The Gospel according to Luke, Chapter 2.
We begin with Luke 2:40-51.
And the child grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.
And His parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover.
And when He was twelve years old, they went up after the custom of the feast;
and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and His parents knew it not;
but supposing Him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey; and they sought for Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance:
and when they found Him not, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking for Him.
And it came to pass, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them, and asking them questions:
and all that heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
And when they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold, Thy father and I sought Thee sorrowing.
And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me? Knew ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?
And they understood not the saying which He spake unto them.
And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He was subject unto them: and His mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee for the rent veil, that we can boldly enter into the Holy of Holies to behold Thy face and see Thy glory. How we praise and thank Thee for this privilege.
And we just trust Thy Holy Spirit to enable us to see Thy glory in the face of Jesus Christ. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.
I believe we all agree that God’s will is that we behold His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Look off unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
The more we look at the Lord Jesus, the less we will be distracted. The more we look at the Lord Jesus, the more we will look within. The more we look at the Lord Jesus, the more we will be like Him. This is the secret of Christian life.
We shared last time on the birth of our Lord Jesus—His birth, His incarnation, the manifestation of God in the human form of Jesus Christ. It is the Word, God speaking, made flesh: Emmanuel, God with us.
Brothers and sisters, the mystery of incarnation ought to stir our hearts to worship. In the incarnation, we see the great love of God. In the incarnation, we see the emptying of the Son of God. And in the incarnation, we see the greatness of the power of the Holy Spirit.
He is Emmanuel, God with man. He is the God-man. In Him, divinity and humanity are joined into one. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is the only God-man.
It is only in Him that divinity and humanity are commingled. By the grace of God, we may be men and women of God—that is, we receive divine life into us—but that does not make us divine.
In other words, we receive the divine life into us, and that divine life delivers us from our fallen humanity. This divine life sublimates us, but it does not make us divine. We are human, and we will be human forever. We will never be divine, even though we do have the divine life given to us.
It is true that God wants to transform us and conform us to the image of His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. But, dear brothers and sisters, let us always remember: even though we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, there is always something more in Him that is beyond us. He is God. He is the God-man, and we are but human beings—thank God, with His life in us.
I think this point is very important, because we find in Christianity today heresies teaching that, because we receive the divine life in us and our humanity is being delivered and sublimated, therefore we become divine—we become gods. Not at all. We are human beings. Thank God, we are human beings. And He, our Lord Jesus alone, is God.
Another point we must mention is this: in His incarnation, because we are in flesh and blood, Hebrews 2 says that He took part of flesh and blood. In other words, He identified Himself in His incarnation with humanity.
But let us remember: He identified Himself not with the fallen flesh of man, not with Adamic life. He identified Himself with the man that God had originally planned in His heart.
In other words, when Christ took up flesh, there was no sin in that flesh. He did not identify with fallen human beings. He identified with the human being whom God had originally in His mind. Therefore, our Lord Jesus was born without sin. He is sinless.
He who knew no sin, He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This point is very important, because there are heretical teachers who say that our Lord Jesus, because He partook of our flesh, also inherited the same nature of Adam. Now, if that is the case, then He would not be able to be our substitute.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we see that in His incarnation He identified Himself only with human beings in God’s thought, not with a fallen Adamic race. And thank God, because of that, He is able to deliver us.
Now, having said this, we would like to go on with the life of our Lord Jesus. This morning, we would like to share together on His bar mitzvah—that is, when He was twelve years old.
We know from Scripture that when He was eight days old, He was circumcised. He was circumcised according to the law, and He was given the name Jesus, which was given by the angel.
Now, in Galatians 4:4-5, we are told that, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son into this world, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might deliver us from the curse of the law and bring us into sonship.
So here you find our Lord Jesus: He was born under the law. According to the law, He must be circumcised on the eighth day, and He did that in order that He might deliver us from the curse of the law.
The Scripture also tells us that, when the days of purification were fulfilled, He was presented in the temple to God.
