Celebrating The Spirit's Work in Christmas

It's great to have you here. Today is a really special morning and I'm really thankful for each one who has put so much time into making this happen.

You're going to get to see all of it in one piece. We've seen it in a lot of different pieces over the last couple weeks.

And I'm just thankful for all the leaders, for all the kids, for all the teens, and all their hard work that they've put into this.

Well, this morning we're going to think about Christmas. And ever since I was a kid, I've always had an affinity for Christmas.

To quote a really popular song, it's the most wonderful time of the year. I hope a lot of you are with me in that as well.

But as we think about Christmas, it's a time where we come together with our friends, our family, a time where we give gifts, we have parties.

But ultimately, Christmas is about Jesus, a time where we remember and celebrate his birth and his coming here to earth and all that that means for us.

As Christmas comes each year, usually sometime in November for our family, I begin thinking, man, there's a lot to get ready.

I don't know if you feel that way as well. Whether it's decorating the house or putting up the tree, putting out the lights, baking cookies.

Any of you kids like baking cookies? Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Any of you kids like eating cookies? Yeah.

So there's a lot to do to get ready for Christmas, right? And not to mention all the gifts.

We spend a lot of time making lists and then looking at lists from family, trying to buy the perfect gift for everybody.

And really, as we think about it, there's a lot that we do to get ready for Christmas.

And I learned when I got married nine and a half years ago that not all families prepare for Christmas in the same way.

Did you know that? Go figure. Sometimes it takes getting married to learn these things.

Growing up as a kid, my family, we typically did our shopping, usually we would start early on like the 23rd.

That was about the time we started our Christmas shopping.

And so there was always this big rush to the finish to try to get the gifts that we wanted and run to different stores because a lot of them were sold out and things like that.

But there was a certain adrenaline that I think we got getting ready for Christmas.

Now, when I married my wife, one of the things I saw is, wow, she starts Christmas shopping in like October.

That's incredible. And I saw that all the intentionality, the planning that she put into Christmas far in advance.

And I thought, wow, there's something to be said for this.

Now, I'm not here today to tell you that one way or the other is a better way to prepare for Christmas.

But what I am here and what we want to talk about this morning is all that God did to prepare for Christmas.

God didn't haphazard his Christmas plans.

Jesus wasn't an afterthought or something he tried to squeeze in at the very last minute.

But God, before the foundation of the world, prepared the way for Jesus to come.

Before time began, he sovereignly set forth his plan to bring salvation to his people.

And that's what we're going to take a look at today is how the Holy Spirit worked every single detail out.

If we look at the book of Galatians, Galatians chapter 4, as we kind of open the beginning of the series of messages,

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

we see that God said he sent Jesus in the fullness of time.

Now, we might ask the question, maybe you've wondered this, why did God send Jesus when he did?

Why 2,000 years ago?

Certainly, if Jesus came today, he could have billions of followers on Twitter.

Why 2,000 years ago?

Well, while we don't know for sure, we can understand that there was a reason and a purpose for that.

I don't know about you, have you guys ever gone to an arcade and you've seen those games?

Wait, I see some hands down here.

Chuck E. Cheese's or I don't know, we go to Great Wolf Lodge.

They've got a pretty cool arcade there too, right?

You guys like arcades.

How many of you guys have ever seen one of those arcade games where there's like this spinning wheel

and if you can land a token right on one of those things as it spins around, you get like 100 tickets, right?

It's cool.

You guys have seen, you know what I'm talking about.

How many of you have wasted hundreds of tokens trying to win 100 tickets, right?

It's not easy.

And we sit there and we think that somehow if I can just get the timing right and then it, boom, just falls off the edge.

You're like, oh no, one more time, I'll try it again.

Well, it's important for us to understand this is not how God planned Jesus' coming.

He didn't look into all of the world's history and say, oh, if I can just get it in the right spot.

Oh, nope, missed it, but that's okay.

Jesus was very, God was very intentional in his planning of Jesus' coming.

As we look and see in 1 Peter 1.20 tells us that he, Jesus, was foreknown before the foundation of the world,

but he was manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God,

who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God.

God knew Jesus before the world was created, before it was founded.

Jesus was with God.

He was there as a part of the creation process.

And before the world was even started, before any of us existed,

God had a plan to send Jesus at the perfect time.

Galatians 4.4 tells us that that was the fullness of time that Jesus came.

