Expert: x - 5/6/2006

Question
Can you tell me as accurately as possilble about Jesus' childhood(ie,from the time He was 12to the beginning of His Ministry), providing all reliable sources?

Answer
Hello,

To be honest, there isn't a lot of information about that in the Bible. There is all sorts of information to be found in extra-biblical sources, but these stories can conflict with one another, so, we only have the Bible to go by with certainty.

But the Bible tells us enough. First of all, in the Garden of Eden, satan is told that the Messiah- Lord Jesus- would be his downfall--

Genesis 3:15: I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

So satan went about his work, killing anyone godly and decent he could get his hands on, down through history thinking this one or that might be the One.

Beginning with Abel, Cain's brother, satan saw to it that the righteous were hunted down and dealt with. So, later, when Lord Jesus was born, God saw to it that He was hidden.

Matthew 2:13: Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."
14: And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt,
15: and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called my son."


After the death of King Herod, a servant of satan, Lord Jesus continued to grow up like any other person, with the exception that He didn't sin. We are only told this about His life until He began his public ministry.--

Luke2:52: And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.

But then, when Lord Jesus was in His early 30's, God saw fit to publically identify His Son- this was akin to painting a big target on Lord Jesus' head--

Matthew 17:5: He was still speaking, when lo, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him."

Shortly after this announcement from God- which was heard by many in the spirit realm, I'm sure, satan waited until Lord Jesus had fasted, and was physically weak, to strike. So, alone and in the desert, satan appears and says-

Luke 4:3: The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

And so, just a few days after God had identified Lord Jesus as God's Son, satan runs up to Him, and says' "so if you're God's Son, then..." and begins to tempt Him.

And all through Lord Jesus' ministry, He was always hiding from this and that, keeping away from this city or that, avoiding some people, meeting in the dark, etc. because danger was at every turn, and you shouldn't tempt God.

Finally, when it was time for Him to die- he told satan to get it over with quickly--

John 13:26: Jesus answered, "It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it." So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
27: Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly."

Notice in the above passage, it doesn't say that Judas, an evil man, had decided to do Lord Jesus in, it says "satan entered into him." Is that spooky or what? Judas was so far gone spiritually that satan was able to use him liek a puppet. And that was that.

Why aren't we told more about Lord Jesus' childhood when He was growing, and learning, and doing good no doubt?

John 21:25: But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

maybe that explains it- God knows we all have attention deficit disorder when it comes to reading the bible, so maybe He made it as detailed as He could without losing our very finite attention. We have the attention spans of fleas. Apparently only the most crucial of information is given- like an escape manual aboard the Titanic- you don't need poetry, or music, or celebrity gossip- you need a map to the upper deck- to get off and to safety. God has kept it short and sweet.

But like I said earlier, go to a Catholic bookstore if you want to find all sorts of (mostly worthless) information about Lord Jesus' young life. Some say He went to India to preach, some that He got married and had a family- pretty much anything you can imagine (imagination being the key word)- because that's mostly what it is, I'm sure.

Damon