#15 Lu. 2:36-38;  THE PROPHETESS ANNA, A WITNESS FOR JESUS

 

Introduction:

 

     In our studies in Luke we have already seen some who

witnessed for Jesus.  They gave testimony that He is the

Christ, the Savior of men.  In our message today we are going

to take another look at those witnesses.  However, the chief

witness for Christ that we will give attention to today is

Anna, the prophetess. She is the witness spoken of in our

text.

 

I.  The prophet Simeon, a witness for Jesus

 

     As you will recall, Simeon was present in the temple of

God at Jerusalem when Joseph and Mary brought Jesus into the

temple to present Jesus to God the Father.  As a prophet of

God, Simeon spoke by inspiration of God and identified Jesus

as being the Christ, the Savior.  Simeon expressed that he

was now ready for God to take him on since he had lived to

see the Christ.  However, it is not to be supposed that

Simeon did die immediately.  It is to be supposed that he did

live for at least a few weeks or perhaps a few months longer.

One thing we can be sure of:  Just as long as he lived and

was able to do so Simeon told other people about his grand

experience.  He told them about the day that Joseph and Mary

came into the temple carrying a little baby boy and God

revealed to him that this is the Christ.  The Christ that the

prophets of old had spoken about and written about has now

been born and is alive today.  Simeon could say, "I have seen

him with my own eyes."

     It is also to be presumed that the time in which Simeon

had to witness of the birth of Jesus was but a brief period

of time.  It covered a few months at the most after he saw

the Christ.  It almost surely did not cover a few years.

     However, even though Simeon was highly respected as a

prophet of God and even though what he said was the absolute

truth, yet his testimony standing alone was not sufficient to

make a credible witness to the people of the land. There was

an Old Testament law which prescribed that in the mouth of

two or three witness a thing may be established.

 

II.  The shepherds, witnesses for Jesus

 

     There was, of course, the testimony of the shepherds to

whom the angel of the Lord appeared and announced the birth

of the Savior.  They then went to Bethlehem and visited with

Him.  They, too, were saying, "The Christ has already been

born.  He is already alive upon the earth and in our land.

His name is Jesus."

 

     But even thought the shepherds were telling the story of

the birth of the Christ, it is not likely that they were

telling it at Jerusalem.  If Simeon the prophet were the only

one at Jerusalem to testify of the birth of the Christ, they

would not hear sufficient witness.

 

III.  Anna, a witness for Jesus

     So God arranged for a second witness.  And this second

witness was a very credible witness.  This witness was a

prophetess by the name of Anna.  That is, it was Anna in New

Testament terminology.  Her name would be called "Hannah" in

the Old Testament terminology.

     V.  36, "And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the

daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser..." Luke tells us

that Anna was a prophetess.  That is, she was a woman

prophet.  She was one to whom God revealed certain things by

inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  Anna was one of the very few

prophetesses ever to exist in the history of Israel.  Prior

to the mention of Anna, there were only seven such

prophetesses listed in Scripture.  There may have been a few

others, but if so, their names were not recorded in

Scripture.

     The point is that when this woman would speak out and

say that the Christ had already been born and was alive at

that time, she spoke not just her own opinion.  She spoke

with authority from God.  She spoke as a prophetess of God.

She spoke by divine inspiration of God.

     (V. 36), "...she was of a great age..." At the time that

Anna saw Jesus in the temple, she was already well up in

years.  During those many years of her life she had gained a

favorable reputation among the people.  She was a highly

respected elderly prophetess of God.  Many people would very

readily accept her word.

     (V. 36), "...and had lived with an husband seven years

from her virginity."  In her earlier years Anna had been

married.  Luke informs us that she had only seven short years

with her husband before he died.  Our next verse tells us

that she was left a widow at that young age.  It is during

those youthful years of widowhood that her character was most

severely tested.  Some women under similar circumstances

gained a bad reputation.  But in spite of the hardships and

in spite of temptations, Anna remained a godly woman,

faithful to God.  Her reputation was that of the highest

character.  She was the kind of woman we could admire and

respect.  She was the kind of godly woman that any woman

would do well to pattern after.

     V. 37, "And she was a widow of about fourscore and four

years..."  The wording may be a little bit confusing to us

right at this point.  At first it sounds as if Luke is saying

that it had been fourscore and four years (eighty-four years)

since her husband had died. She had been a widow that long.

