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We have the privilege this morning of returning once again to our verse-by-verse examination of Luke's Gospel. And this morning we find ourselves in Luke chapter two. We're going to be looking at verses 25 through 38 along with a number of other passages that are relevant to our discussion this morning; and we're doing this under the title "The Testimonies of a Believing Remnant." And actually, this is the second part of that little series. Let me read the text beginning in Luke two, verse 25 you five,

"And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking 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 carry out for Him the custom of the Law,

"then he took Him into his arms and blessed God, and said,

"'Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word;

"'For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

"'A light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel.'

"And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.

"And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, 'Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed--

"'and a sword will pierce even your own soul--to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.'

"And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,

"and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.

"At that moment, she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem."

Now you must bear in mind that the amazing claims surrounding Jesus' birth and his identity would be hard for anybody to believe. The long-awaited Messiah needed verification from credible witnesses, so to speak, and God provides them here in Luke's gospel, and each corroborating testimony came from devout followers of the Mosaic law. And interestingly enough, in the context of the temple, and we have seen last week the testimony of Joseph and Mary, today, we're going to see the testimony of Simeon and the testimony of Anna.

However, before we look at the text, may I remind you that just because there are credible witnesses to the accounts of Jesus' life and ministry, just because he did miracles that were irrefutable, including his resurrection and his ascension. That does not mean that people are going to say, "Oh my, yeah, okay, I see this and this and this; okay, yeah, man, I believe." You must understand that, apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, nobody would ever believe. He alone can give spiritual sight to the blind. He alone can raise the spiritually dead to spiritual life, eternal life. And despite clear and irrefutable evidence, unbelievers will harden their heart, and they will only believe what they want to believe, which I might say underscores the limitations even of apologetics. For example, no one denied Jesus' miracles, as I say, they were indisputable, but they rejected the implications. Oh my if this really is God, then I'm in trouble. So okay, he's not God. I know, he did that by the power of Satan. Remember John 12, verse, 37 and following,

"But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.

"This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah, the prophet which he spoke: 'Lord who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'

"For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again,

"'He has blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.'"

In other words, there was a judicial hardening that God imposed upon them. And we see there are two causes for Israel's stubborn disbelief, even to this day: God's judicial hardening and their stubborn unbelief, which, by the way, gives us another example of the interplay between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, an inscrutable mystery to us, but not to God. And I want you to understand something about unbelief before we even look closely at this text. The sinner’s rejection of the gospel has nothing to do with logic or reason. That's why this popular movement today of Christian deconstructionism is such a misnomer, there's nothing Christian about it. True Christians don't deconstruct their faith, which means they dismantle and they re-evaluate all of the essential doctrines of Christianity. We're told in Jude three that we are to "contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints," not deconstruct it. And Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 that, "'He who is not with Me is against Me.'" Christian deconstructionism, frankly, is nothing more than counterfeit Christians trying to justify their rebellion against God and justify their love for themselves and the love of the world. I'm reminded of First John five and verse one There we read, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." The verb "believes" is in the present tense, and "is born" is in the perfect tense, and it could be literally translated, "Whoever is believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God." In other words, as a result of the new birth, there will be permanent faith, permanent belief, contrary to Arminian theology. Permanent, continual faith is the result of the new birth, not the cause of it. We don't keep ourselves born again by believing and lose our salvation if we stop believing, rather, our persevering faith gives evidence to the fact that we have been born again. Faith is a permanent gift of God (Ephesians 2:8), one that cannot be lost. First John 5 and verse 10, says, "The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself." Isn't that an amazing reality? In other words, we have an internal witness within us because we've been born again. In fact, we're told in Romans 8:16 that, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." And that passage in First John 5:10 goes on to say, "...the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son." Look folks, when you see people deconstructing their faith, you've just got to think of First John 2:19 that we read earlier, "They went out from us because they were never a part of us."

