Luke 2 - Fulfillment of a Promise — Luke 2

0:00 Morning, everyone. Good morning. Being being the preacher on on Sunday and and going through the different meetings, you you kind of you think about what the lord has laid on your heart to to say and and and talk about and you find there are no coincidences. We're going to consider the lord Jesus today and just who he is, learn more about him, how he is, how he's holy, how he's set apart. I do feel compelled to review though that we're in in Luke and we're doing this study in Luke.

0:40 Quite a great feat if you ask me because Luke has some really long chapters and there's a lot of material. We started off of course with my dad giving a great presentation on just an overview of of who Luke it is, who Luke is, the fact that he was a Gentile, you know, the fact that he's writing to us or to to Theophilus, this guy and saying, look, you can know these things are true and we're going to I'm going to comment a little bit on on how Luke is, you know, how I've been enjoying Luke and also just the great many witnesses that Luke has. You know, he he throughout his life, he came into contact with so many people and how, you know, that is is teaching us about the lord Jesus Christ and then we heard from Ray. We heard from Ray about Zechariah, about John the Baptist, and how he's coming on the scene and that whole story about how John the Baptist came in. We heard from from brother Wayne about how it's all it's all in the lord's plan.

1:49 You know, he's unfolding his plan and he's stepping in the history and he's declaring himself to us and then we heard from Jeremy last week about the glory of god and and how he came to these lowly shepherds and and he comes each and each and every one of us. So, my hope today is to get through sorry, my technology is not cooperating here for me. My my hope today is to get through Luke chapter two verses 21 through 38. We're picking up right where Jeremy left off. As a way of sort of an icebreaker though, really I'm trying here.

2:41 Maybe I'll just try and reopen this. So, as I as I as I get get this, as a way of icebreaker, in a in a totally, I would say, in a totally reverent way, you come to the this section of Luke and Luke says himself, he declares to us that that Jesus Christ is the son of man and so, you read the gospels, you read all of this, and you have to to kind of consider Jesus Christ as a man, as a baby, god in the flesh, the son of god, becoming a man. He's full, he's fully god and he's fully man and seeing that when my wife and I are going to have a baby, some people I hear, you know, throughout when you have a baby being born and and such. I don't know what that's like yet of course but you consider what are the baby's first words. What's the baby first going to say?

3:42 And I'd like to just do this kind of thought experiment with you and hear from you guys on what do you think the baby Jesus, what what was his first words? So, this would be some some good crowd participation and also tell me maybe why that could have been his first words even though we, you know, we don't have those written down for us. So, anybody. Philip. Mama.

4:09 Mama. Very natural, right? Anybody else? Ima in Hebrew. So, I'll I'll give you my reason why.

4:24 You guys said mama. Andy, did you? Hallelujah. Okay. Good reason.

4:30 Praise. You know, I'm sure they live like a real family but Right. Right. Praising the lord and and really, you know, directing even his family back to the lord. I personally think that he said the word Abba which means daddy, father, and there's a few reasons why.

4:53 If you take a look at Luke chapter two, not in our passage but in verse 49, we actually get to read his words, first words recorded of what he actually said and it says, verse 49 and he said to them, why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business? So, you get to read this story about the lord Jesus and his parents and how they go up to Jerusalem but he he's telling to us who god the father is and so I like to think that maybe he said, Abba. Now, if I were Joseph and he's saying, Abba, he's like, yes, you know, like he said my name, you know, I I don't know what that's going to be like but but really like even as you know, Jesus is growing up, he's probably, if he said Abba, he he's talking to his father in heaven, his heavenly father, right? Just just a wonderful concept.

