Luke 2:22-23(NLT) says, “Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the LORD.” When confronted with the reality that this verse is referring to the Savior of the world, it should become even more meaningful to our lives. There were many laws that God’s people were expected to follow. There were so many in fact that they couldn’t follow them all. Trying to do so became a curse to them. It wasn’t that the laws were bad, it was the consequences they faced as a result of not keeping the laws; this is what caused them so much trouble. But here, in Luke 22-23, we see that the parents of Jesus Christ were faithful to keep the laws of Moses and dedicated their first-born boy, Jesus Christ, to God, our blessed Heavenly Father.
Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:17(NLT), “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” The logical question for you and me is “Well, what was the purpose of the law?” The purpose of the laws that God gave Moses were to teach the people how to behave like God, because when we behave like God, it draws us closer to Him; and it also draws us closer to His blessings. God told His people in Jeremiah 11:4(NLT), “For I said to your ancestors when I brought them out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt, “If you obey me and do whatever I command you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God.”
Obeying God’s laws helps us in our relationship with Him, but we know from the Bible that the people of God didn’t always choose to obey His commands. When they failed to obey His commands, their fellowship or good standing with Him would be broken. Jesus Christ made it possible for us to have good standing with God continually. Because of what Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross, we have righteousness with God. We didn’t earn it, and we couldn’t buy it, but we had to obtain righteousness in order to have the kind of relationship God wanted with us.
God is holy, and holiness is a quality that is unique to the Father. He gave it to Adam and Eve, and they were holy before they sinned by eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. When they sinned, they lost their holiness, and could no longer be connected to God. Adam and Eve had a choice, just as you and I have a choice. We can choose to obey God’s commands, or we can choose not to obey them. But we must be mindful that through Adam and Eve, God has shown us the consequences of making the wrong choice. The results can be catastrophic.
Jesus handled our sin issue on the cross. He fulfilled every law, and he accomplished the laws’ purpose, which is to give us right standing with God. Jesus left nothing undone. Even as a child, his parents were faithful and dutiful, and dedicated him to God as the law commands. He is a perfect Savior, and God saw to it that nothing about his life and mission was overlooked or skipped. Every aspect of the life of Christ fulfilled the purposes of God, and in this we can see what a perfect Savior Christ is. We can also see firsthand the goodness, mercy, and grace of our God!
We must be clear that Jesus came to restore what man lost. God didn’t cause us to lose our holiness and relationship with Him. We did it. And we cannot fault Brother Adam and Sister Eve, for if any of us had been in their place, we would have done the exact same thing. We would have chosen to take the word of satan over the Word of God. They thought that by disobeying God and rebelling against His Word that they would be more than God had made them. They had everything needed for a fulfilling life with Heavenly Father, but the greed and curiosity of having more than they needed got the better of them. They wanted independence from God, and many of us are guilty of this, because we don’t want to follow God’s way.
All of us put the pleasure of the soul over the nourishment of our spirits. Through His grace,
God did not destroy Adam and Eve for their mistake, nor does He destroy us for ours. He teaches! He guides! He shows mercy, for He is a God of love. Many of us are dealing with incredibly complex, oppressive, and painful situations in life. We sometimes feel as if there is no way out. These are the times we must remember that we are not alone. Jesus Christ accomplished what we couldn’t accomplish for ourselves, and he is our Savior and Rescue. He fulfilled the law so that we can stand before God without guilt and shame. Because of Christ we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and he will lead and guide us to victory everyday if we will trust wholeheartedly in God.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
"Our Perfect Savior!”, written for victoryinjesuschrist.life© 2019. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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