Saturday 21, Jan 2017 - JESUS PREPARED HIMSELF

LUKE 2:46, "And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions."

This is the only scriptural record of Jesus' childhood. Yet there is much that we can learn from this brief account.

At twelve years of age, Jesus' wisdom astounded the men who had spent a lifetime studying the scriptures (v. 47). Remember that Jesus did not have full time access to a copy of the scriptures like we do today. He had to depend on His visits to the synagogue and the direct revelation knowledge from His heavenly Father.
He was also asking these scholars questions (v. 46). This is amazing when you realize that in Him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! (Col. 2:3) Although He was God, He inhabited a physical human body that needed to be educated.
He also had a clear understanding at this young age of who His real Father was and exactly why He had come to the world (v. 49). We can only speculate how this must have influenced His childhood.
So we see that Jesus knew His call and purpose even in His early childhood. However, there is no record of miracles or ministry on His part until after His baptism by John at the age of thirty. Preparing a body for God Almighty to manifest Himself through was no small task. Praise God for His great love that caused Him to sacrifice everything for us.