Simeon Sees the Savior (Luke 2:21-26) | Worship Service

The Fulfillment of the Christmas Promise in Christ

Had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw.

The child with mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him prophets promised long ago.

A king would come to bring this hope and now a virgin bears a son. The time to save the world. And welcome to kootenai church. We're glad you're here today.

Would you please stand as we sing. Hark the herald angels sing.

Peace on earth and mercy. Mild god and sinners reconciled. Joyful nations rise join. The triumvirate is born to rise by highest heaven the door. Christ the is the glory of god. Become man has been born jesus.

The horse should be christ the messiah has come. Salvation is full of god the hope of salvation and light of the world. Christ the messiah has come. Salvation is born jesus messiah our savior.

Is born. This christmas season we're going to learn two new songs to sing as a congregation and the first one that we're going to sing is oh come all you unfaithful.

All you unfaithful come weak and unstable come no you are not weary is.

You may be seated just two announcements both related to the christmas season and that is that we have a christmas choir that is practicing today after the service in this room back here. And then we also have a christmas eve coming service coming up on christmas eve.

The Annunciation and Simeon's Expectation

So check your bulletin for information about that please turn if you will in your bible to luke chapter one for the scripture reading luke chapter one. And we're going to begin reading at verse 26 and read through the end of verse 38 luke 1 beginning at verse 26.

Now in the sixth month the angel gabriel was sent from god to a city in galilee called nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was joseph of the descendants of david and the virgin's name was mary.

And coming in he said to her greetings favored one the lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her do not be afraid mary for you have found favor with god and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him jesus.

He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the lord god will give him the throne of his father david and he will reign over the house of jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.

Mary said to the angel how can this be since i am a virgin. The angel answered and said to her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. And for that reason the holy child shall be called the son of god.

And behold even your relative elizabeth who has also conceived a son in her old age. And she who has was called barren is now in her sixth month for nothing will be impossible with god. And mary said behold the bond slave of the lord.

May it be done to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. We stand with me as we pray. Let's bow our heads father. We are reminded this morning that we are the unfaithful ones and we are those in need of a savior.

We thank you that born unto us has been a savior who is christ the lord a descendant of david the fulfillment of all the old testament expectation and promise concerning salvation and what you have planned from eternity past.

We rejoice in that and we worship you because you have called us to yourself you have granted us eyes to see and made us to have ears to hear of the good news of your salvation in your son. And so we thank you that you have laid upon him all our sin and that we have a savior from our sin and a righteous savior at that who can give us his righteousness so that we may stand before you as we do today to worship and honor you and to glorify your great name.

We pray that you would be glorified through our worship and that you would be honored in all. That we say all that we do in the meditation of our hearts for the glory of christ our lord in whose.

Name we pray amen we please be seated. It was the night before christmas and all through everything looked like business as usual. Oh shepherds sat on a hillside looking up at the star while the world was the darkness the night before christmas it seemed to be just enough like something was coming like children with secret the cedars nature it's see or christmas and tibby's first crowd on the night for christmas.

On to ralph joseph. He paced the floor praying and in an everyday stable everyday town be or christmas would you please stand all the earth rejoice. Your creator reigns as the only.

Let the oceans roar and the mountains sing. He provides for all he has made so be comforted as he rules with grace. Rejoice all the earth rejoice. All the world rejoice. For the baby comes as a humble prince in the night.

The word made flesh emmanuel the everlasting rejoice. Then the dead will rise from the land and see all his people we will reign with him for each. Rejoice all the church rejoice. Then the dead will rise from the land and see all his people we will reign with him for eternity.

Rejoice all the church rejoice. The psalmist says in psalm 24.

7 through 10. Lift up your heads oh gates and be lifted up oh ancient doors that the king of glory may come in. Who is this king of glory. Yahweh strong and mighty. Yahweh mighty in battle. Lift up your heads oh gates and lift yourselves up oh ancient doors that the king of glory may come in.

