Luke chapter 02 - Mary is corrected, part 2

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Eight represents a new system

7 completes a system.

There are 7 days in a week.

Eight starts a new system because all the seven numbers for a new system are contained in the eight.

Jesus, as the Word of God, was going to bring forth seven church ages.

This was a New Testament, a new covenant based on a perfect sacrifice.

Eight men wrote the New Testament:

Matthew, Mark, Luke (who wrote Acts), John, Paul, James, Peter, and Jude.

The Assyrian was a natural enemy that symbolized the real enemy, Satan.

MICAH 5:5   And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

Seven messengers, one to each age and eight men who wrote the New Testament. The defence of Jesus against the works of the devil.

John, the great apostle, falls at the feet of Jesus as if dead. That is how little the great men of God can do in comparison with Jesus.

REVELATION 1:17   And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

The first and the last church ages alone had the truth. The last age only gets the truth when they are restored back to the first church age.

This is very clever because  1 + 7 = 8.

So the 7th age coming back to the first age of the apostles is what the New Testament is all about for the Gentile church.

Circumcision represents the Holy Ghost baptism

Circumcision of the flesh was symbolic of the Holy Ghost baptism, the cutting off of the flesh. The cutting off of the desires of the flesh.

The Day of Pentecost was a Sunday when the early church received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in the upper room.

Sunday is the first day of the new week or the eighth day of the old week. So 8 is involved.

Thus circumcision happened on the 8th day.

LUKE 2:21   And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

The blood purification involved a 7 and a 33

The blood purification at the birth of a male child involved 7 days and 33 days.

LEVITICUS 12:2   Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.

LEVITICUS 12:4   And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.

This purification ritual was symbolic of the future Messiah Who was called the Son of David.

He alone could cleanse the sanctuary by the shedding of His perfect blood at Calvary.

The spiritual Seed of Abraham, Jesus, died at Calvary 2300 Bible years (of 360 days) after the birth of Isaac who was the natural seed of Abraham. God thereby confirming in the death of Christ the covenant which God had made with Abraham and his natural seed.

GALATIANS 3:17   And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ,

GENESIS 15:18   In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

DANIEL 8:14   And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

What do the two numbers 7 and 33 represent?

How do these numbers relate to king David seeing that Jerusalem is the city that he reigned from?

Jerusalem was known as the city of David.
I KINGS 2:10   So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.

I KINGS 2:11   And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years: seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem.

Jesus was 33 years old when He died at Calvary.

The purification of the Heavenly sanctuary happened. God's sanctuary on earth was the Gentile church that He would build up over 2000 years for those who would repent and accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour. Their sin cleansed by His shed Blood. The Blood on the Mercy Seat in Heaven never dried up.

2000 years later Jesus will still wear a bloodstained garment when He will ride down to the battle of Armageddon, where sinners' blood will flow for 200 miles up to the bridle of the horses. That will act as fertilizer to make the Promised Land's deserts flourish like a rose during the Millennium or 1000 years of peace.

Then the shed Blood that Jesus took up to the Mercy Seat in Heaven will purchase the salvation of His church throughout seven church ages as people come to repentance and holiness. Then comes the Holy Ghost baptism as the seal of God on their lives, illustrated by the circumcision that cuts off the flesh.

That starts a new life as the Holy Ghost guides people into all truth.

New insights will be gained in each age as the individuals in the Bride have to move beyond the organized beliefs of the foolish virgins who were fooled by the unscriptural church systems and their one-man human leadership.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

LUKE 2:22    And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;

The Son of David was now brought to the City of David.

LUKE 2:23    (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

LUKE 2:24   And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

Two birds. They represent salvation and healing. They were offered in pairs because under the new covenant of Calvary, salvation and healing cannot be separated. The Blood of Jesus that saves us is also able to heal us.

Simeon recognizes the Baby Jesus as the Messiah

LUKE 2:25   And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

LUKE 2:26   And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

LUKE 2:27   And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

The Holy Spirit guided Simeon to Jesus Who is the Word.

The Holy Spirit will always make you Scriptural

Anybody who ignores or changes or contradicts the written Word does not have the Holy Spirit.

People quickly refer to the spectacular healing miracles that their prayers have performed.

But miracles do not impress Jesus as the false spirits of Jannes and Jabres in Egypt also performed four miracles.
MATTHEW 7:22   Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

:23   And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

MATTHEW 5:45   That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Plenty of atheists have testified of spectacular events that have happened unexpectedly in their lives.

God is good to everyone. As a young boy, Hitler almost drowned in a river but a Catholic priest came past and pulled him out just in time. Hitler then survived about 20 attempts on his life after he gained power in Germany. That is a spectacular safety record. But it does not mean that Hitler was right with god.

