Consider: What did a priest do in the Bible?
Learn: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
Just as we have thought of Jesus as the King, anointed to be King of the world, we can also think of Him as our priest. That word may not mean much to most people. We can understand Jesus as our King. What does it mean that He is chosen to be our priest?
Priests in the Old Testament were chosen and set apart for a very special purpose. They were the ones who conducted the worship of God for Israel. Worship occurred in the temple, where festivals were held and sacrifices were made to God to seek God’s forgiveness for their sins. Priests were the ones who cared for the temple and offered the sacrifices to God for the people. Priests were important people, so they needed to be specially set apart and kept pure before God.
All this is important because in these verses Jesus is called Savior as well as the anointed one, Christ. The priests offered sacrifices to save the people from their sins, from the ways that they disobeyed God. But what this verse says is that Jesus was going to be the person who would save the people by providing payment for their sins and our sins. Jesus was not going to do that by offering a lamb or a dove as a sacrifice, He was going to do that by offering Himself as a sacrifice!
Jesus was chosen by God to offer Himself as the Savior who would be the sacrifice to make us perfect and holy before God forever (Hebrews 10:11-14)! God, a long time ago, used priests as those anointed and set apart by Him to give people an idea of what He was finally going to do through His own Son. This is just one of the many things in the Old Testament that we see completed by Jesus.
Apply: Luke 2:11 is as true for us today as it was 2000 years ago. If you trust in God, rejoice in God’s salvation for you!
I Commend Joy! 