Luke 2:21-24

Luke chapter 2, verses 21 to 24 for our text and study this morning. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel, before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons. Thank God bless to us His sacred and holy word this morning. morning. A man purchased a very expensive sword. It had a golden hilt and an elaborate scabbard. And he hung it up in his massive living room and showed it to all his friends and neighbors when they came by. Occasionally he would take it down from the wall where it was hung up and take it out of the scabbard and show people the edge of the sword and how sharp it was. and all his friends admired his ancient relic. The story of Christ is not meant for you to merely admire and just exhibit like a sword. You must not be content to just look at it and extol it, but do nothing with it. The account before you is not be content to just look at it and extol it and extol it, but do nothing with it. meant to teach you something that would be beneficial to your daily life. All scripture is profitable unto you and it instructs you in righteousness and therefore when we come to this passage of scripture, even though it’s about the circumcision of Christ and Mary’s purification and so forth, we must see that there’s something here recorded for our benefit. Let me begin by talking about the circumcision of Christ. Christ. Verse 21. And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now, I must say that in one sense, Christ didn’t need to be circumcised. While the Jews boasted of their circumcision, as Paul emphasized, as Paul emphasized, in the book of Philippians chapter 3, they seem to have completely missed the significance of circumcision because circumcision was a symbol of the need for the bloody removal of the body of one sin, according to Colossians chapter 2. It pointed to the need for the person to be regenerated. And you recall that even in the Old Testament, how often God talked about the person, their need for a circumcision of heart and not merely a flush. So circumcision was a reminder of your sinful condition and the need to have your transgressions removed. But Jesus had no impurity of nature, and certainly the circumcision could not possibly possibly relate to that because we read about him in chapter 1 and verse 35 of Luke, that holy thing which shall be born of these shall be called the Son of God. He was holy from birth. No taint of sin upon our Savior. But the truth is that all men need to be circumcised of Christ. But Jesus submits. to circumcision here, just as he will submit to baptism later in order to fulfill all righteousness, as he tells us in Matthew 315. Now, there are several reasons why Jesus was circumcised. It was necessary for him to be made like his brethren in all things. Sin accepted. He was by his circumcision, declared to be made, be the descendant of Abraham. Indeed, he is the seed of Abraham that was promised. He said, an example of obedience to the divine command for believers. He obeyed the law of God, and he was less allowed to enter the temple of God and freely ministered to Jewish people in the synagogues and so forth, and you would have to be circumcised to do that. But in one sense, Christ didn’t need to be circumcised. But in another sense, Christ was made a debtor to do the whole law by his circumcision. God appointed that his son should be circumcised in order to subject him to the law of God. As we read in Galatians 5.3, for I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law. And therefore we find that God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5. By undergoing circumcision, Christ acknowledged himself to be a slave of the law that he might procure your freedom as a believer. His faithful obedience to every jot and tittle of the law freed you from bondage to it as a believer. For Christ’s righteous obedience to the law is imputed to all his people and therefore were credited with his perfect obedience to the law. So in another sense, Christ, was made a debtor to do the whole law by circumcision. Now Jesus here in his time of circumcision is named, and this is important also. Jesus is the Savior of sinners. It seems to be a general custom among the Jews that they named their children, male children here in particular, on the day that they were circumcised, which was the eighth day after their birth. We saw the same thing with John the Baptist earlier in Luke, Luke, chapter 1. Now Jesus was the name Joseph and Mary were commanded by the angel to give to their child this Messiah that was born. This was not a name they picked. This was a name picked by God that would reveal the character and work of our Lord and Savior. Thou shall call his name Jesus where he shall save his people from their sins. And Jesus means Savior. That was not accidentally given to him or wishfully given to him. God gave him that name because that’s what he came to do. He came to fulfill a mission to be a redeemer. Every time his name was said, it reminded people of why he came or what his purpose was. Now Isaiah declared of Christ in Isaiah 42, he shall not fail nor be discouraged. He’s not a hypothetical Savior. He’s not a potential Savior. He is the