No authentic Christian is going to seek to deconstruct his faith. These people are just merely trying to justify their lack of saving faith, reject the authority of Scripture and their need for the gospel. So again, the sinner’s rejection of the gospel has nothing to do with logic or reason or even credible witnesses or even great apologetics. Not to say that there isn't a place for those things, but it has everything to do with human depravity. First Corinthians 2:14 says that to the natural man, he, "does not accept the things of the Spirit for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because he's spiritually appraised." Indeed, he's spiritually dead. The truth is incomprehensible to that person. They're spiritually appraised, spiritually discerned, spiritually judged, it can be translated. In other words, they are incapable of rendering a decision because they cannot recognize the facts. They can see it intellectually, but they cannot embrace them spiritually. But thankfully, because of God's grace, in fact, let me put it this way, because of God's grace in sovereign election, there will always be quote, "a remnant according to God's gracious choice" (Romans 11:5). And that remnant will be sanctified by the Spirit, and we will never have a desire to deconstruct our faith. But the faith that we are given is a gift from God, and we're going to see this play out once again in these testimonies surrounding the birth and the identity of Christ.

We've seen examples of this, of this remnant according to God's gracious choice, and in Zacharias and his wife Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary. And today we're going to see it in Simeon and in Anna. So let's look at the testimony of Simeon. And I want to first look at it under the minor heading here; we are going to look at his character and his concern. Notice first under this idea of his character, beginning in verse 25, "And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout..." Now Scripture tells us nothing more about this man. He was probably a godly layman, and it'll be great to talk with him someday. His name means "God has heard." Indeed, God has heard his cry. We can see that he was an elderly man according to verse 26 and verse 29, but it says that he was righteous and devout. Now, no one is righteous on his own. That has to be a gift from God. We are justified. In other words, we're declared righteous by faith, like Abraham, remember, the righteousness of God was imputed to him by faith. So what it's saying here is he's been justified by God. Justification is a legal declaration of righteousness, not an actual impartation or infusion of righteousness, but it's an instantaneous change in one's status before God based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. Sanctification, on the other hand, is that gradual, ongoing transformation of one's nature where the Spirit progressively works practical righteousness in the believer. You might put it this way, justification concerns the imputation of righteousness, and sanctification concerns the impartation of righteousness.

So he was a righteous man and declared righteous by God; he's justified, but he's also therefore devout. "Devout” in classical Greek is a term that can be translated "cautious." In other words, he was careful to manifest a God honoring obedience. Everyone could see his veneration toward God. He was a God-fearing man. You don't hear that phrase a whole lot these days. There's not too many God-fearing people that I know outside of this church and others like it. And I don't say that to be proud at all, and we give God the glory for that. But he was a devout believer, a God-fearing man, which, by the way, demonstrates the inseparable link between justification and sanctification. You're not going to have one without the other. Romans two, verse 28 we read, "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly" and in verse 29, "but he is a Jew who is one inwardly," speaking, remember of circumcision of the heart and by the Spirit. It's not merely outward, external expressions of religion that makes one justified. So he's righteous and he's devout. But also at the end of verse 25 it says, "and the Holy Spirit was upon him." Now, this is a marvelous truth.

Let me remind you of a few things pertaining to just the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Prior to Pentecost, under the Old Covenant, the Spirit would come upon believers and would even indwell them temporarily. But after Pentecost, under the New Covenant, the Spirit would dwell and indwell a person permanently. And this was consistent with the New Covenant promises. For example, in Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 26 God says, "'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.'" Now, by way of clarification, prior to Pentecost, as in the case of Simeon, the Holy Spirit would impart spiritual life to the spiritually dead, just like he does now. Prior to Pentecost, he would convict people of sin. He would animate their heart towards repentance, and he would give them the gift of faith. Remember Old Testament saints were saved just like we are, by grace alone, through faith alone. No spiritually dead sinner can come to faith in Christ, apart from the Spirit empowered miracle of regeneration. And to be sure, the Holy Spirit was equally and identically active in both Testaments. And it is accurate even to say that the Holy Spirit indwelt believers in both Testaments, but that indwelling in the Old Testament was temporary; and I might add, it was very infrequent, and it only involved select leaders of Israel, and it was always an empowerment for service. You may recall, David sinned with Bathsheba. After that, David feared losing the theocratic anointing of the Holy Spirit upon him - the presence and the power of God that sustained him. And in Psalm 51:11 he said, "Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. "Sometimes people will point out, "See there, you can lose your salvation." It has nothing to do with salvation. It has everything to do with the theocratic anointing - the presence and the power of the Spirit - that God had given to one of his selected leaders.