5:52 You know, you have in John the the gospel of John how he's he goes through all of these sections in the middle of John and he's declaring to us the father, god the father to us. Jesus Christ, god the son, is declaring god the father to us and and who god is and declaring to us who he is and then of course, you have these these passages in the end of the gospels where he talks to his heavenly father in a very intimate way, right? And there in the garden and he's saying, father, if it if it's possible, take this cup from me and and so and then you have of course on the cross, Jesus Christ is saying to his father in heaven, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. So, just just a nice little little consideration as we come to this passage of you know, what were his first words and you know, I'm not going to die on a hill like this but just kind of a nice way to really think about, you know, the lord Jesus and and try and wrestle with this idea that he's god and that he's man at the same time.

8:13 Let's just let's just open up again with the word of prayer before we read god's word. Dear lord, we're just so grateful to be here. Just as we're considering now the lord Jesus and his humanity but he was god in the flesh and just all that that meant just help us to to hallow him in our hearts to to sanctify him, to set him apart because he's god and there's just so many ways that he truly is set apart in who he is that are just so profound and and we can continue to worship him and and honor him with our lives in that in that aspect. Just help us now lord as we do this in Jesus Christ name, amen. Okay, Luke chapter two and verse 21.

9:40 Verse 25 and behold, there is a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him and had it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the lord's Christ. So, he came by 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. For you have prepared before the face of all people.

10:30 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child, it is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel. And for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

11:56 So, I've really been appreciating the gospel of Luke because it's the gospel the Gentile, to the Greek person, to the thinking man, and and that's what Luke does. He he he makes you think about many things. It's very big word heavy. Luke himself being a Greek man and a physician. During these times in the Bible and throughout history, the Greeks were concerned or they they wanted to make the perfect man both in their in the intellectual ideas.

12:31 You have these ancient philosophers like Plato, Socrates, and and Aristotle and they're coming on the scene and and they're they're considering man, how we discover truth, and these sorts of things and you might remember it was the Greeks that also held the Olympic Games and so, they're considering just a man in all of who man is and doing these great feats in these Olympic Games and trying to to promote like how how really good man is and even and if you remember from school, you have all those Greek myths and if you look at those different Greek myths, they portray their gods as men but even in that portrayal, you actually see that those gods, those false gods, of course, they have flaws and so they they picture em just like any other man and and so we see that they fell short. They they could not find or or attain to the perfect man and so now we have Jesus Christ coming on to the scene in in all of this great context. He's the perfect man. He's the perfect representation of who the perfect man would be, right? And and he is god in the flesh, both fully god and fully man and so he's he's coming out of the scene and he's telling us and proclaiming to us what a perfect man looks like.

13:56 The perfect representation of man. You might even say, the god man, right? God in the flesh. Just just a profound thing that god would step down into time and declare himself to us. Let's look at verse 21.

14:55 They gave his name Jesus and the the Old Testament talks about circumcision. What is circumcision? Well, circumcision is it's sort of like a badge. It's it's it's saying that when you got circumcised as a young person, you were saying as a as a male, as a man, you were saying, I'm identifying with god's chosen people. That's that's who I am and and so, when Jesus Christ was born, he was circumcised just like other Jewish men were and he was identified with god's chosen people and that's what happened with the lord Jesus and and during this time of circumcision, they would go to the temple and they would present the young men, the babies before the lord as a way of setting apart these men for the lord and and dedicating them to god and so we come and and Jesus Christ is dedicated to the lord for his service and of course, it's just a much more profound way as we continue to learn more about the lord Jesus but it also reflects back to other part in the Old Testament.

16:08 One, when was the first circumcision? You have Abraham. God had made a covenant with Abraham and said, I'm going to make you a great nation and in your seed, all of the families of the earth are going to be blessed and this circumcision was just, it was a sign of that covenant and so, we we read in even in the New Testament, Abraham believed god and it was accounted him for righteousness and then, of course, he was circumcised just as a sign as an outward sign of his belief and so that's really what circumcision is. Young people, you can go ahead and ask your parents about the the details of that but it was just a way of setting apart someone and and saying they are identifying with Israel and with all of what it means to be an Israelite person chosen by god for for many purposes. Now, also, you have that idea in there.