Who is he this king of glory. Yahweh of hosts he is the king of glory. The second song that we're going to learn this season is a song titled prepare him room.

See the star angels sing and light up the sky. Hope brings out its swing. Why new ancient days is.

I'm glad i had a few minutes to recover after the service. This is a special before i have to get up here and preach turn your bibles please to luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2. And then we'll our expectation that you will speak to us in your word that you would help us to see things wonderful things in your word open our eyes and our hearts and illuminate your word to us so that we are able to see these things and we are both able to obey them and appreciate christ our lord in his name.

We pray amen. Well we are going to be taking a break from hebrews chapter 11 at least for the most part of this month the month of december we're going to be in luke chapter 2 here for the next three sundays.

I usually don't take a break from the normal course of preaching through a book of the bible. I came across this idea and thought well this is we've been in hebrews for a while you know that i don't need to tell you that.

And so it may be good to have a little break for the christmas season. So that's what we're going to do. The idea for this series actually came to me from a friend. He he was invited a friend of mine was invited to give a special message at a church that he normally does not attend and and he texted me the text and his outline.

And he said can you look this over and tell me what you think. And so i looked it over read the text and read his outline. And i i said that's a that's a really good outline. It's not just those four points that you have.

Really each one of those is a sermon in itself. It's quite daunting to take that whole passage. The subject that he was given was who is jesus. That's what you're supposed to tackle. You could preach on that for probably 45 minutes at least i would think.

So he chose this passage from luke chapter 2 that we're going to be looking at. And a couple weeks later he texted me not just the text but he said here's my whole sermon. He emailed me his sermon after he had manuscripted it and i read through it and i said to him back i'm more convinced than ever that this is not just a one four point sermon.

This is actually four i think really good sermons that you have here in seed form. So would you mind if i just took this idea this passage and used it for a series of sermons in the month of december since he didn't write the gospel of luke.

He was entirely fine with me using the passage. So that's what we're going to do. The series that we're going to be going through in the month of december i've titled simeon's swan song. Now that title i actually borrowed from the title of a sermon preached by ch spurgeon on this passage.

So the idea i borrowed from a friend the title i have borrowed from spurgeon. And in totally unrelated news our church is going to be joining the southern baptist denomination soon. So i want to give credit where credit is due.

I have litanized the title. I have litanized the idea. But everything that happens from this point forward is entirely on me. And i'm the one to blame for the rest of this. And it may be that the the idea and the title is the best part of this whole series in which case you can thank somebody else for it.

So luke chapter 2 we're actually going to be looking today at verses 21 through 35 as a bit of an overview and then focusing in on verses 21 through 26 this is a bit of a a larger passage. I need to set a little bit of context before we jump into this.

The author of this gospel is luke. He's not just the author of this gospel is also the author of the book of acts. Both of those books luke and acts were written to one person theophilus. In luke chapter 1 luke refers to him as the most excellent theophilus.

And then in acts chapter 1 he refers to him just as theophilus other than his name. We really know nothing about theophilus. And it's very interesting and always has been to me since i realized this that a quarter of the text of our new testament is written to a man that we know nothing about.

Nothing about not a quarter of the books a quarter of the text of the new testament between luke and acts. That is a quarter of the text of the new testament written to a man we know nothing about. Now the author of those two books we know quite a bit more about him compared to what we know about theophilus but still not very much.

We know that luke was a traveling companion of the apostle paul. Paul picked him up on his second missionary journey. In acts chapter 16 luke was a physician. Luke was a gentile and was probably saved as a result of paul's ministry.

And then joined paul as he traveled for the rest of his missionary journeys. And then luke was with paul all the way to the end of his life. So that in 2nd timothy chapter 4 as paul was writing to timothy from a prison cell expecting execution and probably saw execution before timothy ever got that letter that was written to him the apostle paul is there in the cold winter is coming.