That would make her one-hundred and eleven years old at this

time.  However, most Bible interpreters believe that what is

meant here is that her total age was that of eighty-four

years.  She was a widow and she was eighty-four years old.

She was an eighty-four year old widow.

     Again the stress that Luke is placing on the verse is

that she was highly respected by the people.  An eighty-four

year old woman who had been true to her husband during his

life-time, was left as a widow during her youth and yet had

remained true to God with such high and noble character

during all the years of her widowhood would certainly be

respected.  Add to this the fact that she was a prophetess

and you can see that she was greatly respected and admired.

She was the kind of person that people would be inclined to

believe.

     (V. 37), "...which departed not from the temple, but

served God with fastings and prayers night and day."  This

was a woman of great devotion to God.  She lived her religion

every day.  She served God every day.  She was frequent in

her fastings.  Yet she was not like the Pharisees were with

their fastings.  When the Pharisees would fast they would put

on sackcloth and put ashes upon their heads and paint their

faces and make themselves look as if they had been fasting

for a week when they had done so such thing.  The Pharisees

fasted for the show of it and for the praises of men.  When

Anna fasted she did it to seek to draw closer to God in

prayer.

     V. 38, "And she coming in that instant gave thanks

likewise unto the Lord..."  When we connect this to the

previous verses what we have is that just at the time when

Simeon was pronouncing his prophecies proclaiming Jesus as

the Christ, Anna came into the area where Simeon and Joseph

and Mary and Jesus were located.  She came in just at the

right time to hear him say that Jesus is the Christ.

     There is no doubt that Anna knew who Simeon was and that

she respected him and would have been favorably inclined to

believe whatever he would say and accept it as the truth.

But Anna did not have to take Simeon's word just because she

had confidence in him.  She was a prophetess of God and she

had the had the Holy Spirit of God bearing witness with her

own spirit that Simeon was telling the truth.  So she

believed him.  Many years prior to this she had heard the

message of the coming Christ and she had placed her faith and

trust in Him.  But now, like Simeon, she had seen Him with

her own eyes.  She saw Him and she believed without any

shadow of doubt that this little baby which Joseph and Mary

had with them was indeed the Christ.

     (V. 38), "...and spake of him to all them that looked

for redemption in Jerusalem."  You will note here that Luke

does not tell us whether or not Anna said anything about

Jesus right at the time.  She may have spoken up and followed

the speech of Simeon with a speech of her own.  Luke does not

say one way or the other.  Nor does he tell us of any

specific thing that Anna said of Jesus when she did speak up.

It is to be presumed that whatever she said is was in keeping

with what Simeon had already said about Him.

     But the point that Luke makes is that from this point

forward Anna spends her time day after day telling people

about the time that she heard Simeon proclaim that the baby

Jesus is the Christ.  She had a special audience with those

who had already themselves beenlooking for the coming of the

Christ.  Those who were looking for Him had been expecting

Jesus to come at just any time were ready to hear her

message.

     So Jesus does not have to wait until the preaching of

John the Baptist some thirty years later to announce to the

people of Israel that the Christ had come.  He was already

born.  He was already on the scene.  The shepherds proclaimed

that message wherever they had opportunity and to whomever

they could.  Simeon did not live very long after he saw the

Lord, but as long as he lived and as long as he could, he

proudly proclaimed the message to whoever would listen to

him.  Anna gladly and enthusiastically proclaimed the

message.  She would hear people talk about the coming of the

Christ and she would not hesitate to tell them.  "The Christ

has already come," she would say.  "He has already been born.

I saw Him personally with my own eyes.  The prophet Simeon

saw Him, too.  Simeon would tell you himself if he were still

around.  But you can be sure that the Christ is already here.

He is alive.  He is already on the scene.  You can expect

that within a few years you will all hear of Him and most of

you will have the opportunity to see Him and hear Him.  He

has already come, I tell you.  He is already here."

     I have no way of knowing just how many people the

shepherds and Simeon and Anna won to the Lord and to

salvation, but I am convinced that there were many.  Most of

these people would still be around when John the Baptist

would begin his ministry and announce the ministry of Jesus

to the nation of Israel.  These people would remember Anna

and Simeon and the shepherds.  They would remember and they

would thank God for the one who told them about Jesus.

