(39) And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. (40) And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
I detain the Reader at those verses, in order to call, his attention to what is said of Christ concerning his growth in nature, and waxing strong in spirit. It forms a subject of interesting enquiry. I pray the Lord the Holy Ghost to guide the mind, both of Writer and Reader, into a proper apprehension of the mysterious subject.
Now let it be first considered, that Christ in his human nature was to stand in the precise state and place of that nature he came to redeem. It behoved him to be made like unto his brethren in all things. He came to redeem his people from the curse, being made a curse for them. Hence he is said to have been made in the likeness of sinful flesh. In the likeness of it only: not himself sinful, for he knew no sin; but was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. Standing thus; though holy, in our nature, and the representative of all his people, the moment he entered our world, the consequences of the curse attached itself to him, and seized upon him. Hence, he took all the sinless infirmities of our nature; was born a child; became subject to misery and sorrow; to labor and travail; and as Adam's doom for sin was pronounced upon him, and all his children, Christ in putting away sin b y the sacrifice of himself, subjected himself to eat bread, in the sweat of his brow, until he was brought into the dust of death. Psalms 22:15
Hence, therefore, this explains at once, wherefore it became necessary for Christ to stand in the very state and place of the nature he came to redeem. It was as the representative and surety of his Church and People. The mere taking of our nature into union with the Godhead, without this, would not have answered the purpose. It would have been indeed a wonderful act of condescension in the Son of God so to have done: but then, had he came forth as the first earthly Adam came forth, in the perfection of his manhood at once, this would not have suited our case and circumstances; neither would it have answered for us in removing the curse. No! The Son of God, if he will be our surety, must put himself in our circumstances; must be born an infant; must gradually advance to manhood; must wax strong in spirit, and be filled with wisdom, and have the grace of God upon him. And these things blessedly prove to us, that it was a real and true body, the Son of God took into union with himself, in all points like ours, yet without sin: so that both in body and in soul he was manifested to be the same as we are.
From these premises let us go on further, and we shall discover, that agreeably to this assumption of our nature, for the purposes of redemption, Jesus became subject to all the sorrows of it, and to all the labors of it. His reputed father was a poor man, who worked for his daily bread. Jesus therefore did the same. Hence we hear him upbraided, Is not this the Carpenter's Son? Is not this the Carpenter? Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3. And so truly low in circumstances, that he could not, as the children of better condition among the Jews did, learn to read the Prophets, for the Holy Ghost from the mouth of his enemies hath given us this testimony, that he never learnt from human teaching. The Jews marvelled, saying, how knoweth this man letters having never learned? John 7:15. And no doubt, though it is not recorded in so many words, but from the earliest period of his life, as soon as ability enabled him to work for his bread, to the time he entered on his ministry at the age of thirty years, his lot was cast among that class of labor which belongs to the greatest part of mankind. Reader! so far is this from lessening the dignity of our Lord's character, that without it he would not have filled in the whole of the office of our great Mediator. The curse pronounced on the fall, comprized in it three grand points. First, a nature of frailty and infirmity. Secondly, a toilsome life, midst thorns and briers. And, thirdly, death. When the Son of God undertook to be his Church's surety, and to redeem his Church, he engaged for all these, and all these he fulfilled. Oh! how precious to my soul is the consideration. He who knew no sin was made sin for me, that I (who know no righteousness in myself), may be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21.