LIFE OF CHRIST SERIES VOLUME IV

The Eighteen Silent 'Years

by Gordon Lindsay

Published by Christ For The Nations Dallas, Texas Reprinted 1978 All Rights Reserved

Contents

1    Return to Nazareth

2    Jesus and the Scriptures

3    The Divinity of Christ

Bibliography

Chapter I

Return to Nazareth

Joseph and Mary had returned to Nazareth from Jerusalem with Jesus, their son. At this point the eighteen silent years began. From the time of this visit to Jerusalem they perceived that a notable change was taking place in the young lad. His interests were rapidly turning away from childhood matters. Jesus was still Mary’s son, but He appeared to be a little apart from her life. He seemed to be thinking thoughts that even she could not share. The consciousness of His identity and mission was making its full impact upon His being. There was that everpresent feeling that He must be about His Father’s business.

No doubt Jesus longed to remain in Jerusalem where He might sit at the feet of the great masters. Nevertheless, it was not God’s plan. Joseph and Mary naturally expected Him to return to Nazareth, and return He did. The writer of the Hebrews said, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). It would seem that in Christ’s return to Nazareth, God was teaching men that simple obedience and faithfulness in discharging the normal duties of a son while growing to manhood was considered high and holy in His sight. Here is a pointed lesson to those who chafe at what seems to be the dull routine of life. Luke says:

“And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart” (Luke 2:51).

The eighteen years which would run their course were not to be idle years. Jesus had to learn the carpenter’s trade. The morning after He returned to Nazareth He was seen with Joseph on the way to the carpenter’s workshop. He learned first by watching, and then by practicing with His hands. He had to learn to saw a board square, and how to use the plane to smooth a panel. He had to get the knack of driving a nail straight, and how to use the chisel.

We can believe that Joseph was honest, skillful in his carpenter’s trade, and a hard worker. He had a large family to take care of, so he had to work long hours to make ends meet. His young apprentice would be a welcome help to him.

The houses of Nazareth were in the main constructed of stone, but they used considerable wood in the beams, the roof, the doors and windows. Shops and counters required shelves and chests for holding goods. Furniture such as chairs and tables were needed in the homes. We shall assume that any spare time Joseph and Jesus had was given to providing furniture for their own home. Certainly Mary would have appreciated some nice things in her house. Then there were yokes to make for the oxen, and the threshing flail for the reaper.

We can be assured that Jesus did good work. He could say to a farmer as He sold him a yoke, “This yoke I have made is easy” (Matt. 11:28-30). The plough also called for highly skilled workmanship. In time Jesus became well-acquainted with most of the people of the village and even of the country roundabout as they came and went from His shop. Perhaps He assisted in the rebuilding of the city of Sipphoris, three miles away. It was this city that Varus had destroyed when he overthrew the rebellion led by Judas of Galilee. The shepherds came in to have their crooks repaired. A boastful landlord wanted a bigger barn perhaps. Later, that same man’s sons came around for a coffin for their father (Luke 12:16-21).

All in all, the carpenter’s workshop was a school where Jesus learned many of the lessons of life; and from observations made there He would later frequently draw His illustrations.

Then one day Jesus was alone in the workshop. Joseph was home ill. He did not get better. His wife Mary watched him steadily grow worse. Jesus came home one evening to a sad family. Mary was weeping, for Joseph was dead. Jesus wept with the others, even as He would do someday at Lazarus’ grave. Though He was to be the Resurrection and the Life, nevertheless as He said to Martha, His time had not yet come. It was His Heavenly Father’s will that Jesus should taste and share all the sorrows of the human race, including death, the great enemy of man. Someday He would come to grips with this enemy and destroy its power forever.