But after Pentecost again, the indwelling of the Spirit was permanent. You will recall in John 14 verses 16 and 17. In that context, Jesus is encouraging his disciples about the coming Helper and the increased degree of the Spirit's ministry to them. And we read in John 14:16,

"'I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever;

that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."

Aren't you thankful for the indwelling Spirit and all that he does? Romans eight and verse nine, "...you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." First Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body." By the way, that has nothing to do with water baptism. Water baptism plays no role in in conversion. It is merely a testimony of what has already taken place inwardly. But what he's saying here is that the Holy Spirit is the agent of baptism, but Christ is the baptizer. In other words, this Spirit baptism is virtually synonymous with salvation, whereby a believer is immersed spiritually. He's placed into the Body of Christ. Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, who gives new life and places us into the body of Christ when we trust in Him.

Now, all of that to say, Simeon was a God-fearing man, all right? He was righteous. He was devout, and the Spirit of God was upon him. By the way, how many people do you know that you could say they have that reputation, that they are righteous, they are devout, and you can tell that the Spirit of God is in them?  I hope that would be what others would say about you and about me by God's grace. So the Holy Spirit was upon him, and you might say he therefore reflected in his life the pre-Pentecost work of the Spirit that would empower certain individuals with special insights and the ability therefore to speak what God would have them say, and the power to serve Him in unique ways. We saw this, for example, with Zacharias and Elizabeth. You will recall in Luke 1 it said of both of them that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit, even in mama's womb, right? Amazing thought.

So we see Simeon's character but also notice his concern. He was "looking for the consolation of Israel." Now please understand this has always been the passion of, as Romans 11:5 says the, "remnant according to God's gracious choice." "Consolation - “paraklēsis" - it’s a term that speaks of a source of comfort or encouragement or solace to a person who just feels this when they are being consoled in a time of sorrow. But this consolation here, and it's capitalized, it speaks of the Messiah; looking for the Messiah of Israel, because Jesus was the embodiment of the national hope. He was the personification of consolation. Simeon was looking for the Messiah. The old rabbis would call him the "Menachem." The Menachem, the consolation, the comforter. That's what the term means. But bear in mind, most did not believe Jesus was the consoler, was the comforter, was the consolation of Israel. Most of them were not looking for a Messiah who was going to save them from their sin. They already had that taken care of. All you have to do is just obey the law. We're good to go we're part of the covenant people, we're good. You know, what we're looking for is someone to deliver us from the oppression of these pagan Gentiles. So what they were longing for was the restoration of their national sovereignty and the material blessings that were promised in the Abrahamic, Davidic and New Covenants. But Simeon longed for the Messiah who would both save him and Israel from their sin and restore the nation. He was looking for the consolation of Israel. Indeed, this was the yearning of the believing remnant. They understood what the prophets said.

Let me remind you of what they would have been very familiar with in Jeremiah 31 beginning at verse 31,

"'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

"'not like the covenant which I made with their fathers and the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD.

"'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,'  declares the LORD, 'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'

"'They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the LORD, 'for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.'"

