Thirty Hidden Years

It is an unsatisfactory fact that apart from His birth we are told very little about the first thirty years of our Lord’s life on earth. Apparently, the Author of scripture was not interested in writing a full-blown historical biography. Consistent with the rest of the Bible, we are given what is necessary for our salvation and growth in faith, but we are not given all that our natural curiosity might desire. How then to write about these years of silence? Let us make the most of what we have been given, setting His life in the context of His place and time.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" John 1:45-47

All scripture citations are from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.

Why the Hidden Years?

We cannot say, because scripture does not say, why these years have been largely hidden from our sight. However, we can draw an analogy from the years we may find ourselves hidden away from public view. The principle is this: The hidden years prepare us for all that is coming, both the later temptations and the victories.

During the hidden years, our intimacy is meant to grow into such a relationship with the Lord that we are completely fulfilled in Him and by Him. When we don’t need others or any service to them to feel personally fulfilled, we are ready to love and serve others without wanting anything from them in return, not even thanks. Our dependence needs to be built upon God alone. In the secret place of the hidden years, we learn to live by His word, know ourselves as He reveals us to be, and receive vision, identity and purpose for the days ahead. We learn to live for the applause of heaven alone.

We know that God used Jesus’ hidden years well, because once He was launched into public ministry, He passed every temptation and every test. Perhaps, that’s because He had already passed through those temptations and tests in the privacy of His hidden years. Our loving Father always supplies on the job training and correction if we need it, but it is so much better to get the necessary growth when we are out of the spotlight. For most of us, it is certainly a lot less embarrassing!

Embracing the Mystery

Nathanael had little natural imagination for what or who might emerge from such a “backwoods” place as Nazareth.[1] The religious imagination, however, typically hates a vacuum. Anyone who has read the lives of the saints will appreciate how restless is the impulse to “fill in the blanks” with stories made up for the occasion, intended to round out the picture given by the bare records of history. We can also see this in the spurious “gospels” that didn’t make it into the canon of scripture. In them, for instance, we see the boy Jesus showing off magical abilities out of all keeping with what we know of His later life and ministry. No doubt, much of this seemed sensible at the time it was written and only now appears false by the clearer light of hindsight. That should give us warning to walk respectfully around what scripture does not say, lest our own “religious imagination” also be activated!

Everywhere we go with Jesus, revelation and mystery are our constant companions. By the light of revelation even the barest details of scripture become pregnant with meaning and significance. Yet, each fresh ray of divine light also exposes the surrounding darkness, revealing whole areas for further enquiry that we know nothing about. We need to get comfortable with this. Those who act as if they know everything the Bible has to say have very little of the child left about them. Children love mysteries. They love letting their imaginations soar. The trick is remaining childlike without becoming childish as we release our spiritual imaginations to embrace the mystery of the Word made flesh, while following Him on His journey from infancy to adulthood along the trail of bread crumbs He has left us in His Word. We shall follow that trail as it leads us from one place to another.

1. Nazareth

Happily, we can begin at the very beginning. We may not know the location where the seed that birthed us found fertile soil, but we do know about God’s appointed Messiah.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. Luke 1:26-31

It is remarkable that scripture gives us the exact location where Jesus was conceived: Nazareth, a small, inconsequential village in the despised district of Galilee. Galilee was beyond the pale for two reasons. It lay within what had formerly been the break-away Northern Kingdom which rebelled against the rule of Judah’s rightful heir to Solomon’s throne, the heavy-handed Rehoboam. More significantly, this was territory conquered by the invading Assyrian army in 722 BC which destroyed the Northern Kingdom and carried off most of its ten tribes as captives. Those left behind had to share their portion of the Promised Land with an abundance of non-Jewish settlers, hence the Biblical title, Galilee of the Gentiles, was not a term of endearment! Nevertheless, within this culturally mixed region, Nazareth, Capernaum and certain other towns remained conservative Jewish enclaves. Their faith held firm and due to their geographical isolation from Judea—they were separated by the non-Jewish Samaritans—Jesus was born into a people not directly ruled over by the corrupt leadership in Judea. To those who sat in darkness, surrounded by unbelieving Gentiles, a great Light would dawn.[2]

2. Bethlehem

Nazareth was a surprise. No one saw that coming.[3] Bethlehem, on the other hand, was the done deal, well-advertised by prophetic revelation as the birth place for the Messiah.[4]

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. Luke 2:4-5

In following this decree of the Emperor, Jesus’ parents chose to live peaceably within the law established by Rome. Not every devout Jew did. Galilee regularly produced a social harvest of zealots and revolutionaries, who sought to drive the hated Romans out by violent means. Eventually, their reckless path led to the destruction first of the Temple, then of the nation, through the disastrous revolts of 66-73 and 132-135 AD. Joseph and Mary were living in the heart of Galilee when the divine call reached them, but their hearts held a different hope than that the purpose of God could be advanced by the bloody hand of man.

