two presents
Posted by Bryan
This year's Christmas is special to us for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is special because it will be the first Christmas we'll be celebrating in our own home since our house fire of 2000. We love spending our holidays with our parents and extended family, but there certainly is much joy found in establishing our own memories and experiences in our own home. We're very much looking forward to that.
But another reason why we're really looking forward to this Christmas season is because this is the time of the year when we get to introduce Kelsi to the world. We decided this year not to send out birth announcements when she was born in February. Instead, we just determined to wait until sending out our annual Christmas card picture with this precious nine-month old little girl joining her brother and sister dressed in Christmas finery. Just this past Wednesday, we got everyone all spiffed up and arranged for the annual wrestling match we lovingly call "photo time."
Our mission that we choose to accept each and every year is to take one roll, 24 photos, of our children. Also, I do my best to accomplish this without losing my patience, my temper, or my mind. This year's attempt didn't start off that well because I told Kaylyn her smile looked fake, which broke her heart, and I had to spend adequate time consoling her and making sure she now didn't look "splotchy" for the photo. Once that drama was resolved, we snapped an impressive seven photos before Kelsi determined she had done her time, and she was making a break for it. We managed to placate her, or more accurately, managed to redirect her attention, and get the rest of the role. And Cotter, for all the times I have commented on his being an adventurous little boy, I must tell you, he was great. And he made sure to let us know just how good he was being.
Last week, we began our countdown to Christmas at our church by looking at the scriptures that share the details of Christ's coming and the visitation of the magi. Today, we're moving from the book of Matthew to the book of Luke and we'll see look at the spiritual truths behind the presentation of Jesus by Mary and Joseph in the temple, and the reaction His presentation caused by two of those who were worshipping there at the time. Read with me, from :
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 turtledoves 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 a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four 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 of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Let's look at the first presentation, when Jesus, the Christ child is presented to Simeon. We see that this presentation accomplishes
religious satisfaction. You see, God for about 4000 years had been running the earth using a according to a system that was designed to show humanity that they couldn't get to heaven on their own. And as such, He had established a series of laws that regulated and detailed every aspect of life. What we see as we look at this passage is that Jesus, the infant, satisfied every religious regulation under which He existed.
First, we see this principle of
obedience exemplified in several acts of obedience. Beginning with verse 21, we discover that Jesus lived a life that was defined by obedience. Jesus had the blessing of being born into a family where His parents desired to obey God. They, according to the law established in , waited eight days to have their son circumcised by the high priest. We also see that, according to the same section of law, they waited an additional 33 days (40 days total) until Mary was no longer ceremonial unclean before they brought Him to the temple for his ritualized circumcision. They made the appropriate sin offering, and even had obediently given Him the name told to them by the angel in chapter 1 verse 31.
It was in this context of obedience that they have this interesting encounter with the man named Simeon. This is what we know about Simeon. He was just and devout. This meant he was obedient to the law. He was well respected and known as one who sought to live according to the law that God had given.
We also see that the outgrowth or purpose of his life was given to the waiting for the one who would be known as the Consolation of Israel. This man had invested his life in seeing the one God had promised as the Messiah. He wasn't playing church games. He wasn't trying to look important. He was just a man who reverently worshipped God, and was counting on God to fulfill His promises.
We see one other important detail - the Holy Spirit was upon him. Oh, what blessed words to have associated to one's identity. He wasn't a man who was operating in his flesh. He was being led by God, guided by the Holy Spirit. And we see that the Holy Spirit revealed to him that his life's pursuit would not be unfulfilled. He would not see death until he had seen the Lord's Christ.
It is under the dictates of this promise that the Holy Spirit led Simeon into the temple. Turn in your Bible to the book of Malachi, chapter 3, and read verse one along with me:
"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, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. behold, He is coming,'' says the Lord of hosts. ()
Did Simeon know this Scripture? I don't know, but I think he probably did. He was righteous. He was just. He had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Lord's Christ before dying. So, I imagine it was with great expectation and anticipation that Simeon made his way to the temple.
And it was when he walked in to the temple, he encountered this couple that had brought their 40-day-old child to do for Him what was right according to the custom of the Law. We see in this verse that their motivation was to do the right thing. They weren't motivated by the ceremony itself, they just knew it was their responsibility to obey the Lord. It's clear that obedience was a very compelling factor to them. And it counters the argument that they were the biblical equivalent to today's counter-culture rebels. They weren't hippies trying to 'bring down the system.' They were seeking to obey the law, to honor God, and to do what was right.
It was in this context of obedience that they encountered Simeon. Now, let's see the
observations of this man of God.
First, Simeon makes observations of fulfilled promises. Listen to what he says in verses 29-32. He is declaring that God has been faithful. God can be trusted. He has fulfilled His promises. He has provided His salvation. He has brought the light of the world to the world, to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and glory to Israel.
