Advent
The word advent means “coming” and refers to Jesus Christ’s coming to earth as an infant and to His promised return to earth known as the “second coming.”
Right after Thanksgiving, two grandsons called their grandmother to announce that they had begun decorating the house for Christmas. “And guess what? We got to set up our baby Jesus action figures!” For most of us, the nativity scene is the most common mental picture of Advent. But Advent is far more than the baby in the manger, as you will discover.
Advent, Christ’s First
Knowing the Messiah
The first question to ask about Christ’s first coming is, How would the world know the Messiah?
Christ’s first advent fulfills a long progression of specific prophecies. God Himself, in Genesis 3:15, predicted that a human descendant of Adam and Eve would crush Satan’s head. Israel came to expect that the Messiah would be like Moses, based on Deuteronomy 18:18: “I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him” (NASB).
God’s covenant with Abraham meant that his offspring, the nation of Israel, had a special relationship to God, and through Abraham’s line all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:1–3). The patriarch Jacob foretold that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah (49:10). God’s promise to David was that one day one of David’s descendants would reign on his throne forever (see 2 Sam. 7:12–16). Isaiah predicted that Messiah would be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14). Bethlehem was to be the site of Messiah’s birth (Mic. 5:2).
Putting the prophecies together, Messiah would be a human being, a Jew from the tribe of Judah, in the line of King David, born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem. By fulfilling these prophecies, Jesus Christ confirms that He alone is the One sent from God to be our Savior.
Christ’s Human Nature
Another question about Christ’s first coming that requires an answer is, Why did God take on a human nature and body?
The New Testament affirms consistently that God the Son took on a human body and nature, so that Jesus is uniquely fully God and fully human. “The Word became flesh” (John 1:14), and the word for “flesh” means skin and bone and blood. John contends that only those who confess that Jesus Christ came “in the flesh” belong to God (1 John 4:2). Paul refers to Jesus in an early confession of faith as “He who was revealed in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16). The writer to the Hebrews agrees: “Since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same” (Heb. 2:14 NASB). God’s holiness requires that sin be judged, and the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Because of Adam and Eve’s sin, every human being has entered the world with an inner bent toward sin (5:12). Sin is inbred, not only a learned behavior. To redeem sinful human beings, the Redeemer must be a human being (Heb. 2:14–15; Gal. 4:4–5).
But the Redeemer must be sinless; that is, He must have no sins of His own for which to pay. John the Baptist identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). “Lamb” refers to a Passover lamb, which had to be perfect in every way. The implication is that Jesus was perfect and therefore could be the substitute sacrificed for humanity’s sin. (For other affirmations of Christ’s sinlessness, see John 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5.)
To bring salvation, the Redeemer must right what our first parents did wrong. Jesus is referred to as the Second Adam because He restored what Adam had lost (see 1 Cor. 15:45). “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21 NASB). “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:19 NASB). Charles Wesley put it this way: “Second Adam from above, reinstate us in Thy love.”
The Son of God became fully human to identify with sinful humans, to live a sinless life, to sacrifice Himself in our place to atone for our sin, and to rise again to conquer death and give believing sinners the gift of eternal life. Jesus volunteered for this mission and willingly endured the suffering to bring glory to His Father, to receive a name above every name, and to transform sinners into saints who glorify God.
We should worship the Lord Jesus for leaving heaven’s glories, for condescending to become human, and for voluntarily embracing the limitations of a human body. Because Jesus did this, we know that He understands what bodily existence is like for us. We can also look forward to having a body like His resurrection body!
The Purpose of His Coming
One further question about Christ’s first advent needs a response: What did Jesus come to earth to do? To answer this question briefly, we turn to several texts in 1 John where the author uses the words “appeared” or “manifested” to address the reasons for the incarnation.