We are shown the Holy Family in meekness and humility “fulfilling all righteousness”—even the onerous requirements of the census, making the arduous winter journey to Bethlehem without evident complaint.[5] The gospel narrative demonstrates that Joseph’s whole concern was for the welfare of his wife and child as Mary’s was for her husband and baby. The Father chose well the couple entrusted with the care of His Only Begotten Son, for the preparation of Israel to give birth to the earth’s Messiah meant that Jesus’ parents, too, would need careful cultivation by all that was right in the national life of Israel.

Much is written about the wayward condition of the people Jesus came to rescue—a nation which ultimately rejected Him as their Messiah. Nevertheless, we should remember that there always existed in Israel a “faithful remnant” kept by God as His special possession, whose exemplary lives were cultivated by devotion to the same scriptures which left others unchanged. Joseph and Mary are living embodiments of the flowering of social life that Old Testament piety at its best so often produced.

3. Jerusalem

Jesus began life under the long shadow of Jerusalem, a shadow that nearly eclipsed his life in infancy.[6] He would end being engulfed by the darkness of its religious establishment.

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. Luke 2:21-22

While still staying in Bethlehem, His parents brought Jesus twice to the Temple in Jerusalem, demonstrating by this their faithful devotion to the Lord God and to the covenant. This is clearly a young couple seeking to live honorably within the boundaries of the moral law, civil law and religious tradition.

The first 5-mile trip to the holy city came on the eighth day after Jesus’ birth, the day appointed by the Law of Moses for circumcision of “every male child.” Circumcision was the outward sign of the Jewish covenant, much as baptism is for Christians. It was never meant to be a sign only, but lead to a life characterized by a “circumcised heart,” a life cut off from the flesh and inwardly consecrated to the Lord.[7] Jesus would have no fallen nature to be “cut away”, but it was still necessary for Him to live entirely devoted to God His Father, lest His own heart become uncircumcised. Though as an infant there would be little in this ceremony to engage His still-forming conscious mind, nevertheless as eternal God He had freely chosen to submit to all that the Law would require of Him once He came to earth as one of us. He would later say of baptism to His cousin John the Baptist that He needed to undergo it in order to “fulfill all righteousness.”[8] That life pattern began here.

The second journey brought both Mary and Jesus to the Temple about 40 days after Jesus’ birth in order to fulfill what was written in the Law of Moses. Mary came for the ritual of purification which restored women from the uncleanness (blood discharge) associated with childbirth. The Holy Family brought Jesus for the “redemption of the first born”, a ceremony which consecrated the child that opened the womb to the Lord. These simple, faithful steps brought them unexpectedly into two moments of stupendous prophetic revelation. Simeon prophesied Jesus’ future role as Savior and as a revealer of hearts, and Mary’s future sorrow. Then, Anna burst forth with inspired praise and thanksgiving for the redemption of Israel that God would accomplish through this baby boy. Is it a stretch to think that Jesus would have been raised with the loving retelling of these stories which confirmed His prophetic destiny? Mary may indeed have stored these things in her heart, but would she not have shared them with her son?[9] May we also treasure in our hearts the encouragement our God gives us that we, too, like Jesus have a destiny to fulfill.

4. Egypt

The sojourn in Egypt seems like such a strange departure. Egypt was the scene of the crime—the criminal enslavement of the Israelites. Why go back there?

And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son." Matthew 2:14-15

It is probably a safe bet that any prophecy of scripture has a “concrete” out-working in time and space, and also contains a spiritual principle or insight good for all times. Often there are several events that God will orchestrate, one in close proximity to the prophet who received the vision, the other to unfold in the distant future. The prophecy in Isaiah that “a virgin would give birth” held significance for the immediate situation the prophet was confronting, but it also famously pointed to the conditions of Messiah’s birth and only found its true fulfillment there.[10]

God called His son Israel “out of Egypt” through the great events of the ten plagues and the Passover.[11] In Egypt, Israel experienced bondage, but slavery there was nothing compared to their bondage (and ours) to sin and death, a bondage heightened by the very Law that God had given them. Jesus was born fully human under that Law though never enslaved to it.[12] His faithful life and sacrificial death enabled Him to become our Passover Lamb, liberating us from the “law of sin and death.”[13] In this sense as well as in the natural and actual one, God called Jesus “out of Egypt.”

