The Presentation of the Lamb

What does it take for you to say, you know, if this is what running the race means, I'm going to sit this one out. If obeying God leads to this kind of misunderstanding or hurt, never mind, and I'm sure God doesn't mind. If doing the right thing causes me such discomfort, surely God will understand if I wiggle out of that one. You see, you need to understand eight days into this backdrop of life-long discomfort, Joseph and Mary will not miss one step. Much of our celebration of Christmas is derived from the well-known facts about Jesus' birth. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem.

His mother was a virgin. He was worshipped by on-looking shepherds. Angels announced his birth to those nearby.

But it's possible that for many people, their knowledge and worship of Jesus ends with those stories. Today, Stephen Davey begins a series called Beyond Bethlehem. He's going to take us on an investigation of the boyhood of Jesus.

This investigation will broaden our understanding of his life and consequently increase our reasons to worship him. Today's lesson is called The Presentation of the Lamb. If I were to ask the average Christian what happened to Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus after the shepherds left the manger scene, what happened next?

Many would perhaps say, honestly, I'm not sure. That's because the normal Christmas pageant ends at verse 20 of Luke 2. The shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they heard and seen just as had been told them.

The curtain closes. Jesus will emerge from obscurity at his baptism. For the most part, those are the texts that we'll deal with. In fact, in just a few short months, we'll be celebrating his crucifixion and his resurrection.

Nothing wrong with that. But there are some things that happened after that. Now, obviously, we do have a challenge. We face the fact that God the Father evidently left much of what could have been recorded about God the Son's life between his birth and ministry off the record of Scripture. He wisely knew, if you think about it, that we have enough trouble grasping or even coming close to seizing some measure of the truth of God becoming a baby.

We're gonna have real trouble with considering God as a four-year-old or a seven-year-old, eight-year-old, 16-year-old, 20-year-old. Perhaps for that reason, knowing that in the human heart, mystery can so often turn into mysticism and myth and misinterpretation, the Lord left it out. So the church, unfortunately, has come along and spoken where God has been silent. In the third and fourth centuries, you have the documentation of wives' tales and myths and legends in what's called apocryphal writings. Apocryphal means hidden.

It came to mean spurious or dubious. And really what they were was a cataloging of stories that bolstered the corrupting church's views of a number of things, like purgatory and praying to Mary or the saints. And these apocryphal writings would support that, although they had nothing to do with Scripture. And one particular apocryphal book, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, attempts to fill in the gaps of what happened when Jesus was a boy and, of course, takes you way off the tracks of truth. So what does the Bible record about the boyhood of Jesus? Some remarkable things.

It's not as silent as the average Christmas pageant may imply. In fact, eight days after his birth, some wonderful events began to unfold in the life of Mary and Joseph and Jesus. So let's go to verse 21.

Verse 21. And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now, we're going to see three ceremonies that either directly or indirectly involve Jesus.

And they're going to reveal probably more about Mary and Joseph than they do Jesus. But they will be significant as they allow him to fulfill the law, even as an infant. The first ceremony we could call the ceremony of identification. Eight days after Mary delivered Jesus, every Jewish baby boy, him included, would be circumcised. That is, if the baby's parents cared to be identified with the people of God. Circumcision brought the boy into the national life of the Hebrew people, and it identified him as one who is acknowledging the sign, the token of the covenant. It was commanded in Genesis 17. In fact, had Jesus not been circumcised, he would not have identified with his people, even though his parents were descendants of Abraham.

So this is really a statement of faith. Mary and Joseph are following God's word related to the Abrahamic covenant. And by fulfilling this command, then, they set the scene, they set the stage for Jesus Christ to be eligible to fulfill the promises that God had pledged to Abraham. For every faithful Jewish family, circumcision was considered so sacred a duty, it was allowed to be accomplished on the Sabbath. If that was the eighth day after the boy's birth, a Jewish doctor could be a rabbi, could be someone trained, would simply cut away the foreskin.

It would be during the simple ceremony where the name of the child would be bestowed in this dedicatory ceremony upon the baby. They would announce his name, and the painful cry of our Lord pierced the air, and it caused me to consider the fact that this is the first moment of suffering at the hand of mankind for having become a man. These are among his first tears at having taken on human flesh. His humiliation and his suffering had already begun at eight days.