Savior. He would not fail in his mission to save his people from their sins. He shall save his people from their sins without doubt, without question. Thus we read that Jesus obtained eternal redemption for us in Hebrews 912. Nothing hypothetical about the work of Christ. Jesus is the sole Savior and he is the complete Savior. So Jesus is the Savior of sinners. Now, let me make a couple practical observations. The first is this. Christ’s submission to circumcision provides a lesson for you and I. And that lesson relates to this. Jesus’ circumcision was a public testimony to Israel that he kept the law of God. Personally, as we said, Jesus didn’t need to be circumcised, but for the sake of the gospel, but for the sake of bearing witness to others. He submitted to it. Another example of this is Jesus paying the temple tax. it Matthew 17 with me, if you would, verses 24 to 27, we read here and when they came to Copernium, they that received tribute money, came to Peter and said, doth your master pay tribute? He said, yes. And when he was coming into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, what thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take customer tribute? Of their own children? or of strangers. Peter said unto him, of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go to the sea, thou to the sea, cast a hook, take up the fish that first cometh up, and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money, that take, and give unto them for me and thee. Jesus rightly may have claimed to be exempt from paying the temple tax since he is the son of God. He shouldn’t have to pay tribute money. He is indeed the king of kings. He is the son of God may have been excused from maintenance of the temple, of his father’s house. Yet he claims no exemption. He is king would be free and all his children, his spiritual children like Peter, would also be free. So why not claim the exemption? Well, he gives the reason in verse 27, less we should offend them. Lest we would offend those who collected the tax and others, Jesus would rather pay the tax. And so he actually performs a miracle here in order to pay the tax. In order to pay the tax, in order not to offend others. Lest anyone look poorly upon Christ, and the gospel be hindered. Anyway, Jesus voluntarily pays the temple tax, and Peter does also. For the same reason. Look with me at Acts chapter 16 in verses 1 to 3. Then came he to Derby and Listra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timothyus. The son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was well spoken or well reported off by the brethren that were at Listra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him, and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters, they all knew that his father was a Greek. Now, some have sharply criticized Paul for, circumcising Timothy shortly after that Jerusalem council in Acts 15 or was declared that circumcision was not necessary for one to be said. as Paul writes in Galatians 615 for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature. isn’t this the same heresy that Paul was opposed to? so why does he circumciseiseise Timothy. Well, Timothy’s father was a Gentile, whereas his mother was a Jew. had Timothy not been circumcised, it would have greatly hindered his work among the Jews. had Timothy not been circumcised, the Jews would assume that he had renounced his Jewish heritage and was going to live as a Gentile. So Paul circumcised Timothy for expediency’s sake so that he would a full access to the Jewish synagogues into which Paul often went. You remember whenever he went into a new city, normally he went to the synagogue first. And this way, he could take Timothy with him. and even when he went to the temple, he would be able to go in. so here’s Paul going into a new area. He is a missionary. He needs Timothy to be circumcised. Before that reason, for the the benefit of the gospel. Now Titus, another fellow worker of Paul’s, was a full-blooded Gentile. Paul refused to circumcise him. You remember in Galatians chapter 2, lest people would conclude it was necessary for Titus’ salvation. Timothy’s connection to both races would make him useful when reaching to the Gentiles and to the Jews. But for Titus, Paul didn’t want anyone to be confused about the teaching of the council at Acts 15. You don’t need to be circumcised to be said. But for the expediency of the gospel, Timothy would be. The lesson is this. As long as God’s truth is not compromised, you may safely give up your own rights to avoid offense. As Paul declares, If drinking wine or eating meat offends, he’ll gladly give them up and eat them no more. Even though he has a right to do so. If it would in any way hinder the gospel, I don’t need to have it. And this is the way and the principle that we should follow. If we want to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. So there’s something here about submission to circumcision, even though it was unnecessary. He doesn’t. it for righteousness’s a lesson for us. The second thing, as observation, is to ask you this question. Jesus here is spoken of as the Savior. The question is, is he your Savior? You know, we can talk