The Lamb Is Praised Series

Luke 2:21-38

THE LAMB PRAISED

Pastor Allan Kircher

Dec 23rd 2012

Intro:

• It is two days before Christmas.

• Presents will be given and received.

• Meals have been eaten

• The festivities are coming to an end of another year.

That lime green scarf you will receive will go into the drawer.

• Perhaps re-gifted to a distant relative.

Or it will simply be stored with the hot pink one you received that previous year.

• Brown paisley tie/quickly find its way/back/closet

• Soon to be forgotten.

The tree and the decorations will come down and Christmas will be gone for another year.

• Or will it?

• The fact is, Christmas really has nothing to do with the things I mentioned a moment ago.

• Christmas can go on 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.

• It can go on if allow Jesus to be the central Figure of Christmas.

In our text, the Lamb of God has been born.

• God has stepped out of eternity

• Entered human history.

• The Lamb was promised

• He was prepared and He has been provided.

Luke 2:21-24 Circumcision/Jesus and purification/Mary.

• In obedience/Law’s requirement (Lev. 12:3)

• Joseph/Mary circumcised their newborn son 8 days

God instituted circumcision for three purposes.

First

• dietary/sanitary regulations prescribed/Mosaic law

• Circumcision had health benefits.

Second

• Sign of the Abrahamic covenant

• Was a mark of Israel’s national identity.

Finally

• It was a spiritual object lesson of the need for cleansing

• Cleansing from the depravity of sin

• Sin passed/generation/generation through procreation.

But why was Jesus circumcised, since He was sinless?

• He didn’t need His heart cleansed.

• The answer lies/understanding that He came to fulfill/law

Like His baptism, Jesus’ circumcision served to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt. 3:15).

• He could say with David

• “I delight to do Your will, O my God;Your Law is within my heart”

• Jesus alone kept God’s law perfectly throughout His life.

At the cross God treated Jesus as if He had lived our sinful lives.

In doing so, God can now treat us as if we had lived Jesus’ perfectly righteous life.

So Jesus’ parents obeyed the law first by having the child circumcised when He was eight days old.

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We go now to Jerusalem again/40 days/after/1st Christmas.

A simpler road this time…..5-6miles/Bethlehem/Jerusalem

• According/Mosaic Law. Lev. 12:1-4

• 40 days/woman/considered unclean/birth child.

• At that time/child/mother/brought for purification laws.

• They also had to redeem the firstborn child (Ex. 13:1-12)

In these verses

• We are allowed to go to the Lord’s house/Jesus/His family

What a thought: the Redeemer had to be redeemed!

Our Lord’s relationship to the law is an important part of His saving ministry.

• He was made under the law (Gal.4:4)

• Though He rejected man’s religious traditions.

• He obeyed God’s law perfectly (John 8:46).

• He bore the curse of the law for us (Gal. 3:13).

• And set us free from bondage (Gal. 5:1)

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While they were in the temple, a special event occurred.

• Two old saints/God, Simeon/Anna, were in the Temple.

• They were there because the Holy Ghost has led them there.

• Part of the faithful Jewish remnant

• Looking for the appearing of the Messiah.

When they met Jesus that day, even though He was just a 40 day old infant, they are overjoyed and begin to lift up praises to the Lord.

Today, I want to look into these verses and consider this thought: Behold The Lamb Praised.

What we see here can teach us some things about the matter of praise.

• I think/verses have some lessons to teach us today

• And they are lessons that we very much need to hear.

• Let’s take a few minutes/think/Behold The Lamb Praised.

I. THE MOTIVE FOR THE LAMB’S PRAISE

Despite the clear testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ in the OT, only a small, believing remnant in Israel were prepared to recognize Him when He arrived.

• Among them were:

• The old couple, the common priest Zacharias/Elizabeth

• Who became the parents of Messiah’s forerunner.

• A young couple just beginning their life together

• Joseph and Mary

• The shepherds who received the angelic announcement

All these humble people, far from the elite circles of Jewish thought, education, or religion.

Yet they were all chosen by God for monumental service.

In these verses we are introduced to two more remnants.

• Simeon and Anna, advanced in years

• Lived in Jerusalem, were associated with the temple.

• And were “looking for the consolation of Israel”

• They, like John the Baptist would later be,

Burning/shining lamps in the spiritual darkness of a hypocritical and apostate nation.

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When Simeon enters the Temple and takes Jesus into his arms, the old man declares for all to hear the reasons for his joy.