Jesus Christ is Born and Our Sanctification Begins as We Grow in the Holy Spirit

Luke 2:21-40

Click here for a description of the mark of the beast.

• We are set apart to head into the presence of the Holy Spirit.
• We offer ourselves to God to have our sin purged through Jesus Christ.
• The Holy Spirit leads us into the temple to see Jesus Christ.
• Salvation in Christ brings peace to face the eternal destiny.
• The Christ Child shakes up the world.
• We should speak the Word of Jesus Christ within our walk with the Holy Spirit.
• To grow in the strength, wisdom, and grace of God through Jesus Christ.

We are set apart to head into the presence of the Holy Spirit. Once we come to God through Jesus Christ, we are set apart from the ways of this world, which begins our purification process. That leads us into the presence of the Holy Spirit, in the temple of God which is our body. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. For eight days, Mary, Joseph, and the babe of eight days, Jesus Christ, lived in the stable among the animals. On the eighth day, the Christ child was circumcised and given the name of Jesus, “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.” Luke 2:21 After those eight days, they were free to leave, and they headed to the temple of God in Jerusalem. When we are circumcised from the ways of this world through Jesus Christ, we are given the new name of “Christian.” From that point, we are free to head towards the temple of God into presence of the Holy Spirit, and like Mary, we go through a purification process. For seven days after birth, it was necessary for the woman to remain shut-in as a part of the law of purification. The same for us, after the Spirit of Jesus is born in us, we are set apart to be severed from the Christless ways of the past. After those seven days, like Mary, we are free to walk around in our new life in Christ. Like the law of purification that Mary followed, it is after 33 days that we can enter into the temple in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. “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.” Luke 2:22

We offer ourselves to God to have our sin purged through Jesus Christ. The laws of the Jewish people believed very strongly in the coming of the Messiah, which would be a male, but they never knew which male would be Him. Every male to them was to be called Holy, “(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”).” Luke 2:23 They would also make a burnt offering and sin offering, which would require a very expensive lamb and a young pigeon. For a destitute family, like the one Jesus Christ is born into, it would be OK to offer two turtledoves or two pigeons, “and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” Luke 2:24 Today, our offering to the Lord is the service we give through the Holy Spirit, to have our sins purged by the sacrifice Jesus made for us on the Cross as the Lamb of God.

The Holy Spirit leads us into the temple to see Jesus Christ. Today, it’s customary for people to be guided by the thing that has power over physiology and is able to form thoughts, behaviors, emotions, and feelings. It acts as a GPS system for flesh and blood and enables a person to be led to specific places at a specific time to bring about specific situations. It happens through the mark of the beast. During the days of Jesus, that was actually happening, but it was by the Holy Spirit. A man called Simeon was led in that way to the temple, then the Child Jesus and His parents came in, and Simeon took up Jesus in His arms and blessed Him. Simeon waited his whole life to see the Christ, and God made it possible, “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into 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…” Luke 2:25-28

Salvation in Christ brings peace to face the eternal destiny. Along with the uncanny navigational abilities that people have nowadays, they also have uncanny knowledge and heightened intuition to speak words that are knowing. While that happens through the mark of the beast, during the days of Jesus that was happening through the Holy Spirit. Mary, Joseph, nor anyone else told Simeon that Jesus Christ was the Lord and Savior of the world, but he just knew. After coming to Jesus, Simeon had peace to depart this world knowing he had seen His Salvation. Simeon said through the Holy Spirit, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your Salvation, which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32 When we recognize Jesus as being our Lord and Savior, peace will bw with us when we depart this world.

The Christ child shakes up the world. The knowledgeable and uncanny words spoken about Jesus by Simeon, through the Holy Spirit, caused Mary and Joseph to marvel, “And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.” Luke 2:33 Simeon also added, through the Holy Spirit, that their Son would completely shake up the nation of Israel. Also, as the parents of Christ, they would suffer heartache and a painful change within their own soul. His life and death were painful for His loved ones to experience, but He brought eternal life. Through Him, the thoughts of many hearts are revealed, “Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” Luke 2:34-35

As followers of Jesus Christ, the vision of destitution of worldly possessions is not easy to accept as our fate, and neither is the loss of loved ones. But when we choose Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, our world is going to be shook up. Our heart is no longer going to accept the thoughts, emotions, and feelings that come through the thing that has power over physiology. Because we choose Jesus over the mark of the beast, society will ridicule us, money and possessions will ebb, employment difficulties begin, family relationships sour etc. This world governs by the mark of beast in the name of humanism. Because we live for the Word of God, we can distinguish between the Christless emotions and thoughts formed in our mind and heart from the mind and heart created in us through the Holy Spirit.

We should speak the Word of Jesus Christ within our walk with the Holy Spirit. Nowadays, it’s common for someone to say something within hearing distance but not actually speaking to us. Somehow it applies directly to our situation. That happens by those who govern through the mark of the beast. In the days of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was doing the same thing, except in a way to glorify the name of Jesus. A woman entered the room at the exact same time that Simeon was speaking of Christ, and she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Christ to everyone who was looking for redemption. “Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Luke 2:36-38 As followers of Jesus Christ, let it be our aim to live in the presence of the Holy Spirit and to speak of Christ.

To grow in the strength, wisdom, and grace of God through Jesus Christ. Now it’s time for Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus to return home after more than a month away from their hometown of Nazareth, a place with a reputation that nothing good could ever come from there. Who knows if returning home was better than spending a week in a stable with animals while baby Jesus was sleeping in a trough used for feeding the animals. One thing for sure, the birth of Jesus Christ happened, and it began the Salvation and sanctification process for all of us today. Jesus Christ is born among the destitute, and He is more precious to us than all the money, possessions, and physical comforts that this world offers. This world governs through materialism and fleshly benefits in the name of humanism empowered by the mark of the beast. As followers of Jesus Christ, we pray to become strong in the Holy Spirit, to be filled with wisdom, and for the grace of God to be on us. To be like Jesus is the hope that possesses me, “So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. And the Child grew and became strong in Spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:39-40

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11