Satisfying Our Longings Luke 2 Vs 21 40 1

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I wanted just a few announcements today.

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Tonight there's a 6 o 'clock prayer meeting here at church. The Bible studies are commencing again.

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Women's Bible study is this coming Saturday at 10 o 'clock and the men's

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Bible study same day at 3 .30 in the afternoon. The annual business meeting is, just try to put that on your notes,

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January 29th. It'll be immediately following the morning service. So every year we have what we call a business meeting.

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This is the Lord's business. We don't treat it like a business like you'd find out down around the corner.

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This is the Lord's work here. But we gather to talk about what the Lord is doing, has done, and we look back, we look forward, and we do some orders of business as far as budget and things like that.

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So everyone is welcome to come out to that. If you want to just see how Church Quality Church works that way, please stay after that service.

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So that's January 29th after the morning service. Well, as we prepare our hearts,

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I wanted to read Deuteronomy 31, verse 8. And the Lord, He is the one who goes before you.

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He will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear nor be dismayed.

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You know, God being for us and with us, He will never withdraw His help from us.

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You know, He cannot fail Himself. The Lord goes into battle with us, and He will bear the brunt of our fight and give us victory.

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May we not forget who we serve this morning. This is the God that we serve. He is a mighty

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God. He is Lord over all things. And we just, when we come together as believers to worship and to fellowship together on Sundays, it's our opportunity to practice what we're going to get to do someday in glory.

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So let's look forward to that. Okay, would you join with me in prayer?

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Lord God, we thank you that you have gathered us together, Father, that we are your children,

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Father, that you are our guide, you are our shepherd. And Lord, may we always acknowledge you in all the things that we do,

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Father, that you are Lord over all, that we are here to walk with you, to follow you, to worship you, to understand more fully what our responsibility is as believers,

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Lord, because you are a holy God, and we acknowledge that this morning. God, we thank you for the songs that we sing.

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We thank you for the message that's preached and shared, Father. May our hearts be attentive.

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May the Holy Spirit guide and lead us, Father, as we learn more, as we grow in our faith, and we acknowledge the love and care you give each one of us,

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Father. Lord, we thank you, and we ask that you would watch over those folks that are not able to be here, the infirm, the folks that are maybe away and out of town,

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Lord. May you watch over them, Father. May you be at the forefront of their minds as they think of you, as they meditate upon you and read your word and maybe listen to music,

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Father. I just pray that you would encourage them exactly where they're at. So, Lord, bless them.

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We thank you for everyone that is here today, Lord, and we look forward to hearing from you,

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Father, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. If you categorize this song, what would you call it?

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Children's song? Children's song? Are you too old to sing a children's song? Stand together with me.

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♪ Jesus loves me. Our Scripture reading for this morning is

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Exodus chapter 13, verses 1 through 10. Exodus chapter 13, verses 1 through 10.

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And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all that are firstborn, whatsoever openeth the room among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast, in his mind.

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And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day of which ye came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

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For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall no living bread be eaten.

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This day came in the month of Abib. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring you into the land of the

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Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which ye swear unto thy fathers, to give thee the land filled with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this to us in this month.

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Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread. And on the seventh day shall be a feast to the

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Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And there shall be no leavened bread be seen with thee.

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Neither shall there be leavened seed with thee in all thy quarters. And thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying,

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This is done because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.

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And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thy eyes, that the

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Lord's love may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought thee out of Egypt.

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Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in this season from year to year. May the

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Lord bless you to believe in His word. CONGREGATION SING I will be preaching from the

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Gospel according to Luke, chapter 2, verse 21 through 40.

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The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 2, verses 21 through 40.

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The Gospel according to Luke gives us not only the birth of Jesus, but what happened soon after.

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And it is very unique among the four Gospel accounts that we have today.

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And it is also different from the apocryphal, so those fake

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Gospels that exist. While the fake Gospels, they focus on alleged miracles that happened through the child

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Jesus, this Gospel, the Gospel according to Luke, focuses on how

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God testifies of the significance of this child Jesus. So Luke 2, 21.