In fact, before. Joseph and Mary are also suffering. They're dazed. They're ostracized, confused.

They're alone, these two teenagers. Certainly Joseph may have been a little older. They've traveled to Bethlehem under a cloud of suspicion, all because of the will of God. It's been a whirlwind. Their lives have only recently been upended. It had already taken an angel a couple of visits to convince Joseph to follow through this betrothal period and take Mary to be your wife.

She really has conceived of the Holy Spirit. But listen, there will be no wedding ceremony. There will be no wedding celebration.

There's no festive event where the village celebrated the hoopah, the union of Joseph and Mary. And that little baby is just one more exclamation point, exhibit A, on their guilt. They will never live it down.

The rumors will never go away. In fact, when Jesus Christ makes his claim to be the Messiah, the Jewish leaders are going to pull up the dirt from the paths. They're going to go back to the files and pull this one up and they'll throw it back in Jesus' face and they will accuse him, we were not born of fornication like you were.

Don't lecture us. We know where you got your start. You're no representative of God. Joseph and Mary, in fact, it's already begun. They're going to move from the courtyard or the cave or some outdoor lean-to stable into humble quarters somewhere in Bethlehem while Joseph is going to take odd jobs to eke out an existence with a few of his tools and his calloused hands.

Now, I want you to know this. Even though they will never be viewed by the Jewish community as credible, godly, obedient sons and daughters of Abraham, they will still identify their son as a son of Abraham through circumcision. They are going to refuse to acquiesce to perception. And even though the people of God would not identify with them, they will identify with the people of God. Talk about courage.

I couldn't help but think about us. You watch them carefully identifying Jesus with the law of God and you ask yourself, what does it take to keep you from obeying, from submitting, surrendering to the word of God? Accusation, criticism, mockery, pain, loss, failure, abandonment. Will you obey God on that campus even though to obey him means you invite ridicule? Will you forfeit a relationship as you pursue the holiness of God and recognize that relationship is against the word of God? Will you identify with the people of God? I mean, will people at your job even know what you did today?

Or will that be a little secret because I don't want them to think that I'm a fanatic or imbalanced. And so we leave that at home. What does it take for you to say, if this is what running the race means, I'm going to sit this one out. If obeying God leads to this kind of misunderstanding or hurt or accusation or mistreatment, never mind and I'm sure God doesn't mind. If doing the right thing causes me such discomfort, surely God will understand if I wiggle out of that one. You see, you need to understand eight days into this, this is the backdrop, this backdrop of lifelong discomfort, Joseph and Mary will not miss one step. On the eighth day they bring forward the little boy and they deliver a message.

Even though everybody believes the boy is illegitimate, the result of fornication, here's the message. Our family and this boy will identify with the people of God. We will follow the word of God.

We will obey the will of God. And notice again, verse 21, Luke writes, his name was then called Jesus. At this ceremony of identification, he is given this name. This was a name chosen for him. The angel had come to both Mary and Jesus to confirm to both of them this was the name they were to give him. And to understand the significance of this name, you got to travel back to the first person in the Bible that had the name.

I'll give you a few clues. He was a young man at the time. His name was changed to this name. He was born into slavery. In fact, for his parents to give him his given name, which was Hoshea, that was a statement of faith because it meant salvation. Can you imagine slave parents in Egypt under Pharaoh naming their son, we're going to get out of this?

That was a statement of faith. A little boy grew up, caught the attention of Moses, became his assistant, and Moses changed his name from Hoshea to Yahushua. He simply took some names of the great name Yahweh and he woe them into some of the letters or the letters of Yahweh, some of the letters of his name and he created Yahushua. Jehovah is salvation. The name is shortened to Joshua. The Greek counterpart is Yeshua. Jesus anglicized for us. It carried the idea that this person so named would be the agent of salvation. He would be the deliverer. And now hundreds of little boys running around Israel when Jesus was born had the name Yeshua. It's a very common name, Jesus. They'd been given that because their moms and dads had the notion that maybe our little boy would have something to do with the deliverance of the people of God.

But this one would. He was the agent of salvation. Jehovah is salvation. In fact, he was Jehovah and he is salvation. I couldn't help but wonder who was at this ceremony to hear the announcement of his name.

