What Are You Waiting For?
Luke 2:21-40 ·January 8, 2023· Joel Passmore
Part of: Luke
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Amen. It really is good to be back together. This is great. So, just before Christmas, we began a new sermon series on the Gospel of Luke. Before Christmas, we looked at the stories of Mary and Elizabeth. Luke is unique in his Gospel. He's got an extended narrative about the birth, the pre-birth, the birth, and then right after the infancy of Jesus. It's very unique. So, we heard about Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah before Christmas. Christmas Eve service, we read from Luke, the birth account that's in Luke.
And today, the account of Jesus' infancy continues. His parents take him to Jerusalem. And at the temple, they meet two other characters that are completely unique to Luke's Gospel. Two people who have been waiting for the moment where Mary and Joseph walk through the door with baby Jesus. We're all familiar with the feeling of waiting. Christmas has passed. Our family is still waiting for a package to arrive. I ordered it on December 1st. It's a gift for Brie.
Sorry, Brie. It's coming from overseas. The tracking information I got, I was checking it. It was very weird looking. Unlike any tracking information I'd seen. It was all like out of order. The dates were out of order. It seemed sketchy. And then I checked it again one day, and it was just gone. It was like, you know, no information available. So I emailed them. Where is my order? Question mark, question mark, question mark. It's been over a month, exclamation point.
Because punctuation is how I express my impotent rage. But what choice do we have? We have no choice but to wait. And there it is. There's the truth for all of us. We have no choice but to wait. It's inevitable. It's unavoidable. It's a common human experience, but we're not all waiting for the same thing. And we're not all waiting in the same way. So how should the waiting of God's people be distinct? How should it be different than how the world might wait for something?
Or what they might wait for? How should our waiting be different? What does God have to say about this? That's what we're going to learn today through Simeon and Anna. These two characters, which take a really prominent role at the beginning of Luke's gospel. Two very interesting, compelling people in scripture. So turn with me to Luke 2. We're going to start at verse 21 and we'll go through verse 40. And hear from God about these two saints of old.
This is the word of the Lord for us today. Let's pay attention to it, receive it as trustworthy and true from a trustworthy and true God. And at the end of eight days, when he, Jesus, was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the time came for their purification, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.
And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. 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. 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.
Lord, 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. And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts will be revealed.
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 84, 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. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him. Pray with me. Lord, your word is life. You work through it. You've promised that it will go forth and bear fruit. And so we rely on that promise today. And upon that promise, Lord, I ask you boldly to do that very thing in us. Bear new life in us. Show us clearly who you are, Jesus. Help us to become more and more people after your own heart. Jesus, do this work in your name and for your glory.
What are you waiting for? It's the title today. What Simeon and Anna teach us is that all who wait in faith will be met by God. So let's look at a few things that we learn from Simeon and Anna, from their example to us. They're an example to us in the faith. The first thing is this. They knew that they were waiting. They knew it. These two people are introduced to us as people who were waiting. They knew it. Look at how verse 25 describes Simeon.
There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, waiting for the consolation of Israel. His name is Simeon. He loved the Lord and he was waiting. This is how he's described to the readers. And he has some special insight from God. He's waiting for something particular. The Holy Spirit tells him, you're going to see the salvation of the Lord before you die. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Anna also knew that she was waiting. If you skip down to the end of the passage, when she sees Jesus, did you see what she does? She began to give thanks to God and speak to him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. So she was part of a community that was waiting, that knew that they were waiting. She went to those people and she said, what we have been waiting for has happened. Now, why all this emphasis on waiting? According to God's word, to be God's people means to be consciously waiting on him.
It is over and over in Scripture. By my count, 58 times in Scripture, there's an association, a command between waiting and faithfully being God's people. Look at some of these examples. This is just a sample. Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. Someone reading this would have been thinking, well, I'm waiting for the Lord. So he's telling me to be strong and take courage, all you who wait for the Lord. Blessed is the one who listens to me, Proverbs 8 says, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
The prophet Isaiah also, but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary.
