wrong in so doing.
If it were any
other child, we would have sided with the parents, but since the child is the
Son of God, we quickly acknowledge that He was right.
Jesus, unlike any
other 12 year-old in history, was God.
Now one of the
reasons that Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem was to learn of the Father.
We cannot explain
how Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man, needed to learn, how he
needed to develop in His grasp of God’s Word, but it is true no matter how you
look at it.
It is plain in
scripture that this is true for:
Luke 2:40 tells us, And the child grew,
and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon
him.
And Luke 2:52 tells us, And Jesus
increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
It is much easier
to understand that the Lord Jesus grew physically than it is to understand that
He grew intellectually and spiritually, but the text tells us that He grew in
all these ways.
We see him in the
temple in the position of a learner for he was asking questions and listening to
the doctors of the law which is the position of a student, or a learner.
they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing
them, and asking them questions.
You generally do
not learn much if you do not listen for what comes out of your mouth you
already know unless it is a question.
The words of the
Lord Jesus and the teachers at the temple reveal to us an eager student, eager
to learn and it reveals to us a student with a depth of wisdom that astonished
his listeners.
Even at age 12 it
was easily seen that Jesus Christ spoke as one having authority and not as the
scribes.
Another reason
that Jesus remained in Jerusalem was to learn from the teachers at the temple
those things which His parents could not teach Him.
Jesus was in
Jerusalem during the observation of the Passover (Luke 2:41).
Being the passover
lamb don’t you suppose that he was particularly interested in the meaning of
the Passover, especially as it applied to Him.
The teachers at
the temple could answer our Lord’s question more academically, more objectively,
with more understanding of the scriptures.
Jesus therefore
remained in Jerusalem to learn from others what He could not learn from His
parents.
As we have said
Luke is the only writer that includes this event concerning Jesus and his
parents.
Why did Luke
record this event in the childhood of the Lord Jesus Christ?
What was God
intending for us to see?
There are several
obvious things about this event which makes it worthy of becoming a part of the
written and inspired record of the life of Christ.
In Christ, and
only in Christ, humanity is added to deity.
Throughout the
history of the church (beginning very early in church history), men have often
emphasized one side of our Lord’s two natures (His deity and His humanity) at
the expense of the other.
Man always has a
problem getting things in balance.
Man can never walk
fully upright.
He either leans
toward the right or he leans toward the left.
There is
conservative talk radio, there is liberal talk radio but there is no righteous
talk radio.
We are told to
lean not to the right nor to the left but to judge righteous judgement.
We are to see
Christ is fully man and fully God. We are not to be unbalanced in this.
That Jesus was
fully human is evidenced by the fact that He was born and that He was a child,
who grew and developed as any normal child would, physically, intellectually,
and spiritually.
Jesus stayed on at
the temple to learn, not to teach (although His answers to questions put to Him,
astounded those who witnessed this event).
Note the
scriptures Luke 2:46: He was: sitting in
the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
This is a good example for a teacher to
strive for: pupils not only answering questions but asking questions.
There should be a time where students are to
formulate questions.
Formulating questions is a thinking exercise
for no teacher answers every question in his or her lecture.
That Jesus was God
is very evident in our passage.
The wisdom of
Jesus is contrasted in this text with the lack of understanding of His parents,
that is their inability to grasp who He was and why He acted as He did, even
with the revelation about Him which they had been previously given.
Jesus referred to
God as His Father, and was in his father’s temple because this was where a
significant portion of “His Father’s business” was carried out.
The amazement of
those who witness His wisdom, as well as that of His parents, was further
testimony to His uniqueness.
That He could do
and say what no other 12 year-old could have done and been right in so doing is
also proof of His divinity.
It is clear that
Luke intended to represent Jesus Christ as the God-man, even as a 12 year-old
child.
He was the God man
then and he is the God-man now!.
I Timothy 2:5, For there is one God, and one mediator between God and
men, the man Christ Jesus;
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