about Jesus and the abstract about his person. And the question is not whether you have information about Christ, but do you know the Savior? Have you come to, place all your hope and trust in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins. Have you been delivered from the power and the guilt of sin in your life? By the blood of his sacrifice. We read in Proverbs 1810, The name of the Lord, and here we’ll use the name Jesus, is a strong tower. The righteous runneth into it and is safe. The scripture says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou. Shelt be say. Mr. Brownlow North, before his conversion, was a real man of the world. And he lived a profane life in a very open manner. And we see that happens many times with people. They are careless in how they live. They don’t care whether anyone sees all the things that they’re doing or not. Well, after he came to salvation, God called him to preach the gospel. And he did so with great fervor. But certain of his old companions were full of spite against him, and they wanted to harm him. And they sent him a threatening letter that would expose him as a hypocrite if he preached. Just as he was about to address a very large congregation, a stranger handed him this letter, and he said to him, Read this before you preach. And the letter had a list of the sins that he had committed in his past life, and North was guilty of them. And it ended with these words, how dare you being conscious of the truth of all this? Pray and speak to the people this evening when you’re such a vile sinner. North put the letter in his pocket, entered into the pulpit, and commenced his address by reading the letter publicly before the congregation. Nor said, all of this is true. This is how I lived before I was converted. That degraded sinner that I read about to you, that’s an accurate picture of me. Then he read his text, and he preached on how Christ saves the most vile sinners like himself. How all he said, his past sins were washed away, and how theirs could be washed away by coming to the Savior as well. What about you? Have you found the truth of all this, regardless of how many stains are in your life and how many sins that you’ve committed? The circumcision of Christ, that’s the first thing our text talks about. The second thing it talks about is a purification of Mary. Let’s look at verses 22 to 24. And when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every mail that open if the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle douse or two young pigeons. Now you’re told here of the uncleanness of Mary. The days of her purification, we’re talking about. After childbirth, the law required the purification of the mother, Leviticus Chapter 12. After the birth of a male child, the mother would be uncleaned for 40 days. After the birth of a female child, it would be 80 days. Now, when these days were expired, the woman was directed to go to the temple. and offer a lamb for a burn offering and a turtle dove or a young pigeon as a sin offering. Now, if we look at this carefully, this should be enough to prove that Mary was not considered sinless in the eyes of God. If she needed a sin offering, she’s viewing herself as a sinner. She needed to cleanse of her corruption. So you’re told of the uncleanness here of Mary. You’re told of the poorness of Mary. Now, in cases where one was too poor to bring a lamb, you could bring two turtle douse or two young pigeons instead. The law of God provided for that. And they would be sacrificed, one for the sin offering, one for the burn offering. So when we get to Mary’s purification here, not Christ’s presentation, but Mary’s purification, it appears she could not afford a loan. lamb from verse 24. For we read about two turtle dolls or two young pigeons. She had to be content to offer that turtle dills or young pigeons. One of the many indications, of course, of the humiliation of Christ, that he wasn’t born in a rich family. He wasn’t born in a family with all kinds of money and wealth. For Joseph and Mary were poor. And she didn’t even have an extra the value of a land. to sacrifice at this time. Scripture says, who though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we might through his poverty become rich. So you’re told of the poorness of Mary. Now let me make a couple of practical applications from this. The first is this. Legal pollutions were designed to teach you the cleansing power of God’s grace. The law’s ceremonies were meant to provide what I call a picture book. For those who were the children of the church when it came to spiritual knowledge at this time, in other words, they had to be taught spiritual lessons and he did it in a picturesque form. This law of purification placed before the eyes of the Jews, the corruption of their nature, and the remedy of divine grace, which was sacrifice. All of this pointing to the work of Jesus Christ, who would provide the ultimate sacrifice as the true Lamb of God. You should always read the Old Testament, and the ceremonial law in particular with an eye to Christ. I mean, remember he told us that Moses wrote of him. There was a young man who once preached before a highly respected older