Lamentations says the Lord is good to those who wait for him. To the soul who seeks him, it is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It's not just the Old Testament, it's the New Testament as well. Paul in Romans 8 says, if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. In Galatians, he says, through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. And then Jude 21 says, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
I could go on and on. It's such a clear theme in the Bible. According to God, waiting for him is the practice of faith. It's the essence of faith. This is a difficult truth because we hate to wait. We hate it. Think about how many decisions you make every day, every week, that are all driven by cutting down your wait time someplace. All the time, right? Let's not go that way. Too much traffic. This line seems to be moving faster than that line. Tell you what, you wait in this line, and I'll wait in this line.
And then whoever gets up to the cashier first, you come over. Remember, that place is always slow. Let's not go there. Waiting is a nuisance. It's an irritation. It's something to prevent and avoid. Businesses put a lot of money into decreasing wait times. And if they can't, they will distract you from the wait times that they can't control. Magazines, televisions, and waiting rooms, that's why they're there, to distract you. Do you know why hotels put mirrors in the lobby where the elevators are?
Because they can't make the elevators go any faster. And they know that the human impulse, when a mirror is there, you're like, you're checking yourself. I'm serious. That's why they put them there, to give you just a little bit of distraction while you're waiting for the elevator. So that it won't seem so bad. I learned recently that Chick-fil-A does not actually have the quickest wait times of any drive-thru place. But they have the highest customer satisfaction.
So you don't mind so much the little bit longer wait time than you do it. I think the fastest one was Arby's or something. I forget. But you don't mind, because there's lots of points of contact, right? You feel like you're being attended to, waited on.
Being called to consciously wait on the Lord is really difficult. Because everywhere else in our lives, we try to avoid it like the plague. So when we're told to wait on the Lord, it is hard. We're not used to it. Our muscles are flabby. It's exactly what we need, though. Waiting is what happens when we have unmet longings. When we consciously wait on the Lord, we're saying, Father, there are deep desires in my heart that the world cannot meet. Only you can.
In your goodness and your mercy, you will bring fulfillment to my needs, and I'm waiting on that. That's what waiting on the Lord is. When Simeon and Anna were alive, there had not been a prophet or an appearance from the Lord for 400 years. That was a long time of waiting. 400 years. And yet, they were part of a faithful community that was waiting with hope. That's what the passage tells us. There was still a people that were waiting. Waiting for the salvation that God would provide.
So this first point is just a challenge for us. Do you know that you're waiting on the Lord? Or is it something that you distract yourself from? When there are desires in you, deep desires that only the Lord can meet, and you're waiting for them, that is a good place to be. It is okay to be conscious of that, to be aware that you're waiting. That's what you're called to be as God's people. It's actually not a good thing to distract yourself from the aches that you feel deeply that you have to go to the Lord with.
Don't let your knee-jerk reaction to distract yourself from waiting spill over into your spiritual life. Wait on the Lord. Know that you're waiting. Join up with Simeon and Anna. But what should we do while we wait? Well, Simeon and Anna teach us on this too, because they were active in their waiting. They were doing something while they waited. Look again at what the passage says. Verse 25, Simeon was described as righteous and devout. Now, Luke would not have put this in here without it meaning something.
This was not just a toss-off phrase here. This means that Simeon was diligent in observing the law of the Lord, in obeying the commandments of God. A law that was summed up with, love God with all you are and love your neighbor as yourself. When Luke says that he was righteous and devout, we can take it with assurance that he was trying his best to love God and love his neighbor. He wouldn't have been described that way if you weren't active in those ways.
And look at Anna. We have a lot more about Anna. Look at verse 37. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. What a woman of faith. What an example for us. She was practically living in the house of God. Even though it means that she never marries again after the death of her husband, which would have kept her a widow, kept her poor, kept her vulnerable in this society. She says, you know, the word of my God says, it's better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to be a prince.
