Advent Devotionals

Simeon and Anna's Testimonies in the Temple

In your quiet time, read Luke 2:25-38.

Imagine this: You and your spouse (or future one) walk into the place of worship with your newborn child. A person grabs your child and swings them around. They start praising God, saying that their eyes are seeing God’s salvation. What would your reaction be? In awe or scared?

There was something very special about the baby that Mary and Joseph had. They had been visited by an angel before his birth. Wise men and shepherds visited your baby at his birth, and they gave him gifts. Now, at the place of worship, an older gentleman is praising God for your child being God’s salvation. This must have been startling. But verse 33 says: “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him”. Very soon after this moment, a prophet came to Mary and Joseph and gave thanks to God for the child. Aloud at the place of worship, she spoke to everyone possible about this child being the one who would redeem Jerusalem.
By this point, Marty and Joseph must have known that the child Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35) was very special. There was something very special about this child. Everything that Simeon and Anna spoke of Jesus was to come true. When they saw this child, they knew that Jesus was the salvation of all peoples (Luke 2:32). We, too, can look at Jesus and know he is our salvation. We can look at Jesus and know he is very special. He is Immanuel, or ‘God with us’.