The Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord

Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” -Luke 2:25-32

The Torah directed that forty days after giving birth, a sacrifice needed to be offered in order to cleanse the mother of ritual uncleanness. The other thing that is happening is the redemption of the first born son. At the Passover in Egypt, God spared Israel while killing the first born son of the Egyptians. God commanded the Israelites to redeem their own first born son. This was to be a constant reminder to Israel about how God had acted to rescue them from slavery. Later in the book of Numbers, God set the price of this redemption at five shekels that were used in the tabernacle and then temple. However, Jesus, being the redeemer, was the one firstborn child who did not need to be redeemed.

This was also done to fulfill the prophecy in malachi 3:1: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts." This is important because the temple was destroyed and never rebuilt in 70 AD, showing that the messiah must have come before then.

Once again, everything about Jesus' life was being done in accordance with God’s revelation in the Old Testament, both in terms of perfectly following the law, as well as fulfilling all of the prophecies. In His sacrifice, this Son of God becomes a "son of Egypt" that all of us "sons of Egypt" might become "sons of God" in Him. The First-born Son of the Father is our substitute, so that we are redeemed instead of him. Paul even callss Christ the First-born among many brethren and the author of Hebrews calls His Body the Church of the First-born.