And so that's what I'm going to do. So she's there every day, singing and waiting. Fasting and waiting. Praying and waiting. Her worship includes joy and lament and petition and adoration. Her worship is constant and her worship is comprehensive. It's amazing. What a model for us. What a model for me. Simeon and Anna were not just sitting on the bench, waiting to be called in the game, doing nothing. They weren't sitting in a waiting room for a doctor to see them.
They were active in practicing love and mercy towards their neighbors and they were active in worship of their God. They were putting into practice what the prophet Hosea said. So you, by the help of your God, return. Hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God. You can't get a better verse to sum up the point I'm trying to make in this second point here. Hold fast to love and justice and wait continually for your God. The two things go together.
Because they waited for a holy God, they sought holiness. Because they waited for a merciful God, they practiced mercy. Because they waited for a glorious God, they worshiped. What an amazing example. It's so instructive to see that while we're waiting and longing for more of God's work around us, we can be engaged in the good works that he has prepared for us, not as a distraction from our waiting, but as an expression of our waiting. Christian author and speaker, Paul Tripp, says this, The sort of waiting to which we are called is not inactivity.
It is very positive, purposeful, and spiritual. We must rethink waiting and remind ourselves that waiting itself is a call to action. That quote is on the front of your bulletin if you want to look at it again later. Those are wise words and they agree with what Simeon and Anna teach us here. They agree with the word of God. Jesus says that our waiting for him, you might not know this, but he tells some parables where he makes it clear. The way that Jesus describes our waiting for him is like invited guests to a wedding feast getting ready for the wedding.
Think about the two different scenarios of waiting. If you are a family of a bride or a groom waiting for a wedding day, you might have a job to do, right? Your waiting involves preparation. It involves work. Now think about, on the other hand, waiting for the phone call from the doctor to give you a diagnosis, to give you test results. You don't have anything to do in that kind of waiting, right? Jesus says our waiting for him is like the first kind.
We are like invited wedding guests to a wedding that we will participate in and we have preparations to do. That's the waiting that we have. It's active waiting.
As we're active in our waiting, we're going to be changed. And Simeon and Anna were changed. That's the last thing that we learn from them. They were changed by their waiting. God influenced what it was that they were waiting for. Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Anna told the news to all who were waiting for the redemption of Israel. These two phrases, consolation of Israel, redemption of Jerusalem, these are synonymous phrases.
They mean the same thing. They refer to the promises of God. That he was going to send a righteous redeemer, a king from David's line, someone who was going to deliver them. This is what, or should I say who, they were waiting for. Now, over the course of their lives, God shaped them. They didn't get here overnight. By the time that they were advanced in years, standing in that temple, looking for the Christ child, there was no difference between what they were waiting for and the promises of God.
Those two things had merged to become one and the same. That's what happened to them over the course of their life. So when Simeon holds Jesus, just imagine that scene now. So few people were looking for Jesus in this way. But Simeon was. He's holding the baby Jesus. And he says, My eyes have seen your salvation. You have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. Now, some people hearing him might have been shocked.
Light for revelation to the Gentiles? The old man's gone senile. What is he talking about? But he's not making anything up, is he? He's true to what God had promised he was going to do. Bless all nations. Bring in all peoples, from every tribe, tongue, and nation through Jesus.
He's echoing Isaiah, who said, Nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. This is the light that he's holding. Simeon has been changed. And as we wait, God will change us too. Including what we're waiting for. He's going to train our hearts and our minds to look forward to what he has promised for us, which is oftentimes different and better than what we intend for ourselves. A few years ago, this is probably five or six years ago now, Cadence and Bree and I had some free time and we lived near a park and I had been someplace in the park that they hadn't been.
It was a stream. It was kind of hidden back in the park. It was really fun. And I said, hey girls, get on your bikes. Let's go on a trip. Let's go down to the park. They had favorite places that they go to the park as well. So they're like, oh boy, are we going to go here and here? And I was like, well, let's just wait and see. So we ride a few blocks down to the park and we get into the park and we get up close to the first place where they like to stop.
