There's a lot going on this week. We've got Hillary's lies. We've got issues to do with racism. We've got that great day on Monday, Independence Day. But when we come to worship, Although these things all come under the realm of Christ and are very important, I think the temptation is for us to focus on these things and to try and take our Bibles to apply them to these things. I kind of did that in a little blog yesterday. But I think what we need to do today and on the Lord's Day, and that's how I finished the blog, was to look to Jesus. And so when we come to our study in Luke, it seems very appropriate to me that we lift our eyes to Jesus. when our world and even our church might feel like we're and our own personal lives might feel like we're full of trouble. So I make no apology for looking today. We're going to continue our study and Luke chapter 2 and we're going to read verses 21 to 39. The liturgy has verse 40 on it. That's next week's verse. But let's stand for the reading of God's word. And we're reading Luke chapter 2 verse 21 to 39. And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now, when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was just 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. So he came by 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, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.' And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Now there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke often to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. Amen. And may God bless that reading of His Word. Let us pray. Gracious and Almighty God, as we come to Your Word, we give You thanks that You are God. We give You thanks that You are the One who has created us and the One who sustains us every day. And we read in Your Word that we are not sustained by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. And we pray that your word would be bred to us today. We pray that as we consider our Lord Jesus and his early days, we pray that you would bless us. We pray that you would bless these words of Simeon and Anna to us. We pray that Christ would be lifted up among us and that we would wonder at our Saviour. We ask that you would forgive us for all our sins and love us for Jesus' sake. Amen. Please be seated. Two weeks ago, Jesus was born. And now we know that he's six months older than baby John. he's fully divine I should say two weeks ago our time Jesus was born eight days ago or a week ago in the time that we're going to start at today so he's six months older than baby John his cousin who we looked at quite a number of weeks ago now. We know about this baby that he is the son of God. He is fully human. He is fully divine. He's not 50% human, 50% God. He is 100% human, 100% God. This is a glorious birth. This is something that we should be in awe at when we consider Mary and her experience with Gabriel the angel, when we consider the journey to Bethlehem where Jesus is born and we considered last time that it may be through the traditional idea that we have of them coming to the inn and there's no room at the inn. And so they find the stable. But we did say last time that it's possible that the word that's used for inn doesn't mean a commercial inn, and that it's likely or possible that Joseph had family who had them stay. And because the baby was coming, they made room for them in the barn or the animal stall rather than them staying with everybody else in the house. So just as it had been prophesied of the Messiah and of the Savior, God has been born into the world. The shepherds have come and they have seen a vision of angels. They've gone to visit Bethlehem. They found the baby and the sign that this was the Son of God. What kind of glorious sign did they see? Well, they saw the angels and they saw heaven opened before them. But when they actually came to the house and looked at Jesus, The manger was the sign. It wasn't normal to have this baby in a manger but for the shepherds here was the sign. This is the Son of God. This is the Messiah that Israel has been waiting for. He's born at Bethlehem just as was expected. They marvel at these things and they go away telling everyone and Mary wonders at these things, keeps them and ponders them in her heart. So, a week goes by and at eight days old, according to the law, the Jewish law, babies are to be circumcised. Now we mentioned this two weeks ago because we had the baptism of baby Otis, Otis Dow, and we realized and we said then that this is the same covenant a different symbol, but God works through promises, God works through covenant, God blesses his people, and when it comes to the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, we're not to see this disconnect between the two, we're to see them very much connected. And the reason we see them very much connected is that we see Jesus, our Saviour and our Lord, who gives us the symbol of baptism for new believers and for the children of believers, but we see him fulfilling the law. The Old Testament law is not to be despised and it's not to be cast aside and seen as something that's not got any relevance or importance. The Old Testament law, as we come to