#acts of the #followers of the #wordofgod
Part 4

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Proverbs 24:21, “My son, fear the LORD and the king, and do not associate with the rebellious.” Each time a phrase like this is written the Creator always is first indicating that our first responsibility is to obey God before man.

Question 210: Why was Yeshua baptized?

Answer:

The Saviour evidently ranked baptism as one of the acts inseparables from His Messianic calling (see John 1:31). By being publicly baptized He entered into John's community, which was introductory to His greater Messianic work. Further, it was the means of revealing Himself to the Baptist and through him to the people. John was the forerunner of the Messiah and it was especially fitting that he should personally serve at Yeshua' consecration to His Messianic work and assist at the beginning of His public career.

Question 209: As YHVH, how could Yeshua be weary, hungry and thirsty?

Answer:

In His divinity, no; but in His humanity He could be all of these. Scripture tells us that in His human aspect He was "in all things as we are." What we have in the Gospels is the report by His hearers of what He said. As John tells us (21:25), it is a very imperfect and meagre report, but sufficient for the purpose the writers had in view. At the same time, it is doubtful how much of the God-head Yeshua may voluntarily have laid aside when He became man. Paul says (Philippians 2:7, R.V.) that "He emptied Himself," from which we infer that in order fully to enter into human feeling He divested Himself of such qualities as would have kept Him from feeling hunger, etc. It behoved Him to be made in all things like unto His brethren and He could not be that unless He temporarily relinquished some portion of His divinity.

Question 208: Why is Moshiach described as a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek?

Answer:

The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whether Paul or some other person, was showing the superiority of Christianity to Judaism. It too had its priest and sacrifice. The Jew might answer that Moshiach could not be a high priest as he did not come of the tribe of Levi, to which the priesthood was confined. The answer is that there was another order of priesthood - that of Melchizedek, which Abraham recognized (Genesis 14:20) by paying him tithes. Moshiach belonged to that order as the Psalmist had predicted (Psalm 110:4) and Levi through his ancestor, had thus indicated his superiority. It is an argument that would have weight with a Jew. It is a curious fact, that among the recently discovered Tel el-Amarna tablets, are letters from one Ebed-tob, King of Uru-Salim (Jerusalem), who describes himself as not having received the crown by inheritance from father or mother, but from the mighty YHVH. We know nothing of Melchizedek beyond the scanty references in Genesis, but this tablet appears to intimate that the ancient Kings of Jerusalem claimed this divine right.

Question 207: How old was Yeshua when He began to understand the nature of His mission?

Answer:

Although one cannot trace with any degree of precision the various stages of development of the consciousness of his mission, it is evident from the Gospel record that it must have begun early and gradually increased to complete appreciation as manhood approached. We are told that even in childhood he "grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom" and the "grace of YHVH was upon him." (Luke 2:40.) In youth we find him questioning and expounding to the rabbis in the temple and "increasing in stature and in wisdom and in favour with YHVH and man." His wonderful knowledge, his amazing questions and his discerning answers to the elders must have become more and more accentuated during the passage of these early years and we may gather that Mary had already premonitions of the future career of her Divine Son, since she pondered over and "hid all these things in her heart." There are indications that seem to warrant the conclusion that long before the opening of his public ministry, Yeshua was absorbed by the thought of the mission to which he was destined. He knew his Father's business and did it and he frequented his Father's house. His life and surroundings in Nazareth brought him in contact with a simple, earnest people and with sorrow and suffering. These were years of character-building and development. They bore fruit when the time was ripe for his public ministry and prepared him for the baptism at John's hands. This was the last act of his private life and the first that marked the beginning of his public mission, when the heavenly voice proclaimed him as the "Beloved Son" and the Baptist bare record that he was the Son of YHVH.

Frequently asked questions and answers:

Question 206: How could Yeshua being already perfect, increase in wisdom?

Answer:

The statement in Luke 2:52 are explicit and there is no reason for doubting it. Yeshua was subject to human conditions and limitations so far as the divine nature could be subjected. We read of His being weary, of his being hungry and thirsty and we are assured that He was tempted in all points like as we are, which all show that in His physical nature He was human. Doubtless He would be educated like other boys and probably His consciousness of divinity would be gradual and possibly not complete until the forty days in the desert. His questioning the doctors in the Temple (Luke 2:46) is supposed by some authorities to have been not catechizing them but to obtain information.

Question 205: Did the parents of our Saviour take Him after His birth to Jerusalem or to Egypt?

Answer:

According to some, the accounts in Matthew and in Luke do not agree. But there is really no discrepancy. After the birth of Yeshua, the parents remained at Bethlehem until the time arrived for presenting the Baby in the Temple, being the end of the days of purification. After the presentation, Joseph and Mary with the child went to Nazareth, adjusted their affairs and returned to Bethlehem, where they were dwelling - no longer in a stable but in "a house" - when the incident of the Magis' visit occurred. These wise men had first gone to Jerusalem, whence they were directed to Bethlehem. After their visit Joseph was warned by an angelic messenger and the flight into Egypt followed. To get a clear idea of the order of events, the records of the four evangelists must be taken as a whole, as one records incidents which another omits. Thus, Mark and John contain nothing relative to the childhood of Yeshua, while Matthew and Luke taken together, give a clear outline of these events, though Luke omits all reference to the return to Bethlehem and the journey into Egypt, the latter of which Matthew relates with considerable detail. In no sense did any one of the four evangelists intend to present a complete chronological record of the Saviour’s earthly life, but each designed rather to supplement what the others had written.

Question 204: Is there a rational explanation of the star of Bethlehem?

Answer:

There was a remarkable conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn about that time, which must have been a very brilliant spectacle and which would be very impressive to astrologers. It might lead them to the belief that some mighty potentate was born and probably to make inquiry as to such birth. The fact that would doubtless be known to all Orientals, that the Jews expected a Messiah, may have led the Magi to Palestine. Their inquiry for "the King of the Jews" seems to imply that it was there they expected to find such a being as the conjunction portended. The difficulty however is to explain the star going before them (Matthew 2:9). As they travelled westward, it might have had that appearance, but not as definitely as the account implies. Another explanation is that it was possibly a meteor divinely directed.