Welcome to chapter by chapter, four-year journey through the greatest book given to the human race, the Word of God, the Bible. And we get to go through it chapter by chapter. Seven minutes a day and seven days a week. Join us each day and share it with others so they can join this journey that will be life-changing. We'll stop at unexpected places in the journey and be challenged. Some verses will create awe and wonder. We'll have chapters that will be instructive and others will find joy and comfort. We will occasionally be convicted and want to change, but all in all, the journey will be worth it. Once in a while, we may take a detour on the journey and hear from some of God's servants on their favorite passages from a chapter of scripture and let them give you their insight. Every journey needs a small detour occasionally. The best way to get the most from this podcast is read the chapter we're discussing before or after. It's his word that transforms. You'll find more and see more than I can ever articulate. Welcome to chapter by chapter. And today's chapter is Leviticus 12. Their poverty was prophetic. Luke chapter two has two momentous moments about the baby Christ and Jesus, the young boy. To read about the birth of Jesus is exciting. God is invading the planet through the greatest miracle men can produce, a child. Luke 2.7 says, and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped them in swaddling clothes and laid them in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. God comes as a baby. Jesus is born to a virgin. To celebrate this, we set aside a festive time called Christmas, God with us. After Jesus' birth, we then skipped 12 years and about 40 verses in Luke chapter two. And we see Jesus, the boy, confounding the greatest religious minds in the temple. When his parents find him, they question Jesus in Luke 2.48. When they saw him, they were astonished and his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you. And he said to them, why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house? But they did not understand that statement which he had made to them. The baby and the boy are such riveting stories that what happens in between seems to have no interest. But that is if you don't read Leviticus chapter 12. Leviticus 12 is about the birth of a child and the purification of the mother after this extremely intense miracle. A woman would be ceremonially cleansed with an offering. God tells the children of Israel this in verse 6. When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. And she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a female. And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons. One as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her and she will be clean. The new mother would bring a lamb, a turtledove, and a pigeon for a sin offering to the tabernacle. This would complete the ceremony. Then something both merciful and prophetic is said. God speaks to a family's economic issue and says if they are financially unable to bring the lamb, then the two birds would be enough for her purification. We understand the mercy in this lamb exclusion, but where is the prophetic? That's Luke chapter 2. Luke 2 and Leviticus 12 together make up the prophetic. Let's jump into the middle of Luke chapter 2 with this Leviticus 12 law. The birth of Christ is thrilling and as boyhood, though limited in information, is exciting. However, we will find the prophetic equally as compelling as the birth and the boyhood by seeing this new family's offering from the poverty classification. Their poverty was prophetic. Remember that a family must bring a turtledove, and a pigeon, and a lamb to finalize purification. In the middle of Luke 2, we read these words starting in verse 21. And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of their 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 firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. They were part of the group called We Can't Afford It in Leviticus 12. Mary and Joseph were in the poor class. At the birth of their male son, Leviticus 12 says a sin offering needed to be made and brought to the temple. If you could not afford the lamb part of the offering, then you bring a pair of turtledoves or pigeons. But that day in Luke 2, Joseph and Mary brought all three. The couple brought in a basket two sets of birds to the priest, and in their arms they brought a lamb, the lamb of God. The lamb was the most costly offering required. It spoke of the lamb of God that was given by heaven to take away the sins of the world. A lamb was brought by the Leviticus 12 woman who brought a sinner into the world. But in Luke 2, a lamb wasn't necessary. I have to believe Mary and Joseph were thinking more poverty than prophetic. I'm not sure they understood completely why they were fulfilling all of the sin offering from Leviticus 12. I'm not sure they understood that they did bring a lamb that day. In his book, Eternity in Their Hearts, Don Richardson, a missionary writes of a cultural compass in other cultures and their language that point to one and only one person, Jesus, preparing the way for the gospel to be heard. He tells the story of Robert Morrison who landed in China in 1807 and began to translate the scriptures into the Chinese language with the help of a Chinese man with a limited English vocabulary. Chinese uses more than 200 pictures to combine in different ways to make a Chinese word. When they got to the word righteous, he asked how to translate it. And when his Chinese helper wrote the word in Chinese, Robert Morrison saw him use two symbols. On top was a picture of a lamb and on the bottom was the symbol for I, first person singular. So when the Chinese were writing the word righteous, they were writing the symbols, which means the lamb over me. Jesus, the lamb of God, spoke through the Chinese language and that became the cornerstone for Robert Morrison, introducing them to Jesus, the lamb under whom you and I are found to be righteous. Allow me to digress to a nursery rhyme and I'll shorten it and give it my twist. Mary had a little lamb and he washed my sins as white as snow. Thank you for joining chapter by chapter. Every chapter from the greatest book of the Bible, the word of God, seven minutes a day, seven days a week. We'll see you tomorrow.
