Luke 2:22-38
22 When the time came for the purification
rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to
present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the
Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and
to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a
pair of doves or two young pigeons.” j
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called
Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of
Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed
to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s
Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple
courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the
custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and
praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled
at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and
said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and
rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so
that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your
own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the
daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with
her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a
widow until she was eighty-four. u She never left the temple
but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up
to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. The New International Version.
40 days after the birth of Jesus his parents came to the
temple to dedicate him as the first born son to God. This was a requirement of every Jewish family
and Joseph and Mary were obedient parents.
When they arrived at the temple there were two people they
would meet who would have a tremendous impact on their lives through the
revelation they shared with them.
Tonight I want to look at these two special people and draw
applications to our lives.
Simeon's name means "God hears". He is an example
of one who was dedicated to serving the Lord and living a righteous life. He was waiting for the promise given to him
that he would see the fulfillment of the Promised Messiah. He was one who walked with God and was led of
the Holy Spirit to go to the temple at the exact time Joseph, Mary and Jesus
would be there. It was a divine
appointment orchestrated by God to reward Simeon for his righteousness and
devotion. We do not know how long he
waited from the time he was given the promise until it was fulfilled. It may have been a short time or possibly
several years. Timing is always in God's
hands. Though Simeon was elderly, he did
not lose hope that he would see the Messiah.
When we experience delays in seeing God's promises come to pass it can
be discouraging if we do not see things from God's perspective. His timing is always the right timing. We cannot lose hope when there are delays but
like Simeon be constantly serving while we wait and watch with expectation that
God will fulfill his promises to us. While we wait we must continue to be
faithful to the life God has called us to live and serve Him whole
heartedly. Simeon did just that.
In my own life there was a period of waiting upon the timing
of God to fulfill the desire of my heart to be in full time ministry. While attending Bible school in Montana I
felt that God was calling me into full time ministry and made plans to join the
ministry after graduating from the Bible school. I was married at that time and
when my wife became pregnant we decided to move back to Minnesota to be nearer
to our families when our daughter was born.
I had to find a job and daily searched and took temporary jobs that paid
little money. I finally received a job teaching
in a Christian school which provided a steady income and opportunity to work
with students. At the end of the school
year, my college roommate contacted me and told me about a job at his dad's
church and Christian school. We decided
to take the job working with the youth of the church and teaching at the
Christian school. We were there for 3 years and then moved to Bethel Seminary
in St. Paul, MN where I wanted to pursue a master's degree. This plan did not work out and I returned to
teaching at a Christian school for 4 years.
The job was terminated due to low enrollment so I had to seek for work
and was hired by the Minneapolis Public Schools as a long term substitute
teacher for the next two years. During this time, my wife left and I was served
divorce papers. It was a very difficult
time for me and my daughter. I felt as
though the call of God to be in full time ministry was virtually gone. I spent the next 7 years working with the
Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center and enjoyed the work that we did. Yet in my heart there still was this longing
to be in ministry but I did not know how or if it would ever come to pass. Since my desire to go to Seminary did not work
out as I thought it would, I began to study through a Seminary that offered a
distance learning program. I benefitted greatly from these studies and it kept
my hope alive that one day I would have open doors because of the degrees I
earned and be able to return to full time ministry. During these 7 years of working in a non-ministry
field God prepared me to be released into full time ministry. It really was a miracle of his making and he
fulfilled the desire of my heart. His
timing is always right and though it may seem slower than we want, it is always
for our best. Wherever you are at in
your life, whatever you are waiting for, do not lose hope. Keep moving forward, stay faithful and devoted
to the Lord and he will bring to pass what he has for your life. Simeon waited and he was rewarded.
Simeon was also a man controlled by the Holy Spirit. Before
the Holy Spirit was poured out in Acts 2, the Spirit operated differently by
coming upon a person and directing them. This is what happened to Simeon. When
the Holy Spirit moved upon him to go to the temple he went. Had he delayed he may have completely missed
the opportunity to see the Savior he had been waiting for. Being led of the Spirit is an identifying
mark we have as children of God.
Romans 8 .14 for all who are led by the Spirit of God are
children of God.
We have the advantage of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit,
he is constantly with us. Being Spirit led is something that should be normal
in our lives as believers. The challenge we have each day is to choose who will
lead us: our fleshly desires, a carnal mind or the spiritual desires.
Being led of the Spirit involves being dead. As God's children we must put to death our
fleshly life so that the life of the Spirit can lead us. We have this assurance and we can count on
the Spirit to be active daily in our lives to lead us into the things of
God. '
Galatians 5:22, 23
22But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce
this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control;
(NLV)
These are benchmarks we can use to test to see if what we
want to do is really in agreement with the Holy Spirit. If any of these are not evident in what we
are planning to do then it should be a check point for us to stop and not
proceed with whatever we plan to do.
