Great Light

The story of Jesus’ coming is full of curious surprises, isn’t it? Angels appearing, a virgin conceiving, an out-of-town delivery, a manger for a cradle, a visitation from shepherds! Nothing is routine in this story, is it? With every turn comes another twist, a reinforcement of the fact that this is no ordinary child. And the events we’re about to look at this morning are no exception.

Every first-century Jewish couple who had a child were required to go to the temple to offer a sacrifice for purification, and in the case of a firstborn son, they had to come and pay the price for his redemption. We’ll talk more about that in a moment. But this was a fairly routine procedure for a Jewish couple in the first century. It’s kind of like [when] we have to go get a birth certificate and social security cards and stuff figured out when you have a new baby. You go to the office, you stand in line, you fill out the paperwork, you pay the fee, you get the signature. You know, the whole goal is get in, get out, get on with your day, right?

But when Mary and Joseph show up at the temple for what they would have assumed was just a straight-forward transaction, they were met by yet another curious surprise. Two curious surprises actually—two individuals, Simeon and Anna, and even though they had never met these folks before, they were waiting for their arrival with the little baby Jesus. It was an amazing moment.

Please open your Bibles. We’re going to be in Luke, chapter 2, this morning, verses 21 down to 38. If you didn’t bring a Bible and want to use the pew Bible, you’ll find today’s reading on pages 857 and 858.

It is in this curious and surprising account now that we’re going to catch three glimpses of the redemption of God this morning. Three glimpses of the redemption of God. We’re going to see the Portrayal of redemption, the Prospect of redemption, and the Prophecy of redemption this morning. The Portrayal, Prospect, and Prophecy of redemption.

Jesus comes, of course, to redeem God’s broken world, and my prayer this morning is that we would learn to treasure anew His redeeming work in our lives and in all of history. Would you bow your head? Let’s pray together as we turn to God’s Word.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that in the fullness of time, you sent your Son to be born in a manger, to grow up, die on a cross, and be raised from the dead and ascend to heaven to be seated there, crowned in glory and honor, and one day to return to make this world right again. We worship our King Jesus this morning who is our Lord, our Savior, and our Redeemer. Help us see Him afresh. We pray this in His beautiful name, Amen. Amen.

So first the Portrayal of redemption here. Luke chapter 2:22: “And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him,” that’s Jesus, “up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.’) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’”

Pause just for a moment here. Mary and Joseph head with the baby Jesus to Jerusalem. They have two main objectives; two reasons they are coming to the temple here. The first one is purification. According to the Jewish Law, after the birth of a male child, the mother was considered unclean for seven days due to the bloodiness of childbirth, which was then followed by 33 days of confinement, social confinement.

This is a little odd to us because we have babies, I don’t have babies, but women have babies, and we go home from hospitals like what? Two days later? This is all very odd to us, but in most cultures around the world, even to this day, especially in cultures that don’t have the sanitation standards that we have today, periods of social confinement are normal, especially even with this virus, we have this idea of social distancing and the need to sequester in certain circumstances. That’s what’s going on here.

What’s interesting is if you go globally to other nations and places you will find similar patterns of isolation following childbirth, somewhere between like 30 and 45 days as a pretty normal practice. And so ancient Israel had a very similar situation here.

So you add these together (7 days and 33), this is 40 days since Jesus was born, and Mary is ready to get back into society in the full swing of things. And so Joseph and Mary and the little baby Jesus head to the temple to make the required sacrifice. According to the Old Testament, the standard sacrifice was a lamb and a turtledove, but you’ll notice here that’s not what they offer. They offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons, which according to Leviticus 12:6–8, was allowable if you lived below the poverty line. It’s very interesting.

This is one of the indicators we have in the Scriptures of just how poor Mary and Joseph really were. By today’s standards, they would be on food stamps, living in Section 8 housing, living hand to mouth. This is, of course, I think, amazing, isn’t it? That Jesus came all the way down when He came for us.

