The Village Church
Interrupted by Christmas – Pt. 3 – Simeon & Anna - Audio
If you have your Bibles, please open them to Luke chapter 2 We're gonna be looking at verses 22 through 38 this morning This Christmas season we've been looking at Talking about the interruption of Christmas And that's where we've been talking about this during this Advent season this year Where we saw the interruption of of Christmas in the life of Mary We saw it in the life of of Joseph as well her husband Now this morning we're going to see that the interruption of Christmas in the life of two more people two more individuals Two people that that John Piper characterizes Old Testament saints Who kept the law of Moses and who looked with eagerness toward the hope of the Old Testament prophets Do you know what the hope of the Old Testament prophets were you know that hope refer it to? It was the comment of the Lord's anointed It was the coming of the Lord's Messiah That's the hope the Old Testament hope and promise the one who will make things right These two individuals these two Old Testament Saints were we're in a state of waiting They were in a state of longing in the state of hoping they were looking forward to what was still to come This period of waiting lasted for generations Generations Remember at the close of the Old Testament with the book of Malachi You know how many years there were the gap between the two testaments? How long was it? 400 years Between the old and New Testament. There was 400 years of silence 400 years of waiting Generations generations holding on to those Old Testament promises when would he come? The promise anointed one and so they waited For 400 years they were waiting for the coming of Christ and with the birth of Jesus With the incarnation of Christ that silence was broken. This is what we celebrate today The interruption of the Savior been born in the out into our broken world in these Old Testament Saints here Their lives were changed. Who were these Old Testament Saints? Simeon and Anna That's who they were and so we are beginning chapter two verse 22 And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses They brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord That is as it is written in the law of the Lord every male who first opens the wounds should be called holy to the Lord And so they went to Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord a parrot turtle doves and two young pigeons Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was righteous and devout Waiting for the waiting for the constellation 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 him brought in the child Jesus to do for him According to the custom of the law Simeon took him in his arms and blessed the Lord and said Lord Now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word my eyes have seen your salvation That you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel and His father and his mother marvel that was said about him and Simeon blessed them and he said to marry his mother Behold this child is appointed for the fallen rising of men in Israel for a sign that is opposed in a sword Or appears through your own soul also So the thoughts for many hearts may be revealed and There was a prophetess Anna The daughter of familial or the tribe of Asher she was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was A virgin and then as a widow until she was 84. She did not depart for the temple Worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day and coming up at that very hour She began to give thanks to God and to speak of Jesus to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem this is God's word. He's prayed with him for me Father's we come to your truth We pray that your spirit father the same spirit who's upon Simeon so many years ago lives in your people now We pray that that spirit will come and take your truth your word and apply it to our hearts Apply it to our lives and Christ in my prayer amen Simeon and Anna Two individuals two people who are representing the Old Testament hope of the promise of the coming Savior the Messiah Who was Simeon this there isn't much information given about him But according to Luke he he was in the temple when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus there for purification And I wonder if he was a priest given his role in what took place there. It's just my assumption But Luke is clear about one thing. He's clear about Simeon's personal character He says he was righteous and devout and what I think that's what that refers to is his faithfulness His faithfulness and waiting Waiting and longing and hoping for the constellation of Israel He had a firm grip on the promises that one day constellation is going to come God said it in this word the word that was at that time was the Old Testament He was going to come so Simeon held on to those things it held on to those promises And what does constellation mean? It has to do with comfort Receiving comfort after loss or our disappointment Comfort usually comes to those who are in some state of suffering and Guardianship as one pastor says Consolation probably speaks to those longing for healing Those longing for restoration from some past loss or misery in life In Isaiah the people had a spirit judgment in exile with all of its guilt and fear and loneliness and death Consolation is when God comes to heal and restore and revive All that has been thrown away Allah Do you desire a constellation this morning to be revived restored healed? This past week last weekend we traveled to Georgia to do Christmas with my family and We spent time with my mom my dad my grandmother's my siblings But in the midst of all my family fun there was tragedy Tragedy we had two deaths that week that during that week My mother's one of my mother's co-workers passed the rain 36 She died of a brain image like that gone one child left behind My mother's brothers and sisters they lost their dad the same week. He died of cancer as well two deaths tragedy in need of consolation in need of Hope Healing to be revived to be restored And the question is where do they go for that? Ultimately, whether they go To be healed from loss to be restored from loss What about you Where Are you running? What are you waiting on? What are you hoping for? What are you longing? For this morning to be healed from this morning Is it some hurt? past loss past brokenness loneliness We all need healing from something constellation from something If so then then you can definitely relate to semi this morning You can also relate to Anna as well Because she too was in a state of waiting And it stayed a hoping instead of longing Luke says that that she was a prophetess to the tribe of Asher and she was married seven years and then became a willow And now she was 84 years old and in faithfulness. She did not depart from the temple of God wife Why didn't she depart from the temple? Why did she worship with fasting in prayer? Because she was waiting for something Hoping for something Longing for something It was what the redemption of Jerusalem You see constellation dealt with comfort redemption deals with where the action of being saved from something saved from some evil for some enemy Is to be set free from something Anna was waiting for deliverance Liberation for Jerusalem It is great to receive comfort from from my hurts, but it's even great when God delivers us from them as well, right? Right, okay, come on that work with me here because Some of us to find our lives and hurt through loss through disappointment So much so that you're enslaved to it right now. You are hostage to your pain To your failures