Can There Any Good Thing Come Out Of Nazareth?

Is there a specific town, city, or even an area of a town that causes you to say…”is there anything good there? Is it possible that someone can cross over from the wrong side of those tracks and make something of themselves?” If we are honest, we will admit that we’ve all had these thoughts. It’s nothing new, they had these same thoughts a few thousand years ago also.

Where exactly was Nazareth and why did it have a negative reference? It was a very small and obscure town that was on a hilltop and about 70 miles from Bethlehem. During Jesus day it was sparsely inhabited, and it was also known to have three watchtowers. This is also where the angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she was soon to be with child, and He would be “The Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:32-33

This small obscure hilltop town that no one went to unless you lived there. It was not a town you passed through to get to another town. Today we might call it an out-of-the-way podunk town. It is not something we would add to our itinerary….yet that is where the Lord God sent His angel Gabriel to announce to a young Hebrew virgin girl by the name of Mary, that she would be the mother of the long awaited Messiah! This was the “good thing that came out of Nazareth” Good- of positive moral quality.

He didn’t go to a grand and palatial palace, or a city with great notoriety; that is not how God chooses to do things. It is same way He created kings in the sheepfold, developing leaders on the backside of the desert for years; or forging princes for a palace out of pits and prisons. God looks at resumes the opposite of the way man does….thankfully!

What does the word Nazareth mean? Sprout, branch, watchtower. Isaiah prophesied in 11:1 about 600 years before Jesus birth “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots, the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him…” Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will raise to David a Branch of Righteousness; a king shall reign and prosper, and execute judgement and righteousness in the earth….His name will be called THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”

Nazareth the obscure out of place town was where the Lord chose to raise up His Branch. Isaiah 53:3 reminds us that “He would be a root out of dry ground, He has no form or comeliness, there is no beauty that we should desire Him, despised and rejected by men.” All the things we naturally look for outwardly; beauty, form and appeal….the Lord does the opposite.

We sing so many songs about Bethlehem, and we talk so much about Jerusalem; yet Jesus was not referred to “Jesus of Bethlehem or Jesus of Jerusalem in the New Testament. It was always Jesus of Nazareth even though He was born in Bethlehem. It seemed odd to me until I studied out the prophecies and made all the connections. Matthew even stated it when Holy Spirit inspired him to write in 2:23 “He shall be called a Nazarene.

Who referred to Jesus of Nazareth? Many! During His triumphal entry the crowd asked who this was…”the multitudes answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” Even the demons knew who He was…a man with a demon cried out “Let us alone! What do we have to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are..the Holy One of God!”

Throughout the book of Acts when the apostles prayed for people to be healed they prayed “in the name of Jesus of Nazareth” Peter spoke this name in his sermon, as did those accusing Stephen before his stoning; and of course Paul speaks the same in his sermon and when he spoke before the counsel in defending himself….and also what was the sign that the soldiers placed about the cross at Jesus crucifixion? “JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS.”

Why is there a constant reminder throughout scripture “Jesus of Nazareth?” There is a divine thread of prophecies woven through both old and new testaments. God in His infinite mercy spoke to His prophets by His Holy Spirit. He provides us the wisdom and desire to hunger and seek for His truth. All the pieces fit perfectly. Even when we study the entomology of the word Nazareth it fits in. Nasar-to protect, to preserve. Nazar- to consecrate oneself. Zara- to scatter, to sow

He was the root out of dry ground that became the Branch; the consecrated One that protects and preserves our lives into eternity. His seeds of righteousness have been scattered and sown throughout the earth…and are now awaiting the great harvest!

Did anything good come out of Nazareth? Yes…come and see!