I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and pray that all of us will hold onto Christmas for a while. Let us now take a few days to look at the next events the Scriptures tell us about.
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised Genesis 17:1-12
On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Leviticus 12:3
On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. Luke 2:21 (find these or any other passages at www.Biblegateway.org)
There are some interesting insights here into the first few days of Jesus' life, and into his parents, Mary and Joseph.
Consider His circumcision and naming. The ordinance of circumcision began with Abram, ninety-nine years old, but was put into place for boys on their eighth day. This was later revisited in the Law given in Leviticus. And so the Babe was circumcised on the eighth day according to Hebrew Law.
The tradition of naming the child after their circumcision came from the same origin, reflecting God's covenant, sealed in the ritual. With Abram's circumcision, he received his Hebrew name, Abraham, and became the Father of the Jews.
What does this tell us about Joseph and Mary? We already saw that, apart from Heavenly direction otherwise, they would follow the laws of the land, as they followed the edict to go to Bethlehem. We see here, that, once again, without God's direction otherwise, they could be expected to follow Jewish Law and traditions, explicitly.
It is important for us Gentiles, adopted into the family, to remember that our Savior was raised in many ways, as a typical Jewish boy.
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Questions:
1. Have you ever considered the Jewish aspects of Jesus' childhood? (think Bar Mitzvah)
2. Should these things be important to us as Christians?
3. What does their following of Law and tradition say to you?
INTERESTING THOUGHT:
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."
Jesus
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