And ultimately, this will be fulfilled when the Lord returns and establishes his kingdom on earth. And no doubt, the prophecies concerning God as the Comforter would have dominated their minds, dominated their thinking, because, again, they're looking for the consolation of Israel. Israel's final deliverance, for example - the deliverance from captivity and oppression to contentment and prosperity - could be found in Isaiah's prophecy. There's so many. Let me give you a couple of examples. Isaiah. 49 beginning in verse eight,

"Thus says the LORD, 'In a favorable time I have answered You, and in a day of salvation, I have helped You; and I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, to restore the land and make them inherit the desolate heritages;

"'Saying to those who are bound, 'Go forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves.' Along the roads they will feed, and their pasture will be on all bare heights.

"They will not hunger or thirst, nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; for He who has compassion on them will lead them and will guide them to springs of water.

"'I will make all My mountains of road, and My highways will be raised up.

"'Behold, these will come from afar; and lo, those will come forth from the north and from the west,, and these from the land of Sinim.'"

Which was an ancient name for China.

"'Shout for joy. O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people and will have compassion on His afflicted.'"

Great promises that will be fulfilled when he returns. Isaiah 61:1-2,

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners;

"To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn."

One other passage in Zechariah, one and verse 17, "Again, proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.'" So these were the exciting truths that they held on to, and rightfully so. It's the word of God. This was part of his concern, his burden, his passion. And I trust that you too are looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, as Paul speaks of in Titus 2:13, and 14. I hope that is true of you. If it's not, there's something terribly wrong with your faith. You're way too in love with the world if you're not looking to get out of it. If you're not looking for Christ's return, you're in love with the world, and it may be so much so that the love of the Father is not even in you. Romans 8:23 says that even, "...we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Does that describe you, dear friend? Oh, I hope it does. Again, if it doesn't, you need to examine your heart. Don't just play Christian. First John 3:3 says that, "...everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."

By the way, aren't you thankful that God is faithful to fulfill all that he's promised? I mean, we can just look back down through history and we can see that. In fact, I was thinking about this, and certainly some of these things I'm about to read to you would have been part of what drove them - the remnant - what they were looking for, because they could look back and see all that God has done. And I jotted some of them down. I mean, think about all that God had promised and that he fulfilled. Immediately after the fall. He promised that he would send a Redeemer. Remember, in Genesis 3:15; that has happened. After the flood, he promised Noah, and all of us, that he would never again destroy the Earth with water in a global flood. Remember, he promised Abram that he would make him a great nation, and that through his progeny, all of the families of the earth would be blessed. And ultimately that has happened in Christ. Later on, his name was Abraham, and he promised Abraham and Sarah a son, although they were way beyond childbearing years, and she bore Isaac. He promised Moses that he would use him to help deliver his people out of Egypt, and that he was going to give them a promised land, and that he would lead them into that promised land. Think of what Joshua said in Joshua 21 verse 45, “Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass." He promised David that he would have a kingdom that would endure forever, that his throne would be established forever, Second Samuel 7:16. And ultimately that will be fulfilled in Christ. He will be the one, according to Isaiah 9:7 who will, sit, "on the throne of David and reign over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore."

So we've seen Simeon's character and concern, notice next his revelation and proclamation, verse 26, "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." Now how did that happen? We have no idea, but it's just astounding to know that it happened. God doesn't tell us through His servant Luke, but somehow, he communicated this to Simeon that you're not going to die until you see the Lord's Christ, until you see the Messiah.

And then I think of what he said through Daniel the prophet. Remember when Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream? In fact, he even told him what the dream was, and then interpreted it all by the power of God; a dream that promised the rise and the fall of successive kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, and later on, there will be a revived Roman Empire, then there will be Christ's millennial kingdom. He promised that the Messiah would be of the lineage of Abraham; that has happened. A descendant of David, that he would be born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, and so forth. Well, this is a sampling of some of the fulfilled Old Testament prophecies that would have strengthened the faith of the believing remnant there in the first century when Jesus was born. And now Simeon sees the consolation of Israel; he holds him in his arms. He has arrived.

