Luke 2:22-40
This blog post is an excerpt from the booklet entitled, "Women of the Bible" - Volume 2.
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"...For in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." ~ Galatians 6:9
Anna was a wife who became a widow at an early age. After her husband’s death, we find her in the Temple serving the Lord as a prophetess. This was a woman who proclaimed what was to come through divine inspiration from God. Though she was mentioned only briefly, her presence in Scripture is powerful.
One of the reasons I love to study about her is because she was an integral part in the life of Jesus. Just eight days after His birth, Jesus was brought by His parents to the Temple to be dedicated.
Notice they did not bring babies to the Temple to be saved. This is why we as Baptists do not sprinkle or baptize babies or toddlers because Jesus was not sprinkled that day. As a matter of fact, you will not see one baby ever sprinkled throughout the entire Bible. Every person must be saved first before baptism in order to obey God's Word. Jesus' parents followed the Law as they should. Before they brought Jesus to the Temple to be dedicated, they first had Him circumcised as a sign of cleansing as was the custom and the Mosaic Law in those days.
As they entered the house of God, Mary and Joseph had brought a sacrifice of turtle doves which I have always thought was a neat choice. We put out a Christmas decoration every year of turtle doves to remind us of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth. They brought this sacrifice and had Jesus circumcised even though He was perfect and would never sin, they still obeyed the Law so that Jesus would be a constant example for all of us to follow.
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. - 1 Peter 2:21
When they arrived, Anna knew exactly who Jesus was as did Simeon who was the high priest. He was the first person in the Temple to meet Jesus. The Bible says that he was a just and devout man waiting for the Lord and that the Holy Ghost was upon him. Simeon was an older man yet he was promised by God through the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had seen Jesus, the promised Messiah.
When Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus into the Temple, Simeon took Him up into his arms and blessed Him. He proclaimed, “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” This is the same hope that we have in Christ today. If you have been saved, your eyes have seen the salvation of God just like Simeon and Anna did that day.
Now it is time to look at Anna’s part in the story. How excited she must have been! This passage of Scripture says that she immediately gave thanks unto the Lord. God had fulfilled His Word and sent His Son to redeem mankind. Jesus was the answer to their prayers. They waited long years for the Messiah to come and prayed it would happen in their lifetime. They wholly believed God’s Word. Anna proclaimed Jesus would come, and here He was! No wonder she was so thankful. She believed the prophesies found in God’s written Word and her faith became sight when He revealed Himself to her that day. God made Himself real to her. It is my prayer for my children and for every Christian that they would experience that God is real for themselves. This is not a game we play or a ritualistic religion, we serve a God Who is alive and wants to reveal Himself to us.
The Bible goes on to say that Anna told all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem about Jesus. What an important role she played in history! Anna was a woman who was greatly used by God. She had the same job that we have which is to tell others who are looking for hope and for answers that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
It is very important to learn from Anna that we are not to follow prophecies or divine intervention outside of God and His Word. Anna was a prophetess and did not make up her own prophecies or reveal visions that were not given to her by God. We should be leery of those today who try to proclaim and prophesy anything not found in Scripture by claiming they have received new revelations directly from God. We have a completed Bible that has the truths we need for today.
What a beautiful story that Anna was blessed to be a part of! The role she played in the story of Jesus is so significant for women. God orchestrated her being there in the Temple and allowed her experience to be recorded in Scripture. However, we never see Anna usurping authority in the Temple. She did not speak over or before the high priest (pastor), Simeon.
This was a picture of what the Bible would later record for us concerning the woman’s role in the church. The Bible clearly says that women are to keep silent in the church meaning they are not to usurp authority of men by preaching to them. The emphasis in this next verse is mine.
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak (preach); but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law...for it is
a shame for women to speak (preach) in the church. - 1 Corinthians 14:33-35
Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach,
nor usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. - 1 Timothy 2:11-12
The Bible has two passages that outline the qualification of a pastor and both of them distinctly require this office to be held by a man, specifically the “husband” of one “wife.”
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober,
of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. - 1 Timothy 3:1-2
If any man be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God. - Titus 1:6-7
In the Old Testament the Bible speaks of the error and destruction that came when the women were leading God’s people instead of allowing the men to do so.
As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. - Isaiah 3:12
These are the biblical grounds of why we believe women are not to be pastors, preachers or evangelists. Women were in roles of leadership as prophetesses and judges but never as the High Priest (main pastor). Women can teach God’s Word but are never to declare themselves as preachers. Anna’s representation in Scripture is a Biblical example which acknowledges the importance of all women who serve the Lord.
Great ministries of service and help for women in the church are but not limited to: Sunday school teachers, nursery workers, choir members, instrumentalists, greeters, those who prepare food for others, prayer warriors, encouragers who send texts, emails, or make phone calls. The list goes on and on. Women are very important to the work of the Lord but are not to hold the office of a pastor, preacher or evangelist. A Bible verse that teaches about women is:
In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. - 1 Timothy 2:9-10
Here are some more things we know and can learn from Anna:
Her name means “gracious; favored; merciful.” It is believed this name became popular because of her legacy. There are over half-a-million girls and women in America alone who have or have had the name of Anna.
She was part of the tribe of Asher. Moses prophesied in the Old Testament about her generation in Deuteronomy 33:25, “...as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” This was certainly evidenced in the life of Anna.
Her brief seven years of marriage must have been very sweet. The Bible says she remained a widow for eighty-four years before she saw Jesus brought to the Temple. It seems as if Anna is the only woman in Scripture besides Sarah whose age is specifically mentioned.
She had a vision for the next generation. She knew children, teens, young adults, and their parents were looking forward to the redemption of Israel. She encouraged them to continue following the Lord.
She stays at the Temple (v. 37). She was at the right place at the right time. This is a beautiful picture of my life verse.
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple. - Psalm 27:4
She worships night and day, fasting and praying. She is readily available. This suggests that the waiting and the certainty of an eventual reward kept her alive. This lifestyle the Bible describes evidently invigorated her, because she remained mobile, articulate, alert, spiritually savvy and unselfish even as she was aging. These are the attributes that keep older woman sweet instead of being cranky and hard to get along with.
She learned to be patient as she waited on God to reveal Himself. She became a student of God’s Word while she waited. The more she prayed, the more she learned about God. Consistent prayer and Bible reading will do the same for you. Through her study, Anna was in turn able to teach others also.
And the things that that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. - 2 Timothy 2:2
She set an example as a widow. She remained chaste even though lonely.
Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.
-1 Timothy 5:5-6
There are many great stories about widows. There is the widow who kept coming to the unrighteous judge to answer her petition. There is the widow who gave two mites in the Temple offering and Jesus stopped everything to illustrate how her faith in giving was greater than the richest among them. There is the story in the book of Ruth about Naomi in the Bible who was bitter, yet God turned that around and she flourished exponentially. The Bible says we are to honor the widows of the church.
Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. Honour widows that are widows indeed. - 1 Timothy 5:1-3
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. - James 1:27
Widow women make the best grandmas! They have so much wisdom and insight to share. This is why the Bible says the younger women are to learn from the older. How encouraging it is to meet those who have lived a long life and have still remained true to the Lord. Their gray hairs are honorable because of their wisdom and experiences. They have much to teach those younger women who are willing to listen and learn.
The aged woman likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, that the word of God be not blasphemed. - Titus 2:3-5
May we learn to emulate the attributes of Anna. We need to praise the Lord, build our lives upon His Word, stay in God’s house, and continue to be faithful to prayer and fasting, even if we become widowed or lonely. I am so thankful for examples in Scripture of women who faced hard times but remained faithful, thankful and good examples for us today.
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