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. -Luke 2:21
Adam did not receive a name until he had been created on the 6th day and placed into the Garden of Eden. Adam was named after he already was.
And then the LORD God - knowing that she would forever serve in communion with her husband as a picture of the faithfulness and love of Christ and His bride, The Church – He created “Eve,” the mother of all the living, and placed her together with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Together this first couple was tempted to sin and together they fell, bringing death and the final judgment to all who followed, to all who are born of a woman.
But the free gift is not like the transgression. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. Jerusalem's iniquity has been removed. She has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace now reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
Christ Jesus, the 2nd Adam, however, received a Name before He was conceived in His mother’s womb and also had His Name attached to circumcision on the 8th day after His birth.
In this way He was named according to the very work He is to do among men, namely save them from their sins. He was marked in the flesh according to the Law of Moses – A Law given by the LORD God Himself.
Do you think it strange that God would name a person before they are conceived? This is He who of old established the heavens and the earth, not without purpose, but so that the sons of men together with you may thank and praise, serve and obey Him on account of His all surpassing grace and glory, worked out in every detail of creation from the beginning to this day.
Do you think it strange that God would command circumcision in the first place? That is precisely the point. Circumcision for God’s ancient people, Israel, made them distinct from all the other nations and peoples. It must be this way, because the Most Holy God, since the fall into sin, calls out a people from the world by His own Word and promise, a people to be His very own, not like all the nations and people who chase after idols and false gods, who worship created things and themselves in vain.
This name is for you. It is not a name like every name, but the Name at which every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Yes, there are knees under the earth soon to be raised up from the dead, because it is the Name of the crucified and risen Jesus that avails before God the Father and all of creation through the Holy Spirit. It is the Name placed upon you in Holy Baptism and delivered to you in Holy Supper.
The LORD God does not give you His name without also giving you His substance. His substance is holiness and righteousness, both inwardly and outwardly. It is the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, delivered to you in bodily form through the Word and promise of God. The washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit was poured out upon your body and soul lavishly, fully, and completely through Jesus Christ your Savior.
This circumcision is for you, too. It is not a circumcision of the flesh, not a circumcision made of hands, but circumcision of the Holy Spirit, also delivered to you in Holy baptism. Through this circumcision you now flee those things you once embraced: Idolatry and covetousness; adultery and murder; theft and slander. He was circumcised on the 8th Day for you, and He was raised up from the dead on the 8th Day for you, not as a spectacle, but as your atoning sacrifice for sin.
It is not as though you are without temptation and sin, but in these you have a defender, a helper, and advocate Who will not fail you, but Who promises to lift you up and carry you by His Word and supper to which you flee daily and richly for grace, pardon, and strength. Not by New Year, but by everlasting resolution.
The rest of the world, who knows neither you nor the Name you have been given, looks to itself and its own devices to wheedle through one day to the next in service to itself and all sorts of vanity. You, however, having received the Name and substance of God through Christ and His circumcision not made wit hands, cry out together: Our help is in the Name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
The LORD God has given you His Law to discipline your flesh, to show you the way you should live and walk before Him. This also exposes your sin. The Law never would be satisfied in the lives of His people or in you, but is only satisfied and fulfilled in the Life of Christ, who is God in the flesh, in whom the Law is most surely written and fulfilled and completed. Hence, even in showing you your sins, the Law also describes that One who is your Savior, the One who lives in perfect faith toward God and in perfect love toward both God and man: The Son of God, Christ Jesus.
Trusting in Him, you are circumcised, cut off bodily from the rest of the world, so that where Adam once was tempted and fell, you are now tempted yet saved, not by your works, but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, who was cut off for your transgressions and then raised up for your justification, so that what He has accomplished in His body may be delivered to your body and soul through Holy Baptism, Holy Supper, and Holy Absolution.
With His Name, through the forgiveness of all your sins, He has cleansed and purified your heart. He has also cleansed and purified your lips and your life in the flesh, so that you are able by His grace to sing, to pray, and to keep the Feast at all times and in all places, to the glory of His Name, because you belong to Him. You are in Christ Jesus. That is your identity. That is your sonship, be you boy or girl. That is your salvation of body and soul, here in time and hereafter in eternity.
If you are in doubt as to what is meet, right, and salutary in how to conduct yourself in this life, you may with joy cling to your Lord Jesus Christ and listen to Him, Whose obedience on your behalf falls perfectly within the will of God the Father.
As the Holy Spirit teaches, You are generation called out from the world, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.
You are aliens and strangers here, so then abstain from the fleshly lusts that wage war against your soul. You are NOT your own.
Act as those who are free, but do not use your freedom as a covering for evil. Use your freedom instead as bond slaves of God because He has given you His Name and circumcision.
For you have been called for this purpose – live godly lives in this world, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. HE COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.
He Himself bore your sins in His body on the cross, so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His circumcision you are healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now by the Holy Spirit and Gospel of Christ Jesus you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. He is here to keep you in His tender care and mercy. He is faithful to His Name, Word, and promises of old.
Meanwhile, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation, even as you bear His Name and are called out from the world through His circumcision and resurrection from the dead.
