| Long before there were any people, before there | | | | playing in the sun and getting brown and strong. |
| was even a world or sun or stars, there was | | | | After the wicked king died, an angel came to |
| God. God has always been and God will always be. | | | | Joseph again and told him that it was safe to go |
| There has never been a time when God was not | | | | back to their land. So the little family took the |
| living, and there will never be a time when He is | | | | long journey back to the land of Palestine. They |
| not living. We say God is eternal. This means that | | | | settled in the town of Nazareth where they had |
| He never had a beginning, and He will never have | | | | lived before. |
| an ending. Jesus is God's Son. He is eternal also. In | | | | The home in Nazareth was a poor one in which |
| the Bible when you see the "Word" it is another | | | | everyone helped. We know that brothers and |
| name for Jesus, it starts with a capital because it | | | | sisters were born into the family (Mark 6:3) |
| is a proper name. God caused the Bible to be | | | | though there was a difference. The brothers and |
| written to tell us of His love, so the Bible is called | | | | sisters had the same mother, Mary, but there |
| the word of God. | | | | father was Joseph. Both Mary and Joseph knew |
| Jesus came to show us what God is like so He is | | | | and could not forget that Jesus was the Son of |
| called the Word. When we call Jesus the Word, | | | | God and sent for a special purpose. |
| we mean the One who is eternal, and who came | | | | There were at least four brothers and two |
| as God's Word to show His heart to man. | | | | sisters, so it was a large family. Jesus was the big |
| Have you ever wondered about Jesus as a boy, | | | | Brother, and no doubt He spent many hours |
| if He knew what it was to run and play games, | | | | looking after the little ones in the home. There |
| go to school and have work to do around the | | | | were schools connected with the synagogues in |
| home? Sometimes a boy or girl does not have a | | | | which the boys were taught the Old Testament |
| mother or father of his own or must be | | | | Scriptures. On the Sabbath day they went to the |
| separated from his own family, but God provides | | | | synagogue to worship and have classes, |
| him with others to look after him or her so that | | | | something like our Sunday school today. |
| makes up their family. | | | | Joseph was a carpenter, and Jesus must have |
| Joseph brought Mary and the baby Jesus to a | | | | spent many hours in the carpenter's shop learning |
| house in Bethlehem to live. While they were living | | | | to work with His hands. When He was a grown |
| there, wise men who had seen the star in the | | | | man, people sometimes called Him a carpenter, |
| east and had come a long journey found them | | | | Mark 6:3. So you see His life as He was growing |
| and brought rich gifts. Joseph was a poor man | | | | up was made up of the same things as ours - |
| and these gifts were God's provision for the care | | | | family, school, friends, work, play, church. The |
| of Mary and her little Son. God told Joseph in a | | | | Bible tells us very little about these growing up |
| dream that the wicked King Herod would try to | | | | years, but it helps us to know that Jesus grew up |
| kill the baby, and that he must take Mary and the | | | | as other boys grow, only with this difference, |
| baby Jesus to Egypt where they would be safe. | | | | Luke 2:40 says "And the child grew and waxed |
| The Bible does not tell us how long they were | | | | strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace |
| there, but it may have been for several years. | | | | of God was upon Him. |
| Jesus was no longer a baby but quite a boy, | | | | |