WEBVTT 00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:07.120 The scripture reading from today comes from Luke chapter 2 verses 36 through 38. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:13.199 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Faniel of the tribe of Asher. 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:23.839 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. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:30.079 She did not depart from the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer day and night. 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:40.479 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. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:42.479 This is the word of the Lord. 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:43.679 Thank you. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:50.079 Thanks for joining me. 00:00:50.640 --> 00:01:00.000 I don't have a microphone on your recording right there. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:03.280 Where I get tangled in the microphone. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:09.680 And uh everyone is staring at me and they become so disappointed. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:13.920 And then the whole church just one by one just starts to leak. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:22.239 And it the the dream usually begins where I'm like preaching at in like some megachurch. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:33.280 And it's like, wow, this is the people really came out to Redemption Church this morning, and then I I get tangled in my microphone cord, and everybody's like, this is unbelievable. 00:01:33.439 --> 00:01:37.040 What type of irreverent preaching is this? 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:50.079 Uh it has replaced my, I've been enrolled in a class all semester, and I'm just going on the last day now to discover that I'm in that class and have to catch up on everything. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:53.760 Um, that dream, I don't have that one anymore. 00:01:54.079 --> 00:01:57.920 So really, it's a kind of a lateral move, you know, it's a wash. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:00.000 Let's pray. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:23.919 Holy Father, we praise you for your loving kindness and the wonder that you took on flesh and were born as one of us, and that you took on the likeness of sinful flesh, so that in you the requirement, the righteous requirement of the law might be met on our behalf. 00:02:24.560 --> 00:02:33.439 Lord, we praise you that because we are able to look to Christ, that we have full assurance for the forgiveness of sins. 00:02:33.840 --> 00:02:40.719 We have full assurance that all that has gone wrong will be made right, that justice will be fully realized. 00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:44.800 We have full assurance of everlasting joy in your presence. 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:46.719 Lord, what amazing things. 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:51.199 That is that is at least tidings of comfort and joy, Lord. 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:53.680 Let us remember that this morning in Jesus' name. 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:54.560 Amen. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:58.000 Oh man, the kids sing great, didn't they? 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.960 That I thought that was like one of our best. 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:02.319 Yeah. 00:03:02.479 --> 00:03:11.199 Um part of it is uh the kids are getting a little older, you know, and there's this it used to just be like we didn't have that many older kids, and so that that helps. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:16.800 If you add a little time, a lot of the trick to churches and making churches happen is just to stick around. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:18.319 Keep showing up every Sunday. 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:21.039 That'll that's kind of the secret sauce. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:29.439 Well, today is our fourth Sunday of Advent, and we are continuing our Advent series, and we're looking at the story of Anna. 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.080 Last week we looked at the story of Simeon. 00:03:32.240 --> 00:03:36.479 And those we don't have any Christmas carols about Anna and Simeon. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:41.840 They are sort of these hidden figures in the Christmas story that take place just after the birth of Jesus. 00:03:42.159 --> 00:03:54.560 And they are both uh uh old people who lived in the temple, and they led whole lives of looking forward to the coming of Christ. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:04:18.319 And when Jesus is brought in by Mary and Joseph for Mary's purification in the temple and the dedication of Jesus in the temple, uh Simeon and Anna are the first to bear witness to Jesus and recognize him for who he is by the power of the Holy Spirit working in them, and they go on to proclaim to all who were looking forward to the coming of Jesus. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:37.120 And so uh partially selfishly, I wanted to uh take some time to look at these stories because one of the things that I love to get to do as a preacher is uh see these little tiny stories or little tiny details in scripture, and then get to have a week to look into them. 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:40.319 And you usually find that there's something wonderful here. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:45.040 And there is something absolutely wonderful here in the story of Anna. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:54.879 She is a picture of what a life surrounded by corruption, but that focuses on Christ is able to look like. 00:04:55.040 --> 00:05:00.079 And we see that her hope that she lived with was not put to shame. 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:06.319 And the great hope with which she lived, in fact, was fully realized at the coming of Christ. