Lev 12:8 | KingComments | STEP | After the forty or eighty days, the mother must also place herself on the basis of the offering, in the picture the offering of Christ. She must bring a burnt offering and a sin offering. When Mary has given birth to the Lord Jesus, she also offers this offering, because she too is unclean of herself ( ). That she does not bring the ordinary offering, a lamb and a dove ( ), but two pigeons, thus the offering of the poor ( ), indicates the poverty of the parents of the Lord Jesus. Mary is the only exception as regards the Child she gave birth to. The Child Jesus was the perfectly clean One. He indeed is not conceived by a sinful man – and therefore has not original sin – but by God the Holy Spirit ( ). In the woman we also can see a picture of Israel, a people who are unclean, and out of whom the Messiah was born, the clean One. In Revelation 12 we see that picture too ( ). The woman there represents Israel; the male Son is the Lord Jesus. The days of the cleansing of the people begin after ‘circumcision’, that is, after what happened to the Lord Jesus on the cross. Only now, in the period after the cross, can those who come to repentance see what they have all done and been and are still naturally. It often takes quite a while to see that. This applies both to Israel and to the individual believer of the church. The more I get to know myself, the more I abhor myself. The result of this purifying period is that we really place ourselves on the basis of the burnt offering and the sin offering. Only then are we also able to understand something of the value of the Lord Jesus’ work for God and that God looks at us in Him (burnt offering). The burnt offering comes first and therefore has the emphasis. It is only then that we are able to understand something of the meaning of the sin offering, that we are a little more aware of it.

‏ Leviticus 12:8

Cleansed After Giving Birth

After the forty or eighty days, the mother must also place herself on the basis of the offering, in the picture the offering of Christ. She must bring a burnt offering and a sin offering. When Mary has given birth to the Lord Jesus, she also offers this offering, because she too is unclean of herself (Lk 2:21-24). That she does not bring the ordinary offering, a lamb and a dove (Lev 12:6), but two pigeons, thus the offering of the poor (Lev 12:8), indicates the poverty of the parents of the Lord Jesus. Mary is the only exception as regards the Child she gave birth to. The Child Jesus was the perfectly clean One. He indeed is not conceived by a sinful man – and therefore has not original sin – but by God the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35).

In the woman we also can see a picture of Israel, a people who are unclean, and out of whom the Messiah was born, the clean One. In Revelation 12 we see that picture too (Rev 12:1-6). The woman there represents Israel; the male Son is the Lord Jesus.

The days of the cleansing of the people begin after ‘circumcision’, that is, after what happened to the Lord Jesus on the cross. Only now, in the period after the cross, can those who come to repentance see what they have all done and been and are still naturally. It often takes quite a while to see that. This applies both to Israel and to the individual believer of the church. The more I get to know myself, the more I abhor myself.

The result of this purifying period is that we really place ourselves on the basis of the burnt offering and the sin offering. Only then are we also able to understand something of the value of the Lord Jesus’ work for God and that God looks at us in Him (burnt offering). The burnt offering comes first and therefore has the emphasis. It is only then that we are able to understand something of the meaning of the sin offering, that we are a little more aware of it.