minister, and proudly asked the elderly gentleman afterwards, well, what did you think of my sermon, sir? The old minister’s reply was a very poor sermon indeed, which shocked the young minister. And the young minister said, will you tell me why you think the sermon was a poor sermon? And the old minister said, because there was no Christ in it. And the young minister said, well, Christ was not in the text. And the old minister said, well, Christ was not in the text. And the old minister said, well, minister said, young man, don’t you know that from every town, every village, and every hamlet, there is a road to London? He said, from every verse of scripture, there’s a road to Jesus Christ. So when you study the scriptures, always seek to find the road to Christ, and pray that God would give you understanding. So these legal pollutions were designed to teach you the cleansing power of God’s grace ultimately through the truth. the person and work of Christ. Notice something else. God requires only what is in proportion to your ability. The fact that God, in his law, accommodates the poor, shows us something important to ponder. When we are in humble circumstances, and we possess little of this world’s goods, we shouldn’t be afraid that when we bring our small offering to the Lord, that somehow it’s going to be despised. God accepted the turtle dove as well as the lamb. He will accept the widow’s might as well as the large contribution of the more wealthy person. You need only offer according to what God has blushed you with a cheerful heart and a grateful mind, and you will be fully accepted. Here’s what Deuteronomy’s 6th. 169 says, Thou shall give unto the Lord like God according as the Lord hath blessed thee. That’s the teaching. And I remind you that Jesus saw the widows two mites as far superior to all the wealth of the rich people that they put in, for she gave all that she had. And that was more than they did. And so we see these things, and hopefully we will take them to heart. The third thing we see in our text is the presentation of Christ. It’s mentioned in the last part of verse 22. They brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. And then verse 23, as it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Here we have the idea of the firstborn claimed by God. Now, to understand this, we have to go all the way back to the Exodus. And you’ll remember that it was in commemoration and in an acknowledgement of the merciful deliverance of Israelites through the Passover, the painting of the blood on the doorpost, remember, when the death angel came through and took all the firstborn of Egypt. They all were put to death. Man and beast. Here’s what God says in Numbers 3.13. On the day that I smote all the firstborn of Egypt. in the land of Egypt, I hallowed, I set apart unto me, all the first born in Israel, both man and beast, mine they shall be, I am the Lord. So every firstborn male child was to be presented to the Lord and had to be redeemed by paying five shekels of silver. The first born of the males of the beasts, the clean ones, would be sacrificed to the Lord. to the Lord. But God didn’t require that of human beings. However, their freedom had to be bought with a price. And so Joseph and Mary, following the law, did this with regard to Jesus. Now, what observation can we make from this? We have a lesson here on the right of those redeemed to be spared from death. This ancient ritual was made. meant to teach something spiritual, that God has a right to claim certain people as his own, and then provide a way to redeem them. Spare them death of the divine judgment. God’s wonderful plan of salvation, if you look at it carefully, is actually revealed in the law of God. You just have to understand how it’s revealed. We shouldn’t overlook this important point. Paul, excuse me, Peter alludes to this idea of redemption by paying a price in 1. 18 and 19. You were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from the vain conversation or behavior received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. So what Peter is telling us, this is the whole idea of redeeming by paying the silver coins and so forth, that had a connection to Christ. It was to portray what Christ was going to do. So the redemption, the firstborn, was meant to portray the redemption provided by Christ. For those people, God had separated unto himself. Only Christ’s redemption was not with silver coins, but with a sacrifice of himself by his own precious blood. Again, the great Redeemer being made of the law, subject to all things connected with it, submits to being redeemed here for the sake of saving his elect. Well, let me close by saying this. The man who purchased a very expensive sword and hung it up in his living room and showed everybody this expensive sword, put it on display, and all his friends admired it. That’s not what Christ is meant for us, merely to admire. It’s meant to be profitable this message of Christ to us. instruct us in righteousness. Yes, we should admire Christ and all about Him. But we should apply these things to ourselves that the scripture tells us about Christ that we may benefit from these things. Let us close with this.