How do we know that Joseph died during the years that Jesus spent at Nazareth? For one thing, he appears no longer in the gospel narrative. Mary, His brothers and sisters do, but not Joseph. When they attended the wedding at Cana of Galilee, Mary went but Joseph was not seen. Mary is mentioned several times in the gospel narrative, but never Joseph after the visit to Jerusalem. When Christ went to the Cross, He said to John the Beloved, “Behold thy mother!” And then turning to her, He said, “Behold thy son!” (John 19:26, 27).

The main responsibility of supporting the home then fell to Jesus. For eight days He remained at home with His mother during the mourning period. Then He went back to the workshop to take over the tasks. Perhaps He had the assistance of some of the younger brothers. He now learned what it means to be a father. Jesus knew what it was to toil long hours and earn His bread by the sweat of His brow. Indeed He was known in the community as the “carpenter” and the “carpenter’s son” (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55).

Thus we see that Jesus in His days in Nazareth had all the experiences of home life, which were an important part of His training. He was the oldest son of a rather large family, as Mark 6:3 shows:

“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”

The neighbors were quite unable to see that the family of Jesus was any different from any other family.

As we have noted, responsibility for the support of Christ’s younger brothers and sisters rested largely upon Jesus as the breadwinner of the family. He learned from experience the anxieties of the poor. Perhaps in His own family He heard the word which He later repeated in the Sermon on the Mount, “What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithall shall we be clothed?” He too had to learn to put His whole trust in the Heavenly Father, Who knew what those needs were. He too learned by experience that if He sought “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness ... all these things shall be added...” (Matt. 6:33).

Later after His ministry began, His peculiar ways would bring upon Himself the disapproval of the family who was sensitive to what the neighbors thought:

“And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself... There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee ... For neither did his brethren believe in him” (Mark3:21, 31-32; John 7:5).

In business Jesus would have inevitably become familiar with the petty side of human nature. There would have been the usual hagglers seeking to drive hard bargains. Like all other workmen in business for themselves, He would have had to face dealing with those who were given to bickering over prices. There were probably delinquent debtors to dun. Yet whenever possible He would have been quick to forgive debts in hardship cases.

Perhaps there were years when the family would struggle to keep afloat, and other times when it would get ahead. Probably He was in the market at intervals looking for those who were in need of employment.

Jesus participated in the social life of the village. He was present at weddings. This was later to bring upon Him the charge that He “came eating and drinking.” He mourned with those who mourned, and wept with those who wept. When death came to other homes, He probably remembered the day when He and His family walked behind the bier of their father.

It is likely at times He became restive under the tedious teaching of the scribes in the synagogue, as He perceived that their unimpassioned and dull reading was not reaching the people. We may imagine that His soul burned within Him, as with Jeremiah, while He waited for the hour when He could deliver His message to the people.

All the things that He saw and experienced were contributing to His increase of knowledge of God’s plan. He knew what life ought to be. More and more He discerned between the ways of man and those of God. He recalled the fate of Judas of Galilee and the revolutionaries from the village of Sipphoris, three miles distant. He Himself had been a witness to the terrible massacre of the Jewish patriots, a sacrifice which had accomplished nothing. No doubt some of the bright young men who marched away to engage in the hopeless battle were among those Jesus had known. His own heart must have been deeply saddened when the report reached Nazareth that 2,000 men had been crucified.

Having taken into consideration all these events and circumstances that went into the formation of the character of Jesus, there is still something unaccounted for. There was an original dimension of personality that was not given Him by any part of His environment. It was His spirit-awareness that whereas His body was entirely human, nevertheless, His spirit was something more than human. He was conscious that God was His Father in a way different from that of anyone else. He was the only begotten Son of the Father. But the full significance of truth, the great purpose of His mission, the exact manner by which that mission would be accomplished, all had to be worked out.

