#12 Lu. 2:22-24;  JESUS PRESENTED AT  THE TEMPLE

 

Introduction:

 

     I think that you are aware that we are not living in Old

Testament times.  We are living in New Testament times.  I

hope you are also aware that in order for us to properly

understand many of the things in the New Testament and how

they apply to our own lives, we must first look back to the

teachings of the Old Testament.  Such is the case this

morning.  We have three simple verses from the New Testament.

Yet in order for us to understand what was taking place in

this text and how it applies to our lives, we must have at

least some understanding of some of the Old Testament

teachings.

     When Jesus was eight days old Joseph and Mary

circumcised Him.  They did this in obedience to the Old

Testament law which God gave through Moses.  In our text

today, Joseph and Mary are again very careful to act in

obedience to the law of Moses.  There are three separate Old

Testament laws which are carried out in our text.  The first

is the law of purification for the mother of a newborn child.

The second is the law concerning a firstborn son.  The third

is the law which prescribes certain sacrifices to be made by

the mother of a newborn child.

 

I.  The law of purification

 

     V. 22, "And when the days of her purification according

to the law of Moses were accomplished..."  The law of

purification involved the mother of any new-born child.  If

she had given birth to a male child, she was considered

ceremonially unclean for the first seven days.  She was under

very tight restriction for those first seven days.  She was

to touch no one and no one was to touch her or the furniture

on which she sat.

     After the seventh day these restrictions were partially

removed, but only partially removed.  She was not yet allowed

to touch any hallowed thing or sacred thing.  For that reason

she was not allowed to enter into the sanctuary at the house

of God.  This partial restriction was extended for another

thirty-three days.  During the time of the tabernacle, she

was not to enter the tabernacle.  After the temple replaced

the tabernacle, she was forbidden to enter the temple during

this period of time.  Add it up.  The first seven days of her

uncleanness plus the next thirty-three days of separation

from the sanctuary made a total number of forty days of

separation for her.  These forty days were called the days of

her purification.

     If the mother gave birth to a daughter instead of a son,

the total number of days of purification were doubled.  They

were increased from forty days to eighty.

     There was a  spiritual significance to this time of

purification.  They were not meant to signify that there was

any sin involved in the conception and birth of a child.  In

the beginning when God made man and made a wife for him, God

had commanded them to multiply and to fill the earth with

their offspring.  It was not against God's will for them to

have children.  To the contrary.  It was God's idea that they

have children.  It was not a sin at all for married people to

have children.

     Likewise in the New Testament in Heb. 13:4 we are told

that marriage is honorable and that the marriage bed is

undefiled.  It is not sinful.  But that same New Testament

Scripture goes on to warn that sex outside of the marriage is

a sin and that God will deal severely with those who commit

this sin.

     The time which the Israelite mother was required to

spend in separation and purification after the birth of her

child was to serve two purposes.  First, it was a reminder

that Adam had sinned and that all children born to Adam had

the sin nature.  Jesus, of course, was not born to Adam.  He

was not conceived by an earthly father and therefor did not

inherit the sin nature of Adam.  However, the same law that

governed the birth of all other children also governed His

birth.  God did not set up a double standard.  The same laws

which governed other humans also applied to His own Son,

Jesus Christ.  Jesus was not exempt from the law just because

He is the Son of God.  Therefore Mary was required to observe

the same days of purification following the birth of Jesus as

all other mothers even though her son Jesus had no sin.

     The second purpose of the days of purification was in

order that the body secretions of the mother which would

naturally flow for some time after the birth of a child would

have time to stop.  While there was nothing actually sinful

about these secretions, they, never-the-less, were unclean

and pictured or represented sin.  I repeat.  They were not

sinful in themselves, but because of their uncleanness, they

pictured or represented sin.  Therefore the mother needed

this time for those fluids to stop so that she could recover

from this uncleanness.