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And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called

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Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Now, when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the

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Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the

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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.

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And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the

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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

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Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child

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Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed

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God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

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For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the

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Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

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Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against.

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Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

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Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.

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She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity. And this woman was a widow of about 84 years who did not depart from the temple, but served

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God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant, she gave thanks to the

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Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in his Jerusalem.

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So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city,

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Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

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This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that Jesus came to fulfill all the promises that you have spoken through the prophets.

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Thank you that in Christ, even when he was a baby, the fulfillment was guaranteed.

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And Father, we're thankful to look back to this account on this side of the cross, now that we have even more clarity that Simeon and Anna did not have.

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And so that we may rejoice even more and praise you even more for what you have accomplished through Jesus and that he was sent to die for our sin and faced your wrath so that we may live and be forgiven.

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In Jesus name, amen. So after the celebration of the shepherds who got to see the baby in the manger, it's in the swaddling cloths.

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And for them, that was enough to know that Israel will be restored. And today we get to see two more witnesses whom

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God personally has testified to regarding the promised

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Messiah, Christ. And this is significant because what we see here in the temple where God dwells is that the two witnesses are not the high priests and the priests.

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And they're not even young priests, but rather these are the two witnesses who have been longing for the promised

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Messiah, the Christ, so that the nation

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Israel may be restored, may be delivered from their enemies.

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And this is really important because when these two elderly people, older man and older woman, witness the baby

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Jesus, when they witness a baby, they rejoice as if they have seen the completion of the restoration of Israel and the world.

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And that's because of their devotion to God. For decades they have been devoted to God.

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For decades they have waited and waited for the promises to be fulfilled.

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And they know that they will not get to see the full fulfillment of what

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Christ has come to do. Yet, the sight of this baby is enough for them because they know how faithful God is.

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And this is really important for us because oftentimes in Christian faith we long to see the promises of God fulfilled.

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We long to see Jesus come back. His enemies are vanquished.

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We long to see the righteous lifted up. We long to see the wicked punished.

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However, sometimes we're not guaranteed to see that.

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In fact, for centuries Christians, brothers and sisters in faith, have longingly waited for the second coming of Christ so that his people may be lifted up with him.

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But what these two witnesses tell us this morning is that when they got to see

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Jesus, that was as if they have seen the full fulfillment.

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Of what Jesus had come to do. And for us this morning, we get to see

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Jesus even more clearly than these two elderly people.

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They only got to see the baby. Who knows if he was crying? Who knows how gentle he was?

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I don't know. But seeing the baby revealed to them by the

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Holy Spirit was enough for them to rejoice and rest at ease.

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And for us we get to see the full grown Jesus who has vanquished sin and death once and for all.

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And with that, when we look to Jesus, our longings are satisfied.

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So the main point of today's text is that God satisfies his devout people's longing for salvation through the revelation of Christ.

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God satisfies his devout people's longing for salvation through the revelation of Christ.

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The first point, God reveals his divisive path of salvation in Christ through his devout people according to his word.

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God reveals his divisive path of salvation in Christ through his devout people according to his word.

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Now, again, after the shepherd's joyous celebration of witnessing

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Christ, Luke shows us two more witnesses to whom Christ is personally revealed.

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Now, before Luke shows us the witnesses, he sets the context in which it brings

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Mary and Joseph, the faithful devout couple, to Jerusalem. Recall that Joseph and Mary were from Nazareth.

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That is close to 60 to 80 miles up north of Jerusalem.

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So it was quite the journey. And we can really see the faithfulness of their couple when they do make that journey, which would have taken at least three to five days by walking to dedicate their son to God in the temple.

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So verse 21 fulfills Christ's circumcision on the eighth day in the fulfillment of the naming the baby

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Jesus, which means salvation. Now, circumcision was required by the

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Jewish law, the Old Testament, for all the Israelite boys who are eight days old.

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And this tradition goes all the way back to Genesis in Abraham's day when

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God promised Abraham that he will bring about a son,

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Isaac, the promised child, through barren Sarah. And this act of circumcision was an external, covenantal sign of God's grace, right?