Being led of the Spirit also involves sensitivity on our
part to understand how the Spirit speaks to us.
For many people it is an inner voice, impression, thought or just a word
that comes to your mind. As you walk
with the Lord his voice and the leading of the Spirit will become more
defined. As we respond in obedience we
will see how the Spirit is guiding us.
We do not know how Simeon was led but we know that he
responded to the form of leading he was given. He met Jesus and for him that
was all he needed to be fulfilled in this life.
His bucket list was completed. He was now ready to die, his salvation
had come. What a joy it must have been
for him to hold Jesus in his arms and make the declaration about him being a
light that will shine upon the nations and be the glory of the people of
Israel.
In our lives Jesus also must be the one we seek and the one
we want to see manifested in our lives.
Simeon saw Jesus in person and it meant the fulfillment of a promise he
was given. He longed to meet the Messiah
and was rewarded for his life of devotion to the Lord. Jesus must be the longing of our hearts as
well. I think all of us want to see him
dominate and control our lives. We want
to be like him and experience greater intimacy with him in our daily
lives. As John the Baptist stated,
"He must increase and I must decrease." Jesus wants to be our life as we walk by
faith in his promises to us. It is
Christ in us that is the hope of glory.
As we seek him he promises that we will find him and receive all he has
for us. I pray that during this next year we will all become greater seekers of
Jesus and allow him access to every area of our life so he can make us more
like him. I pray that each of us will
grow in intimacy with him and receive fresh revelation from him in our seeking
him.
Simeon not only was led of the Holy Spirit to go to the
temple but he was used by the Holy Spirit to give prophetic words to Joseph and
Mary that predicted the hardships that would come but also the joy that will be
the result of what will happen in the future.
The prophecies noted that Jesus would experience rejection and that his
mother's heart would be pierced by the pain she felt when this would happen. But there would also be great joy in others
who receive Jesus as the Messiah. Further
he declared that the hearts of the people would be revealed as they accepted
and rejected Jesus' identity and mission.
Being led of the Spirit directs us where we should go as
well as the words we impart to people under the anointing of the Spirit. We can count on God to speak to us and
through us as we live our lives in holiness and devotion to him. God will use us to bring words of
encouragement and warning to people as we walk closely with him as Simeon
did. He wants to use each one of us as
his mouthpiece and by the power of the Holy Spirit he will do it.
The second person in this godly couple was Anna. She was another person who was rewarded for
her devotion to the Lord. She had been a
widow for many years and spent her time in the temple in fasting and
prayer. I love how the Lord connected
her with Mary, Joseph and Simeon just as he was speaking to them. The prophetic words Simeon spoke must have
brought great joy to her heart. She was
at the right place at the right time because the Holy Spirit was orchestrating
her life. God is the divine
arranger. He puts people in our lives at
the right time and right place to be a blessing to us. I think he finds great pleasure in doing that
for us, giving us surprises along the way just to show us how much he loves us
and wants to bless our lives.
When I look back on my life I see many divine appointments,
people I met and situations that happened that God orchestrated to bless my
life and guide me in decisions I made. I think of our recent outreach to India
and Nepal and how God led us to different people at the right time and right
place. One day we were out exploring a
community and praying for the people and we met a Hindu man who spoke excellent
English. He helped us get into the
community where we shared the gospel with the children and adults and gave some
food to the children. He told me that
word got out that we were coming and some of the people in the community called
him to ask him why he was helping the Christians, not everyone was in favor of
us coming there. He was more open minded
about hearing what other people believed and he had a desire to help people so
he saw no problem aiding our group. We
had a great time with the children as well as the adults and I was really
thankful for God directing us to meet him.
We had other divine appointments along the way and we saw how God was
orchestrating these surprises.
Anna was a prophetess and I am sure she was very familiar
with the Messianic prophesies and like Simeon was waiting for their
fulfillment. When she saw the Messiah
she must have been thrilled. I love her
response, "she began thanking God and telling everyone in Jerusalem who
had been awaiting the coming of the Savior that the Messiah had finally arrived." She could not contain her joy and had to
share the good news with those who like her had been waiting. I don't think we as Gentiles can fully
appreciate what it was like for the people of Israel to finally see the
Messiah. When you look at their history
you see all the struggles, times of trial and testing, failures, imprisonment,
captivity, abuse but also the times of great blessing they also experienced
because of the covenant God had made with them and his great love for them. The coming of the Messiah had great
significance for them. The Messiah was
their hope of finally being delivered from all the troubles they had
experienced. For them it would the
beginning of a new age where they would no longer be dominated by other nations
and oppressed. They had great
expectations of what would happen when the Messiah came. When Anna met the Messiah she was
thrilled. Jesus came first for the
household of Israel as prophesied but he came also for the Gentiles like you
and I. Meeting Jesus is still the
greatest gift one could ever experience.