We must not overlook the fact that Joseph and Mary went up every year, not just the one time recorded, to celebrate the Passover at Jerusalem (Luke 2:41). It was on these journeys that Jesus may have made some of His dearest friendships. It was customary for pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem to camp on the Mount of Olives. Over toward the east and south only a short distance was the village of Bethany. It was on a road on the other side of the hill that led down to the Jordan River. In Bethany was a family which included a young man by the name of Lazarus. Jesus and Lazarus formed a mutual friendship for each other that may be classed with that of Jonathan and David. Lazarus’ two sisters, Mary and Martha, were both devoted women, although quite unlike in temperament. Martha, probably the elder of the sisters, took the lead as the homemaker. She was a practical and unemotional person, and strove for perfection in her household. Mary, on the other hand, was impassioned and imaginative. Mary, starry-eyed, hung on every word that Jesus spoke, and seemed to understand Him better than any other woman. Jesus loved that home and often made His headquarters there when He was near Jerusalem.

During these trips that the family made to the Holy City it is likely that Jesus repeated His visits with the doctors and learned rabbis of the temple. There He would get a close understanding of the feelings and expectations of the people concerning the Messiah. It was then that it became evident to Him that the popular expectation and the divine plan for the Messiah were something quite different. Thus, very early in His life Jesus could see that when His ministry was to be revealed many of the people would be deeply disappointed.

During the years Jesus lived in Nazareth He had not yet received the fullness of the Spirit. Nevertheless, He was in continual communion with His Heavenly Father. We are told that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Later in the days of His ministry, we find Him oftentimes retreating into the vastness of the mountains or the desert where He could commune with His Father. During those eighteen silent years, we may be certain that there were many such seasons in which He was alone with God. Thus, little by little, the whole plan and purpose of His mission became unveiled to Him.

During these years, no doubt many young maidens stirred with approaching womanhood watched Him covertly, noting His stalwart form, His kind eyes, the gentle and courteous manner in which He treated them. Yet while aware of His attractive personality, they must have felt lifted out of themselves and above their natural emotions into a spiritual realm when they came into His presence, something they themselves were unable to account for.

Mary, His mother, for her part treasuring the secret of the virgin birth, naturally watched Him closely, seeking for signs of what her own spiritual intuition told her was coming. Not until He reached manhood, probably, did she tell Him her great secret. And then on a suitable occasion, with womanly delicacy she told him the story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to her home and how he brought the message of the impending supernatural birth. She no doubt also related the dream that Joseph had. And then after making these disclosures, she probably looked expectantly at her Son to note His reaction. We can imagine His answer was a smile that showed that He fully understood. For Jesus had known from childhood that He was from above and had come to fulfill a great purpose in the world. His knowledge of the book of Isaiah, which must have been one of His favorite books (Luke 4:16-20), had shown Him years before that Emmanuel was of virgin birth (Isa. 7:14). Nonetheless, the confirmation by His mother must have been welcome.

From time to time, Jesus went out on the hilltop above Nazareth. Mary saw Him go and watched Him return, but what took place in His visits to the summit she did not know. She probably noticed with a pang that there was a widening gulf—a realm that her Son was entering into that she herself could not invade. Yet His attitude toward her was always the same—one of great love, gentleness, and deference.

Chapter II

Jesus and the Scriptures

As we have noted, there can be no doubt that Jesus from His early childhood was aware of His divinity, but all that this involved, the manner and methods of His future ministry, and how He should go about the fulfillment of His mission to the world, He would discover by the means appointed to Him.

Jesus must have realized early that His great source of knowledge of the divine plan of God was to be found in the Scriptures, access to which He had at the synagogue in Nazareth. That He did carefully study the Scriptures is one of the most obvious facts of His hidden years. His constant reference to what Moses and the prophets had written, His absolute belief in their inspiration, and that not one jot nor tittle should pass away till all be fulfilled, proves this.

To what extent were the Old Testament Scriptures able to enlighten Him on the character and manner of His future ministry? Would this enlightenment make it possible for Him, upon whose shoulders rested the fate of the world, to orient His life to His great calling?

