Luke 2:40-42
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast," Luke 2:40-42.
By going to Matthew 2 last time, we looked at some things that Luke did not record. Matthew recorded Jesus Christ as a babe, and the family fleeing into Egypt, and then returning to Nazareth. Mark begins with Christ as an adult. John goes from eternities past to Christ being an adult. Only Luke gives us the information recorded here in Luke 2:40-52. We may and should ask the question, why is this information important? Does it matter that Jesus Christ grew up? God saw fit to give us this record concerning His Only Begotten Son, so yes, it is very important, as every word in the Scriptures are. In looking at Christ growing up we see His humanity. In his humanity we see His limits. When we hear someone use the word "limit" to describe Christ we take our guns off of safety and are ready to shoot. This is another reason these verses are so important.
In our study through Luke 1, we learned about the Hypostatic Union. Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man. Two distinct natures in one person at the same time. Though Jesus Christ is Divine, He is also human. To teach otherwise is to have major ramifications on the life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and intercession of Jesus Christ. To destroy one of the works of Christ would ultimately destroy all of the works of Christ. The enemy is constantly trying to undermine the perfect work of Christ. Have there been, and are there still people today who deny the Hypostatic Union? The answer is yes. One of these men is a man who preached and studied in Alexandria, Egypt whose name is Arius. He taught that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God the Father with the difference that the Son of God did not always exist but was made before time by God the Father which would mean that Jesus Christ was not coeternal with God the Father, but that Christ "began" to exist before time as we know it. The church gathered together at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. and after careful study declared that the teaching of Arius was indeed heresy. Athanasius of Alexander stood firm on the Scriptures, therefore, Athanasius stood firm against the heretic Arius. Athanasius taught that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man.
Are there people today who still believe and teach the heresy of Arius? Yes. Heretics such as Jehovah Witnesses, Unitarians, and Mormons. These have all of or at least a form of Arius's teachings. The teachings of Arius have always been heresy and should still be called out as heresy, and those who teach it should be called heretics. The church cannot compromise on the Scriptures, especially on the core doctrine of the Hypostatic Union. This is another reason biblical doctrines are so important. The enemy takes advantage of those who are doctrinally weak and ignorant. The enemy also changes Scripture to suit their teachings. Our final authority is the Word of God. Let us get into it today.
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him," Luke 2:40. The word "grew" in this verse simply means to grow up. In His humanity, Christ was growing up. Those around Him would watch Him grow. He looked like any other child growing up, but He did not act like any other child as they grew up. Christ waxed strong in spirit. "Waxed strong" in this verse means to empower, to increase in vigour. The word "spirit" in this verse means the understanding, intellect. These words show us that the understanding of His mind grew with His age. This progress or advancement relates to His human nature: for the Divine nature could receive no increase. We continue to see this in Luke 2:40 as the bible says Christ was "filled with wisdom". Christ's understanding of Who He is was growing. He was continuously being filled with wisdom. Again, this is in His humanity. I understand that people have a problem with this because it limits Christ in His humanity. This shows that we do not grasp how much Christ humbled Himself by becoming flesh. Christ's Divine Nature does not swallow His human nature, and His human nature does not take away from His Divine Nature. "The great ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451 affirmed that Jesus is truly man and truly God and that the two natures of Christ are so united as to be without mixture, confusion separation, of division, each nature retaining its own attributes." The Reformation study bible. Turn to Philippians 2:6-8.
Jesus Christ never ceased to be the eternal Son of God. In the incarnation He had a true human nature. He became what He had not been before, flesh. Let that biblical truth sink in for a second. The eternal Son of God became flesh, lived in the flesh, which means He was hungry, thirsty, tired, felt pain, cried, wept, was tempted in all points like we are, yet He never sinned. "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need," Hebrews 4:14-16. Turn also to Hebrews 2:16-18. To what extreme did Christ go? "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Philippians 2:8.
These biblical truths magnify the love Christ has for His bride, the church. Christ lived a sinless life, yet died a sinners death. On the cross Christ fully satisfied the debt owed for our sins. He said, "It is finished." Christ did the perfect work of redemption. He is our perfect sacrifice. Those who distort who Christ really is teach a works for salvation. They may not realize they have been deceived by false teachings about Christ. This is another reason that we are to be grounded in the true doctrines of the bible. This enables us to share the truth with others, and the truth, when believed, will set them free from those lies that bind them.
How many of you know these biblical truths, but you have never trusted Jesus Christ to save your soul and to forgive you of all your sins? How sad it would be to know all the right doctrines, yet still die and spend eternity in the torments of hell. I beg you to look to Jesus Christ alone to save you. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out," John 6:37.
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