Have you ever hoped for something for a long time? Did you finally get what you hoped for or are you still waiting for it? Have you ever stopped hoping for something because it has taken too long? Have you ever hoped for something and you never received what you hoped for? Two of my favorite people in the Bible hoped for something for a long time and in their old age the received it. Let us find out about these two people.
The first person I want to point out is a man named Simeon. Here is his story from Luke 2:25-30, “Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the 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 Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.” (ESV)
As you see here Simeon was given a special promise from the Holy Spirit and hoped that it would and he had faith. His hope in the promise was so great that when he saw the promise fulfilled that he was ready to die and go to see God. Simeon is one of the characters in the Bible that to me demonstrates great faith. The kind of faith that I aspire to have. The kind of faith that says that when I have finished God’s work on earth that I can have the same satisfaction as Simeon and am ready to depart in peace because my hope is in Christ alone.
The second person was Anna. Her story is also in Luke 2. Luke 2:36-38 tells it like this, “And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” (ESV) Anna too had great hope in the promise. Anna too had waited a long time to realize her hope and she did. She responded by proclaiming and giving thanks to God because the “redemption of Jerusalem”, Jesus, had been born and He was being brought in to the Temple as an eight-day old infant to be circumcised. To Anna not only was her hope realized but the hope of Israel and all the world was now realized.
So, join me realizing and celebrating one of the three most important events in history, the birth of Jesus Christ to the virgin Mary like Simeon and Anna did. Trust that Jesus is God Incarnate who came to take away your sins and mine. Understanding that Jesus is the only source of true hope. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because wisdom shows us, we need to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in helping others to choose Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here. You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here. eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google.