this text, must be fulfilled by the Messiah. The Jewish Messiah is not going to be some kind of rebel against Judaism. He is going to be the one who comes to do what the Jews couldn't do for themselves. God had given them a law and the law that he gave them was right and just and good. And the instructions that he gave them were right and just and good and meaningful. And they were to see in this law and in the circumcision and in the other acts and symbols of the Old Testament law, they were to see Jesus. They were to see their own sin. They were to see their own need for a Messiah. Just like we come in to worship on Sunday. And we come to confess our sins before God. Because we have to begin there with an acknowledgement that we are unclean. That we are undone before God. That we are sinners by nature. But we have a great hope. Because God gave promises to Israel. And the promise he gave to Israel was that with the shedding of blood there was forgiveness for sin. But we read in Hebrews that the blood of bulls and goats and so on could not forgive sin. But Abraham had also been given a sign that included flesh and blood. And that sign was circumcision. And it was to set Abraham and his children and his servants, his household apart from the world around them. And it was to say to them that God has promised to Abraham by an oath and swore by himself because there was no one greater by whom he could make an oath. He made a promise to Abraham. He was going to use Abraham and set Abraham apart and bless Abraham and make Abraham a blessing to all the world. And the symbol of that was circumcision. A sign of the promise to Abraham was circumcision. And Abraham's children and Abraham's children's children and the great nation Israel that was to come from the loins of Abraham were to identify themselves by this sign. And so this symbol, Paul tells us in the New Testament that circumcision profits nothing to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are not to be circumcised. It's of no use to you. And there's this group comes into the church, Jewish men who say, you've got to be circumcised. You've got to follow this old law. Baptism is not enough. You've got to be like the Jews. And Paul says, well, it profits nothing. And for Paul to be able to say that, it tells us that for Abraham and for the seed Israel, this circumcision of the flesh was purely symbolic. It was something that was to remind them of the covenant. It was to remind them of the promises. It was to show them that they were to be set apart from the world. Not just in the flesh, but that they were to be set apart as God's people. Israel, the people of God. and so Jesus comes and Jesus doesn't come with some new philosophy and some new idea that has never been heard of before but Jesus comes to fulfill that which had been promised to Abraham that which had been promised to Eve and to Adam when they were told that the seed of the woman We mentioned that a few weeks ago, the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. And here he is and he comes just like John the Baptist's family came, a Jewish family. They come to this point at eight days where the law tells them that the child is to be circumcised. So Jesus as a Jewish boy and as the seed of the woman and the seed of Abraham, the seed of promise, he fulfills the law that had been given to Israel. And we see that here as we go on because we read that they were going to Jerusalem at the end of Mary's, the time of her purification. I should mention first of all our points, I forgot to give you our points. The law, the song and the prophet. The law, the song and the prophet. First of all, the law, the law was kept here. And when you look at our text, we begin at verse 21 and we're told 8 days were completed for the circumcision of the child. And that tells us right away they're keeping the law. And then we get to the end of our text where we look at verse 39 and we're told, So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city Nazareth. And so when Jesus comes later on to his public ministry and speaks about the law, he tells us he has come to fulfill the law. He has come to keep the law, not to reject the law. And the other thing that happens at the time of circumcision is that while they're at this house in Bethlehem, you remember they didn't leave right away. We don't think they would have left in these first few days after Jesus is born. But we come to this section and we see them living in the house according to Matthew. You remember Matthew's gospel has the wise men come and they come to the house and that's why one of the reasons N.T. Wright argues that the first place the inn is actually a house not an inn but if he's wrong on that then it means that he moved from the inn into a family home but remains at Bethlehem. So while they're in Bethlehem, 8 days pass, it comes time for circumcision and you remember from the John the Baptist sermon, one of the biggest deals with John the Baptist was that he was named at the circumcision. And Zechariah, who had been struck dumb, was, because he didn't believe the angel at first, he was asked by the people, because Elizabeth was saying, we're going to call him