The Lost Years

by Pastor Jess Foglesong

We thank God for His persistence in securing our standing in the community of the living. We had been lost -- due to Sin (separation from the Father) -- but since then our ransom has been paid by a redeemer (the Christ of God). And we are now back in the running -- to the finish line. Our goal is -- like many of God’s illustrations: animals migrating home to their place of creation, of birth -- to come home to the Father, and the security of His loving Kingdom.

We are grateful for His grace, and for His ultimate desire to save us from annihilation. Satan had intended to contaminate and lead the human race to certain demise and doom. Not so! The tide was turned and we are back on the road to the “Promised Land.”

God knew it was not going to be easy. A plan had to be devised to satisfy His Laws and at the same time redeem a lost group of people - the human race. He decided to come to earth and blend in with humans. He chose a group of people in the middle of a desert and gave them rules to follow. And one day, after thousands of years of showing and illustrating His ways and character. He chose one couple, and announced to them -- through His trusted Arch Angel, Gabriel -- that an infant would be born out of immaculate conception; to name Him Jesus. He placed His seed into the woman’s womb and from that moment was part of the human stream of life.

He grew up as a normal child in a Jewish community and studied and learned all of the traditions and rituals of the land; especially the Tora (The Jewish Bible). His early life was not eventful. He did not realize who he was -- the Son of God. He knew that he was different from the rest of the children; and as he grew into a young man, he could feel the calling of His Father. There was a sense of journey, of wanting to see the world around him; and visit the people near and in distant lands.

By the time he became a man, he had already become well versed in carpentry, and made a good living in his community (Jesus the carpenter). As the years went by, though, he very quietly and silently, traveled and moved throughout the region, observing and listening to the people of the world. At the same time he was discovering who he really was: part of the Father in heaven. He came to the realization that he was special; that he was on earth for a specific reason; that he was what God has been showing and illustrating to all for thousands of years, in the ceremony of the “sacrificial lamb.” He realized that he was who Isaiah wrote about: He was the true Sacrificial Lamb; a servant of the Father and to mankind: Isaiah 42:1 "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations."

It made him even more focused. Knowing and understanding his responsibilities to His Father; as well as to the entire human race. And as He traveled, meeting and engaging with a multitude of nations, cities, communities and ordinary people, he knew that the time would come when he would have to return to his place of origin; to face his own countrymen; to begin to do the will of the Father. First of all, to be baptized by water, by his cousin John. To be officially welcomed by the  Father as The Christ.

After which he immediately removed himself from the scene by entering the remote desert to deal with Satan; to be tempted. Just as the People of Israel did 400 years earlier. He now would assume all of the responsibilities of an entire nation, in himself. He became the Christ. And after 40 days and nights dealing with the devil, he returned to the region to begin His ministry of showing, disclosing and revealing the true character of His Father in heaven. By then he had reached the age of 30. 

He was ready! The will of the Father was imprinted in his mind. He became the teacher, the counselor, the miracle worker, the healer, the fisher of men, a Rabbi of Rabbi’s. He traveled through the land of Israel, announcing that the Kingdom of God is within the midst of all who believed. And as he traveled he slowly won the trust of many.

He formed a group of 12 men and called them His disciples (one for each 12 tribe of Israel). And they traveled with him, learning and gaining knowledge of who he was and most of all: who really, was His Father in heaven.

And finally the day came when He entered the temple as the servant of The Father and of the people of the world. And soon was arrested for blasphemy, was tried, beaten, and sentenced to death on a cross -- a crucifixion story well chronicled. And we are also told that this was not the end to the story.

God, His Father in heaven was pleased with His Son. And after 40 days reminding and giving instructions to the apostles, was taken up into heaven; where one day in the future, returning to implement, the creation of a New Kingdom, and a New Jerusalem.

And so we are reminded of the immense importance of this entire event. God, with a vast universe and worlds beyond to manage; within a sphere of magnanimous proportions, had to “fix” this problem or -- simply speaking: not be able to rule. Satan (Lucifer) had challenged Him; and accused Him of being arbitrary and soft … But through His wisdom; and through the concept of a sacrificial lamb, the problem was rectified; and the accuser was silenced. The verdict was in: God was found innocent; assuring His right to continue to rule the Realm of Heaven, and all that is connected to it.

And because God has been vindicated, all of His creations were  as well -- including mankind. Thanks to His Love, and grace … and to His profound emphasize to Truth, Justice, Freedom and Righteousness.