In Leviticus 12, we find that a woman who gave birth to a male child would be unclean for forty days. After forty days, she had to present a sacrifice. If she were poor, she would present a turtledove or a pigeon to purify herself from uncleanness.
We also know from Exodus 13 that the first male that opens the womb shall be called holy and offered to God. So, after forty days—and perhaps more than forty days, because this purification could be performed later—Mary came to the temple in Jerusalem to perform the rite of purification.
At the same time, she came to present the firstborn, our Lord Jesus, to God, because all the firstborn belong to God.
You remember the story. When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, on that night every firstborn in Egypt was to be killed. But God prepared a lamb for the children of Israel. When they put the blood of the lamb upon the doorposts and the lintel, then the angel of destruction passed over.
So all the firstborn of the children of Israel were saved, while all the firstborn of the children of Egypt were destroyed. Then God said that, because of what had happened on the day of Passover, all the firstborn belonged to God. All the firstborn are holy, and they should be presented to God, with a sacrifice offered for the firstborn.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know that the firstborn actually represents the whole family. So, spiritually speaking, not only the firstborn, but all who are born belong to God. We all belong to God, and because we all belong to God, we are holy.
Here you find our Lord Jesus, as an infant, dedicated to God by His earthly parents. The spiritual significance of this is that every child who is born is holy in the sight of God.
And to the parents, we must remember this: every child that is born to your family is holy in the sight of God. Therefore, as parents, we must bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. It is a holy trust.
Now, aside from these two incidents, we do not find Luke mentioning the childhood of our Lord Jesus. As a matter of fact, Luke did not even mention the magi who came to worship the child.
When the magi came to worship the child, it was not at the time of the birth of our Lord Jesus. At the time of His birth, the shepherds came and worshiped Him in the manger. But when the magi came, a year or two had already passed, because it took them that long to travel from the East.
Luke did not mention that. Luke did not mention how the child was taken into Egypt, how His parents fled there because Herod wanted to kill all the children below two years of age in Bethlehem. He did not mention how long they spent in Egypt, their return from Egypt, or why they went to Nazareth.
In Luke 2:39, Luke simply says that after they had finished presenting the child to God, they went to Galilee and lived in Nazareth. Nothing was mentioned of the childhood of our Lord Jesus, except one sentence in Luke 2:40:
And the child grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.
Brothers and sisters, is childhood unimportant to God? Certainly not. You remember the attitude of our Lord Jesus toward little children.
In Matthew 19, He said, “Suffer the little children to come unto Me.” For theirs is the kingdom of God. According to Mark 10:16, He took them in His arms and blessed them.
Then, in Matthew 18, He said not to offend a little child, because the angels of a child behold the face of His Father continually. So, brothers and sisters, a child is very precious, very dear, to God’s heart.
Then why is it that the childhood of our Lord Jesus is not given to us in detail? I think we would very much like to know His childhood, but strangely, nothing is mentioned. Why is it?
I believe there is a reason. God wants to emphasize that our Lord Jesus, being born as a child, grew up normally as any other child.
We might think that, because He is the God-man, because He is Emmanuel, because God became man, His childhood must have been different. But, brothers and sisters, He was born as a baby just like we are, and He grew up as a child just like we are. He was a normal child. He lived a normal childhood.
So we are told that the child grew and waxed strong. Of course, with a child, the first thing you notice is physical growth. That is the most noticeable part of the growth of a child. Our Lord Jesus grew and waxed strong normally. His physical growth was normal.
Then we are told that He was filled with wisdom. As a child grows physically, his mind begins to open up and his intellect begins to grow too. But here you find that our Lord Jesus was filled with wisdom. His mental growth was above normal.
And the grace of God was upon Him. That is spiritual growth. In the childhood of our Lord Jesus, His spiritual growth was supernatural, because God’s grace was upon Him. He knew the grace of God. He experienced God’s grace.
