Wednesday, December 26
Luke 2: 21-40
The beautifully wrapped packages are
opened, their contents are put away, and you are even beginning to glare at the
tree with that “you’re coming down really soon” look. Did you get what you wanted? More importantly, did you get what you needed?
Someone once wrote, “If our
greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology,
God would have sent us a scientist. If
our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God
would have sent us an entertainer. But,
our greatest need was to be free from sin, so God sent us Jesus.” If there were ever two people who knew this,
and that the root of sin is pride, they were Simeon and Anna.
Who were they? They were known as “God-seekers.” In a day when most people were busy going
about their busy lives, filling them up with busyness, Simeon and Anna were patiently and humbly waiting
in the temple for the coming Messiah.
Verses 25-26 tells us, “And,
behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man
was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost
was upon him. And it was revealed to him
by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s
Christ.” In the Greek, “consolation”
is “paraclete” and it refers to an act of
exhortation, admonition, or encouragement.
In John 16, it is used of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter and
Counselor, but lest you think that that just means that He pats everybody on
the back, the Holy Spirit also came to “reprove
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (vs. 8) In all of the busyness, God had found a man—a
“nobody,”—to live in humility and long for God’s anointed direction. He had found a woman, too. Even as we began this booklet with a man and
a woman, now we end it—but these two were not running from
God, they were running to Him. In fact, Anna even lived in the temple. She
came into the room just as the baby Jesus was being presented to God. Verse 38 tells us, “And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and
spake of Him to all them that looked for redemption
in Jerusalem.” In the Greek, this
“redemption,” is the act of freedom, release, and deliverance.
Praise God—Jesus is on His way right now
to present Himself once again. This
time, it is to His pure Bride, who has not soiled her garments with all of the
busyness in and of the world. He will
then take this true, overcoming Church and present her spotless before His
Father. In the meantime, wait upon Him
to hear His exhortations and admonitions, and live in the midst of His
delivering and freeing power. In these
last of days, be a “God-seeker,”—a “nobody,” as the world sees it, yearning to
be filled with the Holy Spirit every minute.
~ Rev. Roy D.
Warren, Jr.