December 26, 2022: Luke 2:21 - His Name was Called 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

As part of the unconditional covenant God had made with Abraham, the Abrahamic Covenant, all males descended from Abraham must be circumcised. Circumcision was also repeated in the Mosaic Law. Jesus was born a Jew, to a Jewish mother, and would be raised in a Jewish home that kept Jewish law, including the rite of circumcision. Thus, He was circumcised on the eight day, and they named Him JESUS, which means “Savior,” as the angel Gabriel had said they should call Him before He was even conceived.

Jesus came to His own as a Jew, adhering to Jewish Law, for if He had not, He would have been immediately rejected by the Jews for not being circumcised. Though Jesus would commit no sins - ever - but would fulfill the Law, He was rejected because those He came to save didn’t need a circumcision of the flesh; rather, they needed a circumcision of the heart. Hundreds of years prior to Jesus’ arrival as a Child, the prophet Jeremiah had proclaimed to the Jews the words of God, saying, “For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: ‘Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.’”

In much earlier times when Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible was written, which is part of the Jewish Torah, God said to the Jews regarding His Law, “Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer.” (Deuteronomy 10:16) In Deuteronomy 30:5-6 when God is telling His people of the blessings of returning to Him, He said to them, “Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”

What is the greatest stumbling block between sinful men and women and the heavenly Father? The answer is the heart. The heart is full of pride, puffing us up, making us feel like we don’t need God; we can save ourselves, or even worse, that sin isn’t sin and we can do whatever we want without experiencing any negative consequences from our sin. Who or what is the answer? His name is Jesus, Christ the Lord. Jesus is the One - the only One, the only way - to God the Father. He came to earth as a Child to tell us of the way of salvation of sins, to lead by example, to show us what a soft heart does: it enables us to have eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of God. That truth is that we are all sinners, none of us can save ourselves, when we die, each one of us will go to either heaven or hell, and the only way to heaven is to believe in Jesus as our Savior. Getting circumcised won’t get us there, trying to keep the Divine Law of God won’t do it, for no one can keep it, trying to be a good person won’t either, doing good things for others, going to church, … won’t get us there, only Jesus can. Why? Because He was chosen by God to come to this earth by being born as a Child to a virgin, grow and begin His earthly ministry, choose His disciples to whom He would teach, die a horrible death of crucifixion on the cross, rise again after three days, walk the earth for 40 days after, showing His resurrected self to over 500 people, and ascend to the right hand of the heavenly throne of God the Father, where He is today.

Each one of us must decide if will we let our hearts continue in hardness, preventing us to have eyes to see and ears to hear the truth of God, letting that stumbling block remain intact and ultimately experiencing the worst consequences of it that we could ever face, or if we have a heart that is circumcised, ready to accept and follow Him, the One whose name is called JESUS. ❤️ ✝️