'(!!~ Jjfirst ~or!ts of 3leslts 1!ifrer ~eor!te!t

"And He said to them, 'Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's House?,,'Luke 2:49

These words ofJesus at twelve years of age to His mother, when she found Him in the Temple, after missing him in the caravan contain a world of theology, methodology and ethics. The purpose of this section, 2:41-51, regarding young Jesus in the Temple is not included in Luke's narrative simply for the sake of drawing moral­isms---parents should knowwhere their children are at all times, orcbildren should study hard in school. It is included to cast light on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

THE VERSATILITY OF JESUS Jesus responded to people, in His

ministry to them, in a variety of ways. His flexibility and versatility of approach grew out of His love for people, which made him sensitive to the specific needs of each person He approached to serve. Here in 2:49, He ministers to His mother with tenderness and gentleness. With the Pharisees He was severe and harsh, Mat. 23:13-15, 25-28. On other occasions He was not unloving, simply matter-of-fact, Mat. 10:34-39; Mk. 3:31-35. When He needed to be cagey, he was a master at it, Mk. 11:27-33. He knew when to be patient, Lk. 7:18-23, and when to be compaSSionate, Mat. 23:37; Mk. 5:25-34. Therefore,jesus knows how

to minister to you, with your unique needs and problems. Jesus is perfectly suited for you.

THE GENTLENESS OF JESUS WITH HIS MOTHER

Although Jesus is rebuking His motherin these words for not realizing that He would be in the Temple, He does it with great gentleness and respect, recognizing His responsibility to be in subjection to her parental authority, Lk. 2:51. Then, again, at the end of His life, while He is hanging on the crossin excruciating pain, when

most people would be thinking of themselves, He, concerned with His mother's future, commands John to take care of her, with the words, 'john, Behold your mother.". If you are going to be Christ-like, you must always be gentle with your mother, never sharp, sarcastic, bitter, or condescending.

THE CORRECTION OF SIN BY JESUS

The very first words of Jesus recorded comprised a rebuke and correction of sin, which is understandable because the reason He came to earth was to deal with human sin, to expose it, condemn it, and redeem people from it. Here in our textJesus is correcting and enlightening His mother, SAVING HER FROM HER SIN, from her sinful thinking and

8 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ April, 1994

attitude toward her Son. Jesus was not' surprized at His parents' concern for Him when they realized He was missing from the caravan; but He was surprized at their inexcusable ignorance regarding where they could find Him. Jesus came to expose, rebuke and correct sin in you. He came to redeem from sin. Don't run away or resist or harden your heart, when He begins to convict your conscience of things in your life that are displeasing to Him. He does it for your benefit.

THE CLAIM OF DEITY BY JESUS

Mary rebuked her son for riot being in the caravan with the words, "Your father, (meaning Joseph), andlhave been anXiously looking for You," 2:48. In direct response to her rebuke, Jesus answers, "Did you not know that I had to beinMY Father's, (meaning God),

house?" This is a delicate reminder to Mary that Jesus was conceived in her womb by God Himself. Jesus' Father was the God of the Temple, ("My Father's House") in Jerusalem. The Temple was the sanctuary and palace of Jehovah, the symbol of His reconciliation and communion with Hiscovenantpeoplein Christ. Jehovah Himself is the God of the Covenant, the Creator and sovereign Provider of creation. He is the eternally self-sufficient God, Who reveals Himself to His people in Christ. And Jesus is, in a unique and lofty sense, the Son ofjehovah, His Father. He is equal to God the Father, although distinguishable from Him. In fact, Jesus, the Lord's Christ is Christ the Lord. Later on in 10:21-22, Luke

quotes Jesus as saying that He knows the Father exhaustively just as the Father knows the Son exhaustively. No finite human being can know God exhaustively, so He must be refening to His Deity. Jesus is God the Son incarnate.

Jesus knew who He was from the very beginning---God incarnate. As God He always knew. As a human being, He learned it dming His earliest education in the Word of God. Jesus is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father" but by Him, John 14:6. He and the Father are one; or as He put it, "when you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." If you are to ever know God personally and be reconciled to Him, you must come to Him by Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God.