Typically this would be a festive event and family and extended family would all be there. In my mind's eye I see Mary and Joseph and a man trained in circumcision. That's it.

And they breathe the name. They've bestow on him the name Jesus. I wonder if the Jewish doctor stifled a yawn. One more. One more false hope.

One more dream. I wonder if it was a rabbi who would have shaken his head of the audacity of this young couple obviously bearing a child without any any references or attending family members. They're alone. They're evidently from all appearances they've conceived this one in sin. How could this one deliver anybody. See my friend you talk about the humiliation of the incarnation.

Here's a story we rarely look at. He came without fanfare. He's alone now with his parents and this performance of circumcision this rite of identification and no festivity.

He's given the name Jesus and I can imagine the attendant thought you've got to be kidding. Now under the knife into the covenant the deliverer has been identified with his people whether they recognized it or not. And Joseph and Mary and their eight day old son still whimpering in pain go back to some undisclosed rented property to eke out their existence. There's another ceremony.

It's the ceremony of redemption. Look at verse 22. When the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. If you go back in the Bible and we won't for the sake of time today to Leviticus Chapter 12 you discover that the days of purification for a new mother of a male child was 40 days. The law prescribed carefully that she of course would be defiled because of the issuing of blood.

She would for seven days wait and then on the eighth day with her baby and husband go and have the ceremony of identification performed and they bestow on him the name. Thirty three days later on the fortieth day that be the earliest day she could go to a priest a local priest and with her husband they could pay five shekels and redeem him from priestly service. They were effectively buying their son's service from God.

This is called the redemption of the first born. I wonder if they had any idea of the irony of this ceremony. They are buying Jesus as it were from God when Jesus had come to buy a people for God. Amazing to me they're redeeming the Redeemer. And I want you to notice again and I'll stop just a moment they're adding to their poverty. They didn't have much to begin with. They've already had to pay the census tax they've had to support themselves as they've journeyed to Bethlehem.

Now they're going to pay five shekels. So the will of God is taxing. It is tiring. It is uncomfortable.

It is uneasy. It is expensive and it is lonely for them. But they were God's chosen couple to bear and raise the Redeemer. But so far God has not paid them anything but a few angelic visits and it seems that they're paying him.

You also need to understand for them the cost was not the issue. Obedience was and they're willing to meet and pay the demands of obedience. Beyond that Joseph and Mary were not required by law to go to Jerusalem to pay this tax. They could have given five shekels to a local priest and save the wear and tear.

But they're going to do it at the 40th day when it would allow Mary beyond her her being defiled to go to the center of worship. And they were effectively paying the priests because our son will not grow up. Did they understand they were paying to redeem the high priest.

I doubt it. They would grow into their understanding. But in their childlike faith they want to go to the center of worship and they're going to present the savior to the sovereign. They're they're presenting God to God.

They are presenting the son to the father there. They're going with the object of our worship to the house of worship. They are bringing the Lord of the temple into the temple of the Lord.

All the activity going on around them as Mary stood in the court of women with Joseph next door holding the baby. This was the system that God had designed here God becomes flesh. He comes to live among us and guess what as many as receive him to them he gives the right to become babies belonging to God. The price is paid by this this one who will grow up to be crucified so that we can become newborn infants babes belonging to our triune God. So far Mary and Joseph have carefully followed all that the law required and more so that they've attended the ceremony of identification the ceremony of redemption.

There's one more ceremony here the ceremony of purification the ceremony of purification. Now according to the laws I've mentioned Mary was unclean following the birth of Jesus. After 40 days she would be required to take to the local priest two sacrifices.

She could bring a lamb and a bird or if she didn't have the money two birds. They would atone for her defilement. One sacrifice atone for her defilement having delivered a child having issued touched blood.

As you know the Old Testament system would have called them considered them unclean for a period of time. The second that is the turtledove or the pigeon would have restored her communion with God and allowed her to participate in the temple. Well she doesn't want to stay in Bethlehem and do that with a local priest she wants to go to the temple she wants to have communion at the very place where people are commuting through atonement with God. But you need to stop for a moment and understand the idea that Mary was above the need for atonement that Mary was above defilement that she lived some kind of perfect sinless life is outside of scripture. Clearly scripture finds her following the law she is in need of atonement she was in need of sacrifice she has been defiled by the birth of her son. In fact bearing the perfect sinless son of God into the world did not make her sinless it actually defiled her.