When people meet the Messiah and receive the gift that God
has made possible through him, the response is like Anna's, one of great joy
and thankfulness. I received a newsletter from the YWAM Chennai, India base this
week and the testimonies of God's power to save and heal were very inspiring.
"Our teams ministered in villages where there were no
churches. Many people heard the gospel and were saved. They prayed
for a paralyzed ex Hindu priest he got saved and later he also began to walk.
He was so filled with the Holy Spirit he could not stop crying and praying to
Jesus. "
The gospel message is Good News! It sets people free from all the lies and
deception of the devil who loves to keep people in darkness. We may not always see these kinds of responses
but we must continue to share the news with all who are willing to listen and
especially with those whom God has prepared to receive the message. May we have the enthusiasm of Anna to share
the gospel at every opportunity.
There are other examples from Anna's life for us to learn
from as we approach the New Year and think about what we would like to change
or see changed in our lives and ministry.
Anna's dedication to prayer and fasting challenges me. Here was a widow who could have been doing
many other things but she dedicated her singleness to serving the Lord in the
temple every day with prayer and fasting.
She was an intercessor and a prophetess whom God gave a great honor in
meeting the infant Messiah. Her life of
prayer and fasting indicate her intense desire for the Lord and the
relationship she had with him. Being
known as a person of prayer and fasting is a reputation we all should desire.
The flesh does not
want to pray and the devil seems to make sure that we do as little as possible
because he does not want us to be in tune with God and led of the Spirit. When Jesus began his ministry his popularity
skyrocketed. Huge crowds gathered to
listen to him and see the miracles he performed. He was in high demand and had very busy days
of ministry. Yet he made it a point to
get away into the wilderness where he previously spent 40 days in prayer and
fasting to connect with his Father and receive what he needed to carry out his
ministry. As ministers grow in
popularity the demands on their time become even greater and it is easy to fall
into the trap of thinking that you have to say yes to every invitation or fall
into pride thinking that you are really someone special. We must never be too big or too busy to
pray.
As we end this year of 2014 and look forward to the New Year
I pray that all of us will make a more concerted effort and spend the time
daily in prayer, waiting upon the Lord and being responsive to his directives
he communicates to us in prayer. It is
so easy to let the work of the day or other things push out our time of prayer
and seeking the Lord. Our daily
communion and connection with the Lord is critical but we also need to set
aside special times, maybe even parts of the day or a complete day to really
seek Him in prayer and fasting. We are
living in difficult times and I believe that we need to focus more of our time
in intercession for our fellow ministers and ministries as well as the billions
of lost souls. Individual prayer as well
as corporate prayer are needed desperately in this hour. Our prayers do accomplish things that we
could not accomplish by ourselves. We
underestimate the importance often because we do not see immediate
results. Prayer is an act of faith in a
God who calls us to pray because he will respond in his time and way. It is not meaningless effort but it is
powerful beyond our understanding. I
believe that as we spend more time in prayer God will open new doors of
ministry or make our ministry more effective.
Andrew Murray was a man of prayer and he made a statement that has
always stuck with me, "the sin of prayerlessness ". Failure to pray indicates that we do not
value it properly or that we do not understand its importance in God's
Kingdom. For him it was a sin not to
pray because it reflected self-dependence rather than God dependence.
In Simeon we see a man who served God wholeheartedly and
walked in holiness. We also see a man
who did not give up hope that the promise he had been given would be
fulfilled. He was also a man controlled
the Holy Spirit who spoke to him and through him to bless Joseph, Mary and
Anna. He was a man who longed to see
Jesus and his Kingdom established. His
life speaks volumes to each one of us.
Anna was a prayer warrior and prophetess whom God blessed by
allowing her also to meet the Messiah she longed to see. She was an enthusiastic evangelists who could
not keep the good news to herself and wasted no time sharing the good news with
others. Her life of prayer and fasting
was rewarded by the Lord.
The lives of this godly couple present a challenge to each
of us as we look to the New Year. God is
looking for Simeons and Annas today to carry out his kingdom work. I pray that each one of us will become
examples like they were in the coming year and each day of our lives.
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