So, in one sense, He was a normal child. But in another sense, you find spiritual growth that was supernatural.
I sometimes wonder about Mary and Joseph. Mary was told by the angel that the child to whom she would give birth was the holy thing, the Son of God.
She saw the shepherds come and worship the child. She and Joseph saw the magi come and worship the King of kings and Lord of lords. They knew that this child was different. It was a sacred trust in their hands.
How they must have been before God, asking wisdom from God to bring up this child. Mary kept what she heard and saw in her mind, and pondered it in her heart. I wonder whether sometimes she could not restrain herself and blurt out something to the child. I do not know.
But one thing I am sure of: Joseph and Mary brought up that child normally, in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. Not because what was in their hands was a holy child did they treat Him differently.
I believe they treated Him just as they treated their other children. They did not give Him special favor. Probably they did not even tell this child plainly, “You are different. You are God becoming man.” I do not believe they ever told Him that.
They did not spoil Him. They brought Him up as a child should be brought up. I thank God for that.
But as the child grew, no doubt a consciousness increasingly began to grow within Him. Somehow, He began to feel that there was a relationship between Him and God. It was a Father-and-Son relationship.
He may not have come into that full consciousness at once, but I do believe that as the child grew, that sense—that consciousness that He came from the Father—began to grow in Him.
This consciousness grew until He reached a crisis. And that crisis came on the day of His bar mitzvah.
According to the law of Moses, every male of the children of Israel must go to Jerusalem three times a year to worship God in the temple: at Passover, at Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles.
You find this in Exodus 23:15-17 and Deuteronomy 16:16. Every adult male of the children of Israel must go to Jerusalem to keep the feast three times a year.
Women were not required to do so. But later, the school of Hillel said that a godly woman of Israel must go to Jerusalem at least once annually, on the day of Passover.
Children had no legal obligation to keep these feasts until they reached the age of twelve. Then they had a legal obligation to observe the religious statutes and ceremonies, and they would be held responsible.
So here you find that when our Lord Jesus was twelve years old, His parents went to Jerusalem to keep the Passover as usual. Both His father and mother were godly, and our Lord Jesus went with them.
I do not know whether this was the first time He went to Jerusalem. Of course, when He was presented as an infant, He was in Jerusalem in the temple, but He knew nothing about it then. Probably this was the first time.
Think of that: a boy, twelve years old, being instructed in the home in the law of God, and then, at the age of twelve, going to Jerusalem to receive his bar mitzvah—to be made a son of the law.
Formerly, His parents were responsible for His religious education. But now He was to be responsible Himself before God, because He was becoming a full member of the commonwealth of Israel. He would have the right to answer questions and ask questions. Spiritually, He would be responsible before God.
For the first time, He was going to Jerusalem, to the holy temple, to be made a son of the law. It was a tremendous crisis. Not only for any other Jewish boy, but for this boy, Jesus—how much more it meant to Him.
Evidently, it was the custom of that time that, although Passover was followed by seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, many Jewish people did not remain for the whole length of the feast. After the first few days, they left and returned home. Most likely this happened to their family.
According to the custom of those days, when they traveled, they usually traveled in groups. The men would be together, the women would be together, and the children would be together. Only when evening came, and they settled down, would the whole family gather together for the night.
So, naturally, when Mary and Joseph left, they thought that Jesus must have left with them and was traveling with the other boys. Our Lord was a normal child—remember that, a normal boy. So they did not bother about it.
But when evening came, they could not find Him among their relations and acquaintances, and they were worried. So they returned to Jerusalem, and after three days, they found Him in the temple.
There was the little boy, sitting among the rabbis and doctors. He was listening to them, asking them questions, and answering their questions.
At bar mitzvah, a boy was supposed to recite from memory certain passages of Scripture. He would be questioned by the rulers and doctors concerning what he had learned, and he could also raise questions that he had during his training.
So here you find our Lord Jesus sitting among these grown men, and He was listening. Thank God, He was listening first and not asking first. I think boys usually ask first.
