A Kingdom Moment

In Uncategorized by Roger Staub

“And the Lord will suddenly come to His temple”

Malachi 3:1

Often the most significant Kingdom events are energized by people most folks have never heard of.

The birth of Jesus was a complex business for Joseph and Mary.  The visitation of the Angel Gabriel, the powerful encounter with the Spirit at Elizabeth and Zachariah’s home, and the shepherd’s inquiry after receiving the heavenly announcement of the Savior’s arrival; these remarkable events punctuated the otherwise ordinary lives of two Jewish people.

They did everything required of them.  The child was circumcised on the 8th day, and after another 33 days (a purification requirement prescribed by Moses), the couple headed to Jerusalem to present the child to the Lord and make the ritual offering of a couple of doves or pigeons on the altar.

I’m so curious about what Joseph and Mary were thinking as they approached the temple.  After all, this was the heart of Jewish life; the place where holy men prayed, and studied, and taught.  Levites took care of the holy instruments of their national worship, and priests performed rituals involving incense and lights, the endless task of slaughter and sacrifice, and the offering of blood for the nation’s transgressions.

The massive temple that Herod constructed for the Jews was almost always teeming with people; some came to work, others to worship, and still others to just gawk at the impressive structure or the curious rites of a people who worshipped only one God.  For any visitor it was a lot of noise and shouldering one’s way through the crowd.  The couple, baby in arms, were barely distinguishable in a hubbub of human activity.

“Who has believed our report?  And to whom is the arm of the Lord been revealed?”  Almost 7 centuries before, Isaiah asked the question; “Does anyone realize what’s going on here?  Has anyone even an inkling of Who just came in the house?”  (Isaiah 53:1)

One of the expectations we often entertain, one which opens us to a fair amount of disappointment, is that the guy with the big crowd, or who sits in the big chair, or the lady who runs the meeting is surely going to know what’s really going on, or be sensitive to the moment.

From the High Priest, down through the ranks of the religious servants, everything that day was business as usual.  The little family elbowed their way to the line where they could eventually fulfill their obligations to the law and begin the journey home.  To priests and Levites alike, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were just more of the same.  “Move along now!  So, what is it you need?”

“We’re not from a priestly lineage,” perhaps Mary was thinking.  “I wonder how, or if, this Child will fit in here?”  Joseph was likely concerned about managing the talk, and the flak, and making a living.  They were tired from the travel, and the waiting, and being away from home.

“May I hold Him?”  Mary turned toward the beaming face of an old man she’d never seen, his weathered hands stretched out toward the child.  “Okay.”  After gazing at the infant for a moment or two, Simeon raised his face toward the heavens, “Lord, now You’re letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for my eyes have seen Your salvation!” (Luke 2:29, 30)

Joseph and Mary looked at each other as Simeon went on to bless the Child, declaring Him to be “A light to bring revelation to the Nations, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

The old man turned to Mary and quietly told her the Child would be a sign to many, and He would encounter great resistance because He would reveal man’s thoughts.  “Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also!” he whispered to Mary, a sober warning of things on down the timeline.

Quietly witnessing these words stood an old woman, Anna, who had seen Simeon approach Joseph and Mary.  When he had finished his startling prophecy, she quietly slipped away to carry out her Divine assignment.

The line moved on as Simeon turned away, leaving the little family to their business with Moses’ law.  It was over in mere moments but Luke, with his attention to detail, captured the incredible irony of this tiny event.

“Lift up your heads, O you gates!  And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!  And the King of Glory shall come in!”    – Psalm 24:7

One might suppose that the folks immersed in daily attendance to God’s law, and the prophets, and the sacrifices would be poised to welcome their Messiah, but from top to bottom of the Jew’s spiritual hierarchy, they were oblivious to His presence.  We shouldn’t be critical; religious rituals can blind men to the very thing those rituals are all about.  Rather, we should learn.

So then, who were Simeon and Anna, and why were they there?  In answering that question we advance a little further in our understanding of ‘You Are the Plan!’

Both Simeon and Anna are completely obscure figures, never mentioned before or after that day.  Luke, however, was able to document (likely from Mary’s recollection) those remarkable few moments in the temple. (Read it; Luke 2:21-40)  As far as we know, that may have been the last prophetic direction Joseph and Mary received until Jesus began His public ministry.

Simeon was known in Jerusalem as a devout man. In his prayers the Holy Spirit had revealed to him he would not “see death until he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (2:26)  The scripture says he “came by the Spirit into the temple” on that day.  Anna, on the other hand, spent much of her waking hours in the temple “with fastings and prayers, night and day.”  She was well into her 80’s, considered by many to be a prophetess.

However, as far as the religious leadership was concerned, they were nobodies. But Simeon and Anna had something in common; a divine connection and great expectations!  Simeon was known to be ‘waiting for the Consolation of Israel,’ while Anna was part of a group ‘who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.’

These two old Jewish saints lived in readiness, taking seriously the prophetic promises of scripture and keeping their hearts alert to God’s voice.  So, when the tiny Messiah entered the temple that day it was to them like a thunderclap, and for those early years they drove the narrative in Jerusalem and Judea that something life-changing was coming down. (2:38)

‘You Are the Plan’ (Amazon.com/books) was created with this intent: ‘to erase in the mind of every believer the notion that his or her life is any less significant, or kingdom strategic than that of any other believer.’  Our entire ministry philosophy rests on that important ideal.

Simeon and Anna had no ‘position’ in the temple, but they had the power.  Like them, most of us believers are pretty obscure persons, known in our little circle and a bit beyond.  At the same time, most of us will, at some point in our journey, find ourselves in a strategic Kingdom moment, bringing a word or offering an arm that propels God’s purposes forward.

Let’s live in readiness and expectation for when our opportunity to herald the Messiah comes!  You can count on it!  You Are the Plan!