The Offspring of Abraham is the Savior from sin

Sermon for the Eve of Christ’s Naming & Circumcision

Galatians 3:23-29 + Luke 2:21

Let’s take a moment, on this last day of 2025, to repeat what we did on the first day of 2025: to praise the Lord for preserving us through the past year, for 365 days of daily bread for each and every one of us, for sustaining His ministry of Word and Sacraments among us, for hearing our prayers, for mercifully forgiving us our sins and putting up with our fears, doubts, and failures, for the good works He has worked through us and among us, for protecting us in our great weakness against the devil, the world, and our flesh, for teaching and guiding us in His ways, for raising us up again when we stumbled, and for comforting us under the cross and in times of sorrow. And let’s call upon Him, each one from his own heart, and ask Him to graciously preserve us throughout the coming year, that we may finish the year with a stronger faith, a better knowledge of God and His Word, and a firmer commitment to living each day according to His commandments.

On this evening before the 8^th day of Christmas, we commemorate the two important events that took place on the 8^th day of Jesus’ birth, both of which are recorded in our one-verse Gospel: the naming of Jesus, and His circumcision.

As the baby’s legal father, Joseph gave his Son the name that the angel had told him to give to Mary’s Son, just as the angel had told Mary what to call her Son: You shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.Now, God didn’t directly name very many people in Scripture, but when He did, the name meant something. Abraham, Sarah, Ishmael, Isaac, Israel, John (the Baptist)—all these are names that mean something in Hebrew. They describe something about the person who is named, in connection with God’s dealings with that person. For example, Abraham means “father of many,” because that’s what God promised him he would be. Isaac means “laughter,” because Sarah laughed when God foretold his birth, and Abraham laughed for joy when the promised son was born. Israel means “wrestles with God,” because Jacob wrestled with God and was allowed to win God’s blessing. John means “the LORD is gracious,” because John would herald the arrival of the Word made flesh, who was “full of grace and truth.” And Jesus means “the LORD saves.”

But Jesus isn’t just the herald of the LORD’s salvation. Jesus is the LORD who saves. Saves, how? From what? You have to know that, or else you’ll look to Him for the wrong kind of salvation. The angel foretold it: He will save His people from their sins. Not from poverty. Not from earthly injustice. Not from earthly disappointments. From their sins. Mankind’s sins against God are the biggest problem we have, because if God is angry with you, then no earthly success matters. But if God is favorable to you, then no lack of earthly success matters. Now, to save people from sins means, first, to pay the price of sins for those who have sinned, to reconcile sinners to God, to rescue them out of Satan’s kingdom and to bring them into the kingdom of God. How would Jesus do that? First, by living and dying in the place of sinners, to earn the gift of forgiveness for all. Then, by sending His Holy Spirit and bringing sinners to faith in Him as our Savior. And finally, on the Last Day, He will save His people from all the consequences of their sins, perfecting His work of salvation forever. But who are “His people”? (He will save His people from their sins.) His people are all who believe and are baptized in Jesus’ name. As He would later say, He who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Know the Lord Jesus as your Savior from sin, because if God Himself placed that name upon His only-begotten Son, then it must be true.

The other event of the 8^th day was Jesus’ circumcision. You’ll recall that this practice among the Jews went back to God’s covenant with Abraham. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your offspring after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your seed after you…This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised…and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations.

Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham to be his God and the God of his Offspring, that is to care for them, protect them, and to give them the land of Canaan, all of which was codified in the Law of Moses and then fulfilled when the Israelites conquered and took possession of the land of Canaan after their Exodus from Egypt.

But there was more to the covenant than that, something much greater than preserving physical offspring for Abraham or giving them a place to live. God told Abraham that through his offspring all nations on earth would be blessed. Paul tells us exactly what that means in Galatians 3, in the verses right before the text you heard this evening: Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.

As you heard in the First Lesson, that means that the Law of Moses is finished. Circumcision itself is finished, because the covenant of circumcision has been fulfilled in Christ. Now that Christ has come, who is the true Offspring to whom all those promises to Abraham were made, the Law is fulfilled. Now that the true Offspring and Heir of Abraham has been born and brought into the covenant with God through circumcision, everything points to Him. Everything belongs to Him—and to those who are linked to Him, not through physical circumcision, but through faith and Baptism, which is the New Testament, spiritual form of circumcision.

As Paul said in tonight’s reading, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to the promise.

Everything Jesus possesses now belongs to those who are baptized into Him. Everything Jesus has a right to, the baptized have a right to. Everything He has won by His righteous life and by His innocent suffering and death—even the forgiveness of sins, life, salvation, and the adoption as children of God—is now applied to the baptized. But none of it would be possible if Jesus, the Son of Mary, the Son of God, hadn’t been circumcised on the 8^th day of His birth, as part of God’s eternal plan for mankind’s redemption. So rejoice in Christ’s circumcision as the true Offspring of Abraham, and in your Baptism which links you to Him and to all that is His. This is how Jesus fulfills His name for you, “The LORD saves.” Amen.