LUKE 2:28   Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

:29   Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

:30   For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Simeon looks away from the Jewish Law of Moses and places salvation in the Baby Jesus.

This was an incredible change in outlook.

Only the Baby Jesus could save people.

Christians today also need that revelation.

They no longer realize that salvation is completely and totally just between the individual and Jesus.

They rely on church membership. Conformity to the beliefs of their church. The social security of belonging to a church. Their dependence on the church leader. They desperately seek the approval of their favourite church pastor. They elevate the pastor to being high above everyone and thus close to God. Then as long as they agree with everything he says and he thus approves of them, they feel secure.

The emotional security of having a circle of friends is the modern-day church salvation security blanket. But that sadly is a spiritual delusion. Salvation had got nothing to do with people.

Martin Luther discovered that the just will live by faith alone. Not by being protected in some group.

It depends on Jesus only.

That was Simeon's great insight.

LUKE 2:31   Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A personal experience with Jesus is available to all people.

A circle of church friends is not always available to all people. Some people have to get through life alone, like the apostle John on the prison island of Patmos.

If your salvation depends in any way on other people, then you never got saved.

Salvation has to be between you and Jesus alone.

LUKE 2:32   A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Notice the exquisite accuracy of this prophecy.

A light to lighten the Gentiles would become the seven church ages where the light of God's Word would die out in the Dark Ages and then revive after the Reformation.

After the resurrected church is caught up to Heaven, then the Gospel will turn to the 144000 from the 12 tribes of Israel until they receive the glory of their Messiah.

LUKE 2:33   And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

:34   And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

A seed must fall into the ground and die before it germinates back into life.

Jesus had to die to shed His Blood to cleanse our sins before He resurrected back to life in order to offer us Eternal life.

The early church had the full truth and then lost it thanks to their one-man church leaders who led them astray into the Dark Ages where truth died. Then the brave Martin Luther in Germany began the Reformation which restored the just living by faith alone. After that, the truth became more and more restored.

The Jews were destroyed spiritually at Calvary in AD 33 and then physically in AD 70 by the pagan Roman general Titus who destroyed the city and the sanctuary.

They were scattered for almost 200 years before they began to return to their Promised Land which became a reality in the 1900s.

"The fall and rising again" was a prophecy of Simeon which has certainly come to pass.

"A sign that shall be spoken against". The Jews still speak against the crucifixion of Christ and still deny Him as their Messiah. This will continue until Moses and Elijah restore them to the truth in the 3.5 years of great Tribulation.

LUKE 2:35    (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Discerning the thoughts of the heart is the sign of Messiah.

I KINGS 8:39   ...  (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)

God alone knows the thoughts in a person's heart.

LUKE 2:36   And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;

LUKE 2:37   And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

LUKE 2:38   And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

Joseph and Mary carelessly walk away from Jesus

LUKE 2:39   And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.

:40   And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

The human nature of Jesus developed as He grew up.

The supernatural Spirit of God always dwelled in Him bodily. It was His humanity that had to mature in the same way that other children grow up. Only by sharing our human experience could He become our Kinsman Redeemer.

LUKE 2:41    Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

:42   And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

:43   And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

A mistake we all make. We assume that because we once had a salvation experience with Jesus then we can safely assume that he is always with us. But that is not the case.

We move away from the Word.

A deeper revelation is made known in our day but we just stay with what we previously knew and thus the gap between us and the revealed Word widens. Today we can only know Jesus as the revealed Word.

LUKE 2:44   But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

We always think that God is with our family or our friends or our church.

But He was not amongst them.

LUKE 2:45   And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

Turn around. Go back to the first church age if you want to find the revealed Word.

LUKE 2:46   And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

It took three church ages, 5, 6, and 7, for the Gentiles to find the revealed Word that would take them back to the first church age of the apostles.

The fifth age of Sardis, the escaped ones, to learn about just living by faith alone. Not relying for safety by being huddled up in a church that has an unscriptural one-man-leader as pastor.

The sixth age of Philadelphia, brotherly love, that restored holiness and outreach in the great missionary age.

The seventh age "church of the Laodiceans" who made up their own church beliefs. Very few would use the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be guided into all truth.

JOHN 16:13   Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:

If we cannot understand the written Bible then we will be cast into great Tribulation.

HOSEA 4:6   My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,

Jesus was involved in a question-and-answer session. This is the best way of learning.

" ... sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions".

You will never find the truth until you learn to question what is said.

Dead fish go with the flow.

Clever people question others.

Wise people also question others but they learn to question themselves as well.

The biggest cause of modern-day church-goers' Bible ignorance is their total fear of questioning their own church beliefs. They simply avoid people who can contradict them from Scripture and thus their beliefs remain stagnant.

But Jesus teaches us here to listen to what is said and then to question what was said.

LUKE 2:47   And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

Question-and-answer sessions develop understanding. Answers must always be Scriptural as that link up the relevant Bible verses on a topic.