John, and they were saying, well, you're not allowed to call him John. We don't want to call, we don't think he should be called John, because nobody in your family is called John. Why would you call him John? Well, the answer from Elizabeth and the answer from Zechariah is, well, God, through the angel Gabriel, told us to name him John. And we have that pattern followed then when the name Jesus is given in verse 21. His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. So God has given him a name just like John and his name will be Jesus. Now it's important for us to know what Jesus means therefore and Jesus is a Greek form of the name Joshua. And if you go back to the Old Testament and to the Torah, and you look up Joshua, and you read about Joshua, then you'll find that Joshua's name wasn't originally Joshua, it was Hoshea. And that meant salvation. But his name is changed by Moses, and he's known as Joshua. And Joshua means Jehovah saves, or Yahweh saves. God saves. And so when Jesus is born into the world and when the name of Jesus is given to this little boy who's eight days old and an eight day old baby doesn't seem very useful, I guess, or industrious. Our wee fellow is nine months now and he's still not very useful. But when you look at this little baby boy, And you hear this name that's been given to him, and all through your Bible names are important. We'll mention another one in a little while. Jehovah Saves. Jehovah Saviour is the name given to this little boy. And the title I've got on the liturgy is Jesus' Childhood. The title I've changed it to in my notes is Baby Jesus. And we're to wonder at Baby Jesus. We are to look at this little boy and know that this is the God-man and know that the first thing that happens in his short first week of life is that he begins to fulfill God's law for us. Baby Jesus is circumcised for our salvation. Then we have something different happening and I'm not sure I ever realised that there were two different things going on when I've read through this passage quickly but we have eight days past for the circumcision of the child. So that happens in the house at Bethlehem. But because they're at Bethlehem, it means that they're only five miles away from Jerusalem. And you remember the last time that Mary came to visit Elizabeth, they were 70 miles away. But now in Bethlehem, they're five miles from the temple. And so they go at the end of the time, the 40 days, so 33 days after the circumcision, Mary has been pronounced unclean by the law. Mary is unclean for the first seven days then the circumcision happens then for 33 days more she is impure and you remember that the law is not saying that Mary is dirty in some way. It's not a physical thing. It's not really reflecting anything about Mary and the birth of the child. We don't need to be concerned today about Jamie Stoffel coming to church next week or anything like that. That's not what the law was doing or saying. The law is saying that we are unclean. The law is saying that we have sinned. And the law, the ceremony that's included in the law, is teaching us and preaching to us about these things. And whether it's saying that Mary is unclean herself, whether it's saying that the newborn baby is unclean, we can surmise about that. But we're all unclean, is what the law tells us. Everybody's caught up among these rules and regulations of the law. Everybody's affected. Mothers are affected. Fathers are affected. Everybody who comes under the law, the law is preaching to them and teaching to them that we are unclean before God. That we have sinned against our God. That we have rebelled against our Creator. And that there's a need for sacrifice. And that's what Mary has to do at this point. On day 41, she has to bring a sacrifice to the temple. We read in Leviticus, when the days of her purification are completed for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the doorway of the tent of meeting a one year old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering. then he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, whether male, whether a male child or female." So, Mary is to come with a lamb and with a turtle dove to bring it or a young pigeon to bring it to be offered because there has to be cleansing for sin and sacrifice the shedding of blood is where we see symbolically at least the taking away of sin at the temple but in verse 24 we read this that she came to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Now when we read that, we've read that every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, there's a presentation going on here where Jesus is to be brought to the temple and they do that, they bring him to the temple to present him, he's the firstborn son, he belongs to God, but there's also at the same time this sacrifice for Mary herself this requirement that she bring, animals for sacrifice, and when we read it there, it said a lamb and a turtledove, or a pigeon. And when we read here, we're told that she comes with two pigeons. Now that sends us back to Leviticus chapter 12, and when we read in Leviticus chapter 12 verse 8, we read this, but if she cannot afford a lamb, Then she shall take two