4304 — JESUS BEFORE HIS MINISTRY
By Editor
Can you give me Scripture evidence where Jesus was between the age of twelve years and the time He started to preach? How did He spend this time? Practically nothing is said in the Bible about this period in the life of Christ; and since divine inspiration has passed it by in silence, there is not much to be said. But without question He was at home helping His father in the carpenter shop. The Scripture says, "He went down with them [His parents], and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them." Luke 2:51. He obeyed His parents in all things, and stayed at home until His heavenly Father indicated that it was time for Him to commence His work of ministry. He was doubtless studying and becoming acquainted with the Scriptures, and preparing for His work. 4305 — SHALL HE BREAK HIS CONTRACT?
My husband is convinced that he should obey God by keeping the seventh-day Sabbath of His word, but he is under contract to work for a man the rest of this year. What ought he to do? Obedience to God presents the highest claim that can rest upon any individual. The apostles recognized this when they said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." Acts 5:29. In freeing one's self from the unfortunate situation of being under a contract that involves the violation of one of God's plain commandments, we should remember that He is our mighty Helper. The hearts of kings are in His hands. Prov. 21:1. He can influence the mind of this man for whom your husband is working, so that he will see the reasonableness of withdrawing any objection to his following his conscientious conviction. In making such changes, God requires that we consider the influence that our action will have upon the other individual; and if we go about it in the right spirit, we will find very few men, in this day and age of the world, who will undertake to block the way of a person who desires to take his stand to do what he considers to be right in the Christian life. God gives no one any authority to continue in violating His commandments. At the same time, the whole tenor of His word shows that we should take a discreet, consistent, tactful course; for the God who gave His Son to die for one individual, also gave Him for each and every other individual in the world, and He is desirous of winning all men to Himself. 4306 — ANOINTING OF JESUS
I am puzzled over the difference in three different texts, namely, John 12:3-8; Luke 7:36-50; Matt. 26:6-13. In Matthew the head of Jesus is anointed, but in St. Luke and St. John the feet only are mentioned as being anointed. Would you please enlighten me about this? There is no inharmony in these texts. One of the apostles gives one feature, and another adds an additional feature. Matthew says that the woman poured the ointment on Christ's head; and Luke and John tell, in addition to this, of the anointing of His feet. The ordinary anointing of honor and hospitality was of the feet; but Mary did both, investing the anointing with the deeper meaning of the preparation of His body for burial. Thus it is all through the four Gospels. No one of them tells all the incidents connected with the life of Christ, but each writer tells, under the inspiration of the Spirit, the features that appealed to him, one account being added to another to form the complete whole, and all of them in perfect harmony.