Sin is humanity’s biggest problem, and Jesus came to solve that problem. “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5 NASB). God takes sin seriously, and so should we. In “appearing,” God identified with sinners. He “became flesh” (John 1:14). In His life Jesus modeled perfect obedience to God, and in His death He atoned for humankind’s sin. The result of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is that God makes sinners holy when they trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Jesus’ arrival on planet Earth was a declaration of war on Satan. “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 NASB). This verse emphasizes the reality of Satan and his opposition to God and God’s people. We must not underestimate the hostility and deceitfulness of the enemy of our souls. Jesus certainly did not. The word “destroy” in 1 John 3:8 points to the power of God’s Son. To “destroy” means to dissolve the bonds that hold things together. Rather than an all-out frontal assault, Jesus quietly undid Satan’s strategy by obeying Scripture, depending on the Holy Spirit, and loving His Father. Satan thought the cross was the end of Jesus; instead, it was the downfall of Satan’s plan. Satan is still active today, but his defeat is certain (see Revelation 20).
Christ’s coming to earth was an expression of God’s love. How do we know that God loves sinners? “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:9–10 NASB). These verses provide three evidences that God truly loves us:
- God initiated the relationship (He sent His Son).
- God gave His best (His only begotten Son).
- God met our deepest needs. (We can live through Him, who is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means satisfying God’s holy wrath against sin.)
When we don’t feel that God loves us, we need to look at objective truth. God reached out to us by sending the Son He loves, and the Son died for our sins and rose to give us an eternal relationship with God. Is Jesus your Savior?
Advent, Christ’s Second
Jesus promised that He would come back: “I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3 NASB). The Revelation of St. John ends with the Lord’s declaration, “I am coming quickly” (Rev. 22:20 NASB). Since He ascended into heaven, Jesus’ disciples have been looking for His return. There are differences in how Christians interpret the time and order of Christ’s return, but there is universal agreement that He will come again. This belief is what orients the season of Advent toward the future.
Christ’s Second Advent is a motive for keeping ourselves pure. “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself” (1 John 3:2–3 NASB). Because we do not know the time of His return and because we want to meet Him unashamed, we must not let sin master us.
For us, the Second Advent will mean a release from bodily limitations. When Christ comes from heaven, He “will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory” (Phil. 3:21 NASB). Our bodies are a spiritual battleground, and disease and time take their physical toll. Christ’s return means having a body like that of our risen Lord.
The Second Advent spells the final defeat of Satan (Revelation 19–20). The war that has been waged since the Garden of Eden will finally come to an end. Resistance to Christ the King will cease as Satan and all his followers are judged and sent to their eternal punishment.
Christ’s return will usher in the new heaven and earth (Revelation 21–22). The description of the eternal state begins by naming what will not be there: no tears, no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain (21:4), no night (v. 25), and no curse (22:3). Wounds will be healed (v. 4), there will be peace, and we will see our Savior face-to-face. “And so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17 KJV).
The return of the King is anticipated only by those who believe in Him. Ultimately, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10–11). The choice is to submit to Him now, voluntarily, or refuse and be forced to acknowledge His lordship when He comes to reign.
Advent, the Season
The Church year begins with the season of Advent, and as we’ve seen, this is a time when Christians look back to Christ’s first coming in Bethlehem and look ahead to His coming again.
Our readers may question this emphasis on Advent. After all, there’s nothing in Scripture that commands Christians to keep this season. Some churches do not keep seasons and emphasize only Good Friday and Easter. We are certainly not insisting that every believer must acknowledge Advent, nor should it be a test of Christian fellowship. Just as Americans recognize the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving Day, Christians mark important events in the life of the Church.
Consider that one of God’s gifts to Israel was a calendar. As Israel prepared to exit Egypt, God told Moses that Passover was to be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month in the Jewish year (Exod. 12:1–6, 14). From this decree, the rest of the Jewish feasts and fasts and holy days followed in an annual cycle (see Leviticus 23). Since God established for Israel events and experiences to be repeated and commemorated, it is reasonable to embrace a calendar for the Christian Church.
The Christian year has been designed around the key events in the life of the Lord Jesus and the life of the Church. It begins with the seasons of Advent and Epiphany and then moves to Ordinary Time. The season of Lent precedes the Church’s commemoration of the triumphal entry and the death and resurrection of our Lord. Ascension is forty days after the Festival of the Resurrection, followed by the season of Pentecost (with its emphasis on Christlikeness). The final Sunday in the year is known as Christ the King, completing the annual cycle. These events provide a range of themes with which to shape worship services and sermons. Incorporating the events of Christ’s life into our calendar has a way of sanctifying time and of putting our lives in rhythm with God’s saving work.
