Legend tells us that The Twelve Days of Christmas
was a secret catechism during times of persecution.
For these twelve days let’s focus on twelve teachings:
The Second Day of Christmas
Two Turtledoves
The two turtledoves are said to represent the two Testaments – Old and New. Thus, the two turtledoves are God and His Word calling beautifully to us.
Now, we could spend all day talking about what these two Testaments are and mean to us today … but let me ask a simple question instead: Did you know that scripture actually talks about “two turtledoves”?
Let’s start the story behind a Leviticus 5 reference to “two turtledoves” with a quick explanation of the two Testaments of Holy Scripture:
· The Old Testament tells us about the reason for our separation from God – our sin and our rebellion.
· The New Testament tells about God’s solution to our sin – he gives his only begotten Son so that we might be forgiven.
· Yes, there’s a more to these massive Testaments than just this! But problem and solution is a pretty good and simple explanation. The problem is sin. The solution is Son.
· Let me say that more technically: Our problem is sin. And our only solution is finding a covering for sin, which is the Son and the covering of his blood.
Okay … now the “two turtledoves” …
Leviticus is a book of the Law. As Israel as a nation was preparing to going into the Promised Land and live as God’s Covenant People, God was instructing them on how to live successfully in relationship to Him and to one another. His primary advice was …
· Sin separates us from God and one another.
· Therefore, there must be a cost to sin – a cost steep enough to keep us from continually repeating it.
· And there must also be a covering for sin – a way to make things right again and keep moving forward.
So in God’s Old Testament law, what was the cost to cover a sin?
· The cost for a sin was a sheep. (Indeed, at a couple hundred dollars a sin, don’t you think that’d help you cut down on your transgressions?) Leviticus 5:6 reveals the cost in this way: “You shall bring to the Lord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, a female from the flock, a sheep or a goat, as a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on your behalf or your sin.”
· But what if you were poor? In the next verse – and here come our turtledoves — God made a provision for you too: “But if you cannot afford a sheep, you shall bring to the Lord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.”
What do the two turtledoves of the two Testaments tell us? Our problem is sin (Old Testament). And our only solution is finding a covering for sin (New Testament).
What do the two turtledoves of the two Levitical turtledoves tell us? Our problem is sin. And our only solution is finding a covering for sin (some blood sheep or some bloody bird).
In the Levitical law, the covering for sin was two bloody birds. In the light of Christ’s bloody cross, the two Testaments call to us that the covering for sin is Jesus. Indeed, when John the Baptist first met Jesus, he called him “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” A fulfillment of the Leviticus 5:6 call to sacrifice a sheep, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was the cost for covering our sin.
Therefore, do you trust in these two turtledoves – the Old and New Testaments? In olden days, trusting in two literal birds brought forgiveness, hope, and life. Today, when we entrust our lives to two figurative birds (two great Testaments), we discover through faith that through the cost of Jesus’ sacrifice, our sins are covered and we are made right with God.
In Christ’s Love,
a guy who is not rich
enough in sheep or doves
to pay for all his sins
(but is rich because
the Lamb of God
paid them for me)
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