So Mary comes to the temple. She will make the sacrifice and then be declared clean by the priest and then be allowed to rejoin society and move about freely as she chooses. That’s the first reason for their visit–purification. The second reason is redemption. Redemption. They come to present Jesus, as Luke says, to the Lord. In verse 23 it explains, quoting from Exodus 13:2, that “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.” In other words, firstborn sons were considered holy, set apart, to the Lord. They belonged in some particular way to God. And so Mary and Joseph go to present Jesus to the Lord, because as a firstborn son, He belongs to God. And as we’re going to see, they will pay the price for His redemption, and they will buy Him back and set Him free.

As late modern people, this is all very confusing to us. We don’t live in these structures and these social settings and so we have to do a bit of work. What was clear to them is relatively opaque to us. So let me see if I can help explain what’s going on here.

The first thing we need to understand about the ancient world is that the firstborn sons carried significant religious, familial, and economic responsibilities. When the patriarch died it fell, when the family’s patriarch passed away, it fell to the firstborn son to ensure that the offerings and sacrifices were made continually for the deity. The father would be in charge of this, and as soon as he passed away, that responsibility fell to the firstborn son to make sure the gods were happy with the family. Okay?

So in a sense, the firstborn son became a kind of mini-priest to the family. Additionally, the firstborn son was obligated to take over the family trade or family business. Whatever dad did, those responsibilities, the maintenance of whatever was involved in that line of occupational work fell to the firstborn son. He didn’t get a choice. He had to do it, and his responsibility then was to provide for his mother and whatever dependent children or householders continued to rest upon the income tied to that particular trade or business. As a result, in the Law of God and in much of the ancient Near East, the firstborn son was to receive a double portion of the inheritance as part of providing for all the obligations that now fell upon the firstborn son to protect and provide for the entire family system. In other words, the firstborn son was the backbone of ancient religious familial and economic life.

So when God says, “Every male that first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord,” “He’s mine,” what God is doing here is He is laying claim to the backbone of the religious, familial, and economic life. He’s saying, “Look, your name that you think is your own is not your own. Your family that you think is your own, it’s not your own. Your business, your wealth, your security, all of your economic prosperity, the things you live and breathe and depend upon are not actually yours. They’re mine. The firstborn is mine. He belongs to Me. This is all on loan. Your life is on loan from Me.” That’s what God is saying. In claiming rights to the firstborn son, God was reminding His people that everything they had in life was a gift of grace from Him, that ultimately belonged to God, and God alone.

But it goes even deeper than that because God’s claim to the life of the firstborn sons is anchored in His sparing them from the final plague that was brought upon Egypt. If you remember back in the exodus accounts, the very last plague that was visited upon Egypt was the death of the firstborn males in Egypt, men and beasts, except for those who were protected by the blood of the lamb that was applied to the door lentils and doorposts of the homes.

Do you remember the story? This is the Passover story. On that day, God spared all of the firstborn sons in Israel. And as a result, God said they belonged to Him. They were His.

Numbers 8:17; listen to these words. “For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself.”

So firstborn male animals were to become sacrifices to God in the temple. Having spared their lives, God said, “They’re mine forever.” And firstborn sons also belonged to God, but instead of being sacrificed which, of course, would be cruel, they were redeemed. They were brought to the temple and the parents had to pay five silver shekels to redeem them. That was the price established in Numbers 18:16. And just like that (snaps fingers), all the parents got their kids back, their firstborn sons back. It was called “the redemption of the firstborn.” It was a portrayal of the fact that God owns the firstborn son, and the parents had bought their children back from God. You see what’s going on.

Listen to this extended description from Exodus 13, verses 13 down to 15. “Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males (the animals) that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’”

In other words, the bottom line here is that God deserves the firstborn. Every time a firstborn son was born into a Jewish family, they would go to the temple and be reminded that not only did everything they have in life, not only was it a gift from God by grace that ultimately belonged to Him, but they realized and enacted this portrayal acknowledging that God had given their sons back to them twice, first through the blood of the lamb, and second now by the payment of the price of redemption, these five silver shekels.

The payment of five shekels was nothing to getting the life of your son back. And this is what they enacted. This was a portrayal of God’s redemption. That’s what’s going on in these opening verses. That make sense? Okay, now it’s going to become more relevant. Let’s keep going.