turtle doves or two pigeons, the one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her and she shall be clean. If she can't afford a lamb, then she's to come with two turtle doves or two pigeons. And that should wow us. Or wow us. I don't know how to say it. When we see Jesus' parents coming to the temple to make an offering, they can't afford a lamb. This is a poor family. This is a low estate that Jesus has been born into. And we should be getting that impression as we read through these things. One of the questions that comes up after or around this is about the wise men. You remember when the wise men came to visit in the house, they brought gifts for Jesus and they worshipped him. And so it's surmised that it must be after this happens, after this offering that the wise men come to visit because otherwise they would have been able to purchase a lamb for offering, for an offering. You remember when Jesus comes to the temple, he turns over tables because people are buying and selling and one of the things that they're selling is animals for sacrifice. And so if they had the money, they could have bought a lamb. It's not that they're away from home and that they struggle to find a lamb. The lamb is there available if they have the money. But they have no lamb. But they do have a lamb. They have the lamb. And John later is going to make this great announcement as Jesus begins his ministry. Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. And here Mary and Joseph come to the temple and they can't afford a lamb for sacrifice at the birth of Jesus, but they come presenting Jesus. And there are echoes of Samuel being brought to the temple and left at the temple. Jesus is going to be the great sacrifice. Jesus himself is going to be the one who takes away the sin of his mother, and the sin of his father, and the sin of the world. Jesus himself is the sacrifice. And as he's presented to the temple, and presented to the Lord, then we look at this baby boy, six weeks old, He's going to be the sacrifice for sin. He is the Lamb. That's the law. Then secondly, we see the song. We're introduced to a godly man here in Luke chapter 2 who appears in the temple just as they've gone and made their sacrifice. Verse 25, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. So, we have a number of things to say about this man. First, he was a godly man. That's seen there in verse 25a. You remember as we came to the beginning of Luke. Luke speaks about Herod. He speaks about the historical situation. He wants us to know historically that this was a dark time in the world. This was a dark time for Israel and as we encountered Zechariah and Elizabeth we encounter people who are unusual in their day people who are godly in a dark day people who are faithful in a dark day And it kind of surprises us then when we see what's going on, especially because we know what Jesus' ministry is like later on. We know that Jesus is going to be turning over the tables in the temple soon. And we start to imagine there are no faithful people left in Israel. When you see Jesus rejected by the mob at the end of the gospel, we start to get the impression that there are no Christians left. or no godly people left. But we're told here that we've had Zechariah, we've had Elizabeth before. Now here's another man who's a believer. And it reminds us of the days of Elijah. You remember when Elijah was depressed. Why was Elijah depressed? Because he thought he was the only godly one left. And he's told that he's not the only godly one left. The Lord has preserved 7,000 in Israel. Two numbers that Mark Completion or wholeness, 1,007 together, 7,000 in Israel have been preserved who have not bowed the knee to Baal. You're not alone, Elijah, no matter how alone you feel. And sometimes at the church here in the Western world, we begin to feel very alone. We begin to feel that the church is being destroyed and the church is falling apart. We begin to feel that we're the only faithful ones. Now that's a very proud thing to think, but it's also something that's very real for us to think. Am I the only faithful one left? Everybody else is disagreeing with me on all sorts. Is the church this small? And the response to that is no. God is building His church. Whatever it looks like, whatever our context feels like, we believe that Christ is on the throne. This baby Jesus, who was the God-man, is ascended to heaven at the right hand of God. And building His church on the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But sometimes, we feel we're the only ones left. We're the only light in the darkness. But here we have another godly man introduced. Here we have encouragement for us. We've got Zechariah, we've got Elizabeth, we've got Mary, we've got Joseph, and now we've got Simeon added. The numbers are growing all the time. There are all these faithful believers around and the godly man Simeon comes over to where Mary and Joseph are. Some people have suggested that Simeon may be a priest and that that's why he's in the temple. That's probably unlikely for a couple of reasons. One is that Mary will only be allowed into the court of the Gentiles or the court of women. She's not allowed