Merry Christmas!

Blessings these HOLY days, Pastor Stretchberry & Staff

 “He CHRIST IS BORN & LIVES IN NAZARETH

“Having been warned in a dream, [Joseph] withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”  (Matthew 2:22)

Despite the idea of some Jews that “nothing good could come from Nazareth,” others who lived in the Galilee understood that something very good, even Divine did indeed come from there.

Let’s see how the Tanakh (Old Testament) gives us clues and prophecies about the village of Nazareth and the promised Messiah.

While Nazareth is not mentioned in the Tanakh (Old Testament), it is mentioned 12 times in the Brit Chadashah (New Testament).

In Hebrew, the word for Nazareth is Natzeret (נָצְרַת)

And it might relate to the Hebrew word used for the Messianic Branch (Netzer – נֵצֶר) in the Book of Isaiah.

“A shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse [King David’s father], and a branch [netzer] from his roots will bear fruit.” (Isaiah 11:1)

This connection between natzeret and netzer is especially possible since both words share the same root: נֵצַר– N-TZ (Tzadik)-R, which in Hebrew is the word natzer, meaning watchman, guardian, and keeper.

Certainly, while Yeshua was with us on earth, He saw Himself as the guardian of God’s Chosen People. He prayed to the Father about those under His care:

“While I was with them, I was keeping themin Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded themand not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” (John 17:2)

Mary and Child Jesus in Nazareth,by William Hole (1846-1917)

AMERICAN EUROPEAN BETHEL MISSION INC. – www.aebm.info805 569-0015

P.O. BOX 30562 SB CA 93130 ~ S Salinas St. – SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA 93103

NON-PROFIT EVANGELICAL INTERDENOMINATIONAL FAITH MINISTRY 5013C# 95-1647803