 

II.  The law of dedication of the firstborn son

 

     It was only after the days of her purification was over

that the mother of a new child was allowed to enter into the

sanctuary at the house of God.  Yet after these forty days

were over, she was not only allowed to go to the house of

God, but she was required to do so.  If the child was a

firstborn male child, it was the responsibility of both

parents to carry that son to the sanctuary and the husband

was to present him to the Lord.  He was presented to God to

belong to God as the property of God to be a servant of God.

     There was a twofold purpose in this presentation of the

firstborn male child to the Lord.  First of all, it was a

memorial to the deliverance of the people of Israel from

bondage in the land of Egypt.  In the process of delivering

them from Egypt, God had spared their firstborn sons from

death.  The death angel came through the land of Egypt at the

hour of midnight and brought death to the firstborn son in

every home throughout the land that did not have the blood of

the passover lamb sprinkled on the doorposts.  Since God had

instructed the Israelites to kill a lamb and to sprinkle the

blood on the doorposts the firstborn sons of the Israelite

people were spared.

     So since God had spared the firstborn sons of Israel,

God said, "The firstborn sons of Israel are mind.  Down

through the years, the firstborn sons are mine.  They will

belong to me and they will serve me."  So God commanded that

down through the years each Israelite family would present

their firstborn son to Him to be His possession and His

servant.

     After the construction of a house of God, this

presentation of the firstborn son was to be made at the house

of God.  That presentation of the firstborn son would serve

as a reminder of God's great deliverance from bondage in

Egypt and specifically it would remind them of God's mercy to

Israel in sparing their firstborn sons when the death angel

passed through the land.

     There was a second purpose in sanctifying the firstborn

to the Lord.  It serve the very practical purpose of

providing priests to lead the family in worship.  Under the

old patriarchal system of worship, the father in each family

served as a priest for the family.  By naming all the first

born sons of Israel to be His special property, God intended

that each of these firstborn sons would grow up to become the

priests for the entire family clan.  They would be priests

not just for the immediate family, but for all of his

brothers and their families.

     This system of priesthood, however, was only a temporary

measure.  After the tabernacle was built God chose the

Levitical priests to serve Him in the tabernacle and then

later in the temple.  In Numbers 8:16 God specifically said

that the Levites were to take the place of the firstborn sons

as priests in the land.  From that time the firstborn sons

were not to serve as priests, but the Levitical priests were

their substitutes.

     However, even though the firstborn were not to serve as

priests in the time of Joseph and Mary, the law of Moses

still required that each family to go to the house of God and

present the firstborn to the Lord.  God still counted the

firstborn sons as His possession and they were to be

presented to Him in the House of God.  This presentation no

longer provided the Israelites with priests, but it still

served as a memorial of their deliverance from bondage in

Egypt and still marked the firstborn sons as servants unto

the Lord.

     It was in keeping with this law of Moses that after the

days of Mary's purification were over, Joseph and Mary made a

trip to the city of Jerusalem and to the temple which was

located there.  Fortunately for them Jerusalem was located

only about five or six miles north of Bethlehem where Jesus

was born.  So it was not as difficult a trip for them as it

would have been if Jesus had been born in some city a great

distance away from Jerusalem.

     Yet this was not a pleasure trip.  This trip was made in

order to carry out the law which God had given through Moses.

In Exodus 13:2 God had said, "Sanctify unto me all the

firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of

Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine." In verse 12

God clarified that He was talking about the firstborn males

and not the females.

     (V. 22), "...they brought him to Jerusalem, to present

him to the Lord."  Both Joseph and Mary made the trip.  They

both brought Him.  Once they arrived at the temple and both

entered the temple, it was then the task primarily of the

husband to make the presentation of the son to God.  Even

though Joseph had not physically conceived this child, yet he

was the head of this home and was required to make this

presentation.  He gave the child, Jesus, to God the Heavenly

Father.  He relinquished his claims to the work and labor of

this child and acknowledged that God is the One who has full

right to claim His labors and to his service.