Today, if you question a church-goer you end up getting no answers because their theories are not based on written Scriptures.

7-year Tribulation is fake news that fools church-goers

Consider those who claim there is a seven-year Tribulation.

They quote the Scripture

DANIEL 9:27   And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,

They claim this means that "the Antichrist" will make a 7-year covenant with the Jews.

The Jews rebuild their temple and after 3.5 years the Antichrist breaks the covenant by stopping the sacrifices.

But "confirm" does not mean "make".

If you confirm a covenant then it must have been previously made.

So, the Antichrist has to be on earth longer than 7 years in order to make the covenant.

First, church-goers can find no Scripture to have the Antichrist around for more than 7 years.

Secondly, there is no mention of breaking a covenant. If a covenant is confirmed, then it cannot be broken.

They have totally missed the point. The ending of the sacrifices does not break the covenant, it confirms the covenant.

How did they get it so wrong? The first mistake is that there is no Scripture that says "The Antichrist".

The second mistake is that they never found another Scripture to explain the confirming of the covenant.

It is God Who confirms the covenant.

GALATIANS 3:17    And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ,

God made a covenant with Abraham and his seed in Genesis 15 that involved sacrificing animals.

GENESIS 15:18   In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land,

But the natural seed of Abraham, Isaac and the Jews, would lose the land and the sacrifices.

So Paul looks deeper.

GALATIANS 3:16   Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

One seed. Christ.

The covenant was confirmed when Christ died and that ended all the animal sacrifices.

The ending of the animal covenant was the confirmation of Abraham's covenant that his spiritual Seed Christ would triumph.

Jesus should have had a seven-year ministry, but He was cut off after 3.5 years.

Then the Jews would go off into error for the duration of the seven church ages as they were scattered and persecuted as their temple site was left desolate.

DANIEL 9:27   And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

This time of desolation looks bad for the Jews. Has God cast them aside? No.

A 7-year covenant was confirmed so they still have 3.5 years owing to them during the time of great Tribulation when the 144000 will be called out.

Jesus gently corrects the mistakes of Mary and Joseph

LUKE 2:48    And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

Mary denies His virgin birth.

That was about the most serious mistake that she could make.

Luke mentions that He went to the Temple when He was twelve. The priests marveled at His knowledge.

Joseph and Mary left Him and had to return after three days to find Him in the Temple.

LUKE 2:48   And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

:49      And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

Surrounded by the Jewish intelligentsia who would not believe in the virgin birth, Mary got scared and called Joseph the father of Jesus.

His answer was one of correction and profound insight, delivered with such exquisite tact.

“How is it that ye sought me?”   A very gentle rebuke. He could have said, “If you have been looking for me it is because you left without checking that I was with you. That is not good parenting. Not the way that a father should behave”

The lesson for us all is that we easily leave the Word of God and move on with our lives in an unscriptural way.

“Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?”  Such tact. He could have said “Why are you so frightened of these men that you deny My virgin birth.”

Our biggest fear is having to disagree with our church and our dominant church leader.

Why are we so scared of disagreeing with a mere man? Because we are spiritual cowards who want to drift into Heaven on a gentle wave of church-popularity. But we lack backbone.

No pastor was ever put in charge of a New Testament church.

But pastors are condemned six times in the Old Testament.

Thus a pastor has no Scriptural authority to be in charge of a church.

What He said was in effect that if Joseph was His father then he would be in Joseph’s workshop doing woodwork. But if God was His Father, then He would be in God’s Temple talking to the priests and doctors. Because He had stayed all three days in the Temple, Jesus had stayed in His Father’s house.

So His real Father, God, had not left Him for those three days the way Joseph, who was not His real father, had.

That way Jesus affirmed His virgin birth with great courage before an important audience that would not believe that claim. Their hostility was the reason that Mary had been scared to state this unpopular fact. So we learn that times will come when we have to stand up for very unpopular Bible truths that the church leaders strongly oppose. Will we have the courage to disagree and tell them what they do not want to hear?

Jesus made an answer that was so clever that He corrected Mary’s mistake without making it obvious that He was correcting her. Such is the respect that He had for Mary. This is a real role model for children who rebel against, disrespect, and criticize their parents.

LUKE 2:51   And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

Here Luke teaches an invaluable lesson. If a man wants to give orders to others, he must first learn how to obey orders. Jesus thus went through those difficult teenage years by being subject to Joseph and Mary and never disrespecting them. What a brilliant example. This made Him competent to give orders to others when He came of age and left the home of Joseph and Mary.

COLOSSIANS 3:20   Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.

Mary kept all these sayings in her heart.

We must keep storing up the memory of what is written in the Bible. Then, one day, God can make these Scriptures real to us as He opens our eyes of understanding.