The fullness, when I think of fullness, I tend to think of ripeness.

This was just the perfect time.

You guys have probably been this way with fruit before,

where you, mangoes are usually the one in our house that can be kind of hit or miss.

Our kids love mangoes, but oftentimes when we buy a mango,

Titus, I see your big eyes there talking about mangoes.

We love mangoes at our house.

And the challenge with mangoes is getting them at just the right ripeness.

If you get them too soon, they're really hard and yucky.

But if you wait too long, you cut them open in the middle,

and they're mushy and smell not very good.

They don't taste right.

But here, this passage tells us that the fullness of time had come.

Galatians 4.4-5 says,

When the fullness of time had come,

God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.

Now, why did God send forth his Son?

The rest of the verse tells us,

To redeem those who were under the law,

so that we might receive adoption as sons.

So this is the idea that God waited for the perfect time

in all of human history to send Jesus.

Now, it may be easy for us to think,

Well, why didn't he send them way back when Israel was disobeying

and was about to go into exile?

God could have sent Jesus then.

Or why didn't he send them a thousand years ago?

Or why not today?

We can challenge those things.

But the ultimate truth that we see in God's Word

is that it was the fullness of time,

the ripeness of time,

at just the right time Jesus came.

Now, we can't know all of God's purposes,

but we can know that at the time Jesus came,

the world was in a really unique place.

It was something called the Pax Romana.

It's a fancy way to say the Roman peace.

If you've studied history,

you guys know that Rome was a really powerful country,

and they conquered all of the known world at that time.

And in doing that, they brought peace to the world.

Also, what they brought was the Greek language.

So the whole world at that time was connected by a common language

and also by a great road system that the Romans built

so that they could easily move their army from city to city.

But what that did is it allowed people to be able to travel quickly

from place to place.

And as we look in the book of Acts,

we can see how God used the Roman peace

to be a vessel for spreading the truth about Jesus all over the world.

So today, as we think about the Spirit's work in Christmas,

as we think about how God has prepared

long before the foundation of the world,

I want to understand a really important point.

In God's sovereign plan,

His time is always perfect.

Each of you guys here today came at a certain time.

Some of you may have gotten here earlier than you wanted.

Some of you may have gotten here later than you wanted.

But all of you got here exactly when God wanted you to get here,

according to His sovereign plan.

And so I believe that by the fact that you're here today,

to get to hear this message,

as we study from God's Word,

as we sing praise to Him,

as we hear the kids and the teens lead us in praise,

God has brought each one of us here

specifically today for a specific purpose.

And we should understand that Jesus,

or excuse me, that the Holy Spirit

has gone through great preparation in Christmas.

And we'll take a look at that further

this morning as we study.

So turn with me, if you would,

to the Gospel of Luke

and to the Gospel of Matthew.

So if you've got to get ready

to put your finger in two spots in your Bible.

We've looked at first to begin this morning

as we think about the Holy Spirit's work

in preparing for Christmas.

We've looked at the timing.

That God sent Jesus in the fullness of time

as a part of His plan

from before the beginning of the world.

I want to look next

at some of the preparation

that went into who Jesus' parents would be.

Now you think about that

in the context of all the people

who have lived throughout all of history.

Why Mary?

Why Joseph?

We're going to look a little bit

into the character of Mary and Joseph.

Who they were,

and maybe in part why God used them.

So turn with me to Luke chapter 2

Luke 2 · chapter mention

and Matthew chapter 1.

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

We're going to begin in Matthew.

But be ready,

because we're going to flip back over to Luke 2.

Out of the four Gospels,

Matthew and Luke give us the most detail

about the birth of Jesus.

And so we see here a parallel account

of the same thing

from two different vantage points.

So beginning in Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

or excuse me,

in Matthew chapter 1, verse 18.

Matthew 1:18

Now the beginning of Matthew chapter 1,

Matthew 1 · chapter mention

we see the genealogy of Jesus,

and so we can understand

the heritage of where He came from.

God was really intentional,

and we could spend an entire morning

just talking about

who was in the lineage of Jesus.

But for the sake of time,

I want to focus in more

on the specific character

of Joseph and Mary.

Now as we think about Joseph

as Jesus' father,

it's important to remember

that he was Jesus' adopted father.

Right?

We're in no way saying

that Joseph was the true physical father.

