How did He grow up, or when did He discover that He is so powerful to die for our sins?
I thank you for submitting a question. I am here to help you find an answer based on the Truth of God's Word, the Bible.
How did He grow up, or when did He discover that He is so powerful to die for our sins?
I begin by quoting a paragraph from the article "What About Jesus?" I will then look at
a) How he grew up, and lastly,
b) When did he discover His power to die for our sins.
What About Jesus?
A person must be totally convinced of this fact both intellectually and emotionally before realizing the full impact of Jesus Christ in his personal life. As long as Jesus remains just an intellectual curiosity outside ourselves, there is no personal contact with the living God. The ultimate step is to accept Him as your Lord, to know Him personally and experientially. We have tried to show here that the evidence for Jesus Christ is intellectually sound. The record in the four Gospels reveals His perfection, His sinless nature, and His humility. Further evidence comes from the historical impact throughout the centuries of His timeless message
with the divine stamp or authority and miracles." (Excerpt from: http://www.globalreach.org/english/images/E0400_03.pdf)
How he grew up
About 725 years before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah had written: Isaiah 7:14
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (King James Version).
Immanuel means “God with us.” Finally the time came for this promise of God to come true. Almost 2,000 years ago, God sent an angel from heaven to earth with a message for a young woman named Mary. Luke, a medical doctor, wrote this in the Bible about Mary’s experience:
Luke 1:26–28
"God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. He had a message for a girl promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. The girl’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you, and has greatly blessed you!” Mary was deeply troubled by the angel’s message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her: “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob for ever; his kingdom will never end!”
Now Mary must have told Jesus about the events before he was born. Like all Jewish children, Jesus attended the school in the Synagogue (Jewish Church), where He was instructed in the Old Testament, which has over 500 prophecies about Him, all written more than 400 years before He was born, in Bethlehem.
Did Jesus have supernatural powers as a child?
There are some stories that claim miracles done by Jesus as a child. None of these stories are in the Bible. After Jesus 30th birthday, he went to be baptized by John the Baptist, and we are told in the Bible what happened.
Matthew 3:16-17 "When Jesus had been baptized, he immediately came up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens opened up for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him. Then a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him!"
Now after this Jesus returned to His hometown of Nazareth as we read in:
Matthew 13:54-57 "He went to his hometown and began teaching the people in their synagogue in such a way that they were amazed and asked, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these miracles? This is the builder's son, isn't it? His mother is named Mary, isn't she? His brothers are James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, aren't they? And his sisters are all with us, aren't they? So where did this man get all these things?" And they were offended by him. But Jesus told them, "A prophet is without honor only in his hometown and in his own home."
Notice that the people questioned Jesus being able to do miracles. They grew up with Him in Nazareth, but he had done no special miracles until after His baptism by John, when the Spirit of God was seen to come down on Him. I must therefore believe that Jesus knew He was the promised Savior, born of a virgin mother, and adopted by her husband Joseph. He knew from the things his mother shared with Him, that He was the one the prophet Isaiah told would come to pay for our sins. Seven hundred years before Jesus was born Isaiah wrote:
Isaiah 53:11 "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities."
The previous verses, three to ten of Isaiah 53, are an amazing description of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, written 725 years before the time, when in the days of Isaiah there was no Roman Empire, and Crucifixion had not yet come into common use.
Finally, Jesus came alive again from the dead and appeared to his followers. The Gospel of Luke records Jesus last speech before ascending to His father in Heaven.
Luke 24:44-48 "And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the scriptures; and he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Ye are witnesses of these things."
© 2015 Jim Cole-Rous