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When we consider the titles that the New Testament ascribed to Jesus, we see that there are literally scores of them. And here's one that is exceedingly rare. A title that finds its roots in the Old Testament future prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. He was called the Consolation of Israel.
As a nation, Israel had suffered. Throughout its existence, war and insurrection plagued the people. A Messiah, a Savior had been promised, and the people longed for His coming. Today on Renewing Your Mind, R.C. Sproul looks at the second chapter of Luke and considers an old man who had eagerly awaited this consolation of Israel.
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Well, here's Dr. Sproul on the consolation of Israel.
Anybody that knows me knows that one of my all-time favorite biblical characters is a man by the name of Simeon. Simeon appears very briefly in the New Testament record. He plays almost a cameo role. But the role that he plays, I believe, is significant to our total understanding of Christ's coming to this world.
One of the benefits of Luke's gospel is that Luke records for us more information about the birth and the infancy of Jesus than any other New Testament writer. Let's look to Luke for a moment to get his version and narrative of the story of Simeon. We find this in the second chapter of Luke's gospel, beginning at verse 21.
This is the narrative that follows immediately after the announcement of the angels to the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem of the birth of Jesus. Verse 21 of chapter 2 of Luke reads as follows, "'And when eight 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.
And now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
The law of Israel required that each male child be circumcised as a sign of the Jewish covenant after eight days. But after 40 days from the time of the birth, the mother was called to go through a religious ceremony, which was a ceremony of purification. And this is the law that Mary and Joseph are following according to the detailed prescriptions of it in the Old Testament.
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