He's writing to timothy. He has run his race. He's finished his course. He's fought the good fight. He he says all of that. And then at the end of that epistle chapter 4 verse 10 paul lists a number of his traveling companions.

Some of them had abandoned him like demas he says having loved this world has forsaken me and gone to thessalonica. But then there were other traveling companions whom he names who also had left him but at paul's instruction to go to other cities to minister.

So he says crescens has gone to galatia titus to dalmatia. And then in the very next verse paul says. 2nd timothy chapter 4 verse 11. Only luke is with me now. That's one of those phrases in the new testament.

Every time i read it i just i stop and it just hits me right in the fields. Only luke is with me. I can't wait to meet luke. I can't wait to meet him. He is only luke is with me prisoned imprisoned and awaiting execution.

And luke is with paul all the way to the very end. Now given that luke was with paul we can assume that his writings the gospel of luke and the book of acts had the imprimatur of the apostle paul as the apostle to the gentiles.

Luke is often regarded as paul's gospel since he would have written it under the auspices of the apostle paul. And with that apostolic uh apostolic um endorsement the gospel of luke is an account of what jesus began to do and to teach to his disciples.

The book of acts is the account of what jesus continued to do and teach through his disciples. It is a two-volume set that covers basically 60 years from the birth of jesus at what we call zero adbc whatever you want to call it the year zero all the way up till about 65 or 66 ad.

The first couple chapters of luke's gospel follow an interesting pattern. This book the gospel of luke which is really all about jesus doesn't begin with jesus or the account of his birth. It actually begins with the prediction of the birth of jesus's cousin john the baptist.

And luke follows this interesting pattern where he begins in chapter one about the the promise of uh the promise of a of the birth of john the baptist to john's mother and father zacharias and elizabeth then he switches to the promise of jesus's birth given by an angel both of these promises given by an angel by the way the second then to jesus's parents by an angel a promise of the birth of jesus then he switches back to the account of john's birth and then he switches back to the account of jesus's birth so he goes back and forth between john the baptist he starts with john the promise of his birth then the promise of jesus's birth then john's birth then jesus's birth then he switched over to john's ministry chapter three and then you get to jesus's ministry in chapter four so back and forth he goes with these little interludes.

So we pick it up now in chapter two. And in chapter two, we have the account of Jesus' birth in verses one through seven. And then what follows, interestingly enough, is a series of really four testimonies concerning the purpose, the nature, and the significance of this one who was born.

The first one to give their testimony is the group of angels. And we're familiar with that passage. The angels appear to the shepherds out in the fields surrounding Bethlehem, and they say, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people, for today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

That's chapter two, verses 10 and 11. So the first ones to give testimony concerning this one who has been born is the angels. Then the shepherds add their testimony. As they go into Bethlehem, out of the fields, they witness what the angels said, and they talk about what the angels had told them.

And then they come back, praising God and thanking God for what it was that they had seen. And all of that is familiar to us. We get to the end of the shepherds and the angels, and the shepherds coming back out to the fields, praising God, and that is familiar territory.

Those are the verses that you see written on the December page of your calendar, and on the little trinkets that hang on your tree, and on the Christmas cards that you send to everybody. All of that's familiar territory.

But most of us are not very familiar with the next two witnesses, that's Simeon and Anna. Simeon, in verses 21 through verse 35, he adds his testimony, says something about the birth of Jesus, this person whom he meets in the temple.

And then Anna, in verses 36 through 38. We're not gonna be looking at Anna in verses 36 to 38. We're focusing on Simeon's swan song. I'm thankful that Spurgeon's dead, so I don't have to pay a royalty for that title.

So let's read this passage together, and I will show you how it is that we're gonna divide this over the weeks to come. Today we're looking at verses 21 through 26. We'll read this together. In this, we are introduced to Simeon as he meets Jesus in the temple.

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 for their purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, 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 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 turtle doves or two young pigeons. And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking 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. Now that is the introduction to Simeon in the temple. Then second, this is next week, we're going to see what Simeon says about Jesus, that he is God's salvation, revelation, and glory.

