8 Days After His Birth - Both Times
December 11, 2016
Luke 2:1-21 And it came to pass in those days, that there went
out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be
taxed. (2) (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius
was governor of Syria.) (3) And all went to be taxed, every
one into his own city. (4) And Joseph also went up from
Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and
lineage of David:) (5) To be taxed with Mary his espoused
wife, being great with child. (6) And so it was, that,
while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be
delivered. (7) And she brought forth her firstborn son, and
wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because
there was no room for them in the inn. (8) And there were
in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over
their flock by night. (9) And, lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and
they were sore afraid. (10) And the angel said unto them,
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which
shall be to all people. (11) For unto you is born this day
in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
(12) And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. (13) And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, (14) Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace, good will toward men. (15) And it came
to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the
shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and
see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known
unto us. (16) And they came with haste, and found Mary, and
Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. (17) And when they
had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them
concerning this child. (18) And all they that heard it
wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
(19) But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her
heart. (20) And the shepherds returned, glorifying and
praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was
told unto them. (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.
There were many details
that surrounded Jesus’ birth that also took place at His point in
this world when His reason for being born took place.
Look at his reason for being born.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of
flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that
through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that
is, the devil; (15) And deliver them who through fear of
death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Jesus existed in heaven before he was born in this world and made flesh.
• He is God manifest in the flesh.
• He partook of flesh and blood when he was born.
• Why?
• So through death he could destroy him who had the power of death.
• So in order to die he had to partake of flesh and blood and be MORTAL.
So it’s no wonder details of his birth show us hints of his death and resurrection!
Jesus was circumcised the 8th day of his life.
• We aren’t told why it took that many days, but the Old Testament gives us the reason.
Leviticus 12:2-3 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a
woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be
unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her
infirmity shall she be unclean. (3) And in the eighth day
the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
The first seven days left the mother UNCLEAN.
• These seven days were called days of separation because of her infirmity.
• It was the same amount of days of uncleanness the old testament stated occurred with women every month.
But though she was past the unclean state of those seven days, she still couldn’t touch anything holy or enter the temple.
Leviticus 12:4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her
purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor
come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.
So she was clean, but not totally.
• A woman’s body goes through all this cleansing for over a month after the child is born.
• She was fully cleansed after the first seven when 33 more days took place.
Think of it.
• The woman cannot worship in the temple for 40 days.
Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy
sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;
and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
She caused sin to come into this world, and her motherhood was affected by a curse.
• Every child born causes a woman to be so
unclean she can’t stand in the tabernacle of the congregation for
over a month.
• Born in sin.
The first seven days are especially unclean.
• So the baby was circumcised the eighth day.
If a baby girl was born, she was unclean 14 (not 7) days, instead of seven.
• And the days of her purification there are 66 (not 33) days of purification.
• Altogether 80 (not 40) days before she can worship in the temple again.
Ten days short of three months without entering any holy sanctuary or touching anything holy.
But an UNVEILING occurred for the manchild on this eighth day.
Circumcision is removal of a VEIL OF FLESH.
2 Corinthians 3:3-18 You are demonstrating that you are the
Messiah's letter, produced by our service, written not with ink but
with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of human hearts. (4) Such is the confidence that we
have in God through the Messiah. (5) By ourselves we are
not qualified to claim that anything comes from us. Rather, our
credentials come from God, (6) who has also qualified us to
be ministers of a new covenant, which is not written but spiritual,
because the written text brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
(7) Now if the ministry of death that was inscribed in letters of
stone came with such glory that the people of Israel could not gaze on
Moses' face (because the glory was fading away from it),
(8) will not the Spirit's ministry have even more glory?
(9) For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, then the
ministry of justification has an overwhelming glory. (10)
In fact, that which once had glory lost its glory, because the other
glory surpassed it. (11) For if that which fades away came
through glory, how much more does that which is permanent have
glory? (12) Therefore, since we have such a hope, we speak
very boldly, (13) not like Moses, who kept covering his
face with a veil to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of
what was fading away. (14) However, their minds were
hardened, for to this day the same veil is still there when they read
the old covenant. Only in union with the Messiah is that veil
removed. (15) Yet even to this day, when Moses is read, a
veil covers their hearts. (16) But whenever a person turns
to the Lord, the veil is removed. (17) Now the Lord is the
Spirit, and where the Lord's Spirit is, there is freedom.
(18) As all of us reflect the glory of the Lord with unveiled
faces, we are becoming more like him with ever-increasing glory by the
Lord's Spirit.
Our hearts have a veil of fleshliness over them.
• Paul said his congregations were letters written by Jesus, the author.
• And Paul was like the pen filled with ink of the HOLY SPIRIT.
• But then he says he spoke and preached boldly, unlike Moses and the old covenant.
• And he said that difference between the old
covenant and new was symbolized by Moses putting a veil on his face so
the people could not see what was passing away.
• A veil is on people’s hearts if they only follow the Old Testament.
• People never knew the GOAL of Moses’ Law.
• But when the heart turns to Jesus and believes in Him, the veil comes off the heart.
