Nougat 27

Ever get bogged down by time? Where it seems God’s timing is off? Consider today’s Holy Nougat where God’s timing is centuries and decades later; yet also happening in a matter of days.

“When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”),” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭2:22-23‬ ‭NRSV‬‬

The law of the firstborn was established from in the Wilderness. God’s plans for Simeon and for Anna were already in place at that time.

Wow

What an awesome God! The Law of the Firstborn, found in Exodus 13 and 22; speaks to the special dedication of the firstborn male to God. This was done as an alternative to physical sacrificing of the child. This Law was a shadow, that is it pointed to God’s sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus. And, despite Jesus being God, Joseph and Mary were also expected to dedicate the 8-day old Jesus at the temple.

This is considered a 5-mile journey. Given that most descriptions speak to Jerusalem to Bethlehem as a downhill hike, I’m presuming that it would be the same distance; but uphill. In light of their walk to Bethlehem in keeping with the census, the somewhat sudden birth of Jesus, one can see that they may have had a few days to get themselves registered before they complied with the Law of the Firstborn.

Not many ‘modern’ women are up to that kind of journey so soon after giving birth. Yet over to the temple they went; claiming no excuses. They didn’t use the fact of Jesus’ status to seek exemptions, they simply obeyed. So, off to the temple they went. To confirm the promise of God’s redemption for each of us through the literal, physical death of God’s ‘firstborn’!

God used that established ritual to fulfill another set of promises. Think about it, Joseph and Mary were, to their knowledge, only entering the temple to fulfill a religious law, as the nougat indicates. And those of us who are familiar with the wider story may recall what happened next.

But it is the visit to the temple that resulted in the encounters between Simeon and Jesus and also Anna the prophetess and Jesus. At their age, those two probably couldn’t leave the temple for long, so Jesus went to them in the temple. And we also recall that they were promised that they would meet Jesus IN the temple BEFORE they died.

Talk about No opportunity being wasted!

In the act of Jesus’ dedication on day 8, according to the nougat; two promises – to Anna and Simeon – were fulfilled. So we see that from as early as the establishment of the Law in Exodus, God had the specific fulfillment of God’s promises in mind for those two. Of course, Anna and Simeon had to be where God instructed them, despite the number of years it may have taken for the fulfillment.

That’s the assurance we have. If God willingly attended to those details for Anna and Simeon; then God’s got our details planned too. Who knows, the fulfillment of someone’s promise from God (or God’s promises to us), may be just around the corner.

The question is, do we think God’s promises are worth the wait?

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May all we seek be found in Christ