Look at verse 27, and he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms and blessed God and said, now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

He said, Jesus is God's salvation, his revelation, salvation to his people, revelation to the Gentiles, and his glory. And then in verses 33 through 35, we see that Simeon says that Jesus is going to bring a sifting, strife, and sorrow, verse 33.

And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him, and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed, and a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

So that's our three-fold outline, three messages there, today, verses 21 to 26, and then two more Sundays in this passage, and then on Christmas Eve, we'll wrap all of this up. And I'm not sure exactly what that message is gonna look like yet.

We'll probably just take all of the stuff that hit the editing room floor during the last three weeks and put it all together like a hudal omelet and serve it up with a little bow on top, and hopefully it'll be as good as a hudal omelet.

But keep your expectations low. So our focus today is on the person of Christ and the person of Simeon, these two who meet in the temple. Now, there are other characters in this text. There's Mary and Joseph, they are there.

They're somewhat incidental to what is going on here in the grand scheme of things. But there is also the Holy Spirit who is mentioned. I don't know if you noticed it or not, but in verse 25, 26, and 27, the Holy Spirit is mentioned three times.

He is a central component of this, and we'll get to this more next week. But the Spirit of God is orchestrating all of this that is going on around this encounter between Simeon and the Lord Jesus. So let's look first of all now at Jesus in the temple.

This encounter happened in the temple. You can see this in verse 27. Simeon came in the spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought, that is, into the temple, the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms.

So the encounter that is at the center of this entire passage now takes place in the temple. Joseph and Mary were there to observe two lawful religious ceremonies that are mentioned in verses 22 through 24, namely to present Jesus to the Lord, and then second, to offer a sacrifice.

And both of these customs were according to the law of Moses. In fact, I want you to notice how frequently and how much, how frequently Luke does this, mentions this, and how much he emphasizes the law of God all the way through the passage.

In verse 21, when the mention of the eight days passing and then circumcising Jesus, that was according to the law. Verse 22, the days for her purification, that was, see it, according to the law of Moses.

Down at the end of verse, at the beginning of verse 23, as it is written in the law of the Lord. Verse 24, to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord. Verse 27, when the parents brought the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, and then if you look down at verse 39 below our passage, then after the encounter with Simeon and Anna, the prophetess, Luke writes this.

When they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city of Nazareth. Now, that is a lot of emphasis on the law. Why so much mention of the law? He reiterates it several times in this passage regarding Simeon, and then he wraps it all up by saying that after they had left Jerusalem, having accomplished and carried out everything for him that pertained to the law of God.

So much emphasis on the law, which is not what you would expect from a New Testament book, right? Especially a book about Jesus. In the law, we see truth, the law, we see the righteous requirements of God.

In Jesus Christ, we see grace and truth. Why does Luke spend so much time talking about the elements of the law? The reason being is because in, the reason being is actually because of verse 30, what Simeon says in verse 30.

My eyes have seen your salvation. See, the law and salvation, they meet in the person of Jesus Christ. If Jesus had not fulfilled all of the requirements of the law, Simeon could have never said of him, my eyes have seen your salvation.

It is only because Jesus fulfilled every detail of the law here as an infant, even in his circumcision, which was not something that he did, something done to him on the eighth day after his birth, that righteous fulfillment of the law was something that was necessary for our salvation.

Let me put it this way. If Jesus had not been circumcised on the eighth day in fulfillment of the law of Moses, then he could not be the Savior because he then would have been a lawbreaker. He would not have been considered a descendant of Abraham or a son of David.

He would have been cut off from his people outside of the covenant. He would, having not fulfilled that requirement of the law, he would have been guilty of violating the entire law, all the Old Testament law.

Now, whether Joseph and Mary understood the significance of this at that moment or not, their act of having him circumcised on the eighth day was in fact an act of fulfilling that law so that he could be God's salvation to us because we needed a Savior who could fulfill the righteous demands of the law.

