Chapter Two – The Missing Years

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When most people think of Jesus Christ’s time on earth as a human being, they think either of a dead Saviour hanging from a cross or a helpless baby lying in a manger.

Few picture a growing, energetic boy who played games with His childhood friends and performed household chores. Few imagine God-in-the-flesh—a Man who sweated as He eagerly laboured in His human father’s profession. Who may have had to diplomatically rebuff peer pressure from family and friends to get married and start a family—or to participate in any other activities that would have thwarted His supreme Purpose. Who freely laughed and expressed a good sense of humour. Who was unafraid to shed tears in empathy for others. Who enjoyed delicious food and drink, and life in general, yet always with perfect moderation.

Jesus was real—He felt, He spoke, He observed, worked, ate and breathed. He was both Man and God, physical yet divine. During His 33½ years of human existence, Christ experienced life as a baby, then a toddler, boy, teenager and young adult, into manhood. God inspired Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to record the details of Jesus’ 3½-year ministry. Yet, when it comes to His early years, from ages 12 to 30, the Bible reveals very little.

Some, relying on human reasoning and theory, have invented stories about these “lost” years. One tells of a young Jesus learning the mystic arts in Egypt. Another tale has Him journeying across the Atlantic Ocean to preach to the American Indians, who some believe to be the “lost ten tribes” of Israel. But these or other fictional stories are not supported by the Bible.

Scripture gives a few details about Christ’s boyhood and coming of age years—and we should not be surprised. For example, God’s Word provides only a basic outline, along with a few highlights, of the Pre-Flood World, a 2,000-year period from Adam to Noah in which hundreds of thousands—perhaps even millions—of people had lived.

Psalm 12:6 states, “The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” The Bible says exactly what God wants it to say, and the Creator wants human beings, His creation, to focus on the things He requires us to know.

While we cannot know every event that occurred on Christ’s path from adolescence to adulthood, we can piece together certain scriptures, along with history and the traditions of the time, to capture a broad yet clear view of Jesus’ early life. As we do, we will see God’s overarching two-fold Purpose for His Son’s First Coming.

Wrong Expectations

God sent an angel to warn Joseph in a dream that Herod the Great sought to murder the Christ Child (Matt. 2:13). Joseph quickly followed God’s instruction to gather Mary and little Jesus, and take refuge in Egypt, which was outside of Herod’s legal jurisdiction. They returned to Judea after Herod’s death, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Hosea 11:1, in which God said that He “called My Son out of Egypt.”

The Jews, reading Micah 5:2, expected the Messiah to publicly appear from Bethlehem: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth unto Me that is to be Ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

However, God had other plans. Though His Son was born in Bethlehem, God chose to rear Him in a place most people least expected: Nazareth, in Galilee, Joseph and Mary’s hometown.

The name “Nazareth” means “separated, crowned, sanctified” and “the guarded one.” Easton’s 1897 The Bible Dictionary describes the town as being “situated among the southern ridges of Lebanon, on the steep slope of a hill, about 14 miles from the Sea of Galilee and about six west from Mount Tabor…The main road for traffic between Egypt and the interior of Asia passed by Nazareth near the foot of Tabor, and thence northward to Damascus.”

The people of Judea, especially citizens of Jerusalem, looked down upon the Galileans, whom they viewed as socially unsophisticated—in effect, “backwoods” people. But God declares, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways…For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9).

Although the Messiah was foretold to come from Nazareth, when Christ’s ministry began, His Galilee upbringing still became a stumbling block for many in “cosmopolitan” Jerusalem. (See John 1:45-46 and 7:40-42.) Of the many that God would call, only a few would look past physical appearances and social backgrounds and appreciate the hidden treasure (Matt. 13:44) of truth in Christ’s teachings.

Dynamics of Family Life

Jesus had four younger brothers—James, Joses, Simon and Judas—and at least two sisters (Matt. 13:55-56; Mark 6:3). While all of the seven or more siblings were born from the same mother, Jesus’ brothers and sisters were from the union of Mary and Joseph.

After Gabriel first appeared to Joseph in a dream, “Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not [did not engage in sexual relations] TILL she had brought forth her firstborn Son” (Matt. 1:24-25). Joseph married Mary, but did not have marital relations with her until after Jesus was born.

This and other passages disprove the popular—yet unscriptural—tradition of Mary’s “perpetual virginity.” This false doctrine originated from pagan beliefs of various idol-worshipping mystery religions, tracing all the way back to Nimrod and the tower of Babel.

The “perpetual virginity” belief—which falsely teaches that Jesus’ mother “must” have been sinless and perfect for her to give birth to the Son of God—only serves to blur Mary’s true purpose, and elevates her to a godlike status. Today, a billion-plus professing Christians have been deceived into praying to Mary for her intercession in their lives—when it is Christ who is the Mediator between God and man (I Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24).

As do siblings in other families, Jesus’ little brothers and sisters looked up to their big Brother. When they fell into mischief (as little ones tend to do), Jesus was there to set the right example.

Nonetheless, growing up in Joseph and Mary’s household was far from being picture perfect. Wherever there is flesh, there is human nature (Rom. 8:7). Galatians 5:19-21 lists the “works of the flesh”—the natural tendencies of man’s nature. These include “hatred [enmity, hostility, antagonism], variance [quarrel, strife, discord], emulations [jealousy, zealous ill will toward others], wrath [fury, rage, anger], strife [selfish ambition, faction], seditions [division, dissension]” and “envyings.” In a family of at least six siblings, one can expect some degree of rivalry, jealousy and strife during the formative years.

The young Jesus knew He had to rise above this, yet at the same time not allow Himself to fall into self-righteousness. He rejected the pulls and pressures of the flesh, society and Satan, and—being full of God’s Spirit from the womb—actively exercised the power of God to produce the evident fruit of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance [self-control]” (Gal 5:22-23). Jesus was balanced in all things. He had to be—He could not afford to sin, not even once!

No doubt Joseph and Mary told their children on more than one occasion to behave. Perhaps they may have occasionally added, “You should be more like your brother Jesus.” It is likely Jesus’ balanced, good-natured approach to life may have led a brother or sister to feel jealousy or resentment toward Him, as Cain did toward Abel. Carnal nature has a way of accusing the innocent of wrongdoing.

It is not uncommon for a child to receive blame, even punishment, for wrongs he or she did not commit. Sometimes a brother will falsely accuse another, or allow his sister to take the blame for something that was not her fault. Injustices happen in families—and they probably happened to Jesus. If He were wrongly punished, He would not have sought revenge. He allowed injustice to develop and strengthen Him, to keep Him humble.

Such moments served to reinforce in Jesus the patience described in James 1:2-4, defined as “hopeful, cheerful endurance.” It is this godly, patient endurance that builds up holy, righteous character that is “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Christ was the One who inspired the apostle Peter to write, “Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the forward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently? But if, when you do well, and suffer for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

“For even hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously” (I Pet. 2:18-23).

Jesus did not just teach the Way of God—He LIVED it!

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