 

IV.  The saved as witnesses for Jesus today

 

     But today the shepherds are not around any more.  Simeon

is not around any more.  The prophetess Anna is not around

anymore.  Even the temple in which Simeon and Anna worshiped

is not around any more.  But I will tell you who is around.

We who are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus

Christ are still around.  And a world of people who are lost

in sin are still around.

     Since we are saved and a lot of people around us are

still unsaved, it fall our responsibility to tell them about

Jesus Christ.  The shepherds cannot tell them.  Simeon cannot

tell them.  Anna cannot tell them.  It falls our

responsibility and our privilege to tell them about Jesus

Christ.

     Let me say to you that it is a privilege.  I do not

think anybody had to persuade the shepherds or Simeon or Anna

that they should witness about Jesus.  I think that they were

just as anxious as could be to talk about it and to tell

about Jesus who is the Savior of the world.  I think they

gladly added, "He is my Savior, too.  I have trusted in Him

and He has saved my soul."  I think they considered it a

privilege to be able to tell people about Jesus Christ.

     Let me tell you what I think.  I think that it is just

as much a privilege today to tell somebody else about Jesus

as it was back in the days of Simeon and Anna.  I think that

it is a special privilege to be able to talk to somebody who

is unsaved and to tell him what Jesus did for you and to tell

him how he can be saved, too.  I know for a fact that when

one of those people turn to God and trust in Jesus Christ and

get saved, that is a time of great rejoicing on our part.

     Now I think that there is a strong possibility that

somebody is thinking, "Bro. Davis, I would if I could.  I

would talk to others about Jesus if I could."  But let me say

to you, "You have got that backwards."  It is not that you

would if you could.  It is that you could if you would.  I do

not say that to me mean.  I am very sympathetic to those of

you who are so timid that it almost makes your knees tremble

to even think about witnessing to somebody else about Jesus.

I know how you feel because I have been there.  But I still

say to you that it is a privilege to talk to men, women, boys

and girls about Jesus Christ.

     Now not many of you are going to ever be able to get up

in front of a crowd of people and talk to them about the

Lord.  But I think that you can do it one-to-one.  You can

talk to at least somebody else even if you have to do it in

private.  To tell you the truth, that is one of the best ways

to talk to somebody that you are praying for is to talk to

that person in private.

     And here is what you can say.  You can start out by

telling him about the time that the Bible teaches that Jesus

Christ is the Son of God and is the Savior of the world.  You

can tell him about the time when you called on Jesus and

asked Jesus to save your soul.  You can tell him that Jesus

loves him and wants to save him.  You can quote or read to

him at least one verse of Scripture.  You can quote John 3:16

if nothing else.  Then you can tell him that you are praying

for him that he, too, will be saved.

     Now I am not going to ask you for a show of hands on

this, but I am going to ask you a question.  That is, I am

going to direct this question to those of you who are saved.

Have you ever tried to talk to an unsaved person about his

soul?  If you have, that's good.  Whether you were successful

in winning them to Christ or not, it is good that you tried.

     But whether you have done it or not, let me ask you this

question:  Are you willing to talk to God and say to God,

"Dear God.  Please help me to talk to someone this next week

about their soul."  If so, will your pray that prayer with me

right now.  "Oh, dear God, please---please, Lord.  Lord help

me to talk to one of my friends or one of my acquaintances

this next week about his need of Jesus Christ as Savior."

 

Conclusion:

 

     Now I am not going to wait until some other time.  I am

quite confident that there is somebody right here under the

sound of my voice that has not been saved.  If you were to

die right now you would go right straight to the torments of

hell and you would never escape.  I am going to tell you that

I was in exactly the same shape myself.  I was on the road

ato hell myself.  But somebody told me about Jesus Christ and

I turned to Jesus Christ and I trusted Him as my Savior and I

thank God that Jesus saved my soul.  Will you turn to Jesus

right now and be saved.  There are some of you who have known

for quite some time that you need to be saved, but you have

kept putting it off.  You are still lost and hell-bound.  If

you just keep that up you will go to hell for sure.  I am

asking you to quit putting it off and to call on Jesus right

now and ask Jesus to save your soul.  We are going to bow our

heads right now and I want you to pray and talk to God about

your need.  Want you do it right now?