Before we answer these questions, we should first take note of what Jesus had learned by the time He had reached manhood, concerning Israel’s expectation of the advent of the Messiah. Regular attendance at the annual festivals at Jerusalem made Jesus intimately familiar with the nature of the Jews’ religious worship. His keen perception saw Judaism in its stark reality. He perceived Israel as a nation moved by a fierce nationalism and a proud contempt for other peoples.

There was also a hardening of the moral life of the nation into a system of formality and rituals. There was the outward offering of sacrifice, but no inward piety. The people as a whole were ignorant and superstitious, yet faithful to such ideals that they had.

When Jesus on His occasional trips to Galilee visited the hot baths on its shores, He witnessed the heart-breaking scenes of human misery and physical suffering. He saw revealed the little world of men, women, and children, worn and wasted with sickness and disease. It produced a great compassion in His heart for those who so suffered.

In the area on the west shores of the Sea of Galilee, the great trade routes of the nations crossed. From the foreigners and pilgrims He had opportunity to know something of the customs of the pagan religions. He learned of India’s travail and the moral reform inaugurated by Buddha. Travelers from Persia informed Him about Zoroaster who had set up another system of religion. From the West He would have heard about the mystic religions and the principles of Greek philosophy. He learned also of the darker cults which made gods of men, worshipped indecency, and practiced indescribable vileness.

Thus a vision of the world as it really was formed in His mind—a world lost and perishing, yet with possibilities. He felt the weight of its wretchedness, its suffering and its unavailing sorrow. He saw the failure and despair of the race. He witnessed its violence, its lust for riches, the desire for luxury, and the selfish pursuit after pleasure. He saw also the patient toil, the servitude, the poverty of the downtrodden, and the desire for better things. He was made to know the longing in the human heart for immortality on one hand, and the cynicism and materialism that existed on the other. And ever in the background were the sorrows of a race that had fallen, the sobbing of women and little children, the grief of the bereaved who stood beside the cold form of their loved one.

Some say Jesus never laughed. Certainly this was not true, but in view of the great weight of human suffering, laughter left Him—how could He laugh before this piteous picture of a sad and forlorn world? But His smile became all the sweeter because of His understanding of the sorrows and griefs of mankind.

W. P. Livingston in his volume The Master Life sums up what Jesus saw and His interpretation of the need of the human race whose burdens He was to share and whose souls He had come to rescue:

“That world needed no political potentate, or military colossus, who would strut through a petty hour of blood and triumph and then vanish into the abyss. Nor did it need a master of learning who would expound the philosophy of the universe or the constitution of matter or the solution of economic and industrial problems, or the principles underlying art. These things did not touch its essential life. They left unaffected its spiritual palate. They were appropriate to the intellectual sphere and it was the privilege of man to enlighten himself ... but to inform him out of season, regarding the origin and physical history of the earth, the processes that shaped it into being ... would be inviting the natural evolution of mind and interfering with the divine scheme.”

What then was to be the nature of the mission of Christ? What was needed was someone who could speak with authority and tell mankind what was truth, the purpose for which people were born, how they might live in accord with the law of their being, and how they might have immortality. Jesus was to be God’s evangelist proclaiming to the world the principles of the kingdom of God and of eternal life. In Him was the desire of all nations. He was the One who had come to redeem men from sin and set them free.

Jesus then would reveal God to mankind, show them His real nature, that God was a Father to whom every child could go. He would show men that before they could enjoy Heaven, Heaven had to first be born within their hearts. He would make them to know that before the visible kingdom of God would appear on the earth, that kingdom must first be set up in the human heart. He would declare to them that the soul was worth more than the body which would soon perish, and that men could not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God, that loss of the body meant little, but the loss of the soul was catastrophic.

Nonetheless Jesus was becoming increasingly aware that this was not the message for which Israel was looking. It was rather Judas of Galilee that had caught the imagination of the people, even though he led many to their death. Men were impatient for the throne of Israel to be set up. Thus the task of Jesus would be very difficult due to their twisted thinking. The Messiah they were looking for was not one who would teach, but one who would lead them to victory on the battlefield. There was little desire for a purely spiritual kingdom.