And if Jesus had not been circumcised and therefore had violated that element of God's law, then he could not have fulfilled the promises of the Abrahamic covenant. He could not have taken the throne of his father, David, and ruled and reigned over the nations as the Old Testament scriptures promise.

He couldn't have fulfilled any of that because what was required was one who kept the law fully. So even being circumcised on the eighth day, being a fulfillment of the righteous demands of the law, that was something that qualified him to be our Savior.

We could say it this way. The fulfillment of the law by Jesus Christ was essential to your salvation. And here's why. The law demands of you righteousness. Any of you fulfill that? The law demands of you righteousness.

The law describes the life that we were required to live. That's the standard. As high, as holy, as perfect as that is, the law demands of you righteousness. It describes the life that we were required to live.

And here's the catch. We do not get credit for trying, and we do not get credit for coming close. And the truth is, we have neither tried, nor have we come close. Because everything that the law forbids we have done, and everything that the law requires of us,.

We have failed to do.

We have failed to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and all the things that the law forbid, lying, stealing, blasphemy, covetousness, Sabbath-keeping, honoring God with every breath and every intention of our being, heart, soul, mind, and strength.

All of those things that we are told not to do, we have done. All the things that we were told to do, we have failed to do. So we have all violated the law. We stand condemned underneath the law. What we really needed was somebody to come and to live out perfectly the law on our behalf, from the moment of his birth to the moment of his death, so that his perfect life could be credited to our account.

We needed a Savior to stand in as our representative. And we talk about Jesus being our substitute. We don't just mean that he was our substitute in his death, but rather also that he was our substitute in his life.

The life that he lived was a perfect life, without blemish, without spot, in perfect obedience to the law of God, and in perfect fulfillment of all the demands of the law, so that his perfect life can be credited to you and I at the moment of faith.

Because we need not just our sins forgiven, but we need all of that righteousness that the law demands. So that God treated Jesus on the cross as if he had lived the life that you and I have lived, so that he could then turn around and treat us in this life as if we had lived the life that Jesus had lived.

So he takes all of our sin, and we get all of his righteousness. This is the exchange that takes place at the moment of imputation. And if Jesus had not been a law keeper, even from the eighth day of his life here on earth, he would not have qualified to do that, been qualified to do that.

Because James 2 10 says, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all. Every last requirement of the law was demanded of us. Every last requirement of the law was fulfilled by Jesus on our behalf.

There is no salvation for you without the righteous demands of the law being lived perfectly in your place. Therefore, if Simeon is going to say, my eyes have seen the Lord's salvation, he has to be looking at one who would obey and meet every righteous requirement of the law and fulfill all of its demands perfectly.

This is what Paul was describing in Galatians chapter four. When Paul says that the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law and that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Christ was born under the law, under the requirements of the law, and he fulfilled the law so that he could redeem us who were under the law, having fulfilled the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf.

So that's why we are no longer under law, but we are under grace. Now, there are four ceremonies that are detailed here in verses 21 through 26. Circumcision, ceremonial purification, the presenting of Jesus to the Lord, and the sacrifice.

And we're gonna look at those four ceremonies here. The first we examine is circumcision, mentioned in verse 21. Now you say, we're finally getting to the text, and yes, this is true. We're finally getting to the text.

Now, when the eight days had passed, verse 21 says, before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given to him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. There is mention in verse 21 of both his circumcision and him being named Jesus.

Being named on the eighth day was not a requirement of the law. That was a traditional thing that the Jews did. The law didn't demand that they name the children on the eighth day, but that was something that by the first century had become common practice amongst the Jews.

The law did demand that a male child be circumcised on the eighth day, but the law did not demand that they be named at the same time. That tradition went back to Moses. Actually, the Jews would trace it all the way back to Moses and to Abraham.

It was believed by tradition, not by scripture, but by tradition, that Moses was baptized, sorry, circumcised. For those of you who are covenant in here, that was not a Freudian slip in any way, not at all.

