Christian Publishing House Blog
Apologetic Defense of the faith, the Bible, and Christianity
Discover our articles from the Birth of Jesus to His Death. Journey through the life and ministry of Christ.
Though we cannot state with perfect accuracy the date either of the birth or death of the great Apostle of the Gentiles, both may be inferred within narrow limits. When he is first mentioned, on the occasion of Stephen’s martyrdom, he is called a young man, and when he wrote the Epistle to Philemon he calls himself Paul the aged.
The records of this year which we possess are extremely meager, comprising only two or three incidents, which may be here enumerated, especially as they form a kind of program of His future work.
Little could the Jewish people know that He about whom they were speculating, and praying was growing up in a carpenter’s home away in despised Nazareth. Yet so it was. There He was preparing Himself for His life, ministry, and death.
It might have been expected that He would find a nation saturated with the ideas and inspired with the visions of His predecessors, the prophets, at whose head He might place Himself, and from which He might receive an enthusiastic and effective cooperation. But it was not so.
The records which we possess up to this point are, as we have seen, comparatively full. But with the settlement at Nazareth, after the return from Egypt, our information comes to a sudden stop, and over the rest of the life of Jesus, till His public ministry begins, a thick covering is drawn, which is only lifted once.
Jesus made his entry on the stage of life so humbly and silently; the citizens of Bethlehem dreamed not what had happened in their midst; the emperor of Rome knew not that his decree had influenced the nativity of a king who was yet to bear rule.
The whole land was set in motion; for, in accordance with ancient Jewish custom, the census was taken, not at the places where the inhabitants were at the time residing, but at the places to which they belonged as members of the original twelve tribes.
Ancient Israel's religious leadership involved priests and Levites, crucial for maintaining covenant worship patterns, instruction, and national identity through history.
As the official head of the Jewish state, Caiaphas presided over the council, or Sanhedrin, its highest court. Next to the Roman governor he was the most powerful man in Judea and was responsible to the Romans for the conduct of the nation. Caiaphas was ...
James Stalker highlights the unique aspects of Jesus' early life, emphasizing the mystery surrounding His childhood years in Nazareth. He notes the limited biblical accounts, contrasting them with imaginative apocryphal texts that fail to capture Jesus's true nature. Ultimately, Stalker suggests that Jesus grew up under profound influences, developing wisdom and strength despite early challenges.