Verse 27, "And he came in the Spirit into the temple." This isn't referring to the Holy of Holies. This would refer to the temple complex, probably the Court of Women, because this is where Joseph and Mary and the baby would have gone, and they could have gathered together. And though he was fully aware of who he was and where he was and all that was going on, his soul was somehow in a state of exhilaration and anticipation. And you got to think about this: little did he know that the moment that God had promised was about to happen, that in the providence of God, he was about to see the Messiah, an amazing thing. Little did he know that divine providence was about to fulfill divine revelation. "And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law" - the details of which we examined in part one - "then he took him into his arms and blessed God." Now, beloved, you must understand that his gratitude here was not just in seeing a beautiful little baby boy. Isn't it wonderful when we see a new baby? I've had that experience just last week, with a new great grandson. I mean, that's a precious thing. Every time you hold a baby, it's like a miracle. It's like, you can't believe it, right? Especially when you look at their little toes and their little fingernails and all that. It's like, how did God do this? But his gratitude here is not merely over a baby boy, as precious as it would have been for him to hold him in his arms. The object of his gratitude was that: this is my Savior. This is salvation that I'm holding. I'm looking into the eyes of the long-awaited consolation of Israel. I mean, how can you even put that into words? What that must have been like?

Then notice it says, and he said, "'Now, Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word;'“ In other words, "Now, I'm ready to die, I'm ready to go on home." And it says, "'Now Lord, You are releasing'" me. This is all also called, maybe you've heard of it, "Nunc dimittis" in Latin, that means "now dismiss." And it's the first two words of a Latin hymn that describe, that takes this text and it's been put to music by a number of composers. And the first two words are "Nunc Dimittis," and it's also known as the Canticle of Simeon, or the Song of Simeon. By the way, you can go on YouTube; for the fun of it, I listened to it from several different sources. The choir of Trinity College at Cambridge does a magnificent job singing this in a beautiful chapel with a magnificent organ, if you want to listen to it. But he's saying, here, "'Now, Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word,'" And here's why, verse 30, "'For my eyes have seen Your salvation.'" Isn't that precious? What a statement. By the way, he's speaking here of not just national deliverance from Gentile oppression, he's speaking here of the salvation from sin. And both are promised in the Abrahamic, the Davidic and the New Covenants, but they won't be fulfilled completely until the Lord returns.

"'For my eyes have seen Your salvation,

"'Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

"'A light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel.'"

Now bear in mind, while this was the conviction of the believing remnant, and right rightfully so, this view was not shared by most of the Jews, especially this idea of salvation coming to Gentiles. I mean, they absolutely hated the Gentiles. I mean, you see this all through Scripture, they wouldn't touch them, wouldn't go near them. And they were convinced that the Messiah, when he came, would just restore the kingdom of Israel when he arrived; and he will one day when he returns. In fact, in Acts one, there's that great account of Jesus' 40-day post-resurrection appearance and his miraculous works that that proved the resurrection to, according to verse two, "the apostles whom He had chosen." And we read how the primary focus of his teaching during that time, according to verse three, he was "speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." And in verse six and seven, it says, "So when they came together, they were asking Him, saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?'" So obviously, that's what the people, even later on the disciples, that's what they were looking for. Looking for the restoration of the kingdom at the coming of the Messiah, but they had no real concern about salvation from sin unfortunately. They were hideously offended at the idea that somehow their Messiah would come and not be concerned about delivering them from Roman oppression, but instead, you're going to deal with our sin and the Gentile sin? You can't be serious.

And yet, we read of this in the prophets, so many examples, I'll give you just a few. Isaiah nine, beginning in verse one,

"But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

"The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them."

