How did Jesus know so much? He knew He was the Son of God; He knew He was the Messiah; He knew what His mission was; He knew the names of people He had never met; He selected eleven disciples without a mistake; He always seemed to be at the right place at the right time; He chose to heal certain individuals in a crowd, such as the paralytic at the pool of Bethesda; He was able to heal at a distance; He seemed to have a foreknowledge of His death, burial, and resurrection. Where did He get all this information and divine powers? Well, some would say that He was born with it, after all, He was God. However, He spent nine months in Mary's womb as any other normal human fetus; He was born as a helpless babe; He was born with a blank memory bank; and He had to learn to eat, to crawl, to walk, to talk, and to reason just as any other infant. But we know that at twelve years of age He knew His mission, so how did He know?

First of all, I believe Mary was a special person chosen by God out of all the women of Israel; she belonged to the correct tribe; she was a virgin; she must have had superior DNA and above average IQ; and she was an excellent teacher. Jesus was home-schooled; He studied and memorized scripture at His mother's knee, especially those texts having to do with His divine mission. Secondly, the angels and the Holy Spirit no doubt informed Him of who He was.

Thirdly, His knowledge was augmented by long hours spent alone in prayer. Then, just before He began His earthly ministry, He was baptized and the voice of His Father introduced Him as His Son, and He was led into the wilderness for a special time of fasting and prayer. During that time He was in vision and felt no pangs of hunger. In that forty day vision He was shone many of the details of His life; "He saw Himself healing the sick, comforting the hopeless, cheering the desponding, and preaching the gospel" (SDA Bible commentary, vol. 5, Page 1080). I believe that during those forty days His whole life flashed before Him; everything He said and did was orchestrated; He must have seen the faces of those He was to heal, He probably saw Zacchaeus in the tree and the woman at the well; He no doubt had foreknowledge of His betrayal by Judas, and saw Himself on the cross, and heard the words He would speak.

But what about His miracles? Some would say that these were the result of an exercise of His divine powers. However, Jesus never used His divinity in His own behalf. He said that He could call upon angelic assistance if He wanted. A number of times He was rescued from an angry mob by angels, so they were at His beck and call. We are told that "the miracles of Christ were performed by the power of God through the ministry of angels" (DA 143). Thus, superior intelligence, excellent instruction, divine inspiration and angelic ministry is the answer to "how Jesus knew."