December 31, 2003 Luke 2:21
21 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. (NIV)
On the first day, God said, “let there be light,” and there was light. On the second day, God separated the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. On the sixth day, God made man. On the seventh day, God rested. But what about the eighth day? Not too many of us remember what happened on the eighth day, but Luke did.
This is not the eighth day of creation we are talking about. This is the eighth day of the incarnation of Jesus, our God and Lord. Eight days after Jesus was born, He was circumcised and named. It just so happens that this day falls on the same day that America celebrates as New Year’s Day. Ironically, these two days have a few similarities. No, there wasn’t a parade when Jesus was circumcised. There were no college bowl games on the plains of Jerusalem. But nonetheless, there are a few similarities. Today we are going to examine the similarities between the eighth day and New Year’s Day, as we see that ~
The Eighth Day was like New Year’s Day
I. It was the completion of something old
Usually when a new year begins, people will like to show the highlights from the year before. Just recently the news media made their judgments on what they thought were the most memorable things of 2003. Laci Peterson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, the war against Iraq, the capture of Saddam Hussein and the recovery of Elizabeth Smart all were in the list of top stories. In a sense, these wrap ups serve to close the book on the old year. You pay your final respects to the events of 2003, and you move on.
In a similar sense, when Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day, God was closing the book on something old. Only God wasn’t closing the book on something that was done for only a year. God was putting a stop to something that was done for approximately 1500 years.
In Genesis 15:5 God had taken Abraham outside and said to him, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." God promised Abraham that one of his descendants would be the Savior of the world. Later on in Abraham’s life, in Genesis 17, God had appeared to Abraham to reconfirm the promise He had given to Abraham. He said to Abraham, 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, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner - those who are not your offspring. (Genesis 17:10-12) Through this rite of circumcision, every time Abraham had a male child, and every time he and his male children went to the bathroom, God wanted them to be reminded that a Savior was coming through their offspring.
Jesus once said in Matthew 18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. In other words, the only way you could quit sinning is if you cut off that part of the body. So why did God tell Abraham and his male descendants to cut off the foreskin of their reproductive organ, as a part of his covenant? Why didn’t God have them cut off the tip of their tongue or their finger? After a closer look, we can see why God did this. Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. By cutting off this part of the body, this signifies what Jesus would come to do. He wouldn’t only come to get rid of actual sins that we commit, but he would get to the root of the problem, by cutting off sins that we were born with. From Adam to Zephaniah, all of us are born in sin. With this circumcision, God was promising the Old Testament believers that Jesus would come to get rid of, to cut off the sins we are born with and all sins that we commit as a result of this sinful condition.
In this way, the eighth day was like New Year’s Day, in that Jesus was getting rid of something old. First of all, He fulfilled the promise of a Savior that was given long ago through the covenant of circumcision. Since Jesus fulfilled this covenant, it was no longer needed.
Secondly, Jesus fulfilled a law when He was circumcised, and therefore He got rid of it. In the law of Moses, Leviticus 12:3, God demanded, On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. When Jesus was circumcised, this showed that Jesus was putting Himself under the Law to obey it. Jesus himself also said that he came to obey this law in Matthew 5:17-18 "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. 18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Jesus came to fulfill the Law. He said that it would not disappear until it was accomplished. But Galatians 4:4 says, But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. Paul tells us that Jesus did what He came for - he obeyed God’s laws for us. When Jesus fulfilled this law, He abolished it.
Thirdly, Jesus circumcision was beginning the blood redemption - buying back our souls. At his circumcision Jesus’ blood was shed. This circumcision was marking the beginning of Jesus’ suffering, pointing ahead to the punishment that Jesus would take on the cross for the sins of the world. Jesus was putting an end to God’s wrath. No more sacrifices would be needed after Jesus had fulfilled this suffering on the cross.
So as we celebrate and look back at the accomplishments and events of 2003, the greatest accomplishment we can also celebrate is the fact that Jesus got rid of all of the commandments, by obeying them in our place. Since Jesus did this, we no longer have to offer sacrifices. We don’t have to make some New Year’s resolution to try and improve our lives so that God will then allow us into heaven. We no longer have God’s wrath hanging over our heads. Romans 8:1 1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Even though we have sinned and deserve God’s wrath many times in 2003, we know that Jesus was already punished for us. Even though God demands that we obey His Ten Commandments perfectly, we know that Jesus already did this for us.
II. It was the beginning of something new
The nice thing about a new year is that it brings new hope. 2003 is officially over. You can put aside the past mistakes, the past failures, and have a mind set to start a new year and turn over a new slate in 2004. But this scares some people. They may have had a good year in 2003. They may have gotten used to the way life was going, and wished that it would last forever. Or they might not feel that they have the energy or power to face another difficult year. The idea of anything new makes them scared and tentative.