to go any further in. Now that doesn't stop a priest meeting her but there's no reason for us to be thinking that there are lots of priests all around Mary here and if somebody bumps into her it must be a priest. The second reason and the more convincing reason is that he had had it revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he was going to meet the Lord's Christ, the Anointed One, the Saviour. And the Spirit brought him to the temple in verse 27. So this isn't a chance encounter. This isn't a man who's a priest who's at the temple all the time and who works at the temple and so it's a natural meeting. This is a supernatural meeting. This man is a just man. This man, like Noah and Job, it doesn't mean that they're perfect men. You read the life of Noah, you read the life of Job, they're described as just men. They're right in God's sight by faith. They believe in the Messiah. They believe in the Savior who's still to come. And so they're just men. Doesn't mean they're perfect. Same as all of you. If you believe in Jesus, you're just. You're justified. You're right in God's sight because of Jesus. Not because you're perfect in any way or by any means. And so, when we come to meet this man, Simeon, and when we come to hear this description of him, that he's a good man, he's just and devout, he's a godly man, in the middle of a dark day, but he's being added to the numbers that we've met already, he's a believer, he trusts in Jesus, he's one of us, he's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. He's made right through Christ's righteousness and Christ's work. and he's been waiting all these years of his life. We get the impression that he's an old man because of his the Nunc Dimittis. He's ready to go after this. So we imagine him as an old man. It doesn't actually say he's a very old man but we really get the impression this is an old godly man who's been waiting for the consolation of Israel, waiting for the comfort of Israel. It's an uncomfortable place Israel. There's only one thing going to bring peace and that's the King of Peace, Jesus Christ, the King of Salem in Jerusalem at the temple. And here comes Simeon and he rejoices to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. He took him in his arms and he blessed God And then we have the words of that song again, Nunc dimittis. Well, I don't think he sang it. It doesn't say he sang it. He said it. But it's fine to make it into a song. That's good. So here's this godly man. He's waiting for the truth to come to pass. He's waiting for the promise. He's like Abraham. He waits on the promise of God. He believes the promise of God. He trusts the promise of God. He's just like we're to be. We're to be waiting for God's promise. We're to be sure and steadfast in our faith knowing that God is faithful to his promises. But he's also a spiritual man. The Holy Spirit is upon him, we're told. and the Holy Spirit being upon somebody gives this ring to the Old Testament where often we find this phrase used where the Holy Spirit comes down for some special purpose and here as this man goes about his daily business as he believes in the promise as he waits eagerly for the consolation of Israel the Holy Spirit has come and given him a promise and the promise is very particular The promise is that he will see the Lord's Christ. He will see Jesus before he dies. And you've had generations, 400 years of silence since the book of Malachi was written. But this man gets a direct promise from the Spirit. You will live to see the Christ. What a day this is for him then. When the Holy Spirit leads him to the temple. And he sees there Mary, Joseph and this baby boy who is the Savior of the world. This baby boy who is the consolation of Israel. This baby boy who will save his people from their sins and who will save Simeon from his sins. His Lord and his Savior. Now we can discuss whether the Holy Spirit still does things like this today, whether this is anything like Pentecost. Let's talk about that sometime. But here we have a book full of promises from the Holy Spirit. This is the Word of God. He's given us this book And we have to believe it and trust it and be confident in it. And that's the example Simeon gives us. Here he was waiting for a long time for this promise to be fulfilled. And here he sees this baby boy, the Lord Jesus. And he can say, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. The promise has been fulfilled. My eyes have seen your salvation. So this man makes this faithful prayer. He's a spiritual man, the Holy Spirit is at work in his life, not simply internally and giving him faith and so on, but this phrase, the Holy Spirit comes upon him, seems to have more going on than that. The Holy Spirit comes upon him for a special purpose, but then he makes this faithful prayer. And he takes the baby in his arms and he gives thanks to God for all his goodness, gives thanks to God for what he's done. You've prepared, my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all peoples. Here is the Messiah that has been waited for. Here is the Messiah that the whole Old Testament is preparing for. A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles. Here