REDEEMING THE LONG-AWAITED REDEEMER

When the eight days until His circumcision had passed, He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given Him before He had been conceived. And when the time of purification according to the Law of Moses was complete, His parents brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord:  “Every firstborn male shall be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer the sacrifice specified in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

Luke 2:21-24 (BSB)

When Pharaoh was unwilling to let us go, Adonai killed all the firstborn males in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of animals. This is why I sacrifice to Adonai any male that is first from the womb of an animal, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

Exodus 13:15 (CJB)

The sum to be paid for redeeming anyone a month old or over is to be five shekels of silver (two ounces), as you value it, using the sanctuary shekel (this is the same as twenty gerahs).

Numbers 18:16 (CJB)

Abraham was given instructions concerning circumcision of baby boys who were eight days old as a sign of the covenant between the Lord and His people (Genesis 17:9-14). Therefore, Jesus was circumcised as the Law required on the eighth day. In the Bible, numbers have meaning. Eight is the number of new beginnings, and Jesus came to bring us the New Covenant. In obedience to what the angel had told both Mary and Joseph, they named Him Jesus which means “Jehovah is generous, Jehovah saves.” God’s free gift of grace was extravagantly purchased by Jesus on the cross to save us from our sins, a generous gift indeed. Before Jesus created the world, before He spoke everything into being, He was “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Revelation 13:8b (KJV). This means that even before Adam and Eve could sin and be deceived, God in His mercy, had cleaned up the mess of sin, and would reveal this message at the perfect moment in time.  In God’s accounting of time, it was as if Jesus had already gone to the cross. After Mary waited the required 40 days for purification, Mary and Joseph took the Baby to the Temple in Jerusalem. As the firstborn male, He was to be dedicated to God as a priest or redeemed by paying five shekels. Two turtledoves or two young pigeons was the sacrifice for purification for a mother after birth for poor people who did not own or have the ability to purchase a perfect lamb (Leviticus 12:1-8) However, they were dedicating THE PERFECT LAMB! Mary and Joseph were devout Jews following all the Law prescribed concerning the Baby Jesus and Mary’s purification after childbirth. Jesus placed Himself under the Law from the moment of His birth.

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV)

Ponder This: Jesus, who was God in the flesh, placed Himself under the law. He was the only man who perfectly obeyed the law, remaining sinless. He who gave the Law to Moses, subjected Himself to it in order to free us from the burden it placed upon humankind. Even as a baby, Jesus had to be redeemed as were all firstborn children belonged to God. Imagine—the Redeemer had to be redeemed!

Father, thank You for sending Your Son to redeem us!