The Children For Christ by Andrew Murray

mother was to appear in the temple to bring the sacrifice of her
purification, and to present her child to the Lord. If the child was a
firstborn, then its presentation had special reference to the firstborn
belonging to the Lord, and it had to be redeemed. The Child Jesus had
thus also to be presented to the Lord, as being made under the law, and
made like unto His brethren in all things. Made like in all things, not
only that He might have experience of everything we pass through, but
that we might know that every state and condition has been sanctified
by His Holy Presence and merit, and that He now, by giving us the spirit
which was in Him when passing through them, might impart to us the
blessing and the sanctifying grace that flow from fellowship with Him.
This truth has thoughts of wonderful joy and comfort for parents as
they bring their little ones to God’s home, to present them before the
Lord in baptism.
Let us study this presentation of the holy Child Jesus. There He is,
presented to His Father in heaven by His earthly parents; a helpless
infant, but yet a pleasing sacrifice, a sweet smelling savor. There, too, He
comes as the first-born among many brethren, the Forerunner, through
whom our little ones too can be acceptable to the Holy One. For now,
when we bring our child to present him to the Lord, He looks down
from heaven on the offering, and gives, in answer to the parent’s faith,
to our child the spirit of His holy childhood. He was indeed made like
us, that we might become like Him; He was made like unto our children,
that they might be made like Him. He was not only Mary’s firstborn, but
the Father’s first-born among many brethren. Where the first-fruits are
holy the whole family is holy. The presentation of the Child Jesus to the
Father gives us a right to present ours, and makes them acceptable too.
Blessed thought! to place my child beside the holy Child, and in faith to
claim that in Him my child is holy and accepted too. In Israel the
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