Then, Simeon offers observations of future promises to Mary. I find it interesting that Simeon is only addressing Mary, perhaps because of the Holy Spirits foreknowledge that Joseph will at some point die early in the life of Jesus. But Simeon offers these words (verse 34-35). He offers a prophecy that is an echo of and . And we discover, thanks to the hindsight of 2000 years, that these promises told for the future here, will be fulfilled scarcely three decades later.
There's a point to all this - not just that Jesus obeyed the law, that He never broke it. The point is not that they met a real swell guy who had some interesting things to say. The point of all this is that Jesus, from the moment of His birth, to the moment of His death, satisfied the religious requirements of God. The book of Hebrews tells us that all the Old Testament sacrifices were insufficient because the priest making the sin offering sacrifice was not himself sinless. That changed with Jesus. He was born sinless and He remained sinless throughout His life. He's the only One in all of history to accomplish it. Accordingly, when He brought His sin offering to the altar, for the first and only time in all of history, it was sufficient.
Following their encounter with Simeon, Jesus, Mary and Joseph then encounter Anna, and when they encounter Anna, we discover that Jesus not only provides religious satisfaction, but He also provides
relational satisfaction. Let's look at that second presentation now.
Just as God was good enough to give us some background information on Simeon, He does the same with Anna. We see that she's a prophetess. She comes from a priestly lineage, and that she was what we'd label today as "spiritual." She was an old gal. Scholars are divided on whether she was 84 years old, or if she had been a widow for 84 years. But either way, Anna was a lady who had been around for a while. And the Word says that she was a woman who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fasting and prayers day and night.
Before we go on, I want to pause here to note that Anna was a woman who understood something important. She was a woman who had lived a life dedicated to serving God. Now here she was as a senior lady, and she gives us an example to live by. She wasn't focused on what she was once able to do, but now is unable to do. She certainly hadn't taken the position that "she had done her time," and had earned her spiritual retirement. She had determined that she still had a place of service, and her mission service was to serve as a prayer warrior.
Now, we see, through this presentation of Jesus to Anna two wonderful truths worth embracing today. First, we see that from the beginning of His life, Jesus made a practice of
encountering the faithful. It was Jesus Himself who said, "draw near all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus has said He will be closer to you than a brother, and that He has chosen to make your very body His dwelling place. God has ordained to encounter His creation. When you read in the book of Acts, Paul preached to a group of people in the areopagus in Athens who were worshipping at a false altar that bore the inscription, "to the unknown god." We know that this is not true god, because God has ordained to make Himself known to His creation.
Friends things are no different today. New Age theology isn't so "new," after all. We see that this is much of what New Age theology teaches - that God is some "unknowable force." That He is not personal, but just a part of a larger collective spiritual entity. But this is not the God I know. The God I know has constantly and continually sought out a relationship with man. He was the one who called Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and countless others by name. He is the one who revealed Himself and His glorious plan to His prophets. He is the One who spoke with David, a man after His heart. He is the one who was presented in the temple to the faithful. First to Simeon, and then to Anna, two faithful servants of God, who weren't interested in religion, but were instead consumed with redemption.
And we also see that God
encourages us toward fellowship. The next thing Anna did was this: she went and told everyone she could find who was interested in the redemption of Israel. The natural response to a faithful person encountering God was for that faithful person to go and initiate purposeful fellowship with others. She didn't stay in the temple, which had been her practice for quite some time (since that was the detail used to primarily describe her).
For her entire life, Anna had lived a life in expectation and hope that God would send the Messiah He had been promising for thousands of years. And when He did, God chose to send the Messiah first as a baby. And that was okay with Anna. She didn't place expectations on God. She didn't have a preconceived mind set on what the Messiah would look like, how old He would be, and what His reign would consist of. She was open to whatever God had determined was appropriate. And when He sent the Messiah, she knew it was time to tell others.
This is what she didn't do: She didn't stay in the temple. She didn't start up a Bible study class that just talked about what it meant now that He was there. She didn't keep the news to herself. She didn't think her job was done. She was a woman who is much like our awesome group of senior adult ladies - she was a woman on a mission. She had renewed purpose. She had focus. She had a job to do, and nothing was going to stop her from doing it.
Here is the point - Jesus was not only Messiah because He satisfied all the religious requirements, but also because He satisfied all the relational requirements, too. The Bible says that over the course of His life, He was tempted in all ways that a man could be tempted, yet He never sinned. Do you know the only way that is possible is through interacting with humans? When Jesus was presented to Simeon and to Anna, it was the introduction to the religious world of God, in the flesh. And thus began a thirty year relationship with God interacting with sinful man. Jesus, this infant became the man who was known as a friend to sinners. He was identified as the one who hung out in the leper colonies, who dined with tax collectors. He befriended a harlot. He walked the back alleys and stopped at the healing pools. Why? Because He loved people. He was the God who was seeking out the weakest, most feeble, the most hurting, the most needy, the lost. From this very encounter, we see that God made a practice of revealing Himself not to the proud, not to the self-sufficient, but instead to those who were seeking Him.
December 15, 2002 8:06 AM