WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS - MARY - REDEEMING THE LONG AWAITED REDEEMER

LUKE 2:21-24   MARY -

REDEEMING THE LONG AWAITED REDEEMER

Luke 2:21 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.

Abraham was given instructions concerning circumcision of baby boys who were eight days old as a sign of the covenant between the Lord and His people (Genesis 17:9-14). Therefore, Jesus was circumcised as the Law required on the eighth day. In the Bible, numbers have meaning – eight is the number of new beginnings, and Jesus came to bring us the New Covenant. In obedience to what the angel had told both Mary and Joseph, they named Him Jesus which means “Jehovah is generous, Jehovah saves.” God’s free gift of grace was extravagantly purchased by Jesus on the cross to save us from our sins, a generous gift indeed. Before Jesus created the world, before He spoke everything into being, He was “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Revelation 13:8b (KJV). This means that even before Adam and Eve could sin and be deceived, God in His mercy, had cleaned up the mess of sin, and would reveal this message at the perfect moment in time.  In God’s accounting of time, it was as if Jesus had already gone to the cross.

Luke 1:22 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;

23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) 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.

After Mary waited the required 40 days for purification, Mary and Joseph took the baby to the Temple in Jerusalem. As the firstborn male, he was to be dedicated to God as a priest or redeemed by paying two shekels. Two turtledoves or two young pigeons was the sacrifice for purification for a mother after birth for poor people who did not own or have the ability to purchase a perfect lamb. However, they were dedicating THE PERFECT LAMB! 

Leviticus 12:1-8 (Complete Jewish Bible) Adonai said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el: ‘If a woman conceives and gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven days with the same uncleanness as in niddah, when she is having her menstrual period. 3 On the eighth day, the baby’s foreskin is to be circumcised. 4 She is to wait an additional thirty-three days to be purified from her blood; she is not to touch any holy thing or come into the sanctuary until the time of her purification is over. 5 But if she gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean for two weeks, as in her niddah; and she is to wait another sixty-six days to be purified from her blood. 6 “‘When the days of her purification are over, whether for a son or for a daughter, she is to bring a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or dove for a sin offering to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the cohen. 7 He will offer it before Adonai and make atonement for her; thus she will be purified from her discharge of blood. Such is the law for a woman who gives birth, whether to a boy or to a girl. 8 If she can’t afford a lamb, she is to take two doves or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; the cohen will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’”

Exodus 13:2 (CJB) Set aside for me all the firstborn. Whatever is first from the womb among the people of Israel, both of humans and of animals, belongs to me.

Exodus 13:15 (CJB) When Pharaoh was unwilling to let us go, Adonai killed all the firstborn males in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of animals. This is why I sacrifice to Adonai any male that is first from the womb of an animal, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

Numbers 18:16 (CJB) The sum to be paid for redeeming anyone a month old or over is to be five shekels of silver (two ounces), as you value it, using the sanctuary shekel (this is the same as twenty gerahs).

Mary and Joseph were devout Jews following all the Law prescribed concerning the Baby Jesus and Mary’s purification after childbirth. As the following quotation from Galatians points out, Jesus placed Himself under the Law from the moment of His birth.

Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV) But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Ponder This: Jesus, who was God in the flesh, placed Himself under the law. He was the only man who perfectly obeyed the law, remaining sinless. He who gave the Law to Moses, subjected Himself to it in order to free us from the burden it placed upon mankind. Even as a baby, Jesus had to be redeemed as all firstborn children belonged to God. Imagine – the Redeemer had to be redeemed!