Verse 33, back to Luke two, "And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him," referring to Jesus. We move from his revelation to his proclamation, verse 34, "And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, 'Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel." Indeed, a remnant will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will rise. They will be resurrected to eternal life, but many are going to fall because of him - ones who will mock Him, who will reject Him, who will ridicule him and ultimately crucify him. And you must bear in mind something that for many of the people in the world today do not understand when they talk about Jesus., Jesus came to divide, to demonstrate that there's two kinds of people. There's the saved of the lost, those who believe and those who don't believe. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 34 "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth." Well, that just shatters most of the phony theology that's out there today. I mean, ultimately, he's going to bring peace upon the earth, but you first have to have peace with God. You have to be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.

So he's speaking of Gentiles as well here. If you go to Isaiah, 19, it's a phenomenal, fascinating prophecy about what God's going to do with Egypt. And what you see in the first half of Isaiah 19, it speaks of the destruction for Egypt, and in the last part, the deliverance of Egypt. And in light of that - in light of the deliverance in Isaiah 19, beginning in verse 19 - we read, "In that day," referring to the millennial reign of Christ, "there will be an altar of the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border. It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it." Yes, salvation is to the Gentiles too. As a Gentile, I'm very thankful for that. Isaiah 52:10, "The LORD has bared His holy arm in the in the sight of all the nations, that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God." Isaiah 60, beginning in verse one,

"Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.

"For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the LORD will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising."

And this was what would have been in the minds of the believing remnant, even Simeon.

 "'But do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

"'For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.'"

And I know from my interactions with so many of you, some of your worst enemies are your own relatives because of your faith in Christ. But again, we read how that Jesus is appointed for the fall of many in Israel, Isaiah eight, beginning in verse 13,

"'It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread,

"'and He shall become a sanctuary; but to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over, and a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

"Many will stumble over them, then they will fall and be broken; they will even be snared and caught.'"

My mind is reminded here of the passage in Romans nine. I don't believe that I have it for you to look at, but it in about verse 32 or so, it's speaking about how people are pursuing salvation by works and it talks about how they stumble over the stumbling stone. That was the great problem with the Jewish people, then, as it is today and so many other people. And in that text, he talks about, "Behold, I'm going to lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense," and so forth. So again, Simeon prophesied, "'Behold, this Child is appointed to the fall and rise of many in Israel.'" Then he goes on to say, "'and for a sign to be opposed,'" and my, this opposition ultimately culminated in his crucifixion, which is described in the next prophetic statement, verse 35, "'...and a sword will pierce even your own soul.'" He's speaking to Mary here. And the term sword here is "rhomphaia"; it is the great, broad sword that the Romans used, not the not the small dagger, the makhaira, it's this large sword. And so it's a symbol of intense pain, because of those who oppose him, what's going to happen to you is going to be exceedingly painful. It will pierce even your own soul, "...to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." Again, imagine the anguish of soul for Mary as she watched her son grow up and watched even his own siblings reject him, and others reject him and mock him, and then eventually to behold him hanging on that accursed tree. Incomprehensible; and a person's reaction to the death of Christ and all that that means, really betrays the attitude of their heart towards Jesus; the suffering servant who would bear the sins of his people, according to Isaiah 53. And that's what it's saying here, "to the end, that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed";  anyone that can look at who Jesus was and what he did on the cross and be indifferent towards that, or to in any way mock that, to call it a myth, to call it a legend, to basically say it's meaningless, is a person that, unless they repent, will perish in their sins. This is why Paul said, "We preach Christ and Him crucified. To the Jew a stumbling block and to the Greek foolishness."  So that was the prophecy. His death will be a sword, will pierce even your own soul - to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."