THE DECLARATION OF MISSION BY JESUS

Jesus words to His mother are more literally translated, "I must be engaged in My Father's business, or My Father's affairs." This reveals a clear Christ­consciousness and a sense of Messianic mission in Jesus at the age of twelve. Jesus knew who He was! He knew from the beginning that He must devote His entire life to serving and glorifying God His Father, at all times consumed with what God sent Him to eanh to accomplish.

What was the nature ofI-lis Father's "business" in which Christ was engaged in the Temple at the age of twelve? Whatwas He doing in the Temple? He was there to prepare Himself in the Word of God for the Messianic calling God had placed on His life. But also, this incident regarding young Jesus in the Temple with the Bible scholars was the fulfillment of Malachi's prophecy: "Behold, I amgoing to sendMymessenger,

and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His Temple ... ," Mal. 3: 1. The Lord came to His Temple in twelve yearoldJesus! And before the scholars, as Simeon had prophesied, He was the Light of the world and the GIOlY of Israel, Lk. 2:32, astonishing the doctors by revealing from His Word the character and will of the Living God. Some of the doctors (probably) present at the time, received His revelation, (Nicodemus andJ oseph ofArimathea), while others hardened their hemts to

it, (Gamaliel and Caiaphas). At twelve He was already causing "the fall and rise of many in Israel," Lk. 2:34. So we see, that Jesus came to eanh to bring God near to us and to bring us near to God.

THE DIVINE DECREE BEHIND

JESUS' LIFE AND MINISTRY

The Meaning of the Word "must" (dei in Gree1z)

One of the most imponant words in Jesus' statement to His mother is the word, "must," or "had to" in the NASV---- "I MUST be about My Father's business." The Greek word for"must,"DEI,occursintheN.T.102 times, 41 of which occurin the writings of Luke, (Le., the Gospel and Acts). The word, "DEI," denotes two closely related ideas: (l).1tdenotestheelement of necessity in an event, behind which is God's decree rendeling that event unavoidable, fixed and inevitable. A

cenainevent is inevitable, because God decreed (determined, planned, foreordained,) it, Isaiah 10:22-23. God has foreordained everything that comes to pass in time. (2). It also denotes ethical orreligious obligation to God's Law. God's Law "must" be obeyed, or else we will be punished for it. We "must" obey God rather than man, said the apostles to the municpal authorities in the book of Acts.

The Use of "must" (Dei) in the Words of Jesus

Throughout His entire life Jeslls is consciously motivated and compelled by the Divine "must". He MUSTbe about His Father's business, 2:49. He MUST obey God's commands, LIe 13:6; 15:32. TI,eMUSTofDivine sovereignty, of Divine decree, governed His whole life and ministry, Lk. 4:43.

Luke 2:49

"I MUST be engaged in MyFather'sb\<siness." Jesus

knew He was to submit to the decreed will of God and the revealed will of God in the Bible at the early age of twelve. This was the reason for His decision to remain in the Tern pIe rather than join the caravan with His parents. As God He always knew the will of God perfectly and exhaustively; as a human being He learned the revealed will of God to which He was to submit [TOm the Old Testament. From His youthJesusunderstood that His entire life was to be consumed with doing the will of God.

Luke 4:43

"I MUST preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." This is the second time Christ uses this word, "must," regarding His own conduct. His work and suffeling are ordered by Divine decree. Notice: 0). Christ's compulsion to do what He was sent to

April, 1994 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon l' 9

earth to do; (2). Christ's mission on earth was decreed by God before the begirmingoftime; (3). Christ'setemally decreed purpose in Me was revealed in the Bible.

Luke 9:22, (17:25)

"The Son of Man MUST suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and ' chief priests and scribes, and be killed, . and be ratsedup on the third day." Christ must suffer, be rejected, killed and raised from the dead because God had decreed it for the salvation of His chosen people, Acts 4:27-28.