We know the Bible tells us

that Jesus was conceived

by the Holy Spirit.

But Joseph brought Jesus in

as his own son

while he was here in this world.

And so as we take a look,

the first thing I want to consider

is the character of Joseph.

Look to Matthew 1, verses 18 and 19.

Matthew 1:18

And you'll see here,

Matthew tells us,

Now the birth of Jesus Christ

took place in this way.

When his mother Mary

had been betrothed to Joseph,

before they came together,

she was found to be with child

from the Holy Spirit.

Now I want to pause here

for just a second.

There's a little bit of context

that we need to understand

as 21st century Americans

where we could maybe

put this off in one side.

Back in those days,

when someone got engaged,

the commitment was significant.

It was almost the same commitment

as marriage,

just not fully realized.

So at this point,

Mary and Joseph are engaged.

They're going to get married.

And you think about,

in our culture,

how important marriage is

and the marriage engagement.

That's a significant life chapter.

Even more so back in those days.

And young women oftentimes

would get betrothed.

Some as young as the age of 13.

So the youth group,

how many of you are 13-year-old girls?

Raise your hand.

Oh, sorry.

Some of the guys are like 13, right?

There's just a few.

How many of you are between 13 and 15?

Raise your hands.

Okay.

Girls, sorry.

Clarify.

Just a few of you.

And you're like,

I don't want to know this, Pastor Ben.

Now all of you dads out there

of those girls

who are between 13 and 15,

how many of you would be comfortable

with your daughter

getting married right now?

Probably how many of you dads

with daughters under the age of 18

are going to be comfortable

with them getting married?

Probably not.

But culturally back then,

this was really normal.

And so Joseph and Mary

were set to get married.

And suddenly, out of the blue,

Mary finds out she's pregnant.

Now, we're not going to do

an anatomy and physiology class

this morning,

but we all know

that God has designed babies

to be a product of a husband and wife

coming together in a special union.

And so the assumption would be here

if Joseph said,

well, we're not married,

then this isn't my baby.

And the text then tells us

we get this really interesting scenario

that starts to unfold here.

So you imagine Joseph and Mary,

they're planning their wedding,

they're excited,

and then suddenly, boom, this happens.

And Joseph goes,

ah, what's going on?

I thought I knew you, Mary.

I thought I understood this.

How could this be

that you're going to have a baby

and we're not even married?

This can't be my child.

What does this mean?

We'll look at verse 19

and we understand a little bit more

of the character of Joseph.

It says,

and her husband to be,

really here,

Joseph,

being a just man

and unwilling to put her to shame,

resolved to divorce her quietly.

So we'll look at first this phrase,

this description that's used here,

Joseph as a just man.

Now, we have to understand

this was probably something

that was heartbreaking news for Joseph.

All of his plans, his hopes,

had just been crushed,

dashed to the ground.

But he was a just man

and he knew that this was caused

to call off a marriage.

If there was unfaithfulness

during the betrothal period,

this would be a reason to walk away.

And really, that would be the thing

he needed to do to honor God.

And so being a just man,

he had a desire to do the right thing,

even though it meant

giving up the one he loved

and all that he had planned and hoped for.

As a just man,

he knew he needed to do this.

Now, culturally in those days,

honor and shame were so important.

That's very much what we would see

in Eastern cultures,

like the Chinese culture

or other cultures of the East,

where you want to do everything possible

to bring honor to your family

and avoid anything that brings shame.

Well, this would have been

a really shameful thing.

And it would have been shame

not only on Mary,

but also on Joseph as her fiance.

And he had a decision

about how he was going

to handle the situation.

Joseph could have taken

and simply put all the blame on Mary.

He could have made her a spectacle

and said,

look at this terrible woman.

She's been unfaithful.

Look what she's done to me.

She's ruined me.

And could have really publicly shamed her

and tried to push all the shame

away from himself

and put it onto her.

But instead, look at verse 19.

We see a bit about the character of Joseph.

He said he was unwilling

to put her to shame

and he resolved to divorce her quietly.

Now we're talking about divorce here.

You might be thinking,

wait, Pastor Ben,

I thought you said they were engaged.

Why is the word divorce here?

Well, again, in that day,

the word betrothalment or engagement

was such a strong commitment

that it was considered a divorce

to break off an engagement.

So this is a significant thing

that was going to be done.

