The First Temple Visit

Luke 2:21…

Now Mary and Joseph go up to the Temple at Jerusalem. We must imagine how Joseph and Mary felt as they brought THIS child to dedicate and to devote Him to the Lord. How can this be? Here we are to devote the VERY ONE we KNOW is the Son of God to the God He is the Son of.

It doesn’t get much more important or exciting or important than this.

It is most likely both have been coming up to the Temple all their lives for the high feasts, (reflected by the visit they make as a large family group at the end of this chapter when Jesus is twelve years old.)

Even with that in mind, we do realize the awesome wonder of the Temple, and the awesome wonder of this Child. We sing, “Mary, did you know?” And the answer is she did.

She did know Jesus is the Son of God because she had been told that He was – and also because she remains a virgin and is presently carrying in her arms The Baby that has come from her womb. This story is very personal and especially undeniable to Mary herself. The Child Himself is proof of all.

How interesting God the Father keeps layering on more truth – and more proof of Who He Is to both Mary and Joseph, perhaps to emphasize their work is not done, and that the rearing of this Child would be the most important child-rearing exercise ever undertaken.

Wow! Here comes Simeon having heard His Messiah is come! Having understood his life would not end prior to seeing His life!

Double wow! Here comes Anna, the prophetess, who was known for her gentleness and understanding and wisdom – but mostly for the fact she is one who hears from God.

Triple wow! Twelve years later, here sits Jesus Himself, teaching in the Temple. The Father knows, and The Father shows. THIS is the Father’s House! He is reclaiming it starting now.

-Pastor Bill

In a Stable

Luke 2:1…

The journey of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem must have been an incredible one.

When my wife was 8 months pregnant with our son we traveled from Meridian, Mississippi to Austin, Texas on a house-hunting trip. I can more easily relate to how difficult it would have been for Mary to travel in her condition, because it was a difficult trip for Tina, and we were traveling by plane and rental car. Mary, on the other hand, was 9 months pregnant, and was traveling by (probably) donkey.

That is not a picture of privilege and ease one might expect at the arrival of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, but it does readily depict His life on earth.

Nothing came easily or luxuriously to Jesus, or His mother. His life on earth was an intervention. Even the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low would be able to relate to THIS king. In a sense, they would be without excuse – exactly the way God would have it.

Even the children of the house-slaves would not be born out in the stable. It is amazing that Jesus was, and yet it is the perfect place if you think about it.

Of course behind all of this was the sovereignty of God. The Bible declares in Micah 5:2 Messiah is to be born in Bethlehem. It was one of the most obvious prophecies about the coming of Messiah and about how we would know Him to be Messiah. No one can control the location of their birth. With all the other recognizable traits possibly exhibited by Messiah, the location of His birth would serve as a final determining factor of recognition. Anyone NOT born in Bethlehem could not possibly be the Messiah - even if everything else was in place.

A problem with this scenario could have been that Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, which is 60 miles away from Bethlehem as the crow flies, and a lot further than that over the meandering mountain roads and trails. Could God in His sovereignty arrange for Jesus to be born in Bethlehem? In a stable?

-Pastor Bill

What Kind of Child Is This?

Luke 1:59-80

The Jewish people have an identifying characteristic in their male children: circumcision.

God gave Abraham instruction about the circumcision of all the males of the tribes of the nation of Israel before the tribes or the nation existed. (Gen 17:10)

It is the way God operates. Well in advance.

God foresaw and foretold a day when it would be necessary for His people to stand out and apart from all the other peoples on the face of the earth. There would be a physical mark on God’s children which would exemplify God’s mark upon their heart. And when the men were so-marked the women were covered.

The tradition continues as the miracle son of Zacharias and Elizabeth is presented before the Lord to be circumcised.

It is quite normal to think - at the presentation of a newborn child - about what kind of child this will be and what will take place in this child’s life. Life is such a precious thing, and is of such value. There is such anticipation and joy surrounding a new life born.

How much more when the child is born to parents who are well past child-bearing age? How much more when the conception and birth of the child is announced to his father by the angel Gabriel in the Holy Place in the Temple at Jerusalem? How much more when the father is rendered deaf and dumb by his own expression of unbelief over what the angel Gabriel has told him? How much more when Elizabeth does in fact conceive and bear this promised child? How much more when his father is suddenly able to speak and to hear upon the pronouncement of the name of his child by faith according to what the angel Gabriel had declared?

What kind of child will this be? Now ALL were asking…

Has God not marked all this out well in advance? Has not God declared in Isaiah and Malachi what is about to happen? Is not God drawing profound undeniable attention to what is about to take place in Israel?

-Pastor Bill

The Mother of John’s Day

Luke 1:57-80

Consider Elizabeth.

We know she was a great woman in the eyes of the Lord. She was blameless, and she walked in all the ordinances and commandments of the Lord. According to the words of the Holy Spirit authored by Luke, she was righteous. (Luke 1:6.)

Her character was of primary importance to God in His selection of Elizabeth to be the mother of the forerunner of His only begotten Son, Jesus, the Christ.

In a sense, as John was the forerunner of Jesus Christ, Elizabeth was the forerunner of Mary. An example to her. An encourager of her.

While we all understand the importance of the role of Mary in the history of the world, and even for our salvation – Elizabeth’s role is very significant as well.

She was an example to Mary of how to endure the quiet pain of life. (The pain of others thinking you are less than what you appear to be.) As a barren woman, Elizabeth had borne the pain of not only being childless – when the Bible tells us her and her husband’s prayer had been for a child – but also of the thoughts of others that there MUST be a reason God had cursed her with barrenness. What was that reason? Surely there was unrighteousness in her life.

Mary would have to endure the turbulence of what others thought of her as well. Only she would bear the pain of the quiet assertions and assumptions of unwed motherhood – which is the only form of motherhood looked down upon by society.

Elizabeth’s example shows us not only her fitness for motherhood, but her fitness to be an example of quietly maintaining relationship and right-standing with her Lord no matter whether others thought her cursed of God or not. She knew in her heart of her love for God and God’s love for her. It had to be enough for her for many long decades, with no thought of any change to her condition – or how people thought of her.

This is a woman admirable to God in the content of her character, and it made her fit for the monumentally important responsibility of raising the forerunner of Jesus Christ on behalf of the whole world. A world that shuns those considered righteous by God.

-Pastor Bill