<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

The Gift of God: The Predestination Present

All right, so today we're going to look at a passage in scripture that is found in Luke chapter 2.

Let me see if I can find my little notes here that, oh, I see, that I made here.

Alright, Luke chapter 2, and the document is Christa's dedication here.

Father in heaven, Father in heaven, bless us today.

We spent a few moments this morning in dedication.

Thank you for your dedication to us and for your dedication to this day and bless our time together in Christ's name, amen.

So you think about it, you know, when Christ was born, the angels were all over the place.

You know, you have the angel to Joseph saying, Hey, don't, don't, don't, don't freak out.

And he's like, okay, you better be involved because this doesn't look good.

And then you have the angel coming to Mary, saying to her, you know, fear not, Holy Spirit's going to come over here, you're going to become pregnant.

And I don't think it would have worked out if an angel hadn't come down to say that.

And then the angels came to the shepherds, and the shepherds were involved in raising and identifying perfect sheep.

And they even had, like, someone sent me this last week, they had these, I don't know what you call them, molds?

They had these, you know how you go to the airport and they have a mold there?

I don't know if it's called a mold, but where you have to put your suitcase to see if it's correct fit for the overhead bends?

And they would say, okay, a perfect lamb fits in there.

It actually is, you know, the perfect shape, the perfect size.

And so when they said, you know, go find this babe laying in a manger and check it out, that's what they did.

They checked out sheep to see if they were perfect.

And the angels came and told him to do that.

So, basically we see God's dedication to the human family, And he makes it easier by sending these angels.

Now, the reaction to God's dedication is our dedication.

So the parents' actions are obedience, you know, to God's actions.

So, Joseph and Mary were obedient and they got married.

They allowed Mary to become pregnant and then they got married.

And they also were obedience in dedication.

You know, right after that birth, you have them being dedicated in the circumcision of Jesus, verse 21.

And when 8 days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

So they came in obedience to the Old Testament law calling for circumcision on the eighth day.

Maybe they say, hey, you know, it doesn't work out for our schedule.

We, We need to come on maybe the 14th day.

No, they came on the 8th day, and we now know that the 8th day is the best day for circumcision because the prothrombin level is the highest on the 8th day, never again that high on the life of the child.

And so it's always best to obey and come on the day God says to come.

That's why we come on the seventh day of Sabbath, because there's a blessing there.

It's not the eighth day, it's not the sixth day, not the second day.

This is the day that the Lord has made for worship on the Sabbath day.

So there's a blessing in coming on the Sabbath day and there was a blessing coming on the eighth day.

Now when the days of her purification were ended, according to the law of Moses, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

So symbolically the blood of the mother was something that defiled.

And once the blood flow stopped, then they had a symbolic purification.

As it is written, verse 23, in the law of the Lord every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord to offer a sacrifice according to what was set on the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves and young pigeons." So this was costly, right?

You had to drive or walk or take a donkey all the way to Jerusalem.

And we know that the people that Jesus' parents were not rich because they had what kind of a sacrifice?

Not a lamb, but some turtle doves, right?

A pair of turtle doves or 2 young pigeons.

Yeah, if you're really poor, they were young pigeons.

They weren't older, more valuable, they were young.

Again, In other words, God's dedication is now being matched by their acts of dedication and obedience.

There was a man, it's verse 25, in Jerusalem, his name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ or Christa, right?

Christ follower, your child's named after this Christ.

So he came by the Spirit of 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're letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

You have prepared before the face of all peoples a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

That's quite something to say at someone's dedication, you know.

An old man comes and says I've been praying that I would see this.

I've been looking at all the children today.

No other book, no other book, no other religion has this verification of prophecy, right?

And then there's someone there to actually identify the child and say, yeah, this is the 1 the prophecy pointed to.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, right?

Because he's directed by the Holy Spirit.

Does the Holy Spirit think baby dedications are important, right?

And that's why I think it says in verse 33, And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

Some translation says they were amazed, right?

The Gift of God: The Predestination Present

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Gray Matters

45m

Plenary

Looking To Jesus

1h

Dwight Nelson: Rumors from the East

War!

1h

How to Grow Spiritually

Looking to Jesus

47m

The Doctrine of Personal Ministries

Part 5 - Mining the Manual

1h 16m

You Can Love Again

6 - Let’s Communicate

55m

Teach Them Diligently

Teach Them Diligently - Part 5: Changing the Selfish Heart

1h 7m

Plenary Sessions

War!

54m

Plenary

Different or the Same - Christian Standards in the 21st Century

1h 7m

Own It

Own It- Part 6

55m

How To Study the Bible and Know God’s Will For Your Life

1h 25m

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter: The Book of Mark

08 Teaching Disciples: Part 2

22m

Sound Doctrine