And Joseph knew he had to do this

as a just man,

but his desire was to do it quietly,

to not bring shame to Mary,

to not hurt her.

And we can see here,

not only was he a just man,

but he was a loving

and merciful and tender man.

We also see that,

that part of his character reflected

when we look at how he handled

Jesus' coming.

Flip over now with me

to Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And we'll see in Luke chapter 2

Luke 2 · chapter mention

another aspect of the character

of Joseph.

So we see that he was just,

but he was also loving,

kind, and tender.

If you look at Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

look with me at verse 33,

and in several places

throughout this passage,

33 being a specific one,

Luke says,

let me turn there.

Luke 2, 33.

It says,

And his father and mother

marveled at what was said about him.

You might be thinking,

what is so significant

about this verse?

Look at the word there.

And his father.

Now remember,

was Joseph really

Jesus' father?

No.

But this passage,

along with other places

where we see later on

in the chapter,

reference to Joseph

as Jesus' father

show that he was someone

who was tender and compassionate.

He didn't treat Jesus

as an outsider in his family,

but he brought him in

as his very own son.

And I think that tells us

a lot about the character

of Joseph.

He could have been really bitter.

God, you messed up my plans.

This was not the way

I would have made this.

But instead,

not only did he embrace

God's plan,

but he showed love

and kindness

in accepting Jesus in.

We also see,

flip back to Matthew again,

Matthew 1,

that Joseph was obedient

to God's command.

So Joseph finds out

that Mary's pregnant.

All of his dreams,

as he knows,

that are dashed to the ground.

He's trying to figure out

what's the best way

to manage this

somewhat of a catastrophe,

this social mess

that he's got on his hands.

And he's pondering,

how do I do this?

But man,

I don't want to hurt Mary

in the process.

And we see in verse 24,

or excuse me,

in verse 20,

while he was considering

these things,

behold,

an angel of the Lord

appeared to him in a dream,

saying,

Joseph, son of David,

do not fear

to take Mary as your wife.

For what is conceived in her

is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son,

and you shall call his name Jesus,

for he will save his people

from their sins.

All this took place

to fulfill what the Lord

had spoken by the prophet.

And then we go on further

and see in verse 24,

when Joseph woke from his sleep,

he did as the angel

of the Lord commanded him.

He took his wife.

So here,

Joseph didn't challenge

God's command.

He didn't question it.

He accepted it,

and he obeyed.

And we understand

that Joseph not only

was a just man,

not only was he a loving

and kind man,

but he was one who was willing

to obey God's command.

You can also understand

that when we look at how,

and we can flip back

to Luke again.

Sorry, I'm back and forth here.

Look back to Luke chapter 2,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

we see not only did he obey God

in not divorcing Mary

and marrying her,

but he also obeyed

in verse 21 of Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

It tells us that

at the end of eight days,

when he, Jesus,

was circumcised,

he was called Jesus,

the name given by the angel

before he was conceived

in the womb.

Now, it would have been

much more typical

in those days

for the firstborn son

to take up the name

of the father.

And there certainly,

we see that in John the Baptist's birth.

Everybody assumed,

well, what do you want

to name him?

Do you want to name him

after yourself, Zachariah?

And he said, no,

his name is John.

Zachariah, Jesus' cousin,

or Mary's cousin's husband,

obeyed God.

And in the same way,

we see Joseph's willingness

to obey God's command

and name the baby Jesus.

And Jesus,

in the original Hebrew,

means the Lord saves.

And so not only

was he obeying the angel,

but he was by faith

looking forward

to how his adopted son,

how this baby,

was going to save the world.

Stay in Luke chapter 2 with me,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

and I want to look at

verses 21 through 24

and reflect on this idea

how not only was Joseph obedient,

but he was faithful to the law.

Look with me at verses 21 through 24.

There we see in 21,

at the end of eight days,

when he was circumcised.

So they obeyed the law of Moses

by having Jesus circumcised

on the eighth day,

according to the law.

Then in verse 22,

when the time came

for their purification,

according to the law of Moses,

they brought him up to Jerusalem

to present him to the Lord.

As it's written

in the law of the Lord,

every male who first opens the womb

shall be called holy to the Lord

and to offer a sacrifice,

according to what is said

in the law of the Lord,

a pair of turtle doves

or two young pigeons.

So here we see

the first sacrifice they offered

was a sacrifice for purification.