Secondly, the Prospect of God’s redemption. Verse 25: “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.’ And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.”

So Mary and Joseph are walking into the temple. They’re here to do their routine paper work, right? And this elderly chap shows up and he wants to hold their baby.

First of all, odd moment! Yes? Odd. And then he picks up baby Jesus, and he speaks this beautiful blessing over Him. And Luke tells us he’s been waiting for this day. Waiting. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would see the Messiah, the Lord’s Christ, before his dying day. Verse 25, it says Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.”

We’re going to meet another character in a few minutes. Look down in verse 38. Her name is Anna. She was waiting for, the phrase is “the redemption of Jerusalem.” Waiting for the consolation of Israel, waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. These two characters are waiting for God to do something, to bring redemption and consolation to Israel. They are waiting for salvation, for light, for glory. They are waiting for a new and better Exodus.

Remember, God had redeemed His people from bondage in Egypt all those years ago. He had set them free. Remember God said in Exodus 4:22, He told Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, ‘Let me son go that he may serve me.’” Or Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

And so for a time, God had redeemed the firstborn son, Israel— His firstborn son. Not actually His firstborn son, but using all of the metaphors of the importance of a firstborn son in ancient Near Eastern culture, the apple of His eye, the pride of His life, the one who bears His name and inheritance in the world who is responsible to live under the authority and the inheritance of the household name of God. Right? Israel! God’s firstborn son! They served Him in righteousness for many, many years (fits and starts). But over time, Israel ran after false Gods and started acting unjustly. And so God sent His people into exile, a kind of Exodus 2.0, an exile under foreign powers, not Egypt now, but Assyria and Babylonia, and Persia and the Greeks. And even though Israel was now back in the land, they were under Roman rule and oppression. They had no real king, no sovereignty, no rights, no freedoms. In a sense, Israel, even though they were in the land, they were still in exile, waiting for another exodus, another redemption, another freedom that would come.

But their problem wasn’t just on the outside. The problem was on the inside. The problem was with their heart. That’s why they were in exile in the first place. Their hearts had wandered far from God. So the promises of the Old Testament came and pointed to the One, the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Son of Promise who would bring God’s salvation once more. A new exodus, a new redemption, a new hope, a change of heart on the inside by the Spirit of God, when God would once again call His firstborn son, Israel, out of bondage and into freedom. They were waiting for the redemption of God because they knew that God rescues His firstborn.

They knew this. That’s what Simeon and Anna are waiting for. They’re waiting for the One—the One who will redeem God’s firstborn son, Israel. They are waiting for Messiah, and Simeon knows Him at once, and recognizes Him. “My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory for your people Israel.”

Notice, friends, as nationalistic as Simeon is, in all his hopes here, he foresees Messiah’s light will extend far beyond the borders of Israel. It will be a light to the nations. There will be great glory for Israel, yes, but there will be great light for the Gentiles, for non-Jewish people, for the nations as well. Jesus is the Savior who will surely redeem God’s firstborn son, Israel. But more than that, He is the Lamb who will take away the sin of the world! And Simeon says, “I can die a happy man, for with my eyes I have seen the prospect of the redemption of God, for Israel and for the world.”

You have the portrayal of redemption and the redemption of the firstborn. You have the prospect of redemption of God moving on behalf of His firstborn son, Israel, and now the Prophecy of redemption.

Look at verse 34. “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.’ And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eight-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Can you imagine what a sweet day this was for these two older folks? All these years of waiting, battered by the hardships and sorrows of life, mourning loss, and yet clinging to hope in the promises of God. And yet they never stopped doing the little things, you see. They kept going to temple, they kept saying their prayers, they kept worshiping and fasting and serving the Lord. And when it felt like all their hopes would never come true, they kept doing the little things. And then one day He came, without fanfare, without flare. He simply came and they rejoiced.

And friends, there’s nothing more beautiful, is there, than overflowing joy in an old soul that has plenty of excuses to be bitter in life but is not? Simeon had enough disappointing days to be jaded. Anna had seen enough losses to be cynical. But their hope was in the promise of God which, in the end, never disappoints. And in this moment faith became sight because Christ had come.