Take note that the mere idea of Jesus’ birth threatened the powers of this world. In the gospel narrative the focus is upon Herod whose brutality and insecurity were legendary. Joseph was warned in a dream to flee from the corrupt ruler. However, with gospel-bestowed eyes of faith we know that there are “principalities and powers” behind Herod’s throne, seeking to work the reigns of earthly authority.[14] What they wanted to rein in was the life of Christ upon the earth! They missed this opportunity but won’t give up in their implacable opposition. Ultimately, they will succeed in raising up a grand coterie of leaders (including this Herod’s son) along with the Jerusalem mob, all bent on Jesus’ destruction.

Little wonder then that it is prophesied that upon His Return, Jesus will encounter even stiffer opposition from a global conspiracy (the kings of the earth) fighting against Him and His people.[15] Nor should it surprise us that these same powers wage ceaseless war against the life of Christ in us. Whenever we fully yield ourselves to Jesus, trusting Him enough to enter into His River of peace and do His works, watch out! Those same powers which were threatened by His life and ministry will come after you, seeking to crush your joy, lest “Christ be formed in you.”[16]

5. Nazareth

For a first century child Jesus moved about a lot. With this return to Nazareth, we have a sense of His coming home and coming into His own as a boy in conscious development.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:39-40

Here’s a thought: Could Jesus have been the first child who never grew up? We are told that indeed He did grow in strength, meaning that He grew in physical size and abilities. He also grew wiser with each passing day, absorbing knowledge and understanding through the scriptures, through the world of people and through the “book of nature.” He certainly grew up in the conventional sense. Yet, this is the same Person who said to us that in order to enter God’s kingdom it is necessary for us to “be converted” and “become like little children.”[17] Surely, He practiced what He preached! By the time of His maturity and entry into ministry at age 30, Jesus would have had no need at any point along the way to convert or to become childlike. Unlike us, He would never have left the best qualities of childhood behind. To see Him in these years, we, therefore, need to see Him in His eternal Youth: always learning, yet never becoming either vain or bored; always honoring His elders, yet easily surpassing them in everything; gaining wisdom and knowledge at an astonishing rate, but never losing wonder. This, by the way (by His way within us), is what He wants for us.

6. The Temple

As an infant, Jesus received passively from the Temple’s servants. As a man He radically addressed the failures of those in charge. As a boy, He met them on the level.

Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Luke 2:41-43

This account of the boy Jesus in the Temple is probably not describing his only visit to Jerusalem, though it is the only one recorded for us during these hidden years. His faithful parents travelled to the holy city “every year” to celebrate Passover. The Law of Moses required that men make the annual pilgrimage, but women were not forbidden. On such occasions very likely the whole family—all his brothers and sisters—would have made the journey together with other groups of their extended family, which certainly helps us understand why Joseph and Mary did not immediately notice that Jesus was missing. They naturally assumed that he was with other family members. Had he been the only child they had taken along in a group of strangers, it would hardly have needed a second day to discover his absence!

For us to “lose” a child on a distant journey would be cause for immediate panic and self-reproach. However, rather than suggesting child neglect, this incident illustrates for us the cohesiveness and social health of the community that (unwittingly) helped raise its own Messiah. Jewish family life far surpassed that of the pagan world surrounding Israel. The good believers of Nazareth knew each other, cared for one another and honored God’s laws. Mary and Joseph would have had complete confidence that if they didn’t see their son, others in the caravan would be looking after him. A caravan of this size—of a size sufficient to obscure the absence of Jesus—would have included people from many other Galilean towns, but these too would have been distant relatives or friends of friends. If it takes a village to raise a child, in this case, it took several villages to lose one!