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It set them apart. It set the Jewish boys apart because they belonged to God.

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And Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, fulfilled every part of the law before God.

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And this was important because Jesus had to live a perfect life on our behalf in order to be the perfect sacrifice before God.

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So through the devout and faithful parents, God used these faithful parents in order that Jesus would be obedient to the law, fulfill the law completely and perfectly, even since the beginning.

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And verses 22 through 24 shift the focus to the temple. And remember, in the

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Old Testament, the temple is the dwelling place of God. That's where people went to meet

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God. And verse 22 tells us that Mary and Joseph faithfully followed the law throughout, all throughout.

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Now, when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the

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Lord. The purification ceremony took 40 days to complete after the birth of a child.

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And because giving birth made the mother ceremonially unclean, it was a requirement of the law.

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Now, as I've mentioned before, ceremonial uncleanness did not mean sinfulness.

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People were made unclean by choices that were beyond their control.

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If you got sick, you were made unclean. If you gave birth, you were made unclean.

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If you buried a relative, you were made unclean. So the ritual state of uncleanness is not always sinful.

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Now, sin did make people unclean, but uncleanness did not make someone a sinner.

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They weren't guilty of a childbirth, right? They weren't guilty of burying the parents. In fact, they were required to honor their parents even to their death, they were to bury their parents.

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Now, what this cleanness and uncleanness, that distinction, what that taught

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Israel was that it taught Israel what kind of God they worshiped.

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In the Old Testament, the physical phenomena taught them spiritual truth. And for Israel, the fact that this state of uncleanness existed showed that they worshiped the

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God of life. After all, if they touched dead things, they would be made unclean.

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And they would not be able to dwell in the encampment of Israel, the camp of Israel, in the wilderness section.

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Now, what this showed is that God of life, to Him belongs all lives.

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To Him belongs all lives, and He's the source of all life. So how does that work with birth, right?

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Mary has just given birth. So why was she made unclean? Because isn't birth giving of a life?

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Well, after giving birth, the woman passes something called the placenta.

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And placenta, at one point, is life -giving, because that's how the baby lives.

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But after the baby's detached from it, the placenta is dead. It's, you can't use it.

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It's an organ that can't be used anymore. It dies. And that would make the woman unclean.

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It's not that birth was an unclean thing, as if the baby's made unclean, but rather, it's the passing of the placenta that resembled death, that made the woman come in contact with death.

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Hence, the purification process was necessary, because the purity state taught

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Israel that God is the God of life. In order to approach the

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God of life, you had to be pure after coming in contact with death. Now, the second part of verse 22 to 23 deal with another cultic ceremony, another temple ceremony, the dedication of the firstborn.

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This goes back all the way to Exodus 13, which Jim read this morning. It was to commemorate the fact that God delivered

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Israel by striking all the firstborn in Egypt, who were not covered by the

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Passover lamb. And what it signified was that Israel was supposed to present their firstborn boys to the

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Lord, and it taught them the reality that the firstborn belonged to God.

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They didn't have a claim on their firstborn, but God graciously gave them their firstborn back if they redeemed them.

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And ironically, Joseph and Mary here would not fully grasp how much

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Jesus belonged to the Lord, even more so than other firstborn of Israel, because he came directly from the

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Lord himself. So Jesus is the ultimate firstborn who belonged to God, like no other firstborn ever born.

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He is truly set apart as the firstborn of Israel.

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And verse 24 returns to the law of purification in which they make an offering.

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Usually for the wealthy, they would make an offering of a livestock animal.

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However, Mary and Joseph were not that wealthy, so they offer up two birds.

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Yet what it shows is despite their economic background, these two people are faithful to the

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Lord throughout. They did all according to the law.

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God orchestrated the actions of the devout couple to fulfill the earthly ministry of Christ, even since birth.

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Now, as they're in the temple, of course not in the main part of the temple, because women would not be able to go in and even non -priests cannot go in, so Joseph too.

