Occasionally, lawyers or police are brought to court to account for some alleged crime; when found to be guilty, they prove that they are sinful human beings like the rest of us.  They make the headlines, because even law officers are not higher than the law; they are there to serve it.  The same is true for Jesus.  The laws of God applied to Him and had to be fulfilled by Him.  He said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them." (Matthew 5:17)

Jesus was circumcised, and Mary was declared clean after childbirth, according to God's law given through Moses (Leviticus 12:1-8).  Jesus was named according to God's Word through the angel (Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31).  The offering of two doves was the legally prescribed sacrifice for their sin, instead of a lamb, because they were so poor (Leviticus 5:11).  Circumcision was the symbolic and bloody symbol that God demanded for the removal of 'sinful flesh'.  It placed the child under a lifetime obligation to keep the law and keep away from sin (Romans 2:28-29).  Sin-offerings were a physical way of admitting that both the parents and the child would fail but accepted God's provision of a substitute death as a proxy punishment.

All this was prophetic of the ministry of Jesus Christ.  Of course, none of those circumcised were able to live without sin.  They could not keep their side of the covenant.  But Jesus would accept responsibility for the sins of the world, and bear in His body the full weight of God's punishment under the law (2 Corinthians 5:21) - see www.crosscheck.org.uk.  So, Mary and Joseph did everything the law required (Luke 2:39) for Jesus, so that He could rescue us from the law's impossible demand of perfection and its final penalty of eternal separation from God.  Instead His death would give us a new heart and a new family (Romans 8:3).  As Galatians 4:4-5 says, "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship."

In any organisation, the person in charge must bear responsibility for the mistakes of the company.  That is what Jesus did: "He Himself [Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." (1 Peter 2:24).  All those who believe that Christ’s death was to atone for their sins have a legal guarantee of forgiveness and welcome into His kingdom.  This is the reason for Christian peace and joy; for fellowship and service; for worship and evangelism; for hope of heaven and confidence in the face of death.  It is the best news in the world!  Legally pardoned from all sin (1 John 1:9)!  If you believe it, praise the Lord; tell others; encourage those who follow Jesus not to give up, but to keep trusting.  And the best place to start is right where you are, today!