Bible Wiki Blog

A month has past since the world celebrated the birth of Christ. But the birth of any child is but a moment. What was the purpose of the coming of Jesus into this sin-cursed world? Two moments after the birth of Jesus set the course for his life's work. The first was his circumcision eight days after his birth. At that time, his name was confirmed by a priest to be "Jesus" (Gr. Yesou, Heb. Yeshuah), which means "The LORD saves". The name was familiar to all Jews as the hero who lead the people in conquering Canaan, the land promised to Abraham. It was a name given to countless boys in hopes that they would grow up to be the one to deliver them from tyrannical empire builders like the Caesars of Rome. On the eighth day a new week begins.  How appropriate that the eighth day of Christmas is our secular "New Year's Day".  The second moment, required by the Law, was the sacrifice at the temple on behalf of the child when its mother became ceremonially ...

 Some forty days had passed and it was time for Mary to purify herself, according to Levitical law. By a miracle, Mary had bore the baby Jesus but had not slept with any man at this point.  Here we meet the famous Simeon, who had been promised to see the Savior in the flesh during his lifetime. He praised God and announced to everyone in the temple courts how the baby would bring Salvation to all people. CC-BY-SA Sweet Publishing Yet, those were not his last words concerning Jesus. Imagine Simeon holding baby Jesus in his arms and declaring the future Salvation, but then pivoting his stance towards Mary to speak a blessing to a her: “. .  . this child is appointed for the fall and [rise] of many in Israel, and for a sign that is [spoken against] (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 2:34–35 ESV Jesus was the Savior, and this required a great disruption to people’s lives. He later said about himself:...