Luke 13:33

"NeVertheless 1 MUST journeyim today and tomorrow I¥ld the nextday;Jor . it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside ofJerusalem." The whole course of Christ's life ha? been determined by God Himself, and it will not b~ abbreviated or changed because of the threats of Herod. God has revealed in the Bible that it is His will for the Messiah ' to die in the holy city of JeruSalem, and not in the territory of Herod. It is jerusalem that kills the divine prophets, therefore Jerusalem is not to be deprived of this "privUege: Mat. 23:31. jesus is saying here: "That fox, Herod, may make his threats against Me, but why should I Who raises the dead and performs other miracles by omnipotence be afraid of a mere manl Nevertheless, I will leave Herod's district for jerusalem, not because I am afraid of Herod, but because God has decreed that I die in jerusalem. I am leaving the district not because you, Pharisees, suggest it, but becauseMyworkat this time requiresit."

Luke 19:5

"Zaccheus, hurry and come doWn,for today 1 MUST stay at your house." God had decreedthatjesusstayat Zaccheus' house because God intended for Jesus to bring salvation tei his whole "household," and not jilst to him as an individual. jesus, the God-man, is

conscious of the fact that the salvation prophecy, precisely the things which of Zaccheus and his famlly is a part of these two (disciples on the road to the divine plan of salvation, and He Emmaeus)hadallowedtodestroytheir moves in submission to that plan. hopes were a confiimation of them."-

uke Plummer L 21:9 . ",AM when you hear of wars and After Jesus had allowed the two

disturbances, do not be terrtfied;for these disciples on the road to Emmaeus to things MUST take place first, but the end unburden themselves to Him, He does not follow immediately," Wars and rebuked them geruly for being so slow ;rumors are nOt signs of the Second' of heart to believe and to understand Coming of Christ, they have been what was really going on, for being decreed by God as harbingers of the . slowofhearttobelieveEVERYTHING fall of Jerusalem, 70, A.D. that the Old Testament prophets had

spoken. ':If they had known the Luk.e 22:37 . d all bid h Scriptures ~ re y e ieve in t e

"For r tell you, that this which is living God they would have known written MUST be fulfilled in Me, 'andRe .that not only had the glory of victory was classed among the Crimfruils';for that been promised Him as Messiah in the whi0 refers to Me has its fulfillilient» ,0. T. but that God had clearly BecauSe of the decree of God revealed pr:oclaimed through the prophets that

. in Isaiah 53 conceniing Christ, that He He (the Messiah) was to suffer and to will be cqunted as a trartsgressorand die and thus. to attain to glory. In their killed. as such, Jesus is now going to spiritual deadency they had seen and expetien:ceits fulfillment. Andas thitlgs· believed only pne side of the Messianic are goingwlth Him, so they will go propheCies. For this reason His with His dis<;iples; therefore He cruclfixionanddeath:hadcausedthem commands them to be careful, to to despair, although in the light of the protect themselves, but to be ready fOr O.T. propheCies this should have made suffering, and never to relinquish the them see that He was truly the struggle for righteousness. Redeemer, and theY' should have

iuke 24:7 known that He would again arise from "He is not here, but He 15 risen. thedead,Gen.3:15;Psa. 22;Isa. 53."­

Remember how He spoke to you while He Geldenhuys was still in. Galilee, saying that the Son of Luke 24:44, 46 Man MUSTbe delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third "These are My words which I spoke to day rise again." The angels remind the . you While I was still with you, that all visitors at the tomb of what Jesus had things Which are written about Me in the

Law of Moses and the Prophets and the continually said throughout His ministry, that it is decreed that the Son Psalms MU5T be fulfilled. --- Thus it is

wntten, that the Christ SHOULD, of Man must die and rise again, that it is'revealed in the Bible that this is so, (MU5T), suffer and rise again from the and therefore, that the Son of Man has dead the ihird daY; and that repentance no other alternative than to willingly for forgivrnessof sins sHOULD (MU5T) do what God had willed for Him. be proclaimed in His name to all the

nations. ,." Everything in the life of Luke 24:26 Christ must be done in strict and glad

"Wasitnot'NECE55ARYfortheChrist conformityto t]:ie will of God. Christ to suffer these things and ~ enter into His recognized that and lived contentedly glory?" "According to Divine decree in obedience to God, regardleSs of the respectingtheMessiahasexpressedin divine demand on Him. If it is