17:07 It says that they gave him the name Jesus and other, I think it's Matthew. He says that his name is Jesus because he was because he would save his people from their sins and so we get this idea. Okay, Jesus means savior and even what's more, you you get this sense, okay. So, Gabriel had come to Mary and said, okay, his name is going to be Jesus. He's going to be a holy one.

17:36 He's going to be set apart and and Mary receives this message and she's obviously clueless like I have not known a man. I've not been with a man. I'm just engaged. How is this going to happen? And and so we know that the angel Gabriel says to her, he he's going to be conceived by the Holy Spirit.

17:57 He's not going to have a physical, earthly father and I think that is just another reason why the lord Jesus is set apart because if you go to Romans, Romans chapter five talks about how through the death of excuse me, through the sin of Adam because back in the garden, it was Adam that was truly truly responsible for all the sin that had happened and so god had held him responsible for for falling into sin. For all of the generations after that and so we see that from man to man, the sin nature, the human sin nature was passed on through the men, through that seed but of course, because Jesus did not have an earthly father, that sin nature didn't pass on and so the fact that he was born of a virgin just clearly sets him apart from anyone else in history as a man, right? But we know that that means that he's sinless. So, he's also god in the flesh and so you just reading through Luke, you you really get to see who Jesus is. He's fully god and fully man at the same time and you just get to marvel just like his parents just like the the the shepherds.

20:44 So, does that mean that Christ at one point wasn't born like like he never existed. Well, of course not. Like John says that in the beginning was the word and the word was with god. So, when we when we apply this idea of the firstborn, not necessarily one born in the world like a brand new person but it's more of a title and so when we when we see in a place like Colossians, he's the firstborn of all creation. It's more of a title.

21:15 This privilege that god the father has given to his son to be the lord of creation, to be over all of creation. And so in one sense, of course, you have Christ existing from eternity past like of course, he always existed but in this sense now, he's coming to us in Luke. We're reading and he was born and he was born just like anybody else but of course, in a very different way and that's what we're doing this morning. Just seeing how different and how set apart the lord Jesus is. Now, also you have the cleansing of Mary.

21:51 What was that like? Why why did they do that? Well, when babies were born, it was of course a reminder of sin. Of course, we just said that Adam through Adam, the sin nature was passed along and all the men passed the the sin nature. So, on one sense, when any kind of child was born, it actually was a reminder of sin.

22:13 The fact that you have in a very, I would say negative way obviously but in a very negative way, you have another sinner on the face of the earth and so what they would do is they would go to the temple and they would offer sacrifice because of that sin, that sin nature was was passed down but of course not with the lord Jesus but you have Mary's aspect. So, when when women would have children, they would go through this cleansing process because it's a very unclean thing but also, you might remember back with Genesis when the lord is talking right after the fall. He's talking to Adam and Eve and he's he told Eve, the mother of all children that you are going to have pain in childbirth and so, just that idea again, the reminder of sin because of of the sin that Adam and Eve did, Eve was going to have pain in the childbirth and so, what did god set up? He set up this this process in the law of god to go and cleanse and to come before the lord and offer the sacrifices for the cleansing and for the washing of sin and even in that picture, right?

23:24 The the sacrifices themselves was a picture of what the lord Jesus was going to do for us and here's another thing that sets the lord apart from anyone else. He comes on to the same. He declares himself, I'm Jesus Christ. I am Christ, the Messiah. But he's born to a poor family because back in Leviticus, it says that you could bring a lamb or a goat, a male goat, or you could bring a pigeon or a turtle dove if you didn't have enough money and so, here we have Jesus Christ, the king of the universe, lord of all creation, coming to us in the form of a baby, born to a poor couple, just has a humble beginning.

24:08 He he's totally set a party. He doesn't come as a as a conqueror first. He comes as a humble baby and he doesn't come in in you know, a great display of power or strength. He comes in this humble family. You might even say a working class.

