And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to about My Father’s business?” Luke 2:49.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
My Son opened a new and living way to My throne of grace.
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Hebrews 10:19-22.
He, as the first born-again man raised from the dead to Heaven. He is your forerunner who opened the way for you. As He is so are you in this world.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:19-20.
My Son sets you free and when the Son sets you free, you are free indeed because you are no longer a slave to sin and death but a beloved son with Him, a joint heir, and in Him your sins are gone and you have become love, which is My image and according to My likeness. So imitate Me as My dear children and walk in love. And to do that you need to make a choice to follow Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith.
To walk the road to freedom, you need a guide, a redeemer, a teacher, and a savior to be led out of slavery to freedom, out of oppression to dominion, out of darkness to light, out of sickness to health, out of lack to abundance, out of failure to success, out of defeat to victory, out depression to joy, out of confusion to clarity, out of evil to good, out of ashes to beauty, out of despair to hope, out of curses to blessings, and from death to life. Jesus is all those things to you and He has sent another that is just like Him to be your helper, your guide, and your teacher. He is the Holy Spirit. And where are you being led? To the fountain of life where in My light you see light and drink from the abundance of the river of delights that pours down from My throne.
And Jesus has now sent you out as I sent Him, filled with the Holy Spirit and power, to go out to save souls by being their guide to freedom in Jesus. But you are not going alone, you are doing it with Jesus and with Me.
So then, when the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed. Mark 16:19-20.
People go shopping constantly to get groceries, to get items for their homes, personal care items, but there are times, such as Christmas, that they go shopping for gifts just for others and not things they personally need. Well, on this Christmas journey of remembrance, I am inviting you to go on a shopping spree with and for Me. I have provided the funds and you will do the purchasing on My behalf. Yes, we are going on a shopping spree, but this one is for souls. I have given you the precious Blood of Jesus from the Mercy Seat, My Word as your testimony, the Name of Jesus, and the Light of the world. I am making you shoppers for souls. That is of greater value than fishers of men. You have been bought with a price.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. 1 Corinthians 7:22.
Satan is on a shopping spree too for souls, but you can outbid him hands down. You have far more funds than he does. You do not have perishable things like silver or gold but the precious blood of Jesus which is beyond the value of everything in the world and then some. And you are offering the Word of Life in which is eternal life.
When Jesus said, “Forgive them Father, they know not what they do,” He opened forgiveness to you and everyone. He purchased you with His blood. He paid your ransom to divine justice. When Stephen as a member of the body of Christ, said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” He purchased those souls that were stoning him and I saved Saul, who became Paul, on that authorization from Stephen. He had purchased a soul for Me. And then Paul became rich with the merits of Christ and purchased many souls for Me.
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” John 20:21-23.
And with that He sent you on a divine shopping spree for souls. And He goes with you. He is the head you are the body and He is with you always until the end of this age, the Church age, and then you are forever caught up to be with Him. And I never leave you or forsake you. I AM always with you, now and forever. I did not leave you orphans.
Peter and John told the man lame from birth who was begging at the beautiful gate of the Temple, that they were not using silver and gold but something far more powerful to purchase His perfect health, and then they used the Name of Jesus in which are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and the power that moves Heaven and earth and causes every knee to bow.
The man could do nothing but leap up and dance about. And where did he go? To the temple. He was grateful to Me. He came into My house.
Jesus came on a shopping spree for souls and He paid the price for each and every one of you to redeem you from the curse of the law of sin and death. He bought your freedom from slavery as your wealthy kinsman redeemer, who emptied Himself to make you rich, to restore all to you that had been stolen by the devil. And the biggest of these is eternal life. You did not have it and could not buy it but what you could not do in the flesh, Jesus came down and did for you in the flesh.
No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him—for the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should cease trying forever— that he should live on eternally, that he should not undergo decay. Psalm 49:7-8.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, I did by sending the gift of Jesus in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, I condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in you, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Jesus took your sins as your sin offering and released you from your sins by His blood and made you a kingdom, priests unto Me. You are a royal priesthood.
You see Christmas gives you a wonderful gift but the gift also gives you a Kingdom assignment for as I sent Him, so He sends you. Go therefore and make disciples.
And Jesus took His assignment and mission very seriously. He was always about My business of saving souls and giving instruction in My Words and Ways. And you find Him doing this even at twelve years old.
In their sojourn in Egypt after Herod massacred the baby boys up to two years old, the Child Jesus continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and My grace was upon Him. When Herod died, My angel commanded Joseph to return with Mary and Jesus to Israel and ultimately to settle again in Nazareth. And Jesus kept growing in His humanity, but My grace was upon Him. He was working for My Kingdom. And He felt at home in My house.
Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
This amazing occurrence fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that a little boy would lead them:
And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Isaiah 11:6.
And the expertise of Jesus in getting things right, though while a mere youth as seen in Psalm 119.
I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts. Psalm 119:99-100.
When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” Jesus kept all My commandments, so you know He honored the parents I had placed over Him. But both Mary and Joseph knew how miraculous His birth had been and that I was His Father. Not Joseph. He was honoring Me by being about My business. And what is My business? I run a government, it is an amazing perfect place. There is no death, mourning, pain, hate, or any form of darkness there. And I am seeking to bring the benefits of My Kingdom into the earth realm. I am seeking to save the souls I have made so they will know the truth and the truth will set them free. I sent Jesus to save the lost and as I sent Him so He sends you, shoppers of souls.
And Mary and Joseph found Him busy shopping for souls, the very leaders of the people. And thus He said to Mary and Joseph, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be about My Father’s business (affairs)?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them, though Joseph knew that I had told him to name the child “Yeshuah,” because He would save his people from their sins. But teaching the teachers of the law would seem like He was talking to ones that were already saved. But they were not.
Jesus had again, as foretold, arrived in the Temple, the very Messiah, Teacher, and Lord they were seeking.
“Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the LORD of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the LORD offerings in righteousness. Malachi 3:1-4.
But it really was not the time yet for Him to begin His public ministry for I had sent John the Baptist to clear the way ahead of Him to prepare the people to receive Him. And that will be the subject of our next Life Lesson. John was out soul shopping as well.
So Jesus went back home with Mary and Joseph to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
Jesus was meek and humble of heart. He kept all My commandments and always did what pleased Me. And in Him, all that is accounted to your account. The divine exchange, I took all that was sinful and evil in you and accounted it all to Him, and then I took all that was righteous and good in Him and accounted it to you.
And such is My will for you in Christ Jesus. Rejoice!
I love you. Come and receive your gift and then let us go spend it on a shopping spree for souls. The good news is your resources will never run dry, there is an abundance of grace in Jesus—and of His fullness you have all received, grace on top of grace.