Now, I want to zero in on these two verses, 34 and 35, which are Simeon’s prophecy. Luke has gone out of his way to tell us that Simeon is full of the Holy Spirit, and that’s because he wants us to understand what he utters here is prophetic. “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” This child will bring upheaval in Israel, won’t He? Many will rise with Him in loyalty and brotherhood and allegiance. And many will fall away from Him in anger and betrayal and hate. This salvation, this light, this glory, this Messiah will be, he says, “a sign that is opposed, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”

Friends, Jesus’ coming will reveal the hearts of all. Some will rejoice and be drawn in faith and worship and follow Him, and others will reject and be angry and, in fear, oppose Him at every turn. And as Mary’s eyes are widening (Can’t you see it?), at the weight and the danger and the gravitas of this prophetic word, Simeon pauses. He pauses mid-sentence and he looks her in the eye and he says, “A sword will pierce through your own soul as well.”

This child’s life will bring piercing pain into Mary’s soul. His life will not be an easy one. He will be despised and rejected. He will be betrayed and crucified. He will be nailed through and pierced.

Don’t you see? Even here there’s a hint of the cross that is coming. Can’t you imagine how pierced through Mary must have felt as she beheld her Son dying on the cross, her firstborn Son? And yet Simeon knows this is how it must be. The redemption of Israel, of God’s firstborn Son, the nation of Israel, will only be accomplished through the suffering servant of the Lord.

You remember Isaiah foretold this.

Isaiah 53:5, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

Verse 11, “Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”

Verse 12, “Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

Don’t you see? The only way for God to redeem the firstborn sons in Egypt was with the substitutionary life of a spotless lamb sacrificed by his blood. Simeon is now waiting for the redemption of the firstborn son, of Israel, from the exile. And so God sends His own firstborn Son, Jesus, to be the spotless Lamb, the suffering servant who will be pierced through in order that the firstborn may be redeemed. God’s firstborn son, Israel, will be redeemed by God’s true and greater firstborn Son, Jesus Christ.

Don’t you see? Because of Jesus now, the people of Israel are triply redeemed. They’re redeemed not just because their life which they owe to God has been covered. Their firstborn is covered by the blood of the lamb in the first Passover, and now redeemed through silver, paid in the temple as they memorialize that first redemption through a second redemption. Now the people of Israel will be redeemed through the blood of the Son of God, the firstborn of heaven, Himself.

This is the wonder of the Gospel, that God gives His firstborn. God gives His firstborn. God gives up His own firstborn Son to redeem us, to save us, to rescue us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“[We] are not our own...[We] were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

“[And we have been redeemed], not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18–19).

Friends, don’t you see the bottom line takeaway is this: God gave up His Son to redeem many sons for glory. Who would have ever thought this would be true—that the God to whom we owe everything, our life, our breath, and everything else, would give up His everything for us, that He would give up His firstborn Son so that we might live, to bring many sons and daughters to glory?

And this is the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the greatness of Christmas!

Amen? Would you pray with me?

Father, we owe you everything. The very backbone of our lives is yours. There’s nothing that we have that you did not first give us, the breath in our lungs, the talent we market, the time we fritter away, the things we call home, the relationships we prize, the gifts you give. It’s all from you. You deserve it all.

Father, forgive us for hijacking our lives, taking them as if they were our own and trying to make much of ourselves. We have not honored you with ourselves.

And Father, it’s no wonder that our lives are forfeit. The sin that we live and choose is destroying us from the inside out. We’ve let death in to the inside of us, and it’s wrecking us. But Father, what a beautiful glimpse of the Gospel, that in love you would cover our lives with the blood of the Lamb, that when the destroyer comes we might not be touched but spared in your mercy and grace because you provided a substitute, not just an animal that could never cover our lives, but ultimately your Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

You gave up His life for ours that we might be sons and daughters forever. This is amazing grace. This is wonderful news. We worship you in wonder, and in awe, and in grace for the redemption that is ours in Jesus Christ.

It’s in His name we pray, Amen. Amen.