He was listening to them, asking them, and answering them. When Mary saw that, they were amazed. The people who heard His answers were amazed at His understanding.
Then His mother said, “Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold, Thy father and I sought Thee sorrowing.”
And the Lord Jesus said, “Why did ye seek Me? Knew ye not that I must be occupied in My Father’s business?”
Why do you seek Me? If you must seek for Me, you do not need to seek Me elsewhere. You can come straight to the temple; there I will be. Do you not know that I must be in the house of God?
Why is it that you sought Me everywhere, and only at the very last, after three days, you came to the temple? Do you not know that I should be in My Father’s house?
Brothers and sisters, consider a boy coming for the first time to the temple in Jerusalem. An ordinary boy would be attracted by the ornaments, the gold, the beauty, and all the ceremonies going on. Any boy would be stirred by such things.
But with our Lord Jesus, there came to Him a sense: “This is My Father’s house.” To be made a son of the law meant more to Him than being brought into relation with the law of God.
To Him, being made a son of the law was at the same time the opening of His full consciousness that He was the Son of God. God was His Father.
There was an inward relationship with God, not merely an outward relationship, not merely an external relationship with the law of God. There was an inward relationship with the One who gave the law—His Father.
There was not only the fear of the Lord; there was the love of the Lord. To Him, the temple was more than gold and precious stones. The temple was the Father’s house. That was where the Father lived.
And because this was where the Father lived, this was where the Son must live. “Knew ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?” Where else should I be? Why do you go elsewhere trying to find Me? This is My place: the Father’s house.
At the time of His bar mitzvah, He awakened to a full consciousness of His relationship with His Father. He knew that God was His Father. He knew that He was sent into this world to do His Father’s business.
There and then, He purposed in His heart that He must be occupied with His Father’s business. Other boys and other people could go to their homes, but with Him, this was His home. Other people might be occupied with many other things, but with Him, His only occupation was the Father’s business.
He was not to do His own business, nor anybody else’s business, but His Father’s business. At that time, His Father’s business was to sit before the rabbis, to learn, and to know more of the law and the will of His Father.
But after He said this, He returned home with His parents, and He was in subjection to them.
Brothers and sisters, it is true that at that time He purposed in His heart what His life was to be and what He was to be occupied with. His heart was fixed. But He needed to know more of what His Father’s business was. He needed to learn more lessons. He needed more preparation in order to fulfill His Father’s business.
When His parents found Him in the temple, at that moment the Father’s will was for Him to know more of the law of God. So there He was. But, being a minor and not fully grown yet, He had a responsibility and a duty to obey His parents.
That was the will of God. That was the Father’s business for Him at that moment. That was the training He had to learn. That was part of the Father’s business for Him.
So, even though on the one hand He felt that the Father’s business was to learn more of His law from the rabbis, on the other hand He also knew that the Father’s business was for Him, as a minor, to be in subjection to His parents.
When He returned home and submitted Himself to His parents, He submitted with a different attitude: He was submitting to His parents as unto God.
Children, obey your parents. Why? You obey your parents as unto the Lord. Your business is to do the Father’s will. If it is the Father’s will at that moment for you to be in subjection to your parents, then, if you obey your parents, you are doing your Father’s business. Otherwise, you are not.
It took our Lord eighteen years. On the one hand, He was in subjection to His parents. On the other hand, probably Joseph died early, because the Bible did not mention him anymore. Our Lord Jesus, being the firstborn of the family, had to take up the family responsibility. He became the carpenter.
He had to take up responsibility for the family, and that was doing the Father’s will. That was part of the Father’s business at that moment. That was part of the training and part of the preparation. It was not a waste of time.
Only when He was thirty years old did He step out into the Father’s business for His life: to save the lost and to build the church.
In 1 John 4:17, it says, “As He is, so also are we in this world.” This is a principle of Christian living. As He is—as Christ is—so are we in this world.