24:25 We know that Joseph was a carpenter and then Christ said himself that he was or other people said about him. He was the carpenter and so, just another aspect of Christ how he set apart. He didn't come in this profound, you know, display of great power and strength but just as a humble baby before us. To this lowly couple. Verse 25, it says, and behold, there's a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was just and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

26:15 Well, what's this great comfort that is going to come? Who is this great comfort that is going to come? Well, the whole idea was that when when Israel was oppressed by all of these nations, it was because of their sin and so, god would declare to us that he's going to save his people from their sin. This the whole reason why they keep being pressed by all these different people is because of their sin and so he's going to finally solve that problem of sin and he's going to send a savior to rescue people from their sin. Verse 26 says, and is been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the lord's Christ.

26:58 So, he came by the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him according to the custom, the law. He took him up into his arms and blessed god and I want to stop right there again because I I really want to try to get into the feeling of what this guy, Simeon, was was feeling and so he comes to the temple and he finally, he sees the lord Jesus and he sees his savior. He sees the consolation for Israel and he took him up into his arms and blessed god. It's almost this as if you know, this idea that you know, he's he's got the baby in his arms and it's like this physical representation of god's salvation and he looks him and he's like, he's here like the savior is here and the best representation that in my life that I could like get that same feeling was the whole process of when Shelly came here. You can ask me a lot more of the details but what had happened was that we were going through all this paperwork process and we were not seeing an end in sight.

29:07 Why why do we have this large package in here? And so we open it up and boom right there, there's the visa. Like, and just that emotion like there's no, that's the only way I can describe of what Simeon is doing right here. He's saying, look, I have this baby in my arms. This is the savior of the world.

29:25 He's right here. He's the savior. And we get to to see what does he do? He blessed god. Verse 28, he says, he took him up in his arms and blessed god and said, lord, now you are are letting your servant depart in peace.

29:42 According to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel. Simeon said, I have seen your salvation. This is Jesus Christ. Like, Jesus means Yahweh is salvation and he's holding the savior of the universe in his hands right then and he's declaring to us, he's the savior. He's here.

30:18 Amen. Everybody should see this and guess what? He's not just come for a savior to his people. He's come as a light to the Gentiles that he would save all people and here you just have another way that the lord Jesus is different that he came for all men to be saved. For god so loved the world that whoever would believe in him.

30:42 The lord would not would not want that any would perish but that all would come to repentance and so we see him you can compare Jesus Christ and Christianity, this whole movement of Jesus Christ coming, saving people from their sin. Compare it to all of the other world religions. And no one does it like Jesus does. Bringing Gentile and Jew together, bringing any background together in one body and this this section of scripture even now, it's like you know, you have Paul talking later about this mystery of the church. It's like a pre prophecy of that idea.

31:24 The fact that he's coming and he's coming not just to Jewish people, he's coming to Gentiles as well. No one else but Jesus Christ, the god of the universe himself would be able to do this. The fact that he would come and he would unite people that have the the common savior. No matter what your background, skin color, profession, age, no no matter what it is. He unites people in a way that that no one else can.

32:03 He's here. Says, my eyes have seen your salvation and I think that's just a great response for us, right? Simeon comes and he sees the savior of the world. You and I could do the same thing. As we see god's word, we can say and bless the lord and say, wow, thank you.

32:21 Like, thank you for sending the lord Jesus for me. Like, this is this is awesome. This is truly awesome and in in such a reverent way, sometimes when we see that and we have this intimacy with the lord, it's it's almost like we're speechless. Like, we can't even describe how awesome it is that he has saved us, that the savior came for us and so, not only that but Christ is set apart in the peace that he gives. He's the only one in the world that can give you true peace.