Now, again,

21st century Americans,

that doesn't mean a lot to us.

Probably not anybody here,

or many, if any,

have ever gone to the temple

to offer a sacrifice

for purification.

But the law of Moses

instructed that women,

after having a child,

should go and offer up a sacrifice

because of their impurity.

Now, in this case,

it's interesting

because the language here

says they offered up

a sacrifice

for their purification.

So wait,

shouldn't this just be for her,

just for Mary?

What was Joseph's role in this?

Why was he a part

of this purification?

Well, let's think back

to where Jesus was born.

Remember,

this was in a stable

in Bethlehem.

There wasn't a nice,

warm hospital

for baby Jesus to be born,

and he was born out in a barn

with all the animals.

So very likely,

Joseph was a very active

participant in that birth

and in helping.

And any of you

who have kids know

that's not a clean process,

right?

Having a baby

is a beautiful thing,

but it's a unique experience.

And so here we see also

Joseph recognized

that he was also

ceremonially unclean.

And so not only

did Mary honor the law,

but even Joseph

went above and beyond

to honor the law

of God in this context.

We also see

that there was

an additional sacrifice

where they offered

Jesus up to God's service.

This really reflects back

to a tradition

started in Israel

with Samuel

when he came as a baby.

If you remember the story,

Hannah was barren,

had no kids,

and she said,

God, if you give me a child,

I will offer him up

to serve you.

And God answered her prayer,

gave her a child,

and Samuel became

one of the great priests

and judges over Israel.

And so in the same way,

Mary and Joseph came

to offer Jesus up

to God for service to him,

recognizing that

he wasn't really theirs.

He was there.

He was,

Jesus was God's.

And so they offered him up

in the same way.

It's so important

for us to recognize

that Mary and Joseph

keeping the Mosaic Law

shows that even as a baby,

Jesus was brought up

in a way that honored God

and that was sinless.

No one could say to him

in his older age,

well, no,

you weren't circumcised,

or you didn't follow

as a child

the things of the law.

God's sovereignty

in choosing the timing

of Christ's birth

and choosing the parents

that would be there

in his birth

meant that Mary and Joseph

were going to be those people

that God planned

before the creation of time

for that purpose.

Now I want to look briefly

at Mary,

the mother of Jesus.

A lot can be said about her,

but I want to look just briefly

at a few things.

If you look with me

back a page or so,

a chapter in Luke,

let's look at Luke 1.38.

And we see here

that Mary was willing

and obedient to God.

So here an angel

appears to her

and kind of outlines

what's about to happen.

Hey Mary,

you're about to have a baby.

And Mary's like,

um, you know,

I don't know a ton about this,

but I need a husband

to make that happen

and that's not happening yet.

And the angel says,

don't worry,

it's going to be

the baby you're going to have

is of the Holy Spirit.

And then tells Mary

this great news

about how he will be

Emmanuel, God with us.

And then we see

after all this explanation,

Mary says in verse 38,

she says,

behold,

I am the servant

of the Lord.

Let it be according to me,

let it be to me

according to your word.

Mary was willing

and obedient

to do whatever

God asked her to do.

Even if that cost

her own honor,

even if that was inconvenient.

And even more so,

think about what this meant.

Imagine her hearing

this news thinking like,

how am I going to

break this to Joseph?

This is going to be

an interesting one.

She knew that

whatever God asked her to do,

she was going to be

willing to submit to it

and that he would

take care of the rest.

And we see that.

The birth story doesn't end

with Mary being

a single mother

raising Jesus.

It ends with God

working both in Joseph

and Mary together

as his parents.

We also see that

Mary was faithful.

And this was really interesting

as I was thinking

about this passage

and studying this.

You know,

we often,

we see this picture

of Mary on a donkey

riding up to Bethlehem

and they're going there

to register for the census.

But the reality is

most scholars indicate

that there actually

wouldn't have been

any need for Mary

to go to Bethlehem

to register.

That was Joseph's hometown,

not hers,

and they weren't yet married

at this point.

And so we think about this.

Now,

any of you moms out there know,

imagine your 39th

or 40th week of pregnancy.

We just recently experienced

that this summer

with Naomi,

our daughter,

who's four months old.

And my wife is amazing.

But I would not have asked

her to go on a long journey

in that 39th or 40th week

riding on a horse

or walking miles and miles

and who knows

what kind of conditions,

right?