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:20.959 So her life is meant to be a model for us and teach us how it is that we live in worlds of utter corruption and yet are able to live lives of hope and see that our hope will not be put to shame so long as our hope is in Jesus. 00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:27.040 In the last week of Jesus' life, he visited the temple. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:31.920 And when he visited the temple, he found it in a terrible state. 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:55.600 In fact, his first visit uh on that week in Jerusalem, he clears out the court of the Gentiles, which had uh left no space for Gentiles to come in and pray, but instead was filled with conmen and money changers, and they had taken this house of prayer that the temple was meant to be, and they had turned it into a den of thieves. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:06:05.439 And Jesus clears out the temple, and after he clears out the temple, his experience over the course of the next few days in the temple is no better than that first one. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:16.800 Uh basically, every faction that existed that was gathered together to worship in the temple comes forward and they seek to uh destroy Jesus, just verbally at first. 00:06:16.959 --> 00:06:21.120 They seek to humiliate him before the crowds and trap him in some of his arguments. 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:30.000 Jesus handles them uh quite easily, uh, but it amounts to them plotting to kill Jesus. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:42.079 And so we see this place that ought to be the most pure in the world, which is the temple of God, is actually the place of the highest corruption. 00:06:42.319 --> 00:06:46.319 And when Jesus visits it, he discovers this unthinkable corruption. 00:06:46.480 --> 00:07:02.000 And so when he leaves the temple for the last time, he describes to his disciples this prophecy and a condemnation that this temple must be destroyed and will be destroyed, even within this very generation. 00:07:03.519 --> 00:07:11.040 So Jesus sees the utter corruption that exists in the temple, and then he rightly concludes this must be destroyed. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:26.399 And if we have an understanding of what a just God's response would be to a seemingly insurmountable injustice, then we would see this conclusion is just utterly sensible. 00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:41.839 It makes perfect sense, it's obvious that the temple in this terrible of a state, this place that is meant to be a place of worship for God and now clearly isn't, it should be destroyed and something else should take its place. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:59.199 But at the very end of Jesus' time in the temple, the the last thing that he bears witness to in the temple is not the Pharisees trying to outwit him or the Sadducees trying to trap him in front of the Pharisees, but it's actually a widow. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.759 A widow who goes and gives her offering in the temple. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:07.120 And the offering that she gives is only two coins. 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:13.839 And the two coins that she gives is almost the smallest offering possible. 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.399 I can only think of one offering that would be smaller. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:18.480 One coin. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:18.800 That's right. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:20.639 We can all think of it. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:26.879 And Jesus says that this is actually the greatest offering that has been given. 00:08:27.120 --> 00:08:30.720 And he blesses the faith of the woman that he sees in the temple. 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:37.519 And so there's this hidden widow in the temple that is something like a remnant of true Israel. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:48.879 And throughout all the stories of Scripture, we see that in these spaces of utter corruption, God leaves for himself this faithful remnant, and it's hidden. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:08:55.600 And so this elderly woman at the end, the widow who gives, is a picture of this. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:59.200 And Anna in our story today is a picture of this. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:05.600 She is this hidden figure who is this remnant of faithfulness. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:09.600 But you can see how this kind of convolutes the story. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:20.320 You know, even the disciples themselves that Jesus is describing that the temple will be destroyed, he is telling them so that they might be spared. 00:09:20.559 --> 00:09:24.879 And they are not less corrupt than the temple. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:36.720 Remember, it's just a couple of days later, when these very disciples, who he warned so that they might be spared, will all turn their backs on Jesus and act as though they never knew him. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:39.440 He will be struck and they will scatter. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:52.240 But he tells them, because God is always preserving for himself this faithful remnant, because God is interested in demonstrating not just his justice, but also his grace. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:56.720 These are both real attributes of the love of God. 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:00.399 And you can see this throughout all the stories of Scripture. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:15.600 You know, when God in Genesis sees that all of the thoughts of everyone's hearts were only evil all the time, which is one of the most maximal statements that is made in all of Scripture. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:19.679 That's God's assessment of the world before the flood. 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:22.639 The anti-deluvian world. 00:10:22.799 --> 00:10:26.960 If you have an opportunity to use the word anti-deluvian, then you take it. