ANSWER:
Following the account of Jesus teaching in the Temple at age 12 (Luke 2:41-47) the Scripture states: “Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them…” (Luke 2:51). We also read that Joseph “being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene [One who came from Nazareth]’” (Matthew 2:19-23). Jesus evidently spent most of those years in Nazareth, or he would not have been known as a Nazarene.
We find Jesus, after He was 30 years of age preaching in a synagogue in Nazareth. We read: “So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16).
In Matthew 13:54-56 we read: “And when He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, ‘Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses [Joseph], Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” These people knew Jesus! They knew His whole family. This was Jesus’ own country (Luke 4:24). How obvious that Jesus spent most of those 18 years between ages 12 and 30 in Nazareth. This is where he worked, trained, and studied.
Whether or not Jesus traveled to any foreign countries is not revealed. Speculations about Jesus traveling the world or studying with the Essenes are unsubstantiated by any biblical evidence.