is the saviour not only of Israel but of the whole world. How different this man is to the Pharisees around about him. How different he is even to the disciples of Jesus as they think he's come to get rid of the Romans. As they wonder about how this warrior king of theirs will defeat the Roman enemy. He's come to bring revelation to the Gentiles. When Jesus again knocks down the tables at the temple, the question is why does he do it? Is it because it was wrong for them to be providing these animals? Well that doesn't seem to be the case. In the law there was provision made for that. Not everybody had a farm with animals that they could bring. And it seems to be the case that the temple had become, instead of being, and this is the rebuke Jesus gives, that it's meant to be a house of prayer for all nations, it had become a hub for the Israelites and for those who were haters of the world around them. And here is Simeon and he comments on revelation coming to the Gentiles. Here is the Savior for the whole world and the glory of your people Israel. Israel's glory will be revealed through this man, even though the Jews will reject him, even though the Jews will crucify him. Yet we'll see that this Jewish nation was the people of God. that from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and to this great nation that existed and had this glorious history that they were the glory of God and Jesus comes to show that to the whole world and Simeon can say because of that let your servants depart in peace I'm ready to die I'm ready to leave this world. Friend, can you say that? Is Jesus so precious to you? And are you so sure of Jesus Christ and His ability to save you and redeem you? That you can say with Simeon, now let your servant depart in peace. The sting of death is gone. The victory of the grave has been overturned. Jesus is risen from the dead. He is ascended to the right hand of God. He has the victory. Now let your servant depart in peace. Jesus brings peace even when it comes to death. Then he gives a prophecy. Simeon addresses Mary. He speaks to Mary after his prayer and he says that Jesus is going to He's destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel. What does that mean? Well, we know that Jesus is the builder of the church and that Jesus prophesies that the temple is going to be destroyed. One stone will not be left upon another. And in 70 AD, the temple was destroyed. And so there's this image of the fall and the rising of many. And Jesus then builds his church. Israel becomes the church. The church spreads throughout the world. And the stone which the builders rejected will be the head cornerstone. Jesus is the cornerstone. Having been rejected by the Jews, the downfall of the Pharisees and Judaism of the day in AD 70 where the temple is destroyed, there can be no more sacrifice. There can be no more fulfilling of the law as it had been instituted. But Jesus is going to build his people still, and he builds his church, and he continues to build his church. But, says Simeon, as well as that, a sword will pierce through your own soul also. A sword will pierce your own soul also. And the Bible is a very honest book. and the word of God is very honest with us and when Mary is told a sword will pierce her own soul she's being told something very real that as well as this man being for the downfall and building up of many in Israel yet a sword will pierce through your own soul also something is going to happen in order for Jesus to be this great saviour In order for this child to be the Messiah, something is going to hurt Mary. Now, what is it that hurts Mary? What great distress will accompany this great salvation? Well, we see Mary being warned about that. We see another woman being warned the same thing. The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent. But the seed of the woman will also be bruised in doing so. And Mary is being warned, Jesus is going to die. Your son, your baby boy, you'll see him grow up and you'll see him die. You'll see him crucified. Some of you have suffered a great tragedy, perhaps of losing a son or a daughter. And it seems so unnatural that that a son or daughter, a child would die before the parent. It's so much harder to take than what seems to be natural where parents would pass before their children. And he warns Mary that a sword will pierce her soul as she sees Jesus, her son, crucified on Calvary's cross. And finally then we meet a prophet Anna appears. She almost interrupts what's going on. You see Joseph and his mother are marveling at Simeon and what Simeon has to say. He tells Mary what he's got to tell her but then in verse 36 there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel. Now Phanuel means the face of God. And here's this Anna, the daughter of Phanuel and you notice there's a little history given here by Luke about Anna. He wants us to get to know this lady. He doesn't tell us anything that she said but he tells us this little story about her coming. She's a prophetess. God has his people yet another added to the story of the faithful believers who are still in Jerusalem. She's a woman this time. Very often Luke will place a man and a woman next