Why? Not because we can imitate Him. Nobody can imitate our Lord Jesus. But because He has given His life to us.
The very life that He lived on this earth is now your life and my life. Remember this, brothers and sisters: when we are saved, not only are our sins forgiven, but we receive His life. That life is the life of our Lord Jesus.
That is a divine life. That is a human-divine life, a divine life that has come into humanity. We have this very life in us, and because this life is in us, we also must live in this world as He lived.
Anything other than this, anything less than that, is not Christianity.
Let me repeat: it is not that we, in our natural life, take Jesus as our example and try to imitate Him. If you try, the more you try, the more you will find that you are far, far away from Him, because it is an impossible task.
But thank God, we are given the life of our Lord Jesus. His life is in you and in me. This life lived once two thousand years ago, and this life is going to live today in you and in me in the same manner. It cannot live otherwise.
If another life is being lived, it is not the Christ life; it is your natural life.
Because we have this Christ life in us, brothers and sisters, is it any wonder that increasingly there comes within you a consciousness that you are different from the people of the world?
You are a child of God. You are born of the Spirit. God is your Father. Is there such a growing sense, a growing consciousness, within you?
You are different. You cannot be like other people. Yes, you are normal, and yet you are supernaturally normal.
This consciousness of your relationship with God as God’s children must increase to the point that you realize that you are not your own. You are bought with a price.
You are saved not for yourselves. You are saved for God. You have a mission on this earth. You are different from the other people of the world. There is a business with which you have to be occupied—a business different from every other business.
Other people may be occupied with other things, but there is only one thing with which you must be occupied, and that is your Father’s business. There is the purpose of your life.
One day, that consciousness will come to a crisis. When that crisis comes, it is time for you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
Brothers and sisters, has that time come to you? Have you begun to realize that you cannot live your own lives? You cannot just do things as other people do. You cannot plan to have your own future, because you are the Lord’s, and you are sent, as it were, into this world for your Father’s business.
Brothers and sisters, we all need to be occupied. Everyone is occupied. If you are not occupied with this thing, you will be occupied with that thing.
What occupies you? What demands your time, your energy, and your life? What are you occupied with today?
Has it ever come to you, brothers and sisters, as it came to our Lord Jesus when He was twelve years old: “I must be occupied with My Father’s business”?
Have we purposed that purpose in our hearts? Daniel, when he was a teenager, was taken to the Babylonian court. He was to be brought up to be someone who would stand before the greatest king in the world.
But he purposed in his heart not to be defiled, but to keep himself pure for God.
Brothers and sisters, is it time for us today to purpose in our hearts? Because we have a consciousness that we are God’s and that we belong to our Father, therefore we purpose in our hearts that from now on we will be occupied with our Father’s business.
Do you have such a purpose? If you do not, brothers and sisters, your life will be a waste. No matter what you accomplish, your life is a waste.
What is your Father’s business? Before we enter into that, let us see how the Father’s business was gradually unfolded.
It was gradually unfolded to the boy Jesus. It was unfolded to Him when He was twelve and in the temple. It was unfolded to Him when He went back and was in subjection to His parents. It was unfolded to Him when He had to take responsibility for the family. And it was unfolded to Him when He was thirty years old.
It was gradually opened up. Every part was not only training and preparation, but also part of the Father’s business. Nothing was lost.
I believe this is the same with us. In 1 Corinthians 7:20, it says, “Let each man abide in that calling wherein he was called.” In other words, when you are called, abide in that until the Lord opens up further.
If, when you are called, you are a student, purpose in your heart that you are to be occupied with your Father’s business—but continue to study.
When I was called, I was in high school. I wanted to quit high school. I thought it was a waste of time to go to college. Thank God, He overruled.
Oftentimes, when a young man or young woman, a young boy or young girl, is touched by the love of God, we want to leave everything. We want to leave our studies. “What is the use of study? This world is passing away.”