She had to be atoned for she couldn't afford to buy a lamb not even sure she fully realized she had brought the lamb the lamb for the final offering and with that they're finished. These three ceremonies have taken place and they might have slipped out of the temple and on their way back had God not designed two witnesses to be on hand to testify probably more for encouraging them than anybody else and we don't have time today but let me just briefly mention one Simeon and Anna will come a little later on and tell everybody about it. Simeon shows up first Luke tells us in verse 25 that Simeon was a righteous and devout man looking for the consolation that is the advocate the counsel the defense of Israel. Now some scholars believe that Simeon was the son of the famous rabbi Hillel and that he was also the father of Gamaliel the tutor of the apostle Paul Simeon would be the leading member in fact the president of the Sanhedrin in A.D. 13 and it's very intriguing that the Mishnah which was the Jewish commentary on life and processes related the stories and accomplishments of their Sanhedrin presidents and leading rabbis except this man he's absent. No mention of Simeon. Why probably because he placed his faith in Jesus Christ and that would be an embarrassment to the Sanhedrin.

In fact Simeon had been told by God that he wouldn't die until he had seen the Messiah with his own eyes. And so he comes to the temple time and time again and he's probably looking around and he's he wonders well maybe that's it. Maybe that's the one he goes over and he meets the couple he says what's the baby's name. No that's not it. Oh there's a couple of what's that what's a girl. No. Over here there's a there's a little boy what what's his name.

Who are you. No that's not the one. Day after day after day we have the indication or implication he's an old man now and the spirit says to him on this day Simeon now would be a great day to go to the temple and just hang out just watch. He goes to the temple. The text tells us that verse 27 when he came in the spirit into the temple the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law that he took him into his arms and he blessed God.

This was the one and it will come later. Start rejoicing with them. What incredible joy what incredible commotion what a disturbance of the peace at the arrival of the prince of peace.

People would stop they'd be curious they they probably walked away thinking that's ridiculous. That's the that's the strangest thing I've ever heard. Oh that's Simeon. He says in verse 29 now Lord you are releasing your bond servant to depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation which you prepared in the presence of all peoples a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. Effectively literally he's saying I have seen with my own eyes salvation. Yeshua I can now die in peace by the way there's truth in this for us all. None of us are ready to die until we have seen with the eyes of faith Yeshua until we have received the truth of Christ into our lives. We are not ready. We're not ready to die. Are you prepared today to die. You are not until you've believed in this one who is Jehovah salvation deliverer advocate counsel Yeshua Jesus Christ that is the Messiah. So here they are Joseph Mary Anna a few curious people maybe Simeon probably wouldn't let the baby go.

Tears coursing down his cheeks. If you can kind of pull away as I have in my mind's eye my imagination pull up. So you're looking down. Perhaps you would see there in the court of women four adults one of them holding a little baby few people looking in. But other than that just the motion and the movements and the processes and the rituals the priests and the animals hundreds of people milling around coming and going all of it looking to all of it longing for all of it pointing to this. There is the one who'd come to die as the final sacrifice the one who would rip the curtain effectively from top to bottom opening up the Holy of Holies so that every one of us Gentiles who see the light of revelation Israelites who accept the glory of Christ can come in boldly and worship God their father all because of this. And by the way all because in these very early days a young couple were willing to obey the word of God.

Isn't that amazing? Most of the people at the temple that day had no idea how significant it was that Jesus was there but we know and we worship that Jesus today and forever. If you joined us partway through this broadcast you've tuned in to Wisdom for the Heart the teaching ministry of Stephen Davey. This was lesson one in a series Stephen's calling Beyond Bethlehem. Today's message is entitled The Presentation of the Lamb and I hope God used it to help prepare your heart for Christmas. If you have an Apple, Android or Windows phone I encourage you to go and install our app for your mobile device.

The Wisdom International app allows you to listen to each day's broadcast, access the message archives, follow along in our Bible reading plan and interact with our ministry. I also want to let you know that we have limited hours this week. We'll be closed Thursday and Friday so if we can help you with one of our resources or if you want to make a year end gift to our ministry our number is 866-48-BIBLE. That's 866-482-4253. Join us again tomorrow for more wisdom for the heart.