“I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” (Luke 2:30-32 NLT)
The long lives of Anna and Simeon spanned the eras of both the Old and New Testaments. They believed God’s promise of redemption and laid faithfully in wait for its fulfillment. At last, they saw the time arrive . . . and faith became gifted sight. They received God’s reward: to look upon the face of Israel’s Consolation. Proving, we never age beyond God’s grace. His gifts don’t top out once a person reaches a certain age.
The gift of their inspired testimony, recorded for all the generations that followed, shines a beautiful light of revelation on the birth of Jesus.
I may have grouped their names together in my opening sentence, but that’s not to confuse them as a couple. So, let’s look at each of them separately—for they each take up space in the New Testament (though in Luke’s gospel alone).
Joseph and Mary took the infant Jesus to “present Him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22) and offer to God a sacrifice (Luke 2:24). It was then that God, in His providence, blessed Simeon with an encounter with the holy family. Filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 2:25), Simeon praised God.
Simeon devoted his life to eagerly watching . . . waiting . . . longing . . . and hoping in the Lord. God rewarded him with a word that the Messiah would come in his lifetime. And, true to His word, Simeon held the Child.
At life’s end, God gifted Simeon’s eyes of faith with sight. He gifted him with peace. And the Spirit gifted him with a testimony of comfort for the world.
Anna, a widow who “never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying” (Luke 2:37), was blessed to join the gathering and offer her own praise. Nearing her life’s end, having received devotion’s reward by witnessing the fruition of hope, she shared with everyone “who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
Paul wrote that while we live in the earthly tents of these bodies we live by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). That faith will be gifted with sight. Because Jesus’ light has shone in our hearts, He dispels the darkness of spiritual blindness. But, for now however, we only see in part.
We don’t know the time (or our age) of the Lord’s promised return. But don’t we want to be found as Anna and Simeon? Watching and longing. Praising. Believing God is the giver of good gifts. And trusting in His perfect timing.
As we wait for the coming of Christmas in this advent, let it create in us a greater longing for the coming of our Lord.
Father, we don’t know the day or the hour, as it was for Anna and Simeon. Train us by their example to lead devout and righteous lives as we wait expectantly in this advent of our Lord’s coming. Our souls wait with longing, as watchmen in the night; our hope is in Your Word (adapted from Psalm 130:5-6).
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