What wisdom Jesus would need to present His message to the people! How He would have to make allowance for their ignorance and shallowness. He would have to acquiesce in their religious customs. He would have to use simple illustrations such as those from nature, so that they could understand. And above all, He would have to lead them back to the Scriptures to lay a foundation for His teachings.

Jesus knew He was born to be a king. Later when Pilate asked Him the question, “Art thou a king then?” He would answer, “To this end was I born...” But at the same time He would also say that His kingdom was not of this world.

“Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36).

Jesus recognized in Jacob’s prophecy a reference to the scepter of Israel descending to Him.

“The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be” (Gen. 49:10).

In Balaam’s prophecy He saw Himself as a Star arising out of Jacob who would someday overthrow the enemies of Israel.

“I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth” (Nu. 24:17).

But it was also clear to Jesus that He had to come first as a prophet, a Saviour to save the nation from her sins. He first had to reign over the people’s hearts before He could rule over them as a kingdom. This great truth must have come to Him very early. He certainly knew all the facts of the terrible power struggle that had taken place in the establishment of the Roman Empire. Judas’ insurrection and the ghastly consequences were an illustration close to home that the kingdom of God could not be established by those methods. Jesus undoubtedly foresaw that there would be attempts to make Him King, as indeed there were, and He would have to be on His guard against them (John 6:14-15).

Jesus, therefore, saw that His ministry was to have its beginning as a prophet. And indeed He referred to Himself as a prophet when He spoke to Nazareth saying, “No prophet is accepted in his own country.” He must have carefully studied the life of Moses, for He saw Himself typed in the Scriptures by this prophet:

“The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him ” (Deut. 18:15-19).

At Sinai, God had spoken directly to the children of Israel. But this approach had frightened them, and they besought Moses that henceforth God should speak to him rather than directly to the people. However, Moses was only the prototype who portrayed the prophet that was to come. As did Moses, so did Jesus in His time speak the words of God to the people of Israel.

Jesus saw His own life in Moses; He was imperiled at birth, rejected by His brethren, and chosen of God to deliver Israel. He saw Moses as an intercessor, as the giver of the Law of God, as leading the children of Israel up to the very doors of the Promised Land, yet not as being permitted to go over himself. So He, the deliverer of Israel would lead His people into a land of rest and of plenty, but at the price of His own life.

The Ministry of the Messiah

It must have come early to Jesus the type of ministry that He was to have. He saw that it was a ministry of deliverance not to rid the nation of the Romans, but to set free the spirits and bodies of men from sin and sickness. The book of Isaiah, which refers so often to the Messiah must have held His attention. The passage in Isaiah 61:1-2 was one that He must have pondered often and indeed it was the text He chose for His first recorded sermon:

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn.”

This prophecy told Him many things. First, He was to receive a special anointing of the Spirit, by which He would be given power to perform the work that lay before Him. It reminds us of the words He spoke to His own disciples after His resurrection, when He gave them the Great Commission:

“But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me..." (Acts 1:8).

Jesus was not merely to speak words as all the other religious teachers and reformers before Him had done, but He was to demonstrate His authority by a ministry of power. How His heart must have gone out to the sick lying about the warm-water springs near Tiberias. As the Messiah, He would restore sight to the blind, heal the brokenhearted, give liberty to those that were bruised; and to those bound by Satan’s power He would bring deliverance.

His Rejection

But just as certainly as the poor and the down-trodden were to receive this ministry with joy, just so surely was it made plain to Him from the prophecies that the religious authorities would reject Him. In Chapter 53 of Isaiah, He saw His fate foretold clearly and unmistakably. Many of the Psalms also revealed the sufferings and peculiar destiny of the Messiah.

