The "early" years of Jesus go back a long way--into the very depth of uncreated Existence. Naturally, we begin there, then follow the Eternal Word to earth and trace His developmental journey as He grew “in wisdom, stature and favor."

Jesus didn’t suddenly appear on the scene with His birth at Bethlehem, nor was He waiting in the wings rehearsing His lines! What was the Son of God doing before He became the Son of Man? The clues are like stardust in the heavens.

Among ourselves we trust a person’s word because we trust the person. It works the same with God. The Father knows we don’t know Him and find it hard to trust Him, so He not only wrote His Word down, He sent Him to us!

As our Model and Example, Jesus' birth speaks volumes about our own new life in Him. What it reveals will make you marvel at the “risk” He took and the miracle, not only of His birth, but of His unwavering pursuit of His divine assignment.

The Father moved heaven and earth to give His Son’s birth a “stellar” announcement. This combines history, astronomy and a very close reading of the Biblical text—more fantastic, yet closer to scripture, than the greeting card images.

When it comes to showing us how to live, Jesus really is the Master. Trying to copy His ways from the outside in, however, is a guaranteed formula for frustration and failure. We need to see how He did it from the inside out.

Jesus came down from heaven to be with us as one of us. Then, He descended further and became what we had always been meant to be. We, on the other hand, can hardly wait to rise higher. Yet, our own descending is life-saving.

Our Lord loves to keep secrets for us to discover. Take a peak at His "hidden" years in Nazareth. Here was God Incarnate quietly going about daily life with no one but Mary and Joseph suspecting the astounding truth. He desired the privacy!

Considering what Jesus came to do (besides the cross), it is all-the-more remarkable that He fit it into three brief years of public ministry. The whole time He was ministering to others, He was diligently carrying out this "secret" agenda.