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When one thinks about it, it's quite remarkable that the eternal God of the universe, the creator, the one true and living God, the controller of history, the one who is writing history which is really his story, the consummator, the God who is responsible for everything that is, that great God who knows no limits but who is infinite -- has designed to reveal all his revelation in one book. It is true that the world is full of books but only one book contains the revelation of God.
All the promises of the coming of the Messiah are contained in this one book called the Old Testament. It has even been called a book of promises. And the heart and soul of all those promises is the coming of the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Savior of the world.
Amazing, that all of that is contained in but one book - is it not? Even more amazing is that this one book was given to one small group of people, the nation Israel.
And even more amazing then that is that out of that small nation there was only a tiny remnant that believed. At any given point in their history there was but a few, a remnant who believed it. David Gooding, an O.T. scholar writes, "Israel had never been a nation marked by unqualified obedience. When they came out of Egypt singing their songs of redemption, no one could ever dream that hidden in the hearts of most of them lay as yet unformed thoughts of sheer rebellion against God, their redeemer. But the wilderness, by God's deliberate intention, exposed those thoughts of rebellion." Isaiah knew it and wrote about it. Jeremiah said the hearts of man are deceitful and desperately wicked. In spite of the outward forms of religion there still lurked in many hearts this spirit of rebellion. Thus, it is of little wonder that the coming of Christ would provoke that hidden rebellion into open antagonism. What a sad commentary on a nation. One book, given to one group of people, and only a remnant believed it. Even at the conclusion of the earthly ministry of Jesus, all the believers gathered in the upper room and there were 120 of them. But among that early remnant who believed the Messiah was coming - were women. And that should not surprise us, for even today our churches are populated with more women than men. Historically, women have always been exalted by God and used by God to carry on, often where men have failed. Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachael loom large in the book of Genesis. Miriam, the sister of Moses, was a prophetess and songwriter and one of the nation's leaders during the Exodus. Deborah was a judge in Israel. Sara and Rahab are named among the heroes of faith in the book of Hebrews. In the book of proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman. The New Testament church is represented as a woman. Jesus included many women as disciples and the first disclosure of his identity was made to a woman. On the Day of Pentecost, when the N.T. Church was born, women were there with the disciples, praying. John's second epistle was addressed to a prominent woman in one of his churches. Even Chrysostom, an eloquent preacher of the 4th century, recorded that the pagans said "Heavens, what woman you Christians have!" So one can see the scriptures were often validated by women. Women bore the testimony of scripture and women were a prominent part of the remnant used to influence homes, churches and nations. In Luke 2:36-38 something very important is happening. It was essential that any truth had to be confirmed by 2 or 3 witnesses. The truth in this text is that God has been born in human flesh and this Son of God has come into the world as the Savior of the world. And not only did the law say it must be confirmed by witnesses but by righteous witnesses. So Luke picks three righteous witnesses, and whom does he pick? He picks Mary, Simeon and Anna, one man and two women. The last human witness is introduced to us in v.36 and she is named Anna. She is the third in this little trinity that was witness to the reality of the Messiah. Notice, her name is Anna v.36.
The name Anna is the same as the Hebrew name Hannah. I Samuel tells us Hannah was characterized by prayer and fasting and so was Anna. So both Hanna and Anna are singled out by God for their practice of prayer and fasting and both Hannah and Anna were perfectly at home in the temple. Anna is a lovely name for it means grace for Anna had been graced by God and she had been graced by God to be a prophetess. What is a prophetess? It is not somebody that predicts the future. It is not a fortune teller. It is not somebody who works on the psychic hotline and it doesn't necessarily suggest that she received special revelation from God. It is someone who speaks and speaks God's truth, God's word. In all the O.T. there are only five woman referred to as prophetess - Miriam the sister of Moses (Ex.15:20); Deborah (Judges 4:4); a woman by the name of Huldah (II Kg.22:14); Noadiah (Neh. 6:14) a false prophet; and Isaiah's wife (Isa. 8:3). When you study these women you will discover that they prophesied only at some event, or some moment, or some important time. To help you understand that we can look at Isaiah's wife who was called a prophetess in Isa. 8:3. But when one studies the book of Isaiah there is no record of anything she said. So she did not get any specific revelation of God that was to be passed on. She was a prophetess in one remarkable sense -- she was told to name her son Maher-shalal-hash-baz. Not a choice name for any child. That name was prophetic for she was told before the boy would know how to cry out father or mother the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria was to be carried away by the king of Assyria. Name him 'you are going to be plundered." So Isaiah's wife is identified as a prophetess in that her child is a prophecy by name and now Anna is a prophetess only in that she was used to speak about another child who was born and would have a prophetic impact not only on a nation but on the world. Anna was a prophetess, which could mean nothing more than that she was a teacher. And in this moment in time she teaches all those that would listen that this child is the Messiah. So women were always used by God to spread the news that the Messiah was coming, had come, or was coming again. Some women spread the message by prayer Acts 1:12-14. Some spread the message by their good deeds (Acts 12:12). Some spread the message by their hospitality (Acts 12:16:14-15). Some spread the message by their understanding of sound doctrine (Acts 18:26). Some spread the message by their spiritual giftedness (Acts 21:8-9). I am wondering, ladies, how is God using you to spread the message? Anna was also of the tribe of Asher. It identifies her as the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. Asher was the eighth son of Jacob, the offspring of Zilpah, Leah's maid and Jacob's concubine according to Gen. 30:12-13. Asher was one of the 12 tribes of Israel. What's so important about that? If you remember any O.T history, after Solomon's reign, the kingdom was split into 10 northern tribes and 2 southern tribes. The southern tribes were Judah and Benjamin and it was in the southern kingdom in which you find the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and the priesthood practices. All the other tribes went to the north. The northern kingdom was an evil kingdom run by evil kings. In all their history there was not one good king in the northern kingdom. They were the apostate kingdoms. And prophets were sent by God over and over to the northern kingdom to warn them of their spiritual decline. In II Chron. 