To what has been done to you It defines you But it doesn't have to You need deliverance This morning Redemption this morning Where do you want to? To be free Where do you believe sets you free when do you feel the freest? Notice that Simeon and Anna were waiting on different promises different promises One was rated on constellation the other one redemption Comfort in the other one deliverance, but notice one thing to have in common They both knew that constellation every damn show is coming from the same source The same source Jesus Jesus comfort and deliverance comes from Jesus Luke verse 26 says and it had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would not seek death before he has seen the Lord's Christ where that statement he knew that the constellation of Israel was going to come through Jesus through this Lord's Christ He was going to be the source of it No one else And so for years he's been waiting for this Waiting for the interruption in the Messiah to come To bring this comfort that he's been waiting on for generations And now On this particular day They're waiting was over Their old eyes these two old saints are getting ready to bear witness to what they've been waiting to see What they're they were getting ready to see what past generations did not get a chance to see The king in the form of a baby Luke said that the spirit was on Simeon when he came into the temple knows that the spirit was leading him there and He recognized the child as a promised Messiah Same thing happened now She went up to the temple at the same hour. Do you think that's by coincidence? No, that's divine interruption taking place What happened when Simeon came in contact with baby Jesus verse 28 says You find here he took Jesus into his arms and blessed God and said now Lord you are letting your servant depart in peace According to your word. He was ready to die because in his arms in His arms He held the Savior in his arms Lord you are letting your servant important peace according to your word my eyes have seen your salvation That you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel The spirit what the spirit have revealed to Simeon have found they come true. He have seen the lowest Christ Held him. He just said he held him In his arms And who was this baby he was God salvation? Salvation that the Lord himself have prepared before all peoples To the Gentiles into the Jew Through this Christ Salvation true knowledge or the true God will be made known to all peoples To all nations Isaiah 49 six says I would make you as a light of the nations that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth You know who that was referring to that's Jesus. He's talking about in Isaiah a Book that was written generations ago Talking about this baby that Simeon was holding in his arms that baby Was going to make known to the nation the salvation of God This baby was going to be a light to the Gentiles and to the nations this day was going to make the salvation of God Reach to all peoples to the ends of the earth That's Jesus Savior to all people Not just some But all people when they come to him and save in faith Not a phrase for the glory of your people Israel that that that simply means that the Messiah Came from the Jewish people and that brings them glory because he was a Jew Of course he came from the Jewish people So Simeon blessed God But he also blessed Joseph and Mary by saying behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of men in Israel And for a sign that is opposed and he says to Mary in a soul repeats to your own soul as well He blessed him, but he also spoke of prophecy to them something that was still to come that this child Is not just any other child Now they didn't know the full scope of it at this moment But he knew it this child was going to do things that was going to cause a uproar and he did Jesus shook things up If you read through the gospel he went against the grind He was appointed for the rise and fall of many So at the hearts and thoughts of many may be revealed You see the cross Is in the foreshadowed That sword that was going to pierce Mary's soul as well. She was going to hurt If you know when she stood before the cross she hurt As any mother would When she saw her son nailed to the cross. That's the sword that when he who got nailed to the cross it pierce her soul as well But that is referring to the cross that was to come In other words If you know anything about Isaiah the book of Isaiah when it talks about the servant of God that servant of God was what? What kind of servant was that servant in Isaiah a suffering servant That this child That Simeon held in his arms is that servant Do you remember what Isaiah says about that child through his wounds? We are here Talking about that child that one day that child was going to grow to be a man and that one day that man Was going to die You do realize Jesus came to die That's how he was going to restore us to fellowship with God Through his death Through his blood so that we don't have to That's how He was through the cross This is who we run to This is our Jesus This is the person that we run toward all the time Do you run to him? I mean, do you really want to him or is he just a God when life gets hard? Or is he your God every day? Is he just your God where life is hard But when life is easy is all about you. You don't need him. No, Jesus needs to be your God here and he needs to be your God here When life is good and when life is bad He is the fulfillment of the Old Testament hope and promise He is God's salvation. There's no other way to get in the heaven through Jesus. No other way There's no many ways to God. It's through that child He is the light of God's revelation He is our consolation. He is our redemption If you need comfort this morning, you need to run to Jesus. If you need forgiveness and redemption this morning Guess what? You need to run to Jesus as well Has your life truly been interrupted by Christmas? In other words, do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Because if you know him you have been interrupted and your life will continue to be interrupted Because he loves interrupting us for our good For our good, but if you know him, he will So where are you? I close with this quote from a john piper. He says God owns and controls all things this morning And there is nothing that he could give you for Christmas this year that will suit your needs and longing better than the constellation of Israel redemption of Jerusalem restoration from past losses Liberation from future enemies forgiveness and freedom part in the power healing the past and sealing the future All of that Can be yours if you know him If you know him do you know him and if you do Your future is sealed Father God, I do Thank you so much for Christ Thank you, lord that that even Preaching this I just preach it to myself Because I need to be reminded of that That's Jesus And what he's done for us on the cross And that lord it through him lord. We are in good hands father We are sealed by your holy spirit And that you are a good dad to us And so lord as we close this year and look forward to new year Be with us lord encourage your people Challenge your people Continue to sanctify your people Continue to draw your people's hearts closer to you and they will love you more than anything lord More than anything Help us to know that repentance is a good thing Help us to repent more help us to rest more in the gospel rest more in your grace and love And that we will do your spirit lord. We will live as the people of god In Christ in my prayer. Amen Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.