     Such acknowledgments had been made concerning many a

child down through the years.  Yet never had those

acknowledgments been more true than in the case of Jesus.

Jesus was indeed, the very Son of God and had come to the

world to serve God and to do God the Father's will in all

things.  He was truly "the Servant of God" in a sense that no

other child had ever been the servant of God.  He is the only

one to live in human flesh to do the will of God in all

things.

     In verse 23 Luke makes mention of tha new mother

 

     In verse 24 Luke makes mention of another law which Mary

was required to obey as a result of the birth of her son,

Jesus.  V.  24, "And to offer a sacrifice according to that

which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves,

or two young pigeons."  In addition to coming to the temple

and presenting their newborn son to the Lord, the law of

Moses required the mother of the newborn baby to present two

offerings to God.  Luke says here in our text that Mary

presented two turtledoves or two pigeons.  He does not tell

us which.

     Actually, what Luke here is telling us is that Mary did

not present God's first choice of animals.  God's first

choice of animals was a lamb and a pigeon or turtledove.  In

Leviticus.  12:4-7 the mother was instructed that after the

days of her purification were over, she was to bring two

sacrifices to God.  She was to bring a lamb of the first year

for a burnt offering.  She was also to bring a young pigeon

or turtledove for a sin offering.

     The sin offering was to acknowledge that she is a sinner

before the Lord and in need of cleansing from sin.  Let me

point out to you that in no way did this sacrifice indicate

that Jesus is a sinner.  Rather, it was to acknowledge to God

that the mother is a sinner and that she seeks His

forgiveness of her sins.  It was to seek pardon of all her

sins.  In this case, it was Mary seeking pardon for her sins.

     The shedding of the blood of the pigeon or turtledove

was to signify that in order for her sins to be forgiven,

there must be a substitute to die in her stead.  If she would

trust in the blood of her substitute, then all her sins would

be forgiven.  The blood of the pigeon or turtledove, like the

blood of bulls and goats, could not actually take away sin.

It only pictured the blood of the Christ which can take away

sin.  In Mary's case, the blood of the animal pictured the

blood of her own Son, Jesus.  It was the blood of her own

son, Jesus, which could take away her sins.

     No doubt, she had long ago repented of her sins and had

trusted in the coming Christ to save her.  No doubt she was

saved before she was ever told that she would bear the

Christ-child.  Thus this sacrifice which she now presented

only pictured her salvation and was not the time of her

salvation.  It pictured what every sinner must do to be

saved.  A sinner must acknowledge his sins seek forgiveness

of sins through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

     The second sacrifice which a mother was required to make

was a burnt offering.  According to Leviticus. 12:4-7, she

was to present a lamb of the first year to be a burnt

offering to the Lord.  The lamb was first slain and then the

lamb was burned on the altar.  All parts of the lamb were

burned.  The burning of all parts of the lamb was to signify

complete submission and complete dedication to God.

     Do you get the picture in these two offerings as Mary

made them?  First, the sin offering pictured an

acknowledgment of her guilt of sin and a trust in the shed

blood of her substitute to be an atonement for her sins.  In

other words, the sin offering pictured the salvation of her

soul.

     The second offering then pictured her submission to God

and dedication to God after her salvation.  This is just

exactly what is to take place in our own lives.  First we are

to acknowledge our guilt of sin and to seek to be cleansed

from our sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our

Savior.  Then after we are saved, we are to submit your lives

to the Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us and we are to be

dedicated to the will of God for our lives.  All who are

saved by the grace of God are to live dedicated lives to the

Lord.

     But let us look again at what Luke said about Mary.

Mary did not offer a lamb to God as a burnt offering.  She

did offer a pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering, but she

did not offer a lamb as a burnt offering.  Luke said that

Mary offered two turtledoves or two pigeons.  She offered two

birds.  She did not offer a lamb at all.