And then finally, in this section, and we close with this, the testimony of Anna. By the way, her name means grace. "And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher." By the way, Asher was one of the 10 northern tribes in in the kingdom; the northern kingdom when they were taken captivity by the Assyrians in 722 BC. And I might add that there were five women in the Old Testament who were called prophetesses. Four of them were good. One of them was bad. And I might also add, "prophetess" refers to one who forth tells not foretells. It's not speaking of people that were, that were predicting the future, but rather speaking forth something that God had wanted them to say. There was Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron in Exodus 15. There was Deborah in Judges four, Huldah in Second Kings 22, Isaiah's wife in Isaiah eight. And then the bad one is Noadiah. Don't ever name your daughter Noadiah, she was a false prophetess in Nehemiah 6:14. None of the godly women had any kind of ongoing prophetic ministry, not like Elijah or Elisha, or Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or whatever, or any of the other male prophets.

I might add, as well, Philip's two daughters were called prophetesses in Acts 21 in the New Testament. And probably because Anna was a teacher of the word, she was called a prophetess. But it goes on to say she was, "advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of 84." It could also be interpreted that she lived as a widow 84 years after her husband's death, but then she'd be over 100 years old. So that is doubtful. But it goes on to say, "She never left the temple," meaning she probably lived in the temple complex. Now bear in mind, there were apartments around the outer courts of the temple. They would be made available to the priests. You know, the priests would take their turns, and they would come in and they would serve their two weeks of annual service. So she probably lived there, and it says that she was she served, "night and day with fastings and prayers." My like so many devout godly women, even like we have here in this church - many of them are widows - she was dedicated to the Lord's work. You know, when I was reading this, I just reflected on how thankful I am for the godly women we have in this church, including godly widows. Most of you have no idea of the many things that go on behind the scenes in order for a church to function efficiently and properly. And I can tell you, were it not for the godly women in this church, this place, would fall apart. And I don't want to hear a bunch of amens, all right, but she was a godly woman, and she prayed and she fasted.

She was looking for the Lord, and then, in God's sweet providence, look what happens in verse 38, "At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God." Undoubtedly, she knew Simeon, probably knew Mary and Joseph by this time, and she's watching what's going on, and they probably told her who the baby was. And don't you know, she was just ecstatic, and it says she. "began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." Don't you know that the first century version of Facebook exploded at that point, that everybody was hearing what happened. And don't you know that the believing remnant there in Jerusalem got together for some fellowship that night to hear firsthand all that had happened, all of those who were looking for the consolation of Israel. "Guess what folks, I held him in my arms. I looked him in the eyes. Can you believe this?"

And then it says, "...she continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." That's the believing remnant, just like we have today, the believing remnant. And it's an ongoing proclamation of the good news. You know, when I was exegeting this passage of Scripture, as is often the case, a phrase from a hymn came to my mind, and it was that phrase, "I sing because I cannot be silent." I sing for I cannot be silent. And I thought, hmm, what is that hymn? And usually I ask Nancy, because she can remember every hymn that has ever been sung. Google's great for that. I typed it, oh yeah, it's from "Redeemed I love to proclaim it." It's the third verse. "I think of my blessed Redeemer, I think of him all the day long, I sing for I cannot be silent, His love is the theme of my song." That was Anna, "Redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed, redeemed His child and forever I am."

Beloved, I challenge you who know and love Christ, to keep looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, and live in light of his return. And also to be like Anna: keep praying, keep fasting, keep serving the Lord. And if you're here today and you don't know Christ, and you know nothing of what it means to be in an intimate relationship with God and to know that your sins are forgiven and enjoy the fullness of all that he has given us, I would plead with you today, repent, humble yourself, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Amen, amen. Let's pray,

Father, thank you for the infallible, the enduring truths of your word, they speak so directly to our heart. And thank you for the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the consolation of Israel, who has come and who is coming again. Lord, I pray that it will be quickly and Lord, if there be one that knows nothing of what it means to be reconciled to you through saving faith, be merciful to them today overwhelm them with conviction that today will be the day that they humble themselves truly, genuinely, confess their sin, repent of their sin, and cry out for the undeserved mercy that you will give them that today will be the day they experience the miracle of the new birth. I pray this for the glory of Christ and in His name, Amen.