to each other to speak somehow of the universality of the gospel to speak as well of the value that Christianity places upon women. Sometimes we are accused of not doing that. Well, I think if we read our Bibles, God is very clear that men and women are equally valuable. And in the culture of the day and the time, Luke seems to be at pains to do that, to place this woman here alongside Simeon. So he tells us about Anna. She comes, she's a prophetess. What it means that she's a prophetess? Well, it's not completely clear except that she must be somehow one who reveals the word of God. There were schools of the prophets we read about in the Old Testament and it's unclear as to what was meant by schools of the prophets. Were they like our seminaries today? Perhaps They were something like that. Is there an office of prophet that's being spoken of? Well, I don't think that's what's here. But she was someone who revealed God's word, a prophetess. And so she comes and she's a widow. She's an old lady. And I think this is to give us something of a respect for this woman. If you imagine, you picture the scene, you see this old lady and we should respect our elders, we know that. But there is something natural, I think, in respecting a lady who is like this, a godly woman, a woman who's close to the Lord, a woman who's of great age. She had lived with a husband for seven years from her virginity and was a widow of about 84 years. Now, some people say that means that she's 84 years old. Others say that she was married and so on after she was 84, and so she's probably around, not after she was 84, but plus the 84, so she's about 103, 104 years of age. If we think that she's now 84, then she's been a widow for about 60 years. She serves God day and night in the temple. Now maybe you know somebody that's something like this. I know that in my Christian life I can identify old ladies who were godly old ladies, who were close to the Lord, who spent much time in prayer and so on. I think that's the kind of image that we're to have here. We're not sure again how old Simeon was we know for sure this is a godly old lady who fasts and prays and has devoted herself to the temple and to the Lord her God and so she comes along and she impresses Joseph and Mary we don't know if she heard what Simeon had to say but again if she's a prophetess God can reveal things to her and so she approaches and she gives thanks to God for Jesus because the Messiah has Come. She spoke often to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. She goes out telling people, the Messiah we're waiting for has come. There are more believers out there. There are more people waiting for redemption in Israel. It looked very dark and very bleak at the beginning. There were these little lights, Zachariah and Elizabeth. Now we're adding more to the picture. God has his people. And she comes to the mum and dad, she gives thanks to God for this baby boy and she tells everybody, this is the Messiah. Do you? Are you telling people about this Messiah? Are you telling people, like the law told us, that we're full of sin? That we have sinned against God? but that there was a baby boy born 2,000 years ago who came to be the Lamb of God who takes away sin? Are you excited like Simeon was and giving thanks to God for Jesus? Are you excited like Anna was and going to tell everyone about this Savior to bring them hope, to tell them God's Word is true, to tell them Jesus is our only hope? The law is fulfilled, we read in verse 39. They've done everything according to the law. This baby boy is being prepared to be the Lamb of God, the Messiah, the Savior, the perfect Son of God. The prophet has spoken. The parents return to Nazareth. And we're wondering what's going to happen next. What's Luke's purpose? Luke wants you to adore Jesus. It's all about him, friends. And as we see all the troubles in our world today, and as we get down and depressed with the news and the darkness that exists in our world, Luke is saying, look up. Hear the history of this man, Jesus, who's at the right hand of God today. Hear about his birth last time. Hear about his first days. Hear about what he's come. for and come to do and put all your faith and all your hope, not in this world, but in this man, Jesus Christ. It's all about Him. May God bless His Word to us. Let us pray. Gracious God, we thank you for your law. We thank you that you are a God who calls us to obedience. We thank you that you are a God who has shown to us in your word that we are unclean, that we are sinful. But we thank you that you are a God who loved the world and gave your only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And we pray that we would be like Simeon and like Anna, that we would be thrilled to know Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and that we would be able to say with Simeon, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, that we would know the peace of God that passes understanding, but that we would also be like Anna and that we would tell to all who will hear. that Christ is Lord, and Christ is King, and Christ is Saviour. We ask these things for the forgiveness of all our sins, in Jesus' name. Amen.