• We clearly see what Old Testament believers couldn’t.
CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART.
Deuteronomy 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine
heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all
thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Fleshliness is all of the unbelief and carnality of our souls that blind our hearts.
• And if Jesus writes his word on our hearts
through preaching by preachers full of the Spirit, and our hearts
don’t believe in Jesus, our hearts have veils that stop the
writing from taking place on our hearts.
So the preaching does no good.
And remember “believing” in Greek is BE-LIVING.
Be-living what the word says.
An unveiling occurred when Jesus was 8 days old AND HIS NAME WAS MADE KNOWN!
• Not only was his flesh unveiled, but HIS NAME WAS UNVEILED!
When John the Baptist’s mother’s pregnancy was foretold to his father, Zecharias, we read Zecharias doubted.
Luke 1:5 mentions Zecharias was a priest.
Luke 1:11-12 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord
standing on the right side of the altar of incense. (12)
And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
In order for this angel to appear on the right of the altar of incense,
he had to stand IN FRONT OF THE VEIL of the holiest of holiest in the
temple.
Luke 1:13-20 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias:
for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son,
and thou shalt call his name John. (14) And thou shalt have
joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. (15)
For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither
wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even
from his mother's womb. (16) And many of the children of
Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. (17) And he
shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the
wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
(18) And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know
this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
(19) And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that
stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to
shew thee these glad tidings. (20) And, behold, thou shalt
be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall
be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be
fulfilled in their season.
Zech actually wanted to see a SIGN to verify what the angel said.
• Gabriel said it was enough for him to have
this angel visit and give him a word he heard from God in His very
presence.
• So this unbelief showed a VEIL on Zecharias’ heart!
• And Zech was made mute.
9 months later John was born.
Luke 1:57-67 Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should be
delivered; and she brought forth a son. (58) And her
neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy
upon her; and they rejoiced with her. (59) And it came to
pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and
they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
(60) And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be
called John. (61) And they said unto her, There is none of
thy kindred that is called by this name. (62) And they made
signs to his father, how he would have him called. (63) And
he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And
they marvelled all. (64) And his mouth was opened
immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised
God. (65) And fear came on all that dwelt round about them:
and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill
country of Judaea. (66) And all they that heard them laid
them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be!
And the hand of the Lord was with him. (67) And his father
Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
The day John was circumcised, when his name was to be announced, as
Gabriel told him to call the child JOHN, Zecharias is still mute and
writes down the fact the baby’s name would be JOHN!
Not only is Zechariah’s heart fully unveiled from the unbelief he
had about John’s birth, but THE FIRST PROPHECY from a man in 400
years was made!
• Malachi gave the last prophecy anyone got from
God 400 years earlier in the last book of our old testament bibles.
• And Zecharias prophesied AND UNVEILED THE WORD OF GOD.
And this unveiling had to occur because Zecharias doubted God’s
word in unbelief when the ANGEL APPEARED BY THE VEIL aside the altar of
incense (prayers of the saints)!
Luke 1:68-79 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath
visited and redeemed his people, (69) And hath raised up an
horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David;
(70) As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have
been since the world began: (71) That we should be saved
from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;
(72) To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to
remember his holy covenant; (73) The oath which he sware to
our father Abraham, (74) That he would grant unto us, that
we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him
without fear, (75) In holiness and righteousness before
him, all the days of our life. (76) And thou, child, shalt
be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face
of the Lord to prepare his ways; (77) To give knowledge of
salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,
(78) Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring
from on high hath visited us, (79) To give light to them
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into
the way of peace.
UNVEILING
Anyone in the old testament faith alone who read those verses never knew how they would be fulfilled.
But Zecharias had his heart unveiled so he could get the word of God in
there, and then exploded forth prophecy and unveiled OLD TESTAMENT
SCRIPTURES to the world!
Jesus dies 34 years later – 6 months til Jesus was born after
John’s birth and 33.5 more years of Jesus’ life…
Mary’s firstborn son became…
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he
might have the preeminence.
Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful
witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the
kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins
in his own blood,
Begotten of God and born of Mary, he was firstbegotten by God from the dead!
Psalm 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
This was when God set His King upon ZION in Psalm 2.
Acts 13 interprets that for us.
Act 13:32 And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
Act 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in
that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second
psalm, Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee.
His resurrection is like having been begotten!
John 20:1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early,
when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken
away from the sepulchre.
John 20:19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the
week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for
fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto
them, Peace be unto you.
John 20:20 And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands
and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
John 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
John 20:22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
John 20:23 Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
John 20:25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen
the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the
print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and
thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
Then we read:
John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and
Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in
the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
John 20:27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and
behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side:
and be not
faithless, but believing.
John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
An unveiling occurred eight days after Jesus resurrected, as firstborn from the dead.
Thomas did not believe Jesus arose.
• And without resurrection there is no salvation!
• He doubted salvation!
• But the veil came off his heart and HE BELIEVED!
John 20:28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
How many here can say you fit the category of those who are blessed, who unlike Thomas did not have to see in order to believe!?