10 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ April, 199 ..

inevitable that the prophecies concerning the s~ffering, death and resurrection, being decreed of God, will be fulfilled, it is also inevitable, being decreed, that repentance for

. forgiveness of sins wiU be proclaimed to aU nations.

and accountability as a human being and the sovereign decree of God. The following verses proves this point. "For this reason the Father loves Me, because 1 lay down my life that 1 may taheit again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. 1 have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."- John 10:17-18. 'Jesus said to them, 'Myfoodis to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work,"­John 4:34. "Then 1 said, 'Behold, 1 come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me;

The driving force ofJesus' life was loving obedience to the commands of God. He told John the Baptist to baptize Him because He had to "fulfill all righteousness," that is, He had to opey aU the points of the Law of God which man had broken, because He was the Substitute of sinneI'S, Who came to earth to do everything necessary to save them from their sins. He had to die for them, taking the punishment upon Himself, which their sins deserved; and He had to live for them, to meet the reqUirements of the Law necessary for their entrance into

the kingdom of God, which

A study ofjesus' use of the word, "must," (dei) reveals two vitally important and inter-related tluths, which can help us understand a little more clearly the relationship of divine sovereignty, human responsibility and biblical revelation: (l).Jesussubmined to the Divine Decree; and (2). Jesus submitted to the Divine Revelation. After explaining

IIWe are never more Christ-like both of these pOints, I will requirements Adam failed to meet, Rom. 5: l3f.

point out the relation between them, and then make some practical applicatiOns.

THE SUBMISSION OF JESUS TO DIVlNE DECREE

th h I dl b -t We are never more an w en we gay su ml Christ-like than when

our lives and futures to (jod' s lOving obedience to God's Word is the dIiving force

sovereign control. ... We are of our lives.

The $upmission of His never more Christ-like than The Relation of the Entire Life Divine "must" of Divine

Christ's entire life was when loving obedience to Decree and controlled by this divine (jod's Word is the driving of Divine Revelation "must." From His earliest days, Th is relationship can be He was consciously motivated force of our lives." understood by remem-and governed by His '--__________________ -1 bering these three points:

knowledge of and submission to the 1 delightto do thy wil~ 0 my God; Thy (1). Some of what is decreed is revealed necessity of the divine decree . Law is within My heart,"- Messianic (in the Bible). (2). All of what is Whatever happened to Jesus was the Psalm 40: 7-8. prophesied (in the Bible) is decreed realizationofGod'seternaldecree. "For (by God); and that is why all biblical The Knowledge of God's Decree truly in this city there were gathered prophecy comes true. (3). Some of together against Thy holy servant jesus, by jesus what is decreed is unrevealed. Some whom Thou dldst anOint, both Herod and How didJesus know what God had things which God has willed for us to Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles eternally decreed for His life? As God experience, we will not know about and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Be always knew. As a man He knew until it comes to pass in our lives, and Thy hand and Thy purpose some of God's decree by studying the even then, God may not seefit to tell us predestined to o~cur," Acts 4:27-28. Bible. And as the God-man Be knew why He willed for us what He did.

The Freedom in jesus' Submission by the illumination and revelation of True submission does not ask why.

This compulsion in Jesus was not the Son of God in Him. A look at Deuteronomy 29:29 will external. He did not feel forced. His The Application of This Point help us at this point: "TIle secret things whole nature yearned to serve and belong IiJ the LORD our God, but the

We are nevermore Christ-like than obeyHisFatherswillvoluntarily,freely things revealed belong IiJ us and to our and gladly. What God had decreed when we gladly submit our lives and sons forever; that we may observe all the

futures to God's sovereign control. ds if th 1 was in complete harmony with His war a is aw." God has willed own desires. He felt no tension TheSubmission of jesus everything that happens. He has one whatever between His own freedom to Divine (Biblical) Revelation will, not being schizophrenic. Of His