Looking backward in time we today are able to see how perfectly all these prophecies were fulfilled in the vicarious suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To us they proclaim salvation and redemption. To the Youth who had reached manhood in Nazareth, they spelled out the many sorrows and griefs that He was to bear in fulfilling His appointed mission.

That we might see through the eyes of Jesus as He studied the prophecies and communed with His Heavenly Father during the days He was in Nazareth, we list these prophecies of His betrayal, trial, death, resurrection, and their fulfillment. When Jesus read them they were not yet fulfilled. He knew that before they should fail fulfillment, the very heavens must fall. It was these solemn things that were on Jesus’ heart and mind, thoughts which He could not convey to His mother as the days of His active ministry swiftly approached.

Let us notice some of these prophecies that related to Christ’s ministry and their later fulfillments:

The Prophecy

The Fulfillment

1.The Messiah was to be rejected.

“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not” (Isa. 53:3).

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (Jn. 1:11).

2.The Messiah was to be betrayed by one of His close followers and friends.

“Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me” (Psa. 41:9).

“And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to betray him unto them” (Mark 14:10).

3.The Messiah was to be sold for thirty pieces of silver.

“And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver” (Zech. 11:12).

“And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver” (Matt. 26:15).

4.The Messiah was to be silent before His accusers.

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isa. 53:7).

“And the high priest arose, and said unto him, Answerest thou nothing? What is it which these witness against thee? But Jesus held his peace. And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God” (Matt. 26:62, 63).

5.The Messiah was to be smitten and spat upon by His enemies.

“I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting” (Isa. 50:6).

“And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands” (Mark 14:65).

6.The Messiah was to bring healing to the people.

“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:4-5).

“And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matt. 8:14-17).

7.The Messiah was to be mocked and taunted.

“But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him” (Psa. 22:6-8).

“And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matt. 27:39-40).

8.The Messiah was to suffer with transgressors and pray for His enemies.

“Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12).

“Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left” (Matt. 27:38).

9.The Messiah’s hands and feet were to be pierced.

“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet” (Psa. 22:16).

“Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).

10.The Messiah was to be given gall and vinegar.

“They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink” (Psa. 69:21).

“Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth” (John 19:29).

11.Messiah’s side was to be pierced.

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zech. 12:10).

“But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water” (John 19:34).

12. They were to cast lots for the Messiah’s garments.

“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture” (Psa. 22:18).

“And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take” (Mark 15:24).

13. Messiah was to be buried with the rich.

“And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth” (Isa. 53:9).

“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed” (Matt. 27:57-60).

14. Messiah was to be a sacrifice for sin.

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isa. 53:5, 8, 10, 12).

“The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

15.Messiah was to be raised from the dead.

“For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psa. 16:10).

“And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him” (Matt. 28:9).

16.Messiah was to ascend to the right hand of God.

“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Psa. 68:18).

“And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven” (Luke 24:50-51).

When Was the Messiah to Come?

There was one more prophecy in the book of Daniel that must have held a tremendous interest to Jesus. That concerned the time that had been appointed for the Messiah to come. What must have been the thoughts of the young Man when He first read the prophecy of Daniel 9?

“Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Dan. 9:25- 26).

Here the prophet Daniel received word by the archangel Gabriel as to the very date that the Messiah was to be cut off— or put to death. Was Jesus born at the right time that the prophecy mentioned? It said that the Messiah was to be cut off just 69 weeks after “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem” (Dan. 9:25). The event for the restoration of Jerusalem was clearly predicted by Isaiah in the Edict of Cyrus:

“That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isa. 44:28).

Its fulfillment was recorded in Ezra 1:1-4. How long a period is the 69 weeks that were to begin with this event? If it were days, the period would only be a little over a year—far too short a time. In Genesis 29:27, we see that a “week” of years is seven years. Sixty-nine weeks of years is, therefore, 483 years. Jesus using such chronologies as were available in His time, saw that indeed He had come on the scene at the exact time! Of course He knew that He was the Messiah, as much as He knew anything. But it is notable that Jesus always supported His faith by the confirmation of the Scriptures. The knowledge that these 483 years were almost up must have spurred Him to renewed prayer and preparation. Apart from this, the prophecy declared the Messiah was to be cut off! He was to consummate His ministry with death!

