The Home in Nazareth

December 31st, 2023

We wind down December with the return of Christ to Nazareth. We pray that your hearts were encouraged by our writer's inspirations in our December Devotionals!

SCRIPTURE: "Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, 'Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.' 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, 'He shall be called a Nazarene.' Matthew 2:19-23
39 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. 40 And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. Luke 2:39-40

Beloved, have you ever been the recipient of inaccurate navigation from a GPS (a global positioning system)? I can testify that it can be frustrating, depending upon your eagerness to reach a certain destination in a timely manner. Occasionally, you may recall having sought directions from another person—one who was just as misdirected as you were but gave faulty directions to you for want of desiring to appear more knowledgeable than they were. We call such folks in spiritual matters “false teachers (1 John 4:1-3)! If we would reach our heavenly home, we must trust the divinely given record revealed in God’s Holy Word—the Bible [1 Thess. 2:13; 1 John 5:10]
The omniscient God, we see in Matthew chapter 2, did not leave His own out on a limb; He was
specific in directing Joseph about the “lay of the land” in Judea, his temporal home at that time. (He desires to direct us to our ETERNAL home as well in the 21 st century (Hebrews 13: 14)!
“If God be FOR you, who can be AGAINST you [Romans 8:31]?” The Lord God is never caught off-
guard, or thwarted in the least by evil. Moreover, at every divine detour Joseph was immediately
obedient! He did not, as we sometimes do, foolishly presume to know better than our omniscient Savior what is best for our life pathway. The Christ grew in wisdom and in strength—a declaration reminiscent of 3 John 4—“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” Shouldn’t that be our own testimony? Isn’t that our heart’s greatest desire for our own children and grandchildren? God the Son demonstrated these blessed traits of wisdom, strength of character and spirit, and obedience to the glory of His Father; and if we love Him, we too must daily aspire to do the same! Blessings of great joy, peace, and rewards here and hereafter are at stake!

Prayer: Dear Abba, we praise You because Your only begotten Son condescended to our lowly estate some 2,000 years ago. After living a sinless earthly life, as THE GOD-MAN, He gave Himself for my sins’ remission!! Bless Your holy and awesome Name!! HALLELUIAH! AMEN!
By Sis. Denise Diggs

4 Comments

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Deborah Whye - December 31st, 2023 at 5:05am

Hallelujah!! Amen!!!ðŸ™

Cheryl Torain - December 31st, 2023 at 7:20am

Hallelujah it was written and it is done - JESUS SAVES!!

Novella D Carpenter - December 31st, 2023 at 8:41pm

Amen! Amen! Yes, we have heard from several devotional writers, and the narratives have all come full circle. Hallelujah! Missiah spoken of by prophets, before time; has come in time, and will reign forever.

Paula S. - January 6th, 2024 at 6:09pm

Amen , the Lord God took Jesus down to Egypt and brought Him back to Nazareth. My goodness, where has he sent us then brought us back? Awesome!