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Luke 2:37 "And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day." The
birth of Christ was very humble, yet He was not without honor.
He was greatly honored in the temple on this day; first by Simeon and
then by Anna. Anna is one of the
minor characters in the New Testament, yet she was highly favored by God in that
she saw the Christ of God with her own eyes before her death.
She like Simeon, was “waiting
for the consolation of It is
not clear from the text whether she was eighty-four years old at this time or if
she had been a widow for eighty-four years.
Either way, she had been a widow for a long time and she had been serving
God devoutly for a long time. She “had
lived with an husband seven years from her virginity.”
She had had only one husband and after his death, she chose rather to
devote her life to God than to remarry, for “she
that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her
husband” (I Cor. The
verse tells us she “served God”
and that is where I wish us to invest our attention now.
Anna is called a prophetess in the thirty-sixth verse of this chapter.
That may indicate no more than that she was a teacher of “the
young women,” or she may have been a foreteller.
You will recall that Jezebel called herself a prophetess and undertook to
teach others (Rev. 2:20). It is not
a great matter in what way she was a prophetess for that is not in consideration
in our text. The fact that she was
a prophetess is not included here in the testimony that she “served
God.” Anna
here teaches us some things about the service of God.
In the first place, it is not only the duty of the religious officers to
serve God. It is certainly expected
of such officers to be engaged in and devoted to the service of God.
However, some seem to think that only those in official capacity are to
be daily employed in God’s service. Additionally,
there are those that think only the officers can serve God.
In other words, unless we are acting in some great capacity or involved
in a highly visible work, we cannot serve God.
This widow woman proves this untrue as she “served
God… night and day.” In
the second place, we notice of what her service consisted.
It is first said of her that she “departed
not from the temple.” She was
faithful to attend the house of God. At
this time, the church was not established, so there was no New Testament
assembly as such. The temple was
the place for the public corporate worship of God.
However, after the establishment of the Lord’s ekklesia,
the church is the place for the corporate public worship of God and public
ministry of His Word. “Jesus
saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in
this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father…
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him”
(John Our
private home with our families is the proper setting for private and family
devotions, but this will never fulfill our responsibility to the services of the
church. We are commanded by the
writer of Hebrews, “Not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one
another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. The
second part of her service was that she “served
God with fastings and prayers night and day.”
What a testimony of personal holiness and godliness!
It was not that she observed the “hour
of prayer” (Acts 3:3), but rather she prayed “night
and day.” She was always at
the business of prayer. She must
have relished communion with God to “pray
without ceasing” (I Thess. Dear
Christian, how is it with your testimony at this hour?
Could it be said of you that you “served
God with fastings and prayers night and day?”
Let us daily be occupied in this blessed service to our faithful God.
When the Lord was telling Ananias that Saul of Tarsus had been saved, He
said, “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts
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