This is how some of the Jews reacted to their new freedom that Christ had won for them. The Jews no longer had to obey God’s law or be circumcised. Paul clearly stated in Galatians 5:6, in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. But they couldn’t buy that. As the saying goes, “it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” These Jews were so steeped in circumcision, that they couldn’t accept the fact that they no longer needed to be circumcised. Even the Jews who didn’t completely reject Jesus still couldn’t let go of circumcision. They thought that you needed to be circumcised and believe in Jesus to go to heaven. Unknowingly, they had lost their free salvation that Jesus had won for them. If you try to earn your salvation in any way, you lose it. That’s why Paul said, Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. Instead of being saved, these Jews were only killing themselves by putting themselves back under the law of circumcision.
Just as the new year brings new hope, so on the eighth day there was a new hope. In this way, the eighth day was like New Year’s Day. It brought something new. How? Instead of living by promises of things to come, the people could live by realities - things that came to pass. Why? Jesus was given His name. When a new name is given, it means that there is a beginning of something new. Abram was given the covenant of circumcision, he too was given a new name - Abraham - meaning that he would be the father of many nations. It gave Abraham hope for the future. In the same way, at the circumcision Jesus was given His name. This name changed the outlook on life - no longer would the Jews have to look forward to a Savior to come. Let me explain . . .
The name Jesus means, “the Lord saves.” Notice it doesn’t mean, “the Lord helps people save themselves.” It means, “the LORD saves.” Jesus would be the Savior of the world. Our salvation wouldn’t have anything to do with what we would do. It would only depend on the Lord. Also notice that Jesus’ name is an active verb. “The Lord SAVES.” He would be the one who would actively obey the laws of the world. He would be the one who would die for the world. They didn’t have to look forward to the coming of a Savior anymore. It was time for salvation to begin NOW. This was what was predicted in Jeremiah 31, "The time is coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers. . . For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." That which God promised, the forgiveness of sins, would now be a reality. No longer would God hold any sins against us. They would all be forgiven and forgotten.
Through faith in Christ, we are now living in the reality of things just hoped for in previous ages. Therefore have a new lease on life. Just as God gave Jesus His name, so He has given us new names. Instead of calling us filthy and damned sinners, names that we have earned, He now calls us “saints”, a name that Jesus has earned for us. This is what we are now. In 1 Peter 4 He calls us a “holy people.” Through faith in Jesus Christ, we take on a new name. We’re called Christians, saints, and holy people. It gives us a fresh start. It’s a present reality. It’s like we have been broken free from the chains that were bound around our neck. The devil can no longer accuse us of sin. God’s wrath can no longer touch us, for we know that God already punished Christ. We are now holy in God’s sight.
My teacher at the Seminary told me that he had a call to a congregation where they had what they called a “scandal sheet.” This would publish everyone’s name in the newsletter every year with the amount of money they gave for the year. So people felt pressured to give a certain amount so that their name would have some money behind it. It was a law motivation. They didn’t give because they wanted to. They only gave because they felt they had to. After a year of waiting, he finally got the council to get rid of the scandal sheet for a year, to see what would happen. The members thought that the giving would drop, but it actually increased!
This is what happens to us, now that we are set free from the law of God. God isn’t going to bring out a scandal sheet of our past sins on Judgment Day and embarrass us with them. God says that when we are baptized, God applies the forgiveness of Christ to us. This is the way that God now circumcises our hearts, and cuts us off from our sinful nature. Colossians 2:11-12 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. At our baptism, God washed our sins away by giving us faith in Christ. Now that we know our sins have been forgiven completely - that God remembers none of the things we have done, it gives us a new lease on life. Since we know that Jesus has obeyed all of God’s laws as our substitute, and we know that we are going to heaven, we feel set free. We can start 2004 with a fresh resolve to live our lives according to God’s law. As Paul says, 1 Corinthians 7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. That’s what we now have the power to do, by the grace of God.
I don’t know what kind of a year you had in 2003. For me, it’s hard to believe that the year has already passed - so when I look back at it, it seems like a blur in a lot of ways. I wish life would slow down sometimes - that I could put a chain on the gears of life and pull it back. But everything just keeps on cruising along - life keeps on changing. My hairs just keep getting more and more grey, and my ears and nose are starting to get hair in them too - I don’t like that change. My kids keep getting older - sometimes easier - but more often harder to handle. I don’t like that change either. You may have grown up - or out - in the past year - or maybe even down. Society is changing - for the worse. It makes me tentative to head into the new year. In a lot of ways, it would be nice if things would just remain the same. I don’t think it’s going to get any easier. I’m sure it’s not.
No matter what changes we have to face in 2004, we can face the new year with confidence and hope, all because of what happened on the eighth day. Things changed on that day. With the circumcision and naming of Jesus, God fulfilled the law and began suffering for our sins. At our baptism, God circumcised our hearts and connected us to Christ - giving us His Name and reputation. That’s what gives us hope and courage for the future - to face another year. This is why we celebrate the eighth day. It’s like New Year’s Day - giving us a new lease on life. Amen.
