Thirty years after His birth, Jesus left Nazareth, a little town in the North of Galilee, to the Jordan river few miles North of the Dead Sea, to be baptised by John the Baptist. After his baptism He was led by the Holy-Spirit into the wilderness of Judea, after forty days of fasting, He was tempted by the devil who failed utterly, having defeated Satan, Jesus returned victorious to Nazareth. On his way, full of the Holy Spirit, He began to preach the Gospel in the synagogues of Galilee. In His home town, Jesus was known as the son of Joseph, the carpenter! On his return, as He attended the synagogue, an important prophecy was fulfilled. As was His custom, Jesus entered it but with a very different purpose, the attendant handed to Him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, so Jesus stood up to read. 

Any other scroll could have been handed to Him but on that day, it had to be that of Isaiah which the attendant handed to Him! Unrolling it, Jesus found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke: 4:16-19) This truth concerning His coming into the world, is still at work in the world to this very day. Jesus knew the purpose of His mission, but for years He never spoke one word concerning it, for the time had not yet come to do so! For the best part of His life, he worked as the eldest son of Joseph the carpenter. There is no doubt that he visited many homes with his tool box, to do some repairs or improvements, or met them in his father’s shop; so, he must have been well known, as there were, at the time, only about two hundred citizens in Nazareth, he was known of all, but none knew His true identity except Mary and Joseph.

From the time that the Holy-Spirit descended from heaven and rested upon Jesus, as He came out from the waters of the Jordan, every detail of His life was lived in fulfilment of His ministry set in the plan of God, it is for this reason that Jesus returned to Nazareth, for the time had come for them to know who He really was. Gathered with the people, the attendant had to give Him the scroll of Isaiah, He chose to read from it that which was prophesied concerning Him, some seven centuries before that day. As I mentioned it, the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him, it was not by accident, for it is obvious that it was directed by the Holy Spirit, unrolling it, he read what I mentioned above in a portion found in Luke’s gospel in chapter 4: 17-19, which Luke quoted from - Isiah 61:1-2 in the synagogue which Jesus He attended for many years. It was now the appointed time to reveal Himself, having read the verses quoted above, “He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, He sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him, and He began by saying to them: ‘Today is this scripture fulfilled in your hearing.” 

In the past Jesus must have said many things to that gathering, people He knew so well, but what Jesus had to say to them on that day was not well received! I sense that His words got too near the bone, they alone knew exactly what he meant, because as it is written: ‘All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went His way.” How can a group of men, gathered in a synagogue change so suddenly, so radically? Satan did not wait long to try to get rid of Jesus Christ, even before He really started His mission? But his purpose failed for Jesus had come down among men to fulfil it, His time to die would come later! 

There are, in the New Testament, other references to ‘the time’ or ‘the hour’ which had affected His life for the fulfilment of His mission. I only mentioned very few, to express the fact that the life of Jesus-Christ the Son of God was mapped out from eternity, and that He was born to dwell with men for one purpose only, to fulfil His Father’s will which was, 1. He came to preach the Gospel, which is ‘the power of God for the Salvation of everyone who believes, whether he be a Jew or a Gentile’. (Romans 1:16) 2. He came to call into being His ‘Church.’ From the group of His disciples, He separated twelve men which he called: ‘apostles,’ they were destined to take the Gospel to the world. 3, He came to die for Her, to redeem her, when completed by the Holy Spirit, she will be taken to Glory, for: “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for Her to make her holy.” (Ephesians 5:25) He alone is the builder of it, He alone is its head, and He alone knows those that are truly HIS! Before Christ could turn a sinner into a son of God, He had to fulfil every detail of the covenant, the Holy Trinity decided upon together, before the creation of the world. This we must know, for it is paramount to the foundation of the Christian Faith! A Christian is a person that believes these things, which have to do with his beloved Master, hence, precious to him!