But this was something

Joseph was required

to do by law.

And because of his desire

to be there for the birth,

and I believe

because of Mary's desire

to be with her husband

and to submit to her husband,

she came along,

even though it wasn't

comfortable for her

or convenient.

As a matter of fact,

it meant her giving birth

to her baby

away from family,

away from the comforts

of home.

And so we can see

that Mary was someone

who was really faithful.

Lastly,

we see that Mary

was thoughtful.

She's not a reactionary

kind of person.

If you look at Luke 2,

Luke 2:19

verse 19,

right at the tail end

of the shepherds

have just come now,

the angels have proclaimed

the good news to them,

they've come rushing in

and they're like,

whoa, look,

it's the baby Jesus,

just like the angels

told us.

This is amazing.

And they're praising God

and they're glorifying God.

And Mary could have reacted

like, shh, guys,

keep it down.

The baby's sleeping

over here, okay?

But instead,

the passage tells us

as we look at chapter 2,

verse 19,

that Mary treasured up

all these things,

pondering them

in her hearts.

And the shepherds

returned glorifying

and praising God

for all that they

had heard and seen.

So we recognize

that Mary was someone

who was watching

what was happening.

She was savoring

these moments

in her heart

of seeing God at work

and looking forward

to ultimately

what he was going to do.

As we close this section,

I want to think a little bit

about parenting in general

and some principles

we can see here

from Mary and Joseph.

And one of those

that I want to look at

is the fact that

faithfulness,

not success,

was what drove

Mary and Joseph

as parents.

Think about it.

How many of you

would feel like

you were successful parents

if you said,

yep,

my kid grew up

and he was tried

as a criminal

and executed.

Probably not many

or if any of us

would say

that's what our aspiration

would be for our child.

I know it's not

an aspiration

I would have

for one of my children.

Mary and Joseph

got a taste

of what Jesus' life

was going to be like.

We'll see that later

as we look at

the proclamation

that happened

in the temple.

But ultimately,

their pursuit

was not what they

measured success as.

They understood

that faithfulness

to God

was the most

important thing.

So parents here today,

I want to encourage you,

I want to encourage myself.

How can we learn

from Mary and Joseph?

Because we think

about all the things

that God is going

to sovereignly

bring into our life,

things that are

far beyond our control,

definitely outside

of our plans.

How are we going

to show faithfulness

to God?

I think that is

one of the strongest things

that was marked

by Mary and Joseph

is faithfulness.

And in the same way,

my hope,

my prayer

is that the Spirit

would work in our hearts

that we might be people

who are faithful

as we follow God

wherever He calls us.

So turn with me again

if you will,

back to the book of Luke,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

We're going to be here

for the rest of the time

so you don't have to be

flipping around

quite so much.

I want to take a look

at this idea

as we look at

prophetic fulfillment.

You could be thinking

as we go into this section,

boy, you're really going

to stay in Luke,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

and talk about

prophetic fulfillment?

Aren't you going to be

in like Isaiah,

Jeremiah,

all over the Old Testament?

And while I could do that,

this morning what I really

want to do is just focus

in on how God

fulfilled His Word

specifically to one

of His faithful servants

that we see introduced

here in Luke,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2.

So look at Luke,

Luke 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2,

beginning in verse 25.

Here we see this scenario.

Mary and Joseph

have come to the temple.

They've brought

the baby Jesus up.

They've offered

all these sacrifices

in keeping with the law

and everything

that they have been

commanded to do.

And then after offering

these sacrifices,

there's this new character

that enters the scene,

a man named Simeon.

And as you read verse 25,

you'll see it says,

now there's a man

in Jerusalem

whose name was Simeon,

and he's described

two ways.

This man was righteous

and devout,

waiting for the

consolation of Israel,

and the Holy Spirit

was upon him.

That last part

is pretty significant.

Oftentimes,

we think about the fact

that the Holy Spirit

as believers

has come to indwell in us.

And so,

we take for granted

the very real presence

we have of the Spirit.

But before the day

of Pentecost came,

the Spirit's presence

was much more,

it was not permanent

among those who were followers

of God in those days.

So,

for this description

to be Simeon

whose,

the Holy Spirit

was upon,

was a really significant

descriptive

for Simeon.

And so,

we see here

that Simeon

comes into the temple.