The Priesthood of Jesus

The Scriptures also showed Jesus that He was to function as a priest, not as one of the tribe of Levi, for He was not of that tribe, but after the order of Melchizedek:

“The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent. Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek” (Psa. 110:4).

Jesus saw that the Levitical priesthood and the Law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:11; 18-19). The Levitical priesthood died and did not continue. Therefore, the Messiah became a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 7:17).

“But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:24-25).

As priest, Christ would mediate the better covenant (Heb. 8:6), which would take the place of the old covenant (Heb. 8:13). But before Christ could become priest, it was necessary that He reach the age of thirty, the time when a priest was accepted for service (Numbers 4:3). If He entered His ministry at thirty, how many years would that leave Him before the prophecy said the Messiah would “be cut off” or die? Only about three years! Jesus would have to fulfill His tremendous task in the amazingly short period of three years! It would have been enough to stagger Him, to overwhelm His humanity were it not for His great faith in God. As it was, a few times He bent under the weight of His gigantic task. And so it was that little by little, as Jesus pondered the Scriptures, the form and nature of His ministry was taking shape in His soul. Yet He was not limited to the Scriptures only, for indeed the Spirit of God was upon Him from the beginning to teach Him, and to bring all things to His remembrance. Notwithstanding, during the preministry years He did not yet have the great and unlimited measure of the Spirit that He would have after His baptism:

“For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him” (John 3:34).

The Scriptures were the basis of the ministry of Christ, although the Spirit dwelling with Him made the Word alive and powerful and guided Him into all truth.

It is interesting to follow the gospel narrative of the four evangelists and observe the manner in which the events in Christ’s life were again and again related to a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. To the people He said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). And to the unbelieving Jews He said, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me” (Verse 46). To the Sadducees He said, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matt. 22:29). And after the resurrection when He opened the understanding of certain of His disciples, “He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27).

Chapter III

The Divinity of Christ

One day during the ministry of Christ, Jesus asked the Pharisees the question, “What think ye of Christ?” (Matt. 22:42). They answered that they believed He was the son of David, which according to Christ’s humanity was true. But Jesus was considering the question of His divinity, and He called attention to the fact that David in the Spirit had called Him Lord. How could He then be His son?

The question of who Christ is has been answered in many ways. Some have considered Jesus only as one of those especially gifted individuals who come into the world from time to time. They say He was a man with a unique personality and possessed with unusual talents, but still only a man. This view has been tenaciously held by a certain school of thought from the days of Christ on down to the present. It has a special hold upon those types of thinkers who commonly go under the name of Unitarians. The Unitarian holds that the physical laws of nature are invariable and constant and that all true knowledge is a product of the observation of these physical laws. This view, of course, excludes all miracles and denies the divine inspiration of the Scriptures. If followed to its logical consequences, it destroys all grounds for belief in angels, spirits, and the immortality of the soul. Indeed, it denies the very possibility of the government of God. God is to them the unknown and unknowable. Such a position inevitably leads to atheism.

There is a second class of people who look upon Christ as more than human, but less than Divine. They admit the grandeur of Christ’s nature and the excellence and sublimity of His teachings. They exalt Him above the angels but not to the level of deity. This belief is a theory of compromise.

Then there is the medieval view that is still held by some that Jesus had a double soul—a human soul and a divine soul in one body. This view represented a groping for the truth, and is a closer approach to truth than the first two. It is however a cumbersome theory. The real truth, as we shall see, is actually very simple. Let us now turn to the Scriptures and see what they have to say on this all-important matter.