32:56 You and I, true peace. Like, like the the fact that we don't have to stand before god one day and feel that guilt of our sin because Jesus Christ came, he offers peace with god and peace in our hearts so that no matter what happens when we go through life and we have trials because Christ said himself that we will have tribulation but we can carry this peace with us. No one else in all of history can give us that peace. Only god himself through Jesus Christ can give us that peace. Amen.

33:33 And and so it says in Isaiah verse 42 or excuse me, chapter 42 verse one. Behold, my servant talking about the lord Jesus whom I uphold, this is god speaking, my elect one, my chosen one, in whom my my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles and so you just get that glimpse from the Old Testament. That's what Zechariah or Simeon is saying here.

34:03 He's saying, look, the savior is here to bring light not just to the Jewish people but to the Gentiles as well. That he would make an a way for all people to be right with god. Isaiah forty two six says, the lord, I, the lord, have called you in righteousness and will hold your hand. I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people and as a light to the Gentiles. No one else can do just do this like like Jesus Christ.

34:34 Verse 33, we have Jesus Joseph and Mary, they both see all of what's going on. You know, you have them going there. They're bringing their baby Jesus to the temple to do this circumcision to to to make the offerings and Simeon's there and they're seeing all what's going on like if you were to jump into Joseph and Mary's head like, he's saying about this about my child like that he's the savior. He's the salvation. He's he's the redemption that we need and and all they can do, all they can do is marvel.

35:09 It reads, and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. All they could do is say, wow. Just like the shepherds, they said, wow. They marveled about all the things happening that Christ came on to the scene and there he is to savor the world. Then, Simeon blessed them.

35:31 Verse 34, and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Now, these verses are interesting because you have, you know, you have this scene of of where the whole family is gathered together. Simeon's coming on this scene and then he he says, look, Jesus is going to come on the scene or he's right here and he's there's going to be a fall and rising of many. Meaning, he's going to polarize people.

36:16 You can't be on the fence with the lord Jesus. You're either for the lord Jesus or you're against him and we even see many of the Jewish people. They either were for Jesus or they wanted to stone Jesus. They want, they rejected Jesus. We even see that when he goes to the cross.

36:33 His own people rejecting him. But also we see the the sentiment of of Mary, his mother. Simeon, he's he's saying, look, he doesn't explain it in all these words but I imagine he's like, look, he's going to go and he's going to have to die and you're going to have to see him die and and we have that recorded for us in in Luke and in John. The fact that Mary was there and he watched or she watched her own son, be tortured to death. And in some way, it might set Mary apart but in another way, it's, you know, you see that that heart of a mother for her child just like everyone else.

37:21 But of course, when Christ went to the cross, it set him apart. The fact that he's there, he's paying for sin that actually isn't his. That's why he had to stay on that cross so that he could pay for our sin and not for his and so, again, we see him on the cross when he finally went to pay for our sin and he's totally set apart out of anyone else in history, the savior of the world, Jesus Christ, the the god in the flesh and fully man at the same time. Like just wonderful thing to really try and try and grasp and when you when you continue to read about the lord Jesus and how can this be? You just marvel and you see how great the lord Jesus is.

38:08 And then we come to verse 36 through verse 38. It says, now, there is one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Fanuel of the tribe of Asher. So, Jesus and and his parents are there and Simeon's there and she got, it's like she was around there in the temple seeing this whole thing, this prophetess. She's from the tribe of Asher. Now, I looked up what is the tribe of Asher mean like the the name Asher mean?

38:38 You go back into Genesis when Leah who was wife of Jacob later named Israel had Asher. It said that she named him Asher because she was happy. She was blessed. She said that that people were going to call her blessed and so, I like to think of Anna the prophetess was from the happy tribe, the blessed tribe, you know, and and I think it's just it's surreal because it's in connection with what she does. She sees this whole scene and what happens and this woman, Anna, was a widow about eighty fours, eighty four years, who did not depart from the temple but served god with fastings and prayers night and day.

39:24 So, she was devout. She was there. She was serving the lord and coming in in that instance, she was happy and gave thanks to the lord. That's the paraphrase version but in that instance, she gave thanks to the lord and what did she do? She could not help.

