January 6, 2023: Luke 2:48-50 - They Found Jesus in His Father's House

“So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them.’ “ - Luke 2:48-50

After three days of being separated from twelve year-old Jesus while traveling back from the Feast of the Passover in Jerusalem and having discovered He was missing, Joseph and Mary had just found Jesus in the temple, where He was listening to and asking questions of the Jewish teachers and also giving His own answers. I can’t imagine the relief Mary and Joseph must have felt when they had found Him! As a parent, it must have been agony to be separated from Him, not knowing where He was, what He was doing, and if He was safe. But Jesus was no ordinary twelve year-old young man. He is the Son of God, and He was right where He needed to be - in His Father’s house, doing His father’s business.

I have read commentaries that noted the distinction of what Mary said to Him when they had found Him, “Look, Your father and I have sought you anxiously.” While Joseph was Jesus’ stepfather, His true Father is God Almighty, for Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary. I am sure that Jesus meant no disrespect to Joseph and His mother but to acknowledge who His true Father is, and that sets Him apart from anyone else ever born on this earth.

I find it interesting that Jesus was the age of twelve when He went to Passover. After it ended and when His parents began their journey home with those who had come with them, Jesus. unbeknownst to His parents, went to the Jewish temple - His Father’s house. And not only did He go to the temple, He went to the part of the temple that was off-limits to most people and reserved only for the Jewish teachers. He sat among them, listening to them teach and asking them questions and also providing His own answers, astonishing all those who heard Him.

I don’t believe there is any coincidence that Jesus was twelve years old when He went to the temple. The number 12 is significant in the Bible; in fact, there are 187 references to it. I encourage you to access the link below to learn about some of the key references to the number 12 in the Bible. “Revelation alone has 22 occurrences of the number. The meaning of 12, which is considered a perfect number, is that it symbolizes God’s power and authority, as well as serving as a perfect governmental foundation. It can also symbolize completeness of the nation of Israel as a whole.” (bible study.org)

https://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/12.html

Jesus is perfect in every way, and He symbolizes God’s power and authority. After Jesus had died and was resurrected, He told His disciples before He ascended to God the Father in heaven, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18) Jesus told the apostle Philip, “The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.” (John 14:10-11) Isaiah 9:6 prophesied of the coming Messiah before Jesus was born, “And the government will be upon His shoulder.” When He comes to the earth the second time in judgment, He will defeat all who come against Him and will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords on the earth for 1,000 years before He creates a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, where He and the Father are with all who believed in Jesus, forever.

Jesus is the only One who can provide completeness of Israel as a nation. When Jesus came the first time to earth to offer salvation to all who would believe in Him as Messiah, Israel as a nation rejected Him. But when the 7-year tribulation period comes to earth, the time known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), the start of which I believe we are getting so very close to, the eyes of Israel will finally be opened at the midpoint of the tribulation, 3-1/2 years into it, when their false messiah, antichrist, the one with whom Israel will confirm a 7-year covenant of “peace,” (Daniel 9:27) reveals himself by committing the “abomination of desolation” (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15). At that point, as the prophet Zechariah prophesied, Israel’s eyes will finally be opened and they will see Jesus as their Messiah, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” (Zechariah 12:10)

While two-thirds of the nation of Israel will die during the seven-year time of Jacob’s trouble, a remnant of one-third will be left, as Zechariah foretold, “‘And it shall come to pass in all the land,’ says the LORD, ‘that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold as tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’’ and each one will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’’” (Zechariah 13:8-9)

As prophesied many times in the Bible, including in Ezekiel 37, God has started to restore Israel physically be bringing its people from the nations to which they were scattered and back into its land that God gave them, where it is no longer divided into the two nations of Israel and Judah. “…I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.” (Ezekiel 37:22) The return of the Jews back to the land of Israel is still happening. However, Israel is currently living in unbelief, rejecting their true Messiah, looking for the false messiah. They will only be restored spiritually during the time of Jacob’s trouble when they finally realize that their true Messiah - Jesus, Christ the Lord - already came, and when He comes the second time, they will turn to Him in belief and all Israel will be saved, as the apostle Paul said in Romans 11:25-27, “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Paul then quoted the prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 27:9) and Deuteronomy 7:8, 10:15, “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’” In Deuteronomy 4:30-31 Moses told Israel, “When you are in distress and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.”

Thus, while Jesus officially began His ministry at approximately the age of 30 (Luke 3:23), I believe when He stayed in Jerusalem, going to His Father’s house to do His Father’s business, this truly was a pivotal point in time, setting the stage for what would come. The world would never be the same. When His parents had returned to Jerusalem looking for Him and had found Him in the temple, He asked them, “Why did you seek Me?” If we are seeking Him, then why? If it is for any other reason than believing in Him as the Son of God, the One sent by God to offer salvation to all who would believe in Him as the Savior, the only One who can take away the sins of the world, then I urge you to seek Him with your whole heart, for as the scriptures tell us, “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13) ✝️