1. The Word Was Made Flesh

John the apostle tells us that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. ” This is the explanation given by John who was the closest to Christ. The simple meaning of the above words is that the divine Spirit clothed Himself with a human body and in that condition took on the limitations of a man.

2. Made in the Likeness of Men

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:5-8).

From this Scripture, we see the pre-existence of Christ in the form of God, and that He took upon Him the form of man. In other words, Jesus being a divine person took on a human body and became subject to all its laws and conditions.

3. Took on Sinful Flesh

“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh ” (Romans 8:3).

Here we are told that Christ took on sinful flesh. He took on human nature through Mary, so that in all respects His body was the body of a man beset with the same temptations, yet without sin.

The fact is that these Scriptures simply teach that the Son of God came into the world in the person of Jesus. In so doing, He veiled His royalty and emptied Himself of the powers that belonged to Him in His pre-incarnate state. He did not bring with Him in the incarnation the attributes of deity; although after He was baptized in the Holy Ghost He manifested by degree the glory of the eternal.

Jesus, after He had received the baptism of the Spirit at the River Jordan, “being found in fashion as a man, ” became subject to the gradual unfolding of those powers He once had. He came back to His original self little by little. As Henry Ward Beecher said in his Life of Jesus, the Christ:

“Who shall say that God cannot put Himself into finite conditions? Though as a free spirit, God cannot grow, yet as fettered in the flesh, He may. Breaking out at times with amazing power in single directions, yet at other times feeling the mist of humanity resting upon His eyes, He declares, ‘Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’ This is just an experience we should expect in a being whose problem of life was, not the disclosure of the full power and glory of God’s attributes, but the manifestation of the love of God and of the extremities of self-renunciation ..

Some early theologians believed suffering to be inconsistent with divinity. With such ideas of the divine nature, how could they believe that Jesus, a Man of suffering, was divine? The fact is man’s nature and God’s nature do not differ so much in kind as to the degree of their attributes. Love and mercy and goodness are the same in God as in man. When God created man, He said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).

Yes, Christ was very much God. When clothed with flesh and made subject to physical laws, He was then a Man of the same moral faculties, of the same mental powers, subject to the same physical weaknesses, trials and temptations—only without sin. A human soul is not something different from a divine soul.

What Christ was like on earth in His sympathies, tastes, friendships, we shall find in Him in heaven—only amplified to an infinite degree.

But now the question is: When did Christ know He was divine? Isaiah 7:15,16 shows that Christ came to consciousness the same as any other child. “For before the child (Immanuel) shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good ...” (Verse 16). This verse makes it plain that His own human consciousness in which memory would play a part would not occur much before the age of three. Yet once consciousness had come, there must have come simultaneously the consciousness of His pre-existence.

Christ was very emphatic of His pre-existence in His personal testimony. Here are a few typical statements He made on the matter:

“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me ... Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am ... I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father ...And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was ... Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (John 8:42; 58; 16:28; 17:5, 24).

Not only did He testify of His pre-existence; but He declares His actual deity:

“I and my Father are one ... Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works ... Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he ... Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? . All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the

Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him...” (John 10:30; 14:10; 4:26; 9:35; Matt. 11:27).

“Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?” (Matt. 22:42-45).

That Christ knew of His divinity in His childhood is shown in His one recorded saying before manhood. It was made while He was in the temple conversing with the elders and the doctors. Mary, His mother, found Jesus after a three-day search and said, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing” (Luke 2:48). Mary had referred to Joseph who was His nominal father. Immediately Jesus in a gentle tone, but in a way impossible not to understand, called their attention to the fact that it was God who was His father. Mary should never forget that.

“And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).

He was not only emphasizing that they should know by now that He ought to be about His Father’s business, but that indeed God was His true Father.

The eighteen years having been expired, it was time for Christ’s public ministry to begin.

In our next volume we shall begin the thrilling story of the events which would change the destinies of mankind.

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Table of Contents

1 Return to Nazareth

2 Jesus and the Scriptures

3 The Divinity of Christ

Bibliography