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The devout couple encounters a devout prophet. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was

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Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the

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Holy Spirit was upon him. Now, we're not told of Simeon's background or his impressive resume.

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However, we're told of his spiritual state. He was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and Holy Spirit was upon him.

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In the first two chapters of Luke, it is clear that God uses the righteous to rejoice in the coming of Christ.

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In another view, it is the righteous, despite whatever background they come from, who celebrate the coming of Christ.

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It is the devout, it is the righteous. Has nothing to do with their social economic background.

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What God cared about and the type of people that God used were those who were righteous inside.

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And some of the examples were Zacharias and Elizabeth. They were called the righteous people.

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Now, this Simeon is devoted to God as he longs for the consolation of Israel.

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He deeply desired for God to see, he deeply desired to see

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God's promised deliverance of his people, Israel. That was his longing and that reflects his righteousness.

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It's not about him, it's about God and his people.

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And that's what he longed for, for whoever knows however long he's been waiting for this.

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In verse 26 to 27, unpack the role of the Holy Spirit. And it had been revealed to him by the

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Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

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So he came by the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child

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Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, God through the

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Holy Spirit promised Simeon that he would not die before seeing Christ.

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And this was divinely, this was a divinely orchestrated meeting. Involving the faithful followers of God.

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The devout parents who came all the way to Jerusalem when they didn't need to, to dedicate their child to the temple, in the temple, and their divine son, they encounter a

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Spirit -led prophet who's been devout all throughout and he's basically living just because God promised him, you will see

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Christ before death. That's the reason for his life. The reason why you're living right now is because you're gonna see

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Christ and I'm gonna use you to reveal more about Christ. And when

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Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple, God himself testifies through his devout prophet about Christ.

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When Simeon sees the baby, he through the Spirit recognizes the baby as the fulfillment of God's word.

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And upon the fulfillment of God's promise that he would see Christ, Simeon takes the baby and baby

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Jesus in his arms and he begins to praise God. Right, the appropriate response to see the fulfillment of God's promise is praise.

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Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. He's at peace because he has seen the fulfillment of God.

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Simeon did not have to witness a single miracle. Simeon did not have to find out every detail of Jesus' life.

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It was enough that God revealed to him the promised Messiah through whom the redemption of Israel would be fulfilled and he's only a baby.

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He didn't need to know how this baby would grow up to fulfill the restoration of Israel and also the world.

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He didn't need to because the fact that God's word came true as he promised, that was enough for Simeon.

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And this is extremely convicting to the world that says, well, we don't have enough information about Jesus.

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Well, we don't really get to see how his childhood life came out to be.

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Well, there's not enough evidence. But for Simeon, seeing that baby's face and holding him in his arms was enough and not because this baby performed any miracle.

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There's no account of that. But that God's word was fulfilled and that was enough for Simeon.

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Now, why was this divinely planned meeting so important? Verses 30 to 31 share the reason for Simeon's praise.

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For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all peoples to Simeon, the sight of the baby guaranteed all of God's redemptive promise.

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To Simeon, the public revelation of this baby was the public proclamation of God's salvation through to Israel, but not only to Israel, but the whole world.

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Seeing Jesus was like bumping into the personification of salvation.

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If salvation had a face, it would have been Jesus' face. And for the first time in Luke, the salvation of the

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Gentiles is clearly declared. God's salvation for all people groups is carefully and has been carefully orchestrated by God through Jesus.

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And what does the salvation of all peoples entail? Verse 32 describes the salvation of all peoples.

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A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people

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Israel. As light shines in the darkness, Christ's coming illuminates the dark world of the

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Gentiles. Remember, the Gentiles were the very people who rejected

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God and worshiped false gods. And they participated in some of the most perverse things and rituals, sexually and ritualistically.

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And they rejected the true God. And now these people will finally understand and experience the presence of the true

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God through God's revelation of Christ. In Christ, some of the most messed up, wicked people will finally see the truth.

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Some of the most ignorant, deceived people will encounter the truth.

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And in relation to Israel, Christ is the glory of Israel.