     Why?  Why did Mary not offer a lamb as she had been

instructed in the law to do?  We need to look back to

Leviticus 12:8 for the answer to that question.  In Leviticus

12:8 we are told that in the event that the mother was poor

and not financially able to bring a lamb as a burnt offering,

then she would be allowed to bring a pigeon or turtledove in

its place.  That is what Mary did.  Instead of bringing a

lamb and a bird, she brought two birds.  This was perfectly

allowable under the law.  I am sure that Mary wanted to bring

a lamb, but she just did not have a lamb to bring and she

could not afford to buy one.  So she brought a bird instead.

     This not only tells us that Joseph and Mary were poor

but it tells us something about Jesus Himself.  It tells us

that Jesus was willing to be born into this world in a poor

family.  He could just as easily have been born to a rich

family, but He was willing to be born in a poor family.  In

other words, in order for us to be made rich, Jesus Himself

became poor that we might be made rich.  He lived in a home

where the family was not able to present a lamb in sacrifice

to God, but had to substitute a pigeon or turtledove instead.

     Furthermore, it tells us something about God the Father,

Himself.  It tells us that God does not require one to be

rich in order to be acceptable in His sight.  It tells us

that God does not require us to make rich gifts to Him in

order for our gifts to be acceptable to Him and in order for

us to be acceptable to Him.  Perhaps you will remember that

later in the temple Jesus said that as far as God was

concerned, the poor widow who cast only two mites into the

treasury, gave more than any of the rich men who cast in

great sums of money.  God looks not so much at the amount you

give to the Lord as to the heart.  If the heart is right, you

will want to give much to the Lord as Mary no doubt wanted to

do and as, no doubt, the widow wanted to do. But if you don't

have much to give , the Lord will accept what you do have as

He did with Mary and the widow.

 

IV.  The will of God for our own lives

 

     What each one of us needs to do is first to acknowledge

to God that we are unworthy sinners in His sight and to ask

Him to cleanse us from our sins by the blood of Jesus Christ.

In other words, what one needs to do is to call on Jesus

Christ and ask Him to save his soul.

     We are unworthy sinners whether we acknowledge it or

not.  But one will never be saved until he acknowledges to

God that he is a sinner and unworthy in God's sight.

     If you already know that you are unworthy, then what you

need to do is to call on the Lord and ask Him to save you.

In Romans 10:13 we are told, "For whosoever shall call on the

name of the Lord shall be saved."  Even though you know that

you are a guilty sinner, if you never call on the Lord and

ask Him to save you, you will never be saved.  The Bible

says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be

saved."  The word, believe, is used here in the sense of

trust.  If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to save your

soul He will do so.  But if you never call on Him, if you

never trust in Him, you will never be saved.  You will wind

up in the pits of hell where you will suffer for ever and

ever.

     No doubt many of you can truthfully say, "Bro. Davis, I

am saved.  I have acknowledged my sinfulness to God and I

have called on the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.  What do I

need to do?"  The answer to that question is that you need to

submit to the Lord and be dedicated to Him in every way.  You

need to follow the Lord in Scriptural baptism.  You need to

be baptized---not in order to be saved--- but because you are

saved.

     But a saved person needs to do more than just to follow

Jesus in baptism and to get his name on a church role.  A

saved person should give his life to the Lord to let the Lord

have His way with in all things.  Just as in the burnt

offering the entire animal was burned and nothing was held

back, even so it is that the saved should present his entire

life to the Lord and not hold anything back.

     Let me ask you:  Are you saved?  Where would you spend

eternity if you were to die as you are right now?  Would you

spend eternity with God in glory or would you spend eternity

suffering in the fires of hell?  If you are not saved, you

need to be saved right now.  You can be saved right now.  You

ought to be saved right now.  Call on Jesus and be saved

right now.

     If you are saved and your life is not dedicated to God

then you ought to dedicate your life to God right now.  You

can dedicate your life to God right now. You ought to do it

right now.

     While we bow our heads and pray would you talk to the

Lord about your need.  Then when our invitation hymn is sung,

would you step out and get your life straightened out with

God?