Luke 2:25-38 The Old People Speak
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: June 19, 2018 Luke 2:25-38
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous 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. And he came in 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 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so 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, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from 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 him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
(Understanding the Text) I always think that there had been silence from the Holy Spirit for about 5400 or 500 years since Malachi finished his book; however, these verses show that the Spirit was still at work during this time. Simeon and Anna were both at the temple and both had the Spirit of God speaking through them. If these two did, then others must have been getting messages through the Spirit also. I guess the difference is between a message for the whole of Israel versus individual messages.
(Revelation of God) Simeon prophesied several truths about Jesus. First, he called the little baby that he was holding the salvation of all peoples, to the Gentiles and the people of Israel. He said that Jesus would cause many of Israel to fall while raising up many others. He said that Jesus would meet the opposition of men and in the process, Mary’s soul/heart would be broken/pierced. The SDA commentary says that the word for sword here is not the short Roman sword, but a bigger sword called a /rhomphaia/ which in the Septuagint was the word used to describe Goliath’s sword. In other words, he was telling Mary that the tear to her soul would be big made by a really big sword, i.e. she would have a really big cut to her soul. The commentary also points out that he only prophesies this to Mary implying that Joseph would not be alive to witness the crucifixion. He says that the reason for the opposition was that people’s true motives/hearts would be on display for the world.
(Understanding the Text) Anna is called a prophetess who stayed in the temple all the time, especially being there for the morning and evening services/sacrifice. She prayed and fasted a lot. She was either 84 years old or about 106 years old. The Greek is unclear. She began prophesying to everyone that the redemption of Jerusalem was coming and thanking God for it. It doesn’t indicate whether she pointed directly to Jesus, or if this was a general prediction where the listeners would not have known who would redeem Jerusalem. Some versions say that she was speaking of Jesus. “Just then she came forward and began to thank God and to speak about Jesus to everyone who was waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). The original word was a pronoun that could have referred to the Father or to the Baby in the context. However, I think that it would make sense that she was pointing to Jesus as the redemption of Jerusalem.
The priests had ample warning that the Messiah was coming and had come. Zechariah’s vision made it clear that Elijah was coming to announce the Messiah. Then, Simeon and Anna pointed to the baby Messiah having come. The shepherds reported the angels’ message, and that they had seen the baby King of the Jews. The wise men came to visit the King of the Jews and Herod turned to the priests to know where the baby was born. Herod believed enough to order the death of every baby younger than two years old, but the priests did not care enough to investigate. If the priests had been doing their job, they would have not only been ready themselves for the Messiah’s message, but they would have prepared the people also. Instead, the only preparation was through John the Baptist because the official representatives of God couldn’t be bothered to check and see if the Messiah had come. They knew where to look and they could have known exactly who the Messiah was, but because of their unbelief and satisfaction with their present world, they did not bother.
In the F. F. Bruce commentary, it points out that the tribe of Asher, which Anna belonged to, was one of the lost tribes of Israel. This points out that some of the Israelites who had been carried away into captivity had made their way back to Judea and were represented along with the two tribes that made up Judea.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I may meet people with messages from God for me anywhere. Mary and Joseph did not expect Simeon and Anna when they went to the temple. After all, there had been no special manifestations at the circumcision. Maybe they had begun to doubt the significance of this normal-looking baby. Here at the temple was confirmation again of the specialness of their baby. They were given the insight also that other people were looking forward to the coming of their baby. Many times I feel isolated as though I am one of only a few who really want Jesus to be present in all parts of the world. I feel like too few let Jesus operate in their lives. I do not trust a lot of my friends who claim to be Christian because they seem to only pay lip service to Jesus being their Lord. Yet, there are many people out there who have been waiting for Jesus’ coming longer than I and have devoted their lives to solely to serving Him. Teach me not to judge others by my own expectations of their behavior. Give me confidence to keep speaking the truth about You even when others don’t. Most of all, teach me to expect You to be present everywhere in my life.