Our Nazareth

The work of God in bringing us to maturity where we live out of the fullness of Christ is indeed a great mystery that God is revealing to us. Now we do see that the Christ in us is complete. Positionally, we are seated in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:6). We have come unto the spiritual Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). We have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

However, the processing by which we walk out who we are positionally deals with our soul and body realm coming under the dominion of Christ – our Adamic consciousness being swallowed up by the mind of Christ.

God is producing in the natural what has always been reality in the spiritual. The Lamb was slain from the foundation of the earth (Rev. 13:8). But our Lord Jesus had to still humble Himself, be lowered into time, put on flesh, be born to Mary and endure the cross. That which was reality in the spirit – in the mind of God – had to find expression in the earth by Him walking it out. For the child was becoming a son for 30 years in Nazareth living a simple life – unknown, unrecognized, without any crowds and without any outward manifestation. Of course there was an hour for His unveiling.

However, those 30 years were not unfruitful or idle years. We read that during this period the child grew: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). I believe Jesus knew, even as a child, that positionally He was the Son of God – the Messiah, but He had to walk out and live out who He was. The process by which Jesus did this was through a daily listening, a daily surrender, a daily obedience, a daily growth that came about through a daily submission to the Father’s will. For “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Heb. 5:8). Indeed there is no shortcut to sonship.

We too have to go through our Nazareth. This is that place without any outward manifestation, indeed unknown and unrecognized by men. But this is the place where the inward man is being developed and sons are being formed. This is the place where we learn to submit to the Father’s will just as Jesus humbled himself to the Father’s will not only in His death but also in His daily walk.

Jesus states: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily” (Luke 9:23). The cross is a daily walk. Paul declares: “I die daily” (1 Cor. 15:31). The Amplified reads: “I face death every day and die to self.” There is pressure that we face in our lives in our routine day to day which God uses to exercise us in order to press us into Himself. The scripture refers to this pressure as tribulation. Tribulation in the Greek means “a pressing.” For we know that we must through much tribulations (pressings) enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). We see in Rev. 7:14 the fruit of this tribulation. So how are we to do this?

I believe Jesus did it by being in the Spirit since we read that during those days in Nazareth “the child grew and became strong in spirit” (Luke 2:40). To become strong in spirit is a wonderful testimony. Even as a 12 year old, while still growing in wisdom and stature, we see Him carrying out His Father’s business led by the Spirit. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. The spirit is where all illumination and power comes from to direct our walk. The spirit of man is where the complete stature of the fullness of Christ abides. It is the divine nature that is holy and unmixed. To abide in Christ is therefore to abide and live out of the inward man of the spirit for without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Everything that falls into our earth and our sea comes from this heaven.

We too are instructed to: “walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God)” (Gal. 5:16 Amp). As we have received Christ we are to walk in Him (Col. 2:6). To walk in Him is to do all things in the spirit – to pray in the spirit, to live in the spirit, to be led by spirit, to talk in the spirit, to worship in the spirit, to have the mind of the spirit. This is a great dimension and reality in God. This is not simply given to us, it is exercised daily in our coming in and going out in our Nazareth. It is in the various dealings that Father is teaching us to move and live and have our being in Him.