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Anna Placed Her Hope in the Coming Christ
Luke 2:36-38
This week, we’ve become acquainted with the prophetess Anna and have seen how she dedicated her life to God and responded to trial and pain by wholeheartedly pursuing God. Finally, let's consider where Anna placed her hope.
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Anna Responded to Pain by Wholeheartedly Pursuing God
Luke 2:36-38
Yesterday, we were introduced to Anna, a widowed prophetess, and we observed how she spent her life in dedicated service to God. Next, let's consider how Anna responded to pain. Seven years into marriage, her husband died, and she responded by heading to the temple. And she never stopped. You might wonder if her husband was secretly a nightmare and his death, though painful, was actually a welcomed reprieve for Anna. I suppose it's possible, but a culture like theirs didn't produce as many violent or twisted men as ours does. Her society's weakness was that it made life very hard for unmarried women, making Anna's husband's death a very severe trial.
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Anna Spent Her Life in Dedicated Service to God
Luke 2:36-38
As we approach Christmas, we’ll consider Anna this week, a prophetess who modeled a life dedicated to God despite living in the pain of widowhood. Anna’s story unfolds forty days after Jesus' birth. Since Mary and Joseph were godly people, they wanted to observe the Old Testament law. It said a new mother should bring an offering to God after giving birth and that the new parents should present their firstborn son to God (Luke 2:22-24, Lev. 12:6-8, Ex. 13:2).
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God's Inexpressible Gift
2 Corinthians 9:15
In this sentence, we have the concluding remark of a two-chapter exhortation from the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian church. At the time of this letter, the Jerusalem church was in a large-scale financial trial, likely due to persecution, famine, and perhaps a bit of negligence, and the Corinthian church had pledged some support. Paul had already collected some funds from other churches (the Macedonians), but now he heard that the Corinthians were thinking about neglecting their promised contribution, so he wrote 2 Corinthians 8-9 to them. As I said, it was an exhortation, particularly to be generous and give.
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Elizabeth Submitted to God
Luke 1
This week, we have seen how Elizabeth committed to God when it didn’t make sense and how she was a faith-filled friend. In the final episode in which she speaks, we’ll see how she also submitted to God. It came eight days after John's birth. That was the day Jewish boys were circumcised, and at that ceremony, the parents would name the baby.
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Elizabeth Was a Faith-Filled Friend
Luke 1:39-45
Here we come to the second episode in which Elizabeth appears. It occurred after the angel Gabriel met with a relative of Elizabeth, Mary, telling the young virgin that she would give birth to the Messianic descendent of David, who would sit on the throne forever. Even without knowing a man sexually, Mary would bear the Son of God. And, since Gabriel told Mary that Elizabeth was also pregnant, Mary took a trip to visit Elizabeth.
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Elizabeth Committed Herself to God When It Didn’t Make Sense
Luke 1:4-7, 24-25
Here we have Elizabeth and her husband, Zechariah (5). Zechariah was active as a priest. Both of them belonged to the family line of the priests. And both of them loved and served God, blamelessly walking in God's commandments(6).
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