He was a righteous man.

This means that

his life he had spent

seeking to honor God.

Now,

interestingly enough,

out of all the credentials

we're given about Simeon,

we're not given

his age

or we're not given

his job.

We don't know

if he was a priest.

We don't really know

what he did,

but we know

who he was.

We understand his character.

And we see to Simeon here,

as you read on

in verse 26,

we see,

it had been revealed

to him by the Holy Spirit

that he would not see death

before he had seen

the Lord's Christ.

Now,

remember,

the first prophecy

about a Messiah coming

had been over 400 years

earlier to Isaiah.

So,

this was a really

significant thing

that God had revealed

to Simeon

that in his day,

before Simeon died,

he was going to get

to see God's salvation

for Israel.

And so,

Simeon,

this righteous

and devout man,

was waiting.

Now,

we know,

Paul tells us

that not all those

who were of Israel

were the true Israel.

There was a remnant

of faithful people

within Israel.

Not just those

who outwardly went

to the temple

or called themselves

the Jews,

but those who were

faithful to God.

And likely,

Simeon is someone

who is representative

of the remnant

of people,

the faithful,

who are committed

to following God

and following his ways.

And here we see

that the Holy Spirit

had told him

that he would not die

before he saw

the Lord's Christ.

And so,

this significant

moment happens.

Simeon walks

into the temple

and there,

led by the Holy Spirit,

he sees Mary and Joseph.

Now,

Mary and Joseph

would not have been

an unusual scene.

On any given day,

there could have been

dozens of parents there

offering up

these sacrifices

according to what

the law

was requiring them.

But led by the Holy Spirit,

God brought Simeon

to that place

at that exact time

to get to see

Mary and Joseph.

And we see there,

as you look on

in verse 28,

he took him up,

Jesus,

in his arms,

and he blessed God.

We're going to look at

in our last segment

this morning

a little bit of more

of what this pronouncement

was that Simeon made.

But at this point,

Simeon saw

in seeing Jesus,

even not knowing

Jesus was going

to go to the cross,

this was 30-some years

later that this would happen.

He knew that God's salvation

had come through Jesus.

And by faith,

he looked forward to that.

We see,

secondly here,

another person

enters the scene.

While Simeon is still speaking

and blessing them,

look down with me

to verse 36,

and there's a prophetess

named Anna.

She's the daughter of Phineal

of the tribe of Asher.

Now, just so you know,

I thought when I saw this,

wow, that must be

something really important.

It wasn't.

Asher was just

any other tribe,

and we don't understand

exactly why Luke

gives us these details

other than to say

she was just

an average Israelite.

But we understand

that she's not just

any Israelite.

As further on,

we see that she was

one who had not

departed from the temple

in verse 37,

but worshipped

day and night

with fasting and prayer.

And we see later on there

that she was also

one of those remnant,

one of the faithful

who is waiting

for the redemption

of Israel.

We can also look at Anna,

and as we see

the description

of who she is,

we see in the end

of verse 36,

she was advanced

in years,

having lived with her husband

only seven years,

and then she was a widow

until she was 84.

There's a little bit

of debate about

the dating of all this,

but we can safely say

Anna was between

84 years old

and 104 years old.

Okay?

So, she was no spring chicken.

She was up there

in years,

and look how

she committed her time.

Night and day,

the passage tells us,

she spent,

verse 37 tells us,

she did not depart

from the temple,

worshiping with fasting

and prayer

night and day.

So, here's someone

who was just

all about worship.

Imagine running into Anna

and talking to her.

What kind of things

do you think she would say?

I think it would have

been incredible.

And here,

God brought her about

just at the right time,

and she too

had been looking

for the hope of Israel,

the salvation of Israel

that God was going

to give.

And here she comes

and sees Mary

and Joseph

and the baby Jesus.

And so,

as we think about

God's preparation

for Christmas,

the Holy Spirit's work,

we want to think about

it's not only that

God brings people

at just the right time,

he has just the right

people in place,

but that God

keeps his word.

Here we see God

had given a specific

word to Simeon

that he wouldn't die

before he saw

God's salvation,

and God kept that word.

That's significant

for us to know

that God keeps his word.

And ultimately,

Simeon and Anna,

after hearing this good news,

after seeing Jesus,

they went and told

everyone around them

the great news

about what Jesus had done.

God still has said

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as

as many as