After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

Jesus had apparently been among the learned men of the Temple for three days, though it may have been longer if the three days refers to the time Mary and Joseph spent searching, rather than the entire time Jesus had been out of their sight. Whatever the case, this is an extraordinary amount of time for a young boy, of not yet bar mitzvah age (13), to be engaged in such an intense Bible study. That He held his own is evident from the text. In fact, he wasn’t just asking them about puzzling passages. They were “amazed” at his level of understanding and at his answers to their questions. Truly, as Luke referenced earlier, the “favor of God” was upon Jesus for growth in wisdom. He who gave the eternal scriptures to Israel, came to earth as a Babe unable to even speak the language of scripture. But this hidden time was filled with a secret work. Jesus had been devouring the Word of God! And in some mysterious way He was re-forming Himself on the inside according to truths and prophecies which (as Israel’s God) He had placed inside the Hebrew Bible for His future re-discovery as a growing Messiah-to-be. Amazing is definitely the right word.

7. Nazareth

The good people of Nazareth knew Jesus well, yet not at all. He grew up with them, but they didn’t grow with Him. He came to His own, but along the way they rejected Him.[18]

And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Luke 2:51-52

Of nowhere on earth could it be more rightly said that familiarity breeds contempt, than Nazareth. Everyone in that little village knew Jesus as the carpenter’s son, but no one knew Him as the Messiah. Even His family was slow to receive Him as the Coming One they were waiting to behold. Only after His death and resurrection do we see His brothers as followers, rather than mockers.[19] What a mystery! What a tragedy! Yet, it had not always been so.

As Jesus grew up in the village, we are told that He grew “in favor with God and man.” Growing in the ways of the Lord would have brought Jesus much favor on the human level as One who loved and cared for all the people, who respected and honored the elders, beginning with His parents, and who did His assigned tasks cheerfully and well. Of this we can be certain. They would have seen first-hand His unceasing kindness and His unquenchable enthusiasm for life. He would have befriended everyone who let Him and helped anyone within His power to reach out. What’s not to love about a kid like that? And it just kept getting better, because He continued to grow!

The time in the Temple gives us an indication of the growth taking place inside Jesus, but all of that brilliance of light had to be kept under a bushel basket, even and perhaps especially from His playmates and siblings. His time had not yet come—not until the wedding in Cana would launch Him as a miracle worker. In the meantime, His ordinary day to day life absorbed His full attention and was showered with all His ardent affection. The hiddenness of those years is surely something Jesus as God had secretly craved. To be within His own creation, enjoying it from the inside, sharing love and the simple daily pleasure of doing tasks with those around Him.

Jesus was at home in this life in a way no one ever has been before or since. Like the kings of the old legends who went incognito among their people, so Jesus dwelt among us for those first 30 hidden years. This shows us that the Christian life is not all about outward works of ministry or miracles or conversions, though it is certainly to culminate in those things or include them along the way. No, the life of Christ within us is to also be found in the simple things of daily life. Then as now, this brings sweet enjoyment to the heart of our Lord.  

More to Explore

Three Public Years  Jesus accomplished so much just in the miracle portion of His ministry that His beloved disciple, John, reckoned that it would be impossible to fit all the things He did into one book, even into one world. Don’t expect a full account here, either. Nevertheless, we can at least step back from chronicling the details themselves, to seek an overview that will give us fresh perspectives on the most important and astonishing three years in the history of the world: the public ministry of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

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Endnotes

[1] Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 

[2] “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” Matthew 4:15-16

[3] In addition to Nathaniel’s negative opinion about Nazareth, we see the disparagement of the Judean rulers in this exchange. They surely knew the report of where Jesus came from, but to them Nazareth was a non-entity: We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” John 9:29

[4] But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Micah 5:2

[5] Although the exact date of our Lord’s birth is subject to debate, there can be little doubt that it took place in winter for that was the only time when shepherds were allowed to graze their sheep “in the fields” surrounding Bethlehem (Luke 2:8).  For obvious reason Jewish law forbade the entry of sheep into fields during the growing seasons.

[6] Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Matthew 2:16

[7] "And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul… Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” Deuteronomy 10:12-16

[8] Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. Matthew 3:13-15

[9] But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Luke 2:19

[10] The first out-working of this prophecy did not point to a miracle birth by a virgin, but a virgin within a time frame meant to convince the hapless king Isaiah addressed with proof of God’s intended discipline: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 KJV

[11] When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Hosea 11:1

[12] But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5

[13] For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:2

[14] For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 WEB

[15] And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. Revelation 19:19

[16] They want to shut you out… my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! Galatians 4:17-19

[17] And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:2

[18] When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. Luke 4:28-29

[19] Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” For not even his brothers believed in him. John 7:2-5