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:28.960 So it doesn't come up that often. 00:10:32.799 --> 00:10:42.559 So he makes this terrible assessment of the world, but then when God floods the world, he doesn't completely destroy it. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:52.960 He takes for himself this one family, Noah's family, and he places them in an ark, closes the door, and brings them through. 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:58.159 And the whole narrative of scripture has this tension in it. 00:10:58.559 --> 00:11:18.159 It's almost like the central drama of scripture, which is how is it that a God of absolute holiness and absolute justice could possibly preserve and maintain his closeness and his covenantal loyalty to these people who deserve to be utterly destroyed? 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:20.879 It's almost like a paradox throughout the story. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.600 Why is it that Noah is preserved? 00:11:23.759 --> 00:11:26.240 Why is it that Abraham is chosen? 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:28.480 Why are they brought through the Red Sea? 00:11:28.720 --> 00:11:33.759 How is this preservation taking place amidst this destruction? 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:37.039 How can that be resolved? 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:46.799 And so the scripture is full of stories that have these sort of loose ends and opportunities for sequels to take place. 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:49.440 And that's what the story of Noah is about. 00:11:49.519 --> 00:11:57.759 And you consider the faithful woman in the temple and the disciples, well, they're brought through into something new, into a new covenant. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:04.960 If God were to fully realize his justice at any moment, the story would be over. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:08.960 None of us could possibly be spared. 00:12:09.360 --> 00:12:15.120 And you know this because you can see this at every level of existence. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:26.799 The most powerful institutions in the world have levels of corruption that are revealed and exposed over and over again. 00:12:27.039 --> 00:12:30.480 So you see, these things are doomed to fall. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:41.919 And then you consider, and one thing that you can do is you can just sit in your basement and read and discover the levels of corruption that exist in the highest levels and think, oh man, this is terrible and horrible. 00:12:42.080 --> 00:12:50.399 And then we have to eliminate this type of corruption that's in the world, and then finally we will no longer be uh oppressed by this sort of darkness. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:54.480 And then you uh go and participate in your own family. 00:12:55.039 --> 00:13:01.200 And you realize, you know, these kind of levels of corruption that exist here, they're they're here as well. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:09.840 Or spend some time in a church, not just attending, but actually participating and developing relationships within a church. 00:13:10.159 --> 00:13:21.120 And then you start to realize, man, these folks, uh you know, like with me and my friends, when we get together and we talk about other people, when those other people are together, they're talking about me. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:33.200 Where can we escape from the way that we, you know, the gossip and the backbiting and the intricacy, the politicking and the these levels of these levels of corruption? 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:34.480 Where is the escape? 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:39.360 Well, perhaps you could retreat from all people and then you could go into your your own heart. 00:13:39.679 --> 00:13:47.360 But your heart is at least as convoluted a bureaucracy to navigate as the DMV. 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:54.799 It has these same levels of, man, I thought I had this thing resolved, and then nope. 00:13:55.279 --> 00:14:00.240 Satan pops up and says, Well, there's one piece of paperwork that you forgot to file. 00:14:00.399 --> 00:14:07.600 And because you forgot to file that, you will continue um uh being uh under my power with this sin. 00:14:09.679 --> 00:14:13.519 Uh congratulations on uh forgiving that uh one person. 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:17.360 Uh now harbor this bitterness towards them. 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:18.639 Oh. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:23.679 And that is uh the way that we find our own hearts as well. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:30.639 And so we realize that these level, these levels of corruption, the sinfulness, the infection of it, there's no escape. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.440 Uh you can uh there's no bottom. 00:14:35.679 --> 00:14:42.480 You know, this is the the uh this is the dream of what we hope to find out about our society. 00:14:42.559 --> 00:14:53.759 Like we'll finally find the bottom, we'll find the room where the meeting happened, and we'll be able to listen to the recording and say, that's why it's like this out here. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:59.120 It was those five guys, the the cheeseburger folks. 00:15:06.480 --> 00:15:09.679 So, where how can this tension possibly be relieved? 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:16.559 How is it then that God would not merely destroy all of us? 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:31.120 That all of the systems that we participate in, that the families that we're a part of, that the friendships that we've developed, our own hearts, how could we possibly stand before the holiness of God? 00:15:31.279 --> 00:15:34.960 And we ought to look and see this whole thing should be destroyed. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:42.480 It can be hard to get there and hard to steady our hearts enough to come face to face with a truth like that. 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:44.080 We're very distracted. 