And I was like, and they said, all right, dad, here it is. Here it is. Let's stop. And they're getting ready. And I said, no, no, we're not there yet. Let's keep going. Well, you might have, you might have just thought that I told them that we're going to the dentist or something because their countenance completely changed. They became sourpusses like never before. The whining, the complaining, dad, we want to go here. And I'm like, but I've got someplace new I want to show you.
It's great. But dad, so much complaining. Finally got them going again. And then we passed the playground. And they're like, oh, are we going to the playground? Let's stop here. And I'm like, no, we're not going to the playground. Oh, dad. Now it's like a dentist visit followed by something even worse. So much complaining. Like, girls, we're not there yet. I'm telling you, it's going to be great. Just trust me. Come on, keep going. Keep going. You can pedal.
Just keep pedaling. When they finally saw where we were going, they were really happy. They were thrilled. They even said, you're right, dad. You're right. This was better than where we wanted to stop. It was hidden in the woods. Had this cool stream. Rocks you could hop around on. It was awesome. But it took a lot of complaining to get there. Because we passed by some other stuff that seemed more appealing and they were having a hard time trusting me that I had something new and better for them.
And I think that we're kids on our bikes a lot of times. We're following our dad. But we're like, I wanted to stop here. I wanted to stop here. What's the deal? But he's got something better for us. And so we wait. And we keep pedaling our bikes.
Think about this. Simeon and Anna, they waited their whole lives for this, right? They only saw a small little glimpse of what God was going to do. They saw the baby Jesus, what, for one day? For just a few moments?
They were advanced in years. It was 30 more years until Jesus would begin his public ministry. Simeon never found out what his own words meant. How Jesus would cause the fall and rising of many in Israel. How the Gentiles would respond to the light that Jesus brought to them. Anna never saw how this redemption of Jerusalem that she and her community were waiting for was accomplished through Jesus. And yet, they were joyful. They were joyful. Simeon says, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.
They were content and joyful with what God allowed them to see. They trusted God that even though there was something ahead for them that they didn't see, they trusted God that they were, that he was going to fulfill his promises even in ways that they didn't see or understand. In his time and in his way. Church, when we learn to wait for what God has promised, we won't be disappointed with what he provides.
Like Simeon and Anna, we will rejoice because we know that all the promises of God, every one of them, find their yes and their amen in Jesus. His life of righteousness, his death in the place of sinners, his glorious resurrection and conquest over death. His ascension to heaven at the right hand of God where he intercedes for his people. This is the salvation that Simeon and Anna spoke of but did not see themselves. We see in more fullness what they only glimpsed.
He is a light for revelations to Gentiles. Consolation of Israel. Anyone who repents and puts their faith in him will receive the forgiveness and reconciliation that they want and that they need and yet we are still waiting. We're still waiting on God because there's more work ahead. Peter says this, according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We look forward to the return of Jesus. We occupy a very similar place as Simeon and Anna.
They were looking forward to Christ's first coming. We're looking forward to his second coming. The end of suffering and death. Seeing God face to face to his eternal reign of peace and security. And yet, we can take joy just like they do in what we have seen and what we know because we know that it's just a small part of God's fulfillment of his promises, which he will completely do someday. Let's be people who wait knowingly. Let's be people who wait actively.
Let's be changed by our God while we wait. All who wait in faith on the Lord will be met with God's salvation in Jesus Christ. That's God's promise to you. It's true today. Pray with me. Lord, you know better than we do how impatient we are. How much we don't, how we don't want to think about how much we're waiting. We don't want to dwell on the unmet longings of our heart. The promises of you that are not fulfilled yet. These are hard things for us to think about.
It's true, Lord, we are like the kids on the bikes. That we think the greatest thing is back in the rearview mirror. We wanted you to stop long ago. It's hard to keep peddling and following you. But, Lord, it's what you have for us and you will give us the strength to keep doing it. Lord, help us to wait in faith. Please, help us by your Spirit. Make us more like Simeon and Anna, looking forward to Jesus, grateful for what we have seen and knowing that there's more ahead that's promised for all those who wait in faith.
Lord, be with us. Comfort us and help us. Strengthen us, Lord. Jesus, we pray this in your name.