April, 1994 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ 11

one will there are two sides: ahidden, implications. For example, it enables obedience, and we rest in Him alone unrevealed side and a revealed side. yon to know how to deal with crises for salvation. We are saved from our He has revealed some aspects of what and problems in · your life. If they sin when we submit to God's decreed He has planned for us according to His come into you life because of nothing plan of salvation revealed in the Bible. will in the Bible; and He bas chosen to whatever 'that you have done, and if Have you believed ·in Jesus Christ in keep unrevealed other aspects of His they are beyond your control, then this way? will forus. We must make our decisions they are to be dealt with by submission The Contentmentof theChristiait with aboutlife,notbytryingtosecond-guess to and contentment with the the Divine "must" in His Own Life God and what He has planned in our unrevealed will of God and Our ability to be content with the futures, but by obeying the revealed perseverance in duty regardless of the unrevealed will of God in our own will of God found in the Bible. crisis. If they come into your life livesmustbegin with our contentment

III Luke 22:37, which we have because of a failure on your part to with Christ's contentment to submit quoted above, "shows that the contents obey or apply the revealed will of God to the will of God for our salvation. If of this MUST has not only been . in the Bibl~~ thetnheyare to be dealt' ClifiSCWas"Cotitent to submino such determined by God's hidden counsel, with by repentance, faith and renewed extremes of pain and suffering in our but has disC! in many respects been obedience to the Word of God. place for our salvation, then we will be revealed in the Scriptures . .-__ . ________________ -, content with anything He

For this reason it had not sees fit to bring into our

only been prescribed for "()urability to be content with lives for His own glory. the Messiah,but could thus We love to please Hiitl also be understood by the unrevealed will of qod in who submitted to so those to whom the much for us. Scriptures have been our own lives, must begin with 'opened,' Lk. 24:25f, 44, t . tm t -th Ch "st' 46."- H.Ridderbos, The our con en . en WI n s

Fiuthennore, we believe that because of His submission to God for us, Romans 8:28 really is true. Go<i does cause everything to work together for good for those who love God, and who are the calledaccording to His purpose. We ~eed

ComlngojtheKlngdom,pg. contentment to submit to the 157f.

In Acts 1:16 we read that "the SCripture MUST

will of qod for our salvation." be fulfilled, which the Holy L-_________ -----~---'

Spirit foretold by the mouth of Davld concerning Judas, ~ ·because everything in Christ's life and ministry had been predestined to occur by God, Acts 4:2 7f. And in Acts 20:27, as Paul leaves the church at Ephesus in the hands of godly elders, he says, "I (:lid not.. shrink !Tom declaring to YOIL the whole purpose of God." The Bible then is the whole purpose of God, not e~ustively, as if there was T?-0t a hidden side to God's will, but suffiCiently , in that everything Christians need to know beforehand about the purpose, or Will, of God for their lives is revealed in the Bible. Therefore, WE MUST KEEP THE DISTINCTION AND THE RELATION CLEAR BETWEEN GOD'S DECREE AND GOD'S REVELATION IN THE BiBLE. It has important practical

CONCLUSIONS: THE IMPLICATIONS

OF THE DIVlNE "MUST" IN CHRIST'S LIFE FOR US TODAY

The Submission of the Christian to the Divine "must" in theLife of

Jesus Christ

It Is Christ's voluntary, knowledgeable, loving and perfect submission to the unrevealed and revealed will 0 f God that is our salvation.. We are saved by Christ's obedience, not by our SUbmission to God's will or by our obedience, Which is never good enough in and ofitself to

be accepted by God as the basis of our standing with Him. This salvation immediately comes into our lives the moment, by God's grace, we believe that oUr salvation 'is by Christ'S

12 ~ THE COuNSEL of Chalcedon ~ April, 199+

fear nothing God bas decreed for us. . since Romans 8:28 is true. In fact, we can even count it all joy, when we are privileged to suffer, be persecuted and slandered for the sake of Christ. Have you learned jn all thing;j to be content? Go back and meditate on what Jesus was willing to go through for His people.