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The fact that the savior of the world comes from Israel glorifies

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Israel among all nations. Ultimately, Jesus is the

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Jewish Messiah who came to save the world. The prominence of Israel is because that God brought his salvation through Israel in Christ.

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And this is really important for us today when we consider the

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Jewish people, especially the ones who have rejected

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Christ. They don't get to experience the glory of Israel.

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They're so close. They have the Old Testament. The law and the prophets point to Jesus.

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But the glory of Israel can only be experienced by Israelites who believe their

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Messiah. And this is an important prayer request for the church that Israel may receive their

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Messiah. Us Gentiles, as I believe most of us here are Gentiles, we get the outflowing of that blessing that was first given to Israel, right?

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That's why Paul says the salvation, to the Jews first and also to the Greek. We're also to the

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Greek. We're in addition. But the glory of Israel is yet to come when the whole world will realize and celebrate the

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Jews who receive Christ because Christ came from among them.

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And upon this prophetic praise, Joseph and Mary marvel. This is the same thread of wonder that started from Luke one, right?

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As God reveals more about his Messiah, more about his salvific plan, his faithful audience can only marvel.

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All they can do is that they silently ponder as their jaws drop.

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However, this salvation will not be effortless. It will not be just a smooth sailing.

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Behold, this child is destined for the full and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against.

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Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

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God's deliverance through Jesus will cause a national divide. Many in Israel either will fall or rise.

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And this is an allusion to Isaiah 8, 15 and Isaiah 28, 16.

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God will establish a cornerstone in Israel and whoever rebels against him will fall.

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They will be judged. But whoever believe in him will not be in haste as it says in 28, chapter 28, which means whoever believe in him will not have to be anxious, right?

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When you're in haste, you're anxious. You don't know what's gonna happen. But when you're not in haste, you just trust your own firm foundation.

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And that's because you know that God will accomplish what he has started. You might not see the full picture yet, but you're not anxious about it because you know the full picture is guaranteed.

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Now, not only will this baby cause a national divide, it will personally wound

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Mary as well. A sword will pierce through your own soul also.

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Here the sword is a large double -edged sword. It's a weapon of war.

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In fact, this is a different type of sword than even the sword of the spirit sword.

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The sword of the spirit sword is a smaller sword for close fighting. But this sword is a large, broad, double -edged sword and it will pierce

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Mary's heart. And considering one's soul is actually the core of one's emotions, right?

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It means that Mary will suffer an extreme emotional pain due to this child.

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And what could this mean? This means, as we will see next week, a glimpse of it,

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Jesus' loyalty is not toward his biological family, Mary, but his heavenly father.

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His utmost allegiance will be to his heavenly father and his salvific plan.

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And this meant that Jesus will always choose to obey his father, even if it meant that his mother did not understand what's going on.

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And ultimately, Jesus will choose to die on the cross to save the world according to God's will as Mary painfully witnesses her son's humiliating execution.

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No parent wants to see their child die before them.

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That kind of pain strikes to the core of the heart.

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And although Mary did not know what this prophecy entailed, she will find out later in the book.

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And now what is the purpose of this difficult plan of salvation? This plan of salvation is divisive and it's difficult to go through.

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That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. In the end, Jesus will be the test that reveals all the hearts of people.

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The deepest thoughts and the wills of our hearts are revealed by how we respond to Christ.

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How a person responds to Jesus will reveal where he stands before God.

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Our deepest inner thoughts, desires, and wills depend on how we respond to Christ.

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And that will be revealed. And this morning that has not changed.

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Jesus is still a divisive figure. How you receive

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Christ reveals your identity and destiny.

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And the question for us this morning is will you fall along with those who reject him?

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Or will you rise with those who trust him? And this is an important question for the whole world this morning.

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How do you respond to Christ? And it's not surprising that every religion has some way of responding to Christ.

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And it's actually astounding that many religions they don't really want to go against Christ directly.

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They're in fact fond of Christ in one way or another. Right, they love his teaching.