On the day that Moses was circumcised, he was also named on the same day. That was what was assumed by the Jews. Second, it goes back to Abraham, who received the sign of circumcision, and we presume was circumcised, and he received his new name from Abram to Abraham on the very same day.

So the Jews, in order to follow that, would wait till the eighth day when a male child was circumcised, then they would name him. That's why it says here, when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel.

That goes back to chapter one, which we read in the scripture reading, chapter one, verses 30 to 33. The angel said, do not be afraid, Mary, for you've found favor with God, and behold, you'll conceive in your womb and bear a son.

You shall name him Jesus. He'll be great and be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and ever, and his kingdom will have no end.

And I read all that stuff about the kingdom just to make up for the little slip about the covenant thing earlier. Circumcision was the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. God gave that to Abraham as a mark that would mark him and his descendants in perpetuity after that.

It was the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham, and all those blessings that God unconditionally gave to Abraham in Genesis chapter 17. And in Genesis chapter 17, there was a warning that came with the promise of that blessing and with the sign of circumcision.

Genesis 17, 14, an uncircumcised male who was not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. You see why it was important that it be done on the eighth day?

If Jesus didn't, he would have been a covenant violator, not a covenant keeper. And if he was a covenant violator, he couldn't be our covenant representative. He couldn't stand in our stead and fulfill all the demands of the Mosaic covenant on our behalf if he did not fulfill it the very first day, on day eight when he was circumcised.

So that had to be fulfilled concerning him. Circumcision was more than just a sign of the Abrahamic covenant. It was also a spiritual object lesson that would say to all of the Jews, all of the males, and all of the Jews in perpetuity that what really needed to happen was not the removal of a piece of flesh, but really the removal of sin from the heart.

Circumcision was always an object lesson of the need for cleansing. And this is why Mary could have a virgin birth and have a, sorry, this sin was always passed down through the male progeny, through the act of conception, and it was the sinful nature, the wickedness, the corruption, Adam's guilt always came through the male seed.

And this is why Mary could have a sinless son if that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit and not from the result of a normal man through normal sexual intercourse in marriage. She could have a sinless son who was neither corrupted by nor influenced by the fall of Adam whatsoever because what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit and not passed down through the male.

So every Jewish male on the eighth day was to receive a sign, a mark in his flesh, which was a perpetual reminder of the sinful nature that was passed down through their progeny and also a reminder constantly of the fact that the heart needed to be cleansed from sin.

What needed to be removed was the evil of the heart. This was the object lesson from the very beginning. Deuteronomy 10, verse 16. So circumcise your hearts and stiffen your neck no longer. Deuteronomy 30, verse six.

Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul so that you may live. Jeremiah four, verse four.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord and remove the foreskins of your heart. You see, the physical act of circumcision was a spiritual object lesson that the real problem was not just something in the flesh, not just a mark that we receive or a piece of skin in the flesh, but rather the real problem was the issue of the heart.

The heart needed to be cleansed from sin. It was a reminder in the flesh of a Jewish male every single day, all of the time, that he had a wicked and corrupt and vile heart that was irreparable and unredeemable in itself.

And needed to be removed.

It needed to be changed from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. Now you may be thinking to yourself, if that's what circumcision symbolized, then why was Jesus circumcised since he did not have a wicked heart?

It's for the same reason that he was baptized. In Matthew chapter three, do you remember when Jesus went to John the Baptist to be baptized, what John the Baptist said? He said, hold on, time out. I have need to be baptized by you and you're coming to me?

And Jesus said to him, permitted at this time for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. See, Jesus was baptized for the very same reason that he was circumcised in order to identify with sinners, not to identify as a sinner.

So when Jesus was baptized and he outwardly expressed the token of repentance alongside of his fellow Israelites, it was not because he was identifying himself as a sinner in need of repentance, but because he was identifying himself with the sinners who needed repentance.