“Intro to Luke 2:21-24”

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/8/2026 9:55 AM

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus “Intro to Luke 2:21-24”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                                Reference:  Luke 2:21-24

            Message of the verses:  “21 And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.22 And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “EVERY firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”  (NASB)

            I begin with a little story, and that story has been frustration to me as I have copied the introduction to these verse now three times and lost them the first two times because I am not understanding this newer laptop that I have.  Hopefully number three will be the one where I can post this SD onto my blogs.

            “A basic legal principle requires a person’s testimony to be confirmed by multiple witnesses.  The Mosaic law declared that ‘a single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed’ (Deut. 19:15; cf. 17:6; Matt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28).  In his gospel, Luke testified that Jesus Christ was born the Son of God; that He was Israel’s long-awaited Messiah, conceived in a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit; that He is God in human flesh, the Redeemer, who will save His people from their sins.

            “Such an amazing, unprecedented claim came with verification as Luke presented the testimony of several witnesses to corroborate it.  Because a person’s testimony is only as credible as his or her character, Luke was careful to establish that the witnesses he presented were righteous people.

            “At the time of Jesus’ birth four groups, whose teachings were inimical to true biblical righteousness, dominated Jewish society.  The Sadducees were the theological liberals of the time, denying the resurrection of the body and the existence of angels (Acts 23:8).  Their archrivals, the Pharisees, were legalists, who believed they could earn their way to heaven by observing rituals and ceremonies (Matt. 23:1ff.) The Zealots were political revolutionaries advocating the violent overthrow of Roman rule and the recovery of Israel’s sovereignty (Acts. 21:38).  The last group, the Essenes, were ascetic hermits, living in the wilderness in isolation from the rest of society.

            “In contrast, the righteous were a small remnant in Israel.  Luke has already introduced some of them—Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary and the shepherds who received the announcement of Jesus’ birth in this section of  his narrative (2:21-38) Luke called four members of that righteous remnant to testify as witnesses to Jesus’ true identity and mission: Josheph and Mary, Simeon, and Anna.  The setting of this passage is closely connected with two Old Testaments themes.  The scene for most of the passage is the temple and involves the rituals prescribed by the Mosaic law.  The passage also borrows richly from the writings of Isaiah, particularly chapters 40-60.

            “Fittingly, the first to give testimony to Jesus were His parents, Joseph and Mary.  That Joseph was a righteous man is explicitly stated in Matthew 1:19, while Mary’s righteousness is evident from her declaration in Luke 1:47 that God was her Savior.  Five times in chapter 2 of his gospel Luke affirmed the couple’s righteousness by noting their commitment to the law of God (vv. 22, 23, 24, 27, 39).  Genuine righteousness, the righteousness that comes from God by saving faith, inevitably manifests itself in obedience since ‘faith without works is dead’ (James 2:26; cf John 3:36; Acts 5:32; 6:7; Rom. 1:5; 15:18; 16:26; 2 Thess. 1:8; Heb. 5:9; 1 Peter 1:1-2).  Obedience is also the mark of true love for God (John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10, 14).

            “Two acts of obedience reveal Joseph and Mary’s testimony to Jesus as Messiah and Savior of the world; the circumcision  and naming ,, and the purification and presenting.”

4/8/2026 10:23 AM