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Love your neighbor as yourself. Right, they quote the golden rule all the time. And some like Islam, they see

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Christ as an important prophet but he is not

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God and he did not rise from the dead. Their response to Christ is that they reject what

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Christ truly did and who Christ truly is. They can only accept

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Christ the way they formulate Christ. The way they recreate who

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Christ is supposed to be. Some like Judaism, right, not the messianic

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Jews but Judaism who reject Christ, they outright do not like him.

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He's a false prophet to them. They deny that he is their messiah.

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And some like Mormonism distort the true Christ where their

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Jesus is unrecognizable from the Jesus of the Bible, right?

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He's more man than God. He's a created being, not the creator.

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And no matter how fond someone is of Christ unless they trust in the true

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Jesus of the Bible, they are doomed to fall into hell. And the question is then how do we trust the real

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Christ? We encounter the real Christ just as Simeon did.

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We have to be led by the spirit according to his word. If you have not encountered the real

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Christ, my recommendation for you this morning is to submit yourselves to God and ask him to show

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Christ to you and start opening up the Bible to read about Jesus.

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Is this the true Jesus that you know of? And if he is, trust him.

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Trust him because he died for your sin so that you may live with him.

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He died for your sin so that you don't have to face the consequence, the punishment, the wrath of God that you deserved.

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God reveals real Jesus through his word by his spirit.

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Second, God satisfies the longing of his people by fulfilling his promises in Christ.

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God satisfies the longing of his people by fulfilling his promises in Christ. After Simeon, God reveals his plan of salvation, baby

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Jesus, to Anna. Luke moves from an old man in the temple rejoicing at the sight of Christ to an old woman who has been longing for Christ also in the temple.

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Verses 36 to 37 tell us her biography. Now there was one

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Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity.

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And this woman was a widow of about 84 years who did not depart from the temple but served

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God with fasting and prayers night and day. Anna is someone who has been widowed in her early 20s.

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And Anna rather decided not to get remarried but rather to devote the rest of her life to God.

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And it is astounding that she has been doing this for 84 years which means she would have been more than 100 years old.

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But night and day her life was filled with fasting and prayers.

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That was her devotion to God. All the time she had, everything she did, it was all about God.

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That's some devotion. And she is also described as a prophetess.

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In the Old Testament there were a handful of prophets and prophetesses. There were way more prophets than prophetesses but God still used women to speak

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His message to His people. Some of the famous ones are

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Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther.

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God previously used them to deliver His people Israel out of their enemies and further unfold

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His salvific plan to Israel. For example, without Sarah there would not be

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Israel because Isaac wouldn't have been born. And without Esther the nation of Israel would have been wiped out by a wicked decree from Haman.

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And Anna of the New Testament was one of the prophetesses of the Bible. Now what is

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Anna's significant role? In coming in that instance she gave thanks to the

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Lord and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Anna's significant role in God's redemptive history is that she recognized the

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Messiah who came. And similar to Simeon's response upon seeing the fulfillment of God's promise in this baby, she immediately broke out into praise.

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Similar to Simeon, the sight of baby Jesus was the fulfillment of the redemption in Jerusalem.

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Now Jerusalem is the capital city of Israel so sometimes Jerusalem is referred to to cover the whole nation of Israel.

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And then we do this often too in the news when you hear about the policies that are made for Americans.

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We say Washington did this, right? Or when we get into foreign affairs it's the

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Washington said this about this. Now in the same way when she saw baby

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Jesus she was assured of the coming salvation to the nation of Israel without having to see the fulfillment of that.

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The sight of the baby was enough for her as well. No miracle required, just the fulfillment of God's word was enough.

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God said what He was going to do and that is enough for me.

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I don't have to put with my own opinion what God ought to do,

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Anna just trusted what God said He would do and that was enough. And in this case it was a baby.

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And that's the significance of Anna's role as a biblical prophetess. We have no idea what else she said, we don't know.

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But the most significant part of her life is that she stands at the climax of God's salvific history to receive the

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Davidic king who came to save His people even though He's just a baby. That's the highlight of her life.