39:40 It says, and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Israel and so, she came in. She's from the happy tribe and sees Christ and she can't help but be filled with joy because there he is the redemption of Israel and what a proper response that she would go to all the other people around her, her, you know, whoever's there, the people that she knows, maybe even the people that she doesn't knows. No, and she says, look, the redemption of Israel is here like he is here. Christ, the savior, is here and so you just get to again, see this great interaction of someone with the lord Jesus. Another witness for us from Luke of of what it's like to encounter the lord Jesus and she understood it.

40:28 She got it that Jesus was here and that he was here to save. He was here to redeem his people. We also learned from Simeon that he was a light to the Gentiles. People looking for a savior and he came not like many of them wanted to. Let many of them wanted.

40:46 The Jewish people wanted a political savior but he came as a savior from sin. And so, just by way of application, what are the things some the things that we could apply today? That throughout the reading of Luke, throughout the reading of god's word, our whole Christian life that Jesus Christ himself, god in the flesh, the god man, would be set apart in our hearts in just so many different ways. The fact that he's the son of god and he's the son of man, the perfect representation of god and man at the same time. The fact that he was born a virgin, meaning, he did not have that sin nature.

41:28 Just sets him apart like compared to anyone else in history. The fact that he came as a humble baby in this humble upbringing to this poor family but declared himself as king. The fact that his name literally means salvation. Like, Yahweh is salvation. That's what Jesus means.

41:50 His influence on people. You see, when Simeon and when Anna come and they encounter the savior, you have these interactions they have with people and they do things. They they sing to the lord like Simeon does. They tell other people. Jesus Christ influence on people.

42:08 I mean, we're we're testimonies to it today. His influence on people in history is totally set apart from anyone else. His movement and the movement of Christianity, the fact that Jesus Christ came as a savior to the world continues on today and and his influence continues. Again, here's another one. Jesus Christ is the only one that can drink bring true peace.

42:36 He also is the only one that can unite people across cultural, language, profession, any kind of barrier possible. He is a light to the Jew, a comfort to the Jew, excuse me, and a light to the Gentiles. And then, something else. What's another application? It's Simeon's response and even Anna's response.

42:58 The fact that we would see the lord Jesus as we go through Luke and we we get to continue learning about who the lord Jesus is and we just marvel. We just look at him and all we can do is bless god and praise god for whom he is and and what he came to do. And then also, just to marvel like, I think it's one thing to really talk to god and and bless him and say, praise god for what you've done. You've done this, this but also, on another sense, just marvel like and and the only way I can describe marveling is like you're speechless. Like, it's almost unexplainable.

43:37 Just the fact that I get to see Jesus in these scriptures who he is, the savior of the world, and just marvel and revel in that fact. The fact that he came for you and me. And finally, that we would be so impressed and and he would be, Jesus Christ would be so holy and set apart in our hearts, in our lives that we would want to go and tell others about him. Just like Anna, the prophet. She couldn't help.

44:05 She saw the lord Jesus and and she was from the happy tribe. She saw him and she couldn't help but give thanks to god and to tell all of everybody else like her friends or family about who the lord Jesus is. So, I hope that is just an encouragement to us this morning. The fact that Jesus Christ is just so set apart from anyone else. The god man in the flesh to us this morning.

44:33 Let's pray. Dear lord, we're just so grateful this morning. The fact that we get to see Jesus. It's so interesting to wrestle with this this idea that he was fully god and fully man and and when we wrestled with that fact, that idea, the fact that he's totally set apart, it brings honor to your name. We can learn so much about him and how he's holy and set apart, and and thus it can set Him apart in our hearts.

45:03 Lord, would you do that for us this morning that you would be hallowed in our hearts, that we would continue to just marvel at who the Lord Jesus is. We pray these things in Jesus Christ's name, Amen.