We want to go and be involved in God’s work. You do not even know what God’s work is. You need to ask questions. You need to listen. You need to learn more of the way and will of God.
When you are called and you are a minor, still with your parents, purpose in your heart to be occupied with the Father’s business. But what is the Father’s business for you at that moment? To be in subjection to your parents.
Do not think that because you want to be occupied with the Father’s business you can look down upon your earthly parents. Not at all.
In whatever place you are, abide until the Lord gradually unfolds His will. But when you are in that place, do it as unto the Lord.
If you study with the purpose of doing the Father’s will, you are in the Father’s business. Otherwise, you are studying for your own purpose.
If you work with the purpose of working to do the Father’s business, then it is the Father’s business. Otherwise, it is your business.
Then you may serve the king, but even the king will recognize the God whom you serve. It may be that the Lord is preparing you for that life work in the Father’s business, or it may be that for life this is what the Father’s business is for you to do. We do not know.
But one thing is sure: you must be occupied with the Father’s business. In other words, a priority must be set in the heart.
What occupies our hearts? In Luke 21, it says, “Take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life.”
Our hearts can be occupied with the Father and His business, or our hearts can be occupied with something else. What is your heart occupied with?
What occupies your mind? What are you thinking day and night? Is it the Father’s business or your own business? What takes all your energy? What occupies all your time? What are you here for?
Brothers and sisters, we must be occupied with the Father’s business. What is the Father’s business?
When our Lord Jesus was in the temple at twelve years old, His parents returned home, but He remained in the temple. Why? Because He said, “I must be in My Father’s business.”
In the New International Version, it says, “I must be in My Father’s house.” Other versions say, “I must be about the things of God.” Strictly speaking, what is the Father’s business? If we sum it up, the Father’s business is none other than His own house.
That which occupied our Heavenly Father from the very beginning was that He wanted to build a house for Himself and for mankind. He wanted to dwell among men, and that would be His house. That would be His work—His business.
Unfortunately, Adam sinned. But that did not change the Father’s mind. God still desires to build a house, a home for Himself and for us—not a physical one, but a spiritual one.
There you find fleeing Jacob. Jacob fled from his father’s house; there was no place for him in his father’s house. Yet, as he fled for his life, God pursued him and met him in the wilderness. God promised to build him a house, and he promised to build God a house. God transformed him to be Israel.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, He took them to Mount Sinai and told them His heart: He wanted to dwell among them. “Build a tabernacle.” That was only a type, a shadow. Solomon built a temple, but that also was only a shadow.
What is it that the Father is really occupied with? What was the Son occupied with when He was on earth?
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Abraham looked forward to a city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. Brothers and sisters, what is the Father’s business? The Father’s business is related to the temple; it is related to His house.
We are God’s house, if we hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end. What is the Father’s business? We are all to be involved in the building of God’s house.
You are a part of that house, and you are to contribute to the building up of that house.
Has there ever come a day when, as you meet with other Christians, you realize that you are not merely going to church, but you are to be built up together as the church?
What a difference! Lots of people go to church, but that is a physical building. When you come together to be built up together in love as the church, you are doing the Father’s business.
Whether you are at school, at home, in the office, in the mission field—wherever you are, whatever you are doing—remember: it is the Father’s house with which you must be occupied.
Will what I am doing contribute to the building of God’s house? Whatever I do, whatever I say, whatever I think, whatever my attitude may be, will it build up God’s house, or will it destroy God’s house?
Oh, be occupied with the Father’s business, dear brothers and sisters. This is our bar mitzvah. May the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that our Lord Jesus has not only gone before us, but He is right in us, beckoning us to be what He is in this world.
Lord, we ask that Thy Holy Spirit will open our understanding, that we may really be fully conscious that we are different. We are Thine. We are Thy children, and it is our business to be occupied with Thy business.
Lord, may this be a reality to every one of us, that Thy house may be built and Thou mayest rest among Thy people. To Thee be the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.