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For 84 years she served the temple. For 84 years she waited for this day and that day gets the spotlight, no other day.

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Not her wedding day, not the funeral day, but that day in which baby

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Jesus visited her and she knew that moment on. And after God has testified about Jesus to Mary and Joseph in the temple, the new parents go back to their home.

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So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own city

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Nazareth. Now again, Luke emphasizes the parents' devotion to the

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Lord, Mary and Joseph were fully obeying God. And in this story there is no villain, there's no fool.

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In this story there are only faithful followers who witnessed the long -awaited fulfillment of God's salvation when

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God revealed to them in this baby. These were faithful people who were longing for God's revelation.

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And this section ends similarly to how John the Baptist section ended in chapter one.

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And the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him.

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Baby Jesus matured, he didn't just stay as baby, he matured, right?

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Despite all the Christmas commercials and Christmas ornaments,

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Jesus didn't just stay as a baby. And not just physically but spiritually.

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While John the Baptist only grew and became strong in spirit, Jesus grew and became strong in spirit and was filled with wisdom.

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And God's grace was upon him. He was more special than even the special baby

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John the Baptist. He was always far superior.

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And the sign that he is truly God's choice of salvation is that Jesus himself matured to be a devoted follower of God.

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He was devoted to God fully. And God fulfills his promise of Messiah in Christ from birth to growth.

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And this morning, like Anna, we too longingly wait for Christ.

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We longingly wait for Christ to come back for his people. To deliver us from our enemies and sin once and for all.

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This winter, I've been visiting some of our brother and sister who are not doing well and they're faithful people and what encourages them the most is that Christ is coming back.

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The current fallenness of the world, the current brokenness of the body is only temporary.

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And as one theologian in his aged body, he was dying, he once said,

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I don't even know who it is, but he once said to this younger guy who asked, hey, isn't it hard when your body's falling apart and you're always in pain?

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But he said, oh, it's nothing a good resurrection can't heal.

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But that's the longing we have. Whether you're young or old, whether it's emotional pain, physical pain, the longing is that it will be made well when

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Christ comes back. And that even applies to things around us.

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We see the corruption in our own government, perverseness in media, foolishness in academia, and we wonder when will this foolishness all end?

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When will this wickedness ever stop? When will Christ come back?

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And what's astounding is we are in one sense placed in a similar position as the prophetess

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Anna. God's people longingly wait for the fulfillment of God's redemption in Christ.

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Both Anna and Simeon's interaction with baby Jesus was brief. But that swift moment of that encounter with Jesus was enough for them to praise

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God for the fulfillment of the redemption. However, unlike Anna and Simeon, who only briefly saw

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Jesus, and yet their lives and all their longings were satisfied, we're in a much better position in history.

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We have witnessed the fullness of Jesus' earthly ministry. We have seen what he came to do in order to save his people.

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Unlike Anna and Simeon, we know clearly how it all ends.

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While Anna and Simeon probably died without ever seeing how Jesus will save, without ever seeing

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Jesus' first miracle. But we know how Jesus has saved.

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He took on our sin and died on the cross so that they would be delivered once and for all.

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The fact that he rose from the dead means that sin has no power over you.

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The fact that Jesus fulfilled what he said he came to do is a giant warning sign to all his enemies and sin itself.

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The reality of sin will be one day no more because Jesus accomplished full salvation on the cross.

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That sin that you might be struggling with, and it's been years, and you want to be delivered, that sinful desire that you have when you look back to Jesus and what he did.

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You know that it will one day only be history. And how does our longing for Christ get fulfilled?

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Just as Anna and Simeon did. We look at Christ and see what he has done.

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Let us pray. Father, we are thankful that we get to stand on this side of the cross, that we get to see the full picture of Christ's accomplishment of salvation for not just Israel, but the whole world, those who believe.

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And Father, we pray that we would faithfully look at Jesus whenever that longing arises, to know, to be assured that he is indeed coming back.

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And this wicked world has an expiration date. And our sinful desires will be no more.