00:15:44.480 --> 00:15:50.159 We have developed whole strategies of coping to avoid a truth like that. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:57.440 It seems uh uh too dark, it's too melancholy for the Christmas season to arrive at a truth like that. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:15:59.360 But it's the fundamental reality. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:07.919 If any of us were truly exposed, if any of us, the bottom was was truly shown, then we would realize that we ought to be destroyed. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:20.320 In the Gulag Archipelago, Alexander Soltsenitsyn was taken and um wrongfully arrested and thrown in one of the Russian gulags. 00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:45.039 And he spends the first bit of his time there just uh meditating on the injustice of it all, replaying over and over again the day of his arrest, and thinking of how he could have shouted out and cried out and explained, and if he just shouted and advocated for himself loudly enough, and if there was even one honest person around, they might have heard, and he might not be stuck here in this prison. 00:16:46.879 --> 00:16:57.279 But then, about midway through, after encounters with many Christians, there's if you want to read that book, it's like a hero story of forgotten saints, the Christians that he encounters in that book. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:59.120 It's it's amazing. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:16.480 And he happens upon this realization, when he takes the time and he reflects on his life, the deceit that had colored it, the selfishness that it was governed by. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:25.680 And he realizes my being locked up in here, I shouldn't be here for the reasons that they say. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:28.480 But it is no injustice. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:32.240 It is no injustice, me being locked up in here. 00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:35.759 That was the conclusion that he was able to arrive at. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.599 That's the conclusion of all of our hearts. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.480 Well, how can this great tension be resolved? 00:17:43.599 --> 00:17:56.079 How is it that we could have uh hope of drawing close to, of being near our Creator, being restored to life? 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:05.920 How can this tension of the reality of God's justice be reconciled with this grace? 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:13.519 Well, right after Jesus was born, he's greeted by another widow in the temple, and her name is Anna. 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:54.400 And Anna lived her uh life in the temple until she was 84 years old, and which would when we meet her in this story, and she represents this faithful remnant in a sea of corruption, and she actually bears witness to the only way in which we might be spared from the coming judgment of God, the only way in which the justice of God might be reconciled to the grace of God so that we might be freed to stand before the just God. 00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:01.759 And the answer to that question is not a r is not a um fivefold path. 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:07.119 It's not a uh ascending to a particular meditative state. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:13.440 It's not even a righteous pattern of living. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.400 It's a person, a child. 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:26.640 And she sees the reconciliation of the justice and the grace of God and the hope that she can look forward to in the face of this child. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.400 So let's meet Anna. 00:19:28.720 --> 00:19:36.079 And Luke 2.36 says, and there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Faniel of the tribe of Asher. 00:19:38.640 --> 00:19:45.920 This is right after the birth of Jesus, and Jesus is being brought to the temple, and it's right after the section we looked at last week of Simeon bearing witness to Jesus. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:47.839 It's that same time, same event. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:51.279 But notice she is called a prophetess. 00:19:51.519 --> 00:19:57.599 Now, this is at the end of 400 years of silence for the people of Israel. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:02.880 There had not been a prophet or prophetess for 400 years. 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:10.000 God's face in this sense had not been seen for 400 years. 00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:14.079 It is a type of exile for the people of God. 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:24.960 And it makes sense that the people of God would experience something like this because they are corrupt and sinful. 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:37.359 And so perhaps God has finally turned their back on them, set the clock of creation, and walked away so that it might unwind by the patterns of entropy forever and ever. 00:20:39.680 --> 00:20:45.200 This 400 years of silence should make us think of the 400 years of exile in Egypt. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:47.440 It's that same sort of thing. 00:20:47.519 --> 00:20:53.119 But then here, a prophetess arrives in the temple. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:21:00.640 And she's speaking to those who hope for the redemption of Jerusalem. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:07.119 She's like Miriam, who's one of the other women who's referred to as a prophetess in scripture. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:09.519 Miriam is Moses' sister. 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:18.640 And she, at the other side of the Red Sea, once they've finally crossed, she's the one who sings that great song that the horse and rider is thrown into the sea. 00:21:20.240 --> 00:21:28.640 She's there to declare victory of the Lord, the victory of the Lord, at the salvation of his people. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:40.400 And Anna, at the end of 400 years of exile, is here to declare the same thing: the victory of the Lord and the rescue of his people. 00:21:41.119 --> 00:21:43.680 She's the daughter of Fanuel. 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:47.440 Now, Fanuel means the face of God. 00:21:49.200 --> 00:21:50.559 That's her father's name. 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:53.519 So can you imagine the dad jokes? 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:56.240 Ah, good morning. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:21:59.359 What a thing to wake up and see the face of God. 00:22:01.039 --> 00:22:04.000 And so she grew up her whole life bearing witness to the face of God. 00:22:04.160 --> 00:22:10.799 And Fanuel comes from the uh it's actually the name of a location. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:18.079 In uh Genesis 32, Jacob famously wrestles the angel. 00:22:18.240 --> 00:22:21.759 The angel is God, and so Jacob famously wrestles God. 00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:29.279 And then he names that place Peniel, Peniel, you know, depends on where you're from. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:44.640 And it says in Genesis 32, 20, it says, So Jacob called the name of the place Pinael, saying, For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:52.319 You know, if people think that the Bible gives you Pat answers, they don't spend time with the Bible. 00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:57.839 It does not avoid the deep questions and paradoxes of our existence. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:03.200 It puts its finger right on them and dares you. 00:23:03.680 --> 00:23:13.920 And so Jacob says, I'm naming this place the face of God because I have seen the face of God, yet I lived. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:17.279 Now, how impossible. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:21.599 How impossible for a sinner like Jacob. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:24.960 His name means deceiver. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:32.799 How could someone like Jacob see the face of the holy God and live? 00:23:32.880 --> 00:23:36.559 And and he he I don't think he knows. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:42.480 He just has this absurdity. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:48.640 I've seen the face of God and yet I lived. 00:23:48.880 --> 00:23:53.759 Moses would be told later when he asks to see the face of God, no, you'll die. 00:23:55.839 --> 00:23:59.759 Remember the mountain that God spoke to Moses from and spoke to the people of God from. 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:03.359 If even an animal touched the mountain, they would be killed. 00:24:03.680 --> 00:24:06.240 That's what it is like to see the face of God. 00:24:06.480 --> 00:24:13.920 You know, when you when you see the face of God in Scripture, it's not like a joyful, rapturous event. 00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:16.640 It's terrifying. 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:17.839 Horror. 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:24.799 The Israelites, after God spoke directly to them, went to Moses and they were like, look, we know he's your friend. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:32.559 But if he could never do that again, that'd be great. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:34.960 That's what seeing the face of God is like. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:39.680 And so she is her father's name, is the face of God. 00:24:39.759 --> 00:24:42.880 And she's from the tribe of Asher. 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:48.640 Now this is interesting because Asher is one of the ten lost tribes. 00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:50.559 Like the lost boys. 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:53.200 That's actually where this comes from. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:54.640 I don't know if this is where this comes from. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:56.559 Not here to interpret Peter Pan. 00:24:57.680 --> 00:25:04.559 This is the tribes that were, the northern tribes which were sacked by the Assyrians, and they were gone and scattered. 00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:08.000 And it thought that it was thought that they were lost. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:11.519 But here we see they weren't. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:15.920 There's a remnant that was preserved of these lost tribes. 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:25.920 And Anna, excuse me, um, Asher was one of the sons of Leah, actually Leah's servant Zilpa. 00:25:26.720 --> 00:25:30.880 And Asher means happy or blessed. 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:33.839 Asher is happiness. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.480 So we see that she has seen the trace Anna's lineage. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.559 She has seen the face of God and she's happy. 00:25:42.880 --> 00:25:52.400 It's almost like you can look at just where she's from and the way that God has written her story and say, I think she might see the face of God and rejoice. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:54.799 That's exactly what Anna does. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.519 Lastly, regarding her name, Anna. 00:25:57.680 --> 00:25:59.119 We touched on this last week. 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:07.440 The two faithful people in the corrupt temple who bear witness to this newborn Jesus are Simeon and Anna. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:17.680 And this, as we saw last week, should cause our minds to remember Hannah and Samuel. 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:19.519 They're the same names. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:21.519 Their names mean the same thing. 00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:24.880 Anna, Hannah, you can hear that one, right? 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:26.559 Simeon, Samuel. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:29.759 Simeon and Samuel, they both mean God hears. 00:26:30.880 --> 00:26:33.519 And Anna means grace. 00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.759 Now we should look at the story of Hannah and Samuel. 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:47.440 Samuel was Hannah's son, and their story is related at the beginning of 1 Samuel. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:27:02.400 Annually, Hannah and her husband and her husband's other wife would go to give sacrifices to the Lord in Shilah. 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:23.039 And there's this strange event which is a recurrent pattern throughout scripture, and I don't, I can't put my finger on exactly what this means, but Hannah's I'm going to borrow a phrase because we all know it because of that uh HBO show. 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:34.720 Her sister wife is always tormenting her because Hannah is barren, but she's beloved of her husband. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:41.519 And I don't exactly know what that dynamic is in scripture, other than a just have one wife. 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:43.599 Just a little advice. 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:45.359 Just have one wife. 00:27:45.599 --> 00:27:47.440 It's our first application. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:56.079 And Hannah is heartbroken over her barrenness. 00:27:57.359 --> 00:27:59.920 And so at the time of the feast, she doesn't feast. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.519 She just fasts in her heartbrokenness. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:05.759 She fasts at the temple. 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:15.200 And then after the feast, which she did not consume, she goes to the steps and she is praying to the Lord on the steps of the temple. 00:28:15.440 --> 00:28:17.440 She pours out her soul before the Lord. 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:38.720 In 1 Samuel 1:11, it says, And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. 00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:55.279 Now as she praised this, she praised it in her heart, uh, and uh her lips were not moving, and um so Eli, the high priest, sees her, and he says, uh, just as just another drunk woman on the steps of the temple. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:28:58.880 And you might think, why does he jump there? 00:28:59.279 --> 00:29:05.039 Well, it's because the temple at this time was it was at one of its worst times of corruption. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:15.680 The sons of Eli were terrible men, and they would bring women in and sleep with them in the temple, which is l participating in another religion. 00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:19.599 It's like these pagan religious practices. 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:28.880 And so he probably thought, here's another drunk woman, probably from one of my sons. 00:29:29.039 --> 00:29:43.920 And he sees her, but then she explains that she's not drunk, she's overwhelmed with grief, and she's pouring her heart out before the Lord, and Eli understands the situation, and he says that what you've been praying for, may the Lord give to you. 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:45.039 And he does. 00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:49.200 She conceives and she gives birth to a son, and she names him Samuel. 00:29:49.359 --> 00:29:51.119 Samuel, which means God hears. 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:53.440 That makes sense to name him that. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:03.920 And then in one of the most sentimental and uh also kind of heartbreaking moments in scripture, uh, she uh she gives her son to the temple. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:10.240 The son that she had asked for from the Lord, she gives back to the Lord. 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:18.160 And as she gives him back to the Lord, the the whole temple is restored by the life of Samuel. 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.720 Right worship is restored in Israel by the giving of her son. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:31.440 It says that she would um uh make for him, sow for him an uh a new ephod every year as he grew up. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:38.720 And she would go and visit him annually and give him this new thing, this new clothing for her son. 00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:43.119 I I think that's one of the sweetest little things in scripture. 00:30:44.799 --> 00:30:46.720 So who is Hannah? 00:30:47.680 --> 00:31:09.039 Hannah is the one who fasted and prayed in the corrupt temple, and she prayed that God might send a son whom she would give back in faith to the Lord, and in him being given back to the Lord, the people of Israel might be redeemed, right worship might be restored. 00:31:09.519 --> 00:31:12.240 So this shows us who is Anna. 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:16.880 Well, let's return to our story of Anna. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:19.599 Luke 2, 36 through 37. 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:31.680 She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, so she's married for seven years, and then as a widow until she was eighty four. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:35.200 So most of her life is spent as a widow. 00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:39.119 We're going to do some numerology just so some of you squirm. 00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:41.680 84. 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:48.240 This doesn't sound like a round number to us, but to an Israelite, this would sound like a round number, because it's seven times twelve. 00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:56.559 Her life is seven, fullness and twelve, the tribes of Israel. 00:31:56.720 --> 00:32:00.720 It is the fullness of time for the tribes of Israel. 00:32:01.119 --> 00:32:04.960 That is the station that she is in in her life. 00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:08.319 This fullness of time of waiting for the tribes of Israel. 