30:6 couriers were sent to the northern kingdom with the warning, turn back to God, turn back to God. Some men of Asher, and Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and returned to Jerusalem but most would not listen. In 722 B.C. the northern kingdom was taken into captivity by the Assyrians and never returned. But even though the northern kingdom was apostate, there were these families that represented all 10 tribes that had migrated south to worship the true and living God. It was but a remnant but a faithful remnant. So what? Have you ever heard anyone talk about the 10 lost tribes of Israel? It was a very popular Anti-Semitic theory propagated. They said those 10 tribes migrated up into Europe and then into England and then into the Americas. Thus, we are one of the lost tribes of Israel. It has even been referred to as British Israelism. So the question is if 10 of the tribes had been taken away and never came back, how does one explain Rev. 7 where it says there shall be 144,000 witnesses during the tribulation period? And those 144,000 are to be comprised of 12,000 from each tribe. But Anna is long after 722 BC. This lady, eight centuries later, still knows she is from the tribe of Asher. Later in 70 AD when Jerusalem and 985 towns were ransacked by the Romans and in the destruction of the temple they lost all the records so today Jews do not know what tribe they were from - but God knows so that in the time of tribulation all 12 tribes will be represented to preach the gospel. By the way, Asher is a good name - it means happy. What else do we know about Anna? She was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage. We understand that in that culture they married quite young. The Virgin Mary was probably married between the age of 12 and 13. That was the 'normal' traditional age of marriage.
So we can assume Anna was married at the age of 13 and lived seven years with her husband. That would make her a widow at the age of 20. Then it says in v.37a she was a widow till the age of 84. That is a very difficult translation. It could mean she was still a widow at the age of 84. Or it could mean she was a widow for 84 years. If she married at 13 and was married for 7 years and a widow for 84 years that would make her 104 years old.
Eighty-four or 104, you can sort of take your pick - but one thing is for sure, this is an older person. Widowhood is never an easy cross to bear but in that society it was extremely difficult. It usually guaranteed a life of extreme poverty. That is why, in the early church, the apostle Paul urged young widows to marry (I Tim. 5:14) so that the church would not be burdened with their support. Anna either lived on charity or supported herself out of her family's inheritance. Either way, she must have lived a very frugal, chaste, and sober life. The amazing thing about this woman is in v.37b. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fasting and prayers. That is an emphatic statement. It would be reasonable to presume that Anna lived at the temple, for around the outer court of the temple grounds there were some apartments and she may have been given one of those.
But she wasn't there being idle -- she served with fastings and prayers. Fasting is usually connected with prayer as a means of a self-denying focus on prayer. It is to be so consumed with the act of prayer that you have no interest in eating. What a passionate woman. She has been doing this for 64-84 years! What do you think she prayed about?
I believe she was praying for the coming of the Messiah. She's praying for the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise. She's praying for the fulfillment of the Davidic promise. She believed the promises of the O.T. and she is praying for them to come to pass.
This has to be one of the most devout ladies in the pages of scripture. Do you know anyone else who prayed and fasted for 64-84 years? If you want someone to witness the coming of the Lord, this is a pretty credible one, wouldn't you say? If anyone knew the mind and heart of God, she should have. Ladies, how do you compare to Anna?
How much of your day is consumed in prayer? We could use a few more widows that are consumed with worship. We could use a few more women that are less concerned with acquiring a man and more concerned with acquiring manna from heaven. It is the widow's mite that taught us how to give now it is the widow Anna that is teaching us how to grow. V.38 says at that very moment, what very moment? At the very moment Simeon was blessing the baby Jesus and Anna came up and began giving thanks to God.
Why? Because she had been praying for this moment for 64-84 years. Her perseverance was rewarded. Her petition turns to praise. From then on, this little elderly woman who had spent all her years talking to God started talking to everybody else. The verb tense signifies a continuous action on her part. She knew who was seeking, who was looking, who was waiting for the fulfillment of the promise. The Messiah had finally come, and Anna was one of the very first to know who he was and to spread the word that he had come. What became of Anna after this is not recorded for us. I think we can surmise that she was in heaven by the time Christ began his public ministry some 30 years later. This day of dedication was probably her one and only glimpse of him. But it was enough for her. She literally could not stop talking about him. And that is her legacy recorded for us in the revelation of God. What will your legacy be? Will you be known for your prayer life?
Can it be said of you that you felt at home in the temple of God? Is your life such that people can identify you as part of a small group of people known as Christians?
And might I ask, what message do you convey to your friends either by your actions or by your words. God, help us all to be like Anna; on the one hand having our lives devoted to you and on the other hand continuing to share the message of redemption to all who will listen.
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The Rev. Dr. James Barnes is currently the pastor of White Memorial Church in Milroy.