The Driving Power of the Divine "must" in the Life of the Christian

The Christian, being molded by the 'Holy Spirit into the image of Christ, will himself feel the compulsion of the Divine "must" of God's revealed will in his life, will submit to it, and endeavor to bring his every thought and ail his behaVior into full cortfonnity to it. To use the words of]esus, he must pay

tithes without disregardingjustice and the love of God, Lk. 11:42. He must work six days for the glory of God and rest one day,Lk 13:14. Hemustpray at all times and not lose hean, Lk. 18: 1. He must obey God rather than man, Act. 5:29. "Through many Wbulations (he) must enter the kingdom of God," Act. 14:22. He must help the weak and rememberthe words of Jesus that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," Act. 20:35. What Christ commands the Christian to do, he is moved by love for Him to do, he feels he MUST do gladly the will of Christ His Savior and Lord. Are these things you feel you MUST do? Only Christ-like people feel this way.

The Hope for the Christian's Future in the Submission of Christ

to the Divine "must" of Decree and Revelation

The Christian possesses a confident assurance, (hope), about the future. He knows that the future belongs to him, because he belongs to the Christ who controls the future. He knows that whatever the future holds it will be good for him, because he knows that Jesus Christ "MUST reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet," I Cor. 15:24f. It is inevitable that all enemies and oppressors of the people of God, all those who oppose the revealed will of the Lord Christ will be put down. Praise God for His divine "MUST"! Q

schlei, continued from pg. 24

literal fashion is to misunderstand that law. It is to no more be taken literally than when Jesus said if our eye causes us to stumble into sin, we should pluck it out. We know Jesus did not mean for us to take Him in a literal fashion for to dismember one's body would violate the law of God. (sixth commandment) What Jesus demands of us in most graphic language is that

we take drastic action if necessalY to avoid sin, We must not toy with temptation but do everything in our means even at our own inconvenience and hun, if necessary, to avoid evil.

Likewise, we lmow that the lex talionis is not to be understood in a simplistically literal fashion, for such a judicial rendering would violate the principle of restitution in the law. If one were to maliciously cut off another's hand, it would not help the victim if the evil doer simply had his hand removed. A criminal minus one hand could not velY well repay his victim for he would not be so readily employable. The principle of lex talionis simply stresses that there must be eqUity in law administration. No longer could men be able to brag that wrong done to them would be avenged 77 fold (Gen.4:24). If a man clUelly cut off the hand of his neighbor, he could not be killed as a penalty. Yet, he might for instance have to suffer the penalty of whipping and being forced to support the victim with a monetary payment for the rest of his life for the lost opportunities in his regular profession. In Islamic law, for an example, a thiefis punished by having his hand cut off. That quite effectively restrains theft, but it is a punishment that by biblical standards is unjust. We as Christians must be quick to

defend the wisdom of God's law and never leap on the bandwagon of its critics.

Many Christians breathe a sigh of relief when in Matthew 5:38-39,Jesus seems to abrogate the supposed barbaric principle of lex talionis. Nothing could be funher from the truth. The principle of fair administration of justice and punishment could never be abrogated, and] esus made it clear that His attitude was one of highest respect for the Old Testament law (Matthew 5:17-20).

Jesus, instead, was attacking the common misconceptions and misapplications of God's law in His day. The Pharisees and their followers used this law as the principle for their personal revenge, so that they could give tit-for -tat to those who harmed them. A law which was meant to be a guide to judges in rendering judicial decisions and handing down sentences was never meant to be a rule of our personal relationships. The function of civil government is to administer the vengeance of God upon evildoers, but not individuals. Our duty is to love our neighbor as Jesus said.

A Radical Proposal

My proposal to do away with the prison system may sound radical. My proposal that the criminal should be forced to make restitution for his crime may at first reading sound absurd. My proposal that the death penalty should be reinstituted for many crimes may even sound non-Christian in our day and age. Let us ask the question in a different way. Can the law of God given to Israel, which was to be a model to the nations, be radical, absurd, or non-Christian? The answer should be obvious. This is only one small but very im portant area that we Christians should be working to restructure our society to the glory of God.

If we have any doubts about the wisdom and goodness of God's law, just take a good hard look at the present-day fruits of man's judicial system. No amount of money and tinkeling and human blilliance will redeem a social disaster. God's word provides the building blocks which can reconstlUct broken human lives and devastated societies. We need not look elsewhere for another foundation.Q

April, 1994 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon t- 13