00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:10.480 Now she's she lives in the temple. 00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:17.440 It says in Luke 2.37, she did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:20.480 So who is she? 00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:24.240 She is the woman who did not depart from the temple. 00:32:24.559 --> 00:32:31.039 This means that she likely lived there as a widow, which means that she didn't have children to take care of her. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:33.920 Which means she was probably barren. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:43.680 So she's the barren woman who spends her time in the temple fasting and praying, like Hannah. 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:49.440 What was she fasting and praying for night and day? 00:32:50.240 --> 00:32:56.079 Well, I think we know because we know Hannah's prayer. 00:32:57.279 --> 00:33:02.559 O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant, and who might she mean? 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:06.079 It's Israel, the people of God. 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:15.200 And remember your servant, not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son. 00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:22.400 Then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head. 00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:24.319 That no razor shall touch his head. 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:28.240 Just think, per perhaps he might be called a Nazarene. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:40.319 So Anna, like Hannah, upon no evidence, she looks forward to the coming sun. 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:50.160 Looks forward to the true Israelite who might set worship right again for the people of God. 00:33:50.480 --> 00:33:57.519 That is the fasting of mourning, that the temple is corrupt as it is. 00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:09.599 It is a life spent in mourning that that things had not go as she had planned, that as she looks, she is hidden within the corruption of the temple. 00:34:10.400 --> 00:34:14.159 But holding fast to the Lord and to his promises. 00:34:14.639 --> 00:34:20.079 And in prayer, she seeks the Lord in prayer, in faith. 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:22.880 Why do you seek the Lord in faith? 00:34:23.119 --> 00:34:28.639 Well, because you know that he's there and you think that he rewards those who seek him. 00:34:30.159 --> 00:34:35.679 Because she's heard his promises and she trusts that as she beseeches him, she might be heard. 00:34:35.840 --> 00:34:41.119 Maybe she would have a son or get to bear witness to a son like Samuel. 00:34:41.360 --> 00:34:43.840 That would be evidence that God heard. 00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:55.440 So that's who Anna is, faithfully waiting, holding fast to the promise of God, just like Hannah before her. 00:34:55.679 --> 00:35:04.639 And Luke 238 continues, and coming up 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. 00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:09.440 It's kind of interesting because the whole story is about how Anna sees Jesus. 00:35:09.599 --> 00:35:16.639 And then Luke kind of skips over the scene of her seeing Jesus, but he implies the events of it happening. 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:17.599 We know it happens. 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:19.840 It says, At that very hour. 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:21.599 Now, what is that very hour? 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:33.840 It's the hour that Jesus was brought and of what we just read before this, which we looked at last week, where Simeon comes out, sees Jesus, takes him in his arms, and it says, This is the promised one. 00:35:34.079 --> 00:35:36.480 Salvation from the Lord is here. 00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:43.679 He says, Now I can die in peace, because he has seen the Lord's Christ. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:47.119 That's what Simeon says when he takes the child in his arms. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:49.599 And so Anna is there to witness this. 00:35:50.639 --> 00:35:59.280 So Samuel and Anna are together in the corrupt temple, these holy ones in the corrupt temple, to witness the coming sun. 00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:09.360 And so Anna sees this at that very hour, and she began to give thanks to God. 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:11.599 A life of waiting. 00:36:12.079 --> 00:36:14.159 All of these loose ends. 00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:20.639 And now, because she sees Jesus, she is able to give thanks to God. 00:36:21.519 --> 00:36:23.119 She sees Jesus. 00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:34.079 Now, why is it that she's able to give thanks upon this vision of Jesus? 00:36:34.880 --> 00:36:38.960 What does it mean that Jesus has arrived in the temple? 00:36:46.559 --> 00:36:48.320 See where this is headed. 00:36:50.800 --> 00:37:09.039 In Ephesians one, nine through ten, says, according to his purpose, God's purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:11.360 What is the plan of Christ? 00:37:11.599 --> 00:37:17.360 It is that all things will be united in Christ. 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:19.599 What does that mean? 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:25.840 What does it mean that all things will be united in Christ? 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:29.840 This is what Anna is giving thanks for and witnessing. 00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:37.280 Jesus is the inevitable conclusion to all stories. 00:37:39.199 --> 00:37:49.199 It is only in Jesus that the hopeful waiting of our lives could be realized in a way that we are not put to shame. 00:37:50.079 --> 00:38:04.480 It is only in Jesus that the levels of corruption that you live in and that you find within yourself could be tied up in such a way where you could receive the grace of God. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:18.880 It is only in Jesus where the absolute justice of God might be demonstrated and the absoluteness of the grace of God might be demonstrated. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:32.239 So that her prayers for the redemption of this sinful servant might not be foolish prayers, but the mystery of how the justice and the grace of God could meet might be revealed. 00:38:32.880 --> 00:38:36.719 And that's shown in the person of Jesus Christ. 00:38:37.280 --> 00:38:46.000 Because he is the only one in whom all the loose ends of the whole story, and this whole story, you can see it just in Anna's lineage. 00:38:46.159 --> 00:38:51.840 And I hope you consider the loose ends of your own life that they might be resolved. 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:57.440 Because Jacob wrestles the angel at Penial and sees the face of God. 00:38:58.400 --> 00:38:59.840 How was he spared? 00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:05.519 But Jacob dies outside the land of promise in exile. 00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:07.199 The loose end. 00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:11.599 Asher makes Leah happy at his birth. 00:39:12.079 --> 00:39:16.480 But his offspring number among the lost tribes of Israel. 00:39:16.719 --> 00:39:20.159 Hannah prays for a son and receives Samuel. 00:39:20.400 --> 00:39:29.599 He restores right worship in the temple and then is rejected by the people of God and ushers in Saul, the wicked king. 00:39:31.119 --> 00:39:40.639 Anna marries her husband in hope, but seven years later her husband dies, and she's widowed for the rest of her life. 00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:52.480 Jesus is the true son of Hannah, the promised son given by the Lord and given back to the Lord. 00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:59.599 He will truly restore the temple by creating the temple of his church. 00:40:00.079 --> 00:40:08.559 He, like Samuel, will be rejected by his people, but at his rejection, he will not establish a kingdom like Saul's. 00:40:14.559 --> 00:40:24.000 Anna, in our story, looks and sees the face of God more than her father's, the actual face of God. 00:40:24.079 --> 00:40:29.360 And like Jacob, she looks and sees the face of God and she lives. 00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:32.639 How is it that she is able to live? 00:40:34.000 --> 00:40:38.320 How could we be united to God in his perfect justice? 00:40:38.559 --> 00:40:43.920 How could the remnant that is left over not finally be destroyed? 00:40:45.039 --> 00:40:49.840 Because in Jesus all things are united. 00:40:50.639 --> 00:41:12.800 Because the Son that she sees, born here on that very hour that she saw Jesus, is the perfect servant, the true Israelite, who in his perfection is the one true remnant that ought to be spared. 00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:22.639 The one who, when all of the world is in utter corruption, well, this is the one that should make it through the ark. 00:41:23.920 --> 00:41:41.760 But this one, the one in all creation that does not participate in any of the systems of corruption, does not uphold any of them, even searching in his own heart, there is no sin and no corruption present. 00:41:42.079 --> 00:41:52.000 The only one who ought to receive, in receiving the full justice of God, would inherit all of God's authority. 00:41:53.360 --> 00:41:55.760 He is the one who should be spared. 00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:07.760 But this son who was born was born to be given back to the Lord as an offering, a perfect, sinless offering. 00:42:08.800 --> 00:42:11.840 To die the death that we deserved. 00:42:13.039 --> 00:42:33.280 And in him freely offering himself on our behalf, the wrath of God is poured out upon Jesus, and the righteousness that he had before the face of God, he gives to all who come to him freely. 00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:41.199 So that God would be just and the justifier of all who believe. 00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:45.840 So what happens when she sees the face of Jesus? 00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:54.719 She sees the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. 00:42:56.639 --> 00:43:02.960 All the loose ends, how could God in his justice hold fast to his people? 00:43:03.119 --> 00:43:13.119 How could any of us who know in the depths of our hearts that we are utterly sinful before him have a hope in drawing close to this holy God? 00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:18.800 Only if Jesus becomes the sacrifice for us. 00:43:20.880 --> 00:43:30.800 Only if he becomes our righteousness and offers himself on our behalf, then we could be justified before him. 00:43:31.039 --> 00:43:38.480 And so we would look forward to the justice and the grace of God which is shown to us on the cross. 00:43:38.800 --> 00:43:43.599 Because on the cross the wrath of God is poured out upon Jesus. 00:43:45.360 --> 00:43:48.880 Now, who is the dividing line of history? 00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:51.119 It is only Jesus. 00:43:51.920 --> 00:43:53.440 It had to be Jesus. 00:43:54.639 --> 00:43:57.840 In Jesus, we see that God loves his people. 00:43:58.480 --> 00:44:05.840 In Jesus, we see that if If we don't come to God through Jesus, there is no way that we can withstand His justice. 00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:11.599 The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Jesus. 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:19.920 So consider your life, the levels of corruption which you're surrounded by, the levels of corruption which inhabit your own heart. 00:44:20.159 --> 00:44:22.239 Consider what is your hope? 00:44:22.639 --> 00:44:24.239 Look like Anna. 00:44:24.880 --> 00:44:30.239 Our hope, people of God, is that Christ has come. 00:44:31.440 --> 00:44:34.159 The sacrifice has been made. 00:44:34.480 --> 00:44:37.119 The promised son was born. 00:44:38.159 --> 00:44:39.920 He was born to die. 00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:45.599 His death was a sufficient atonement. 00:44:45.840 --> 00:44:51.760 Your sins, as Zach described to you this morning, are forgiven in him. 00:44:52.559 --> 00:44:53.199 For real. 00:44:54.400 --> 00:44:55.360 For real. 00:44:57.679 --> 00:45:03.039