The season of Advent begins on the Sunday closest to November 30. It includes the four Sundays prior to Christmas and concludes on Christmas Eve.
The season of Advent was first mentioned in writing about AD 380 in Spain, as a time of fasting prior to celebrating the nativity. Not until the fourth century was the date for Christmas settled, and it is still a point of difference between Western and Eastern churches. By the sixth century, monks in Tours, France, were keeping a pre-Christmas fast, and by 581 most churches made pre-Christmas preparations. By the end of the century, the four Sundays before Christmas were known as Advent Sundays.
Season of Penitence
The season of Advent embraces several “moods.” It is a time of preparation, not only for a holiday, but to ready our hearts, minds, and lives to celebrate God’s gift of salvation in Christ. It is also a season of penitence, which we do in preparation for meeting our Savior. God’s people are to confess sin, repent of it, and walk on the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35). Scriptures from the Psalms and Prophets, chosen for this season, encourage a feeling of dissatisfaction with the way things are and a deep desire for God to bring change.
Season of Hope
Advent is a season of waiting in hope. Israel’s prophets pointed to the coming Messiah, but it was centuries before the time was right for God to send His Son (Gal. 4:4). The people of Israel longed for their deliverer to come, and this longing created a sense of expectancy. The Advent hymns “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” and “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” beautifully express this hope.
Today children can hardly wait until they can open their presents, and the waiting seems like a punishment. Advent is an opportunity to be productive while learning patience. Not only do we “wait for” Christ to come or for Christmas Eve to arrive, we also “wait with” each other and pursue activities that redeem the time. Often Advent worship services end with the words, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!” (see Rev. 22:20).
Season of Reflection
Advent is a season of reflection, when we meditate on the events of Christ’s birth and the experiences of the many persons in the story and on the mystery of God taking on flesh. On a personal level, Advent encourages us to remember God’s goodness to us and ponder how we can more intentionally honor Christ in our lives. Increasingly, Christians intentionally resist the cultural emphasis on money, buying, and giving. Attending only those events we want to experience creates a margin of time during a very busy time of year. Simplifying gift giving can make the gifts more meaningful (for instance, exchange with family members books you have enjoyed reading). Because Jesus was poor, it is right that we help those in need, and not just during Advent.
Season of Joy
Advent should be a season of joy, although the unrestrained celebration of Christ’s birth should wait for Christmas Day (for the purists). Many elements can contribute to a joyful spirit. Listening to a wide range of seasonal music will prevent your ears from being dulled by the music in the malls. Making gifts and preparing foods for the holiday increase our anticipation. Decorating the house (inside and out) affords another kind of enjoyment. Above all, joy should come from the true story of the joyful God bringing salvation to sinners so they could become His children.
Season of Light
Because Advent occurs when daylight is minimal, it is a season of light. For many congregations and families, a traditional, lighted Advent wreath or Advent log adds to the atmosphere of celebration. Lighting the candles symbolizes the growing brightness of Jesus, the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). Many congregations do a candlelighting service on Christmas Eve, pointing to the Light that shines in the darkness, which the darkness can never extinguish (John 1:5).
The season of Advent concludes on Christmas Eve. Our celebration of Christ’s birth does not end our looking for His return. In a spiritual sense, for Christ’s followers, it is always the season of Advent because we constantly expect Him to return. At His incarnation, the eternal Lord entered time. Now we wait for time to end to enter eternity with our Lord.
The season of Advent will be as meaningful as you make it.
See: Patience, Pondering
Angels
Angels are real. God created them to serve and praise Him (Heb. 1:7, 14; Isa. 6:2–3). They are spiritual beings who assume a human form when they appear. God created angels as a company, so their number is fixed, and they do not reproduce. Fallen angels cannot be saved, because Jesus died and rose only for sinful human beings. Angels “render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14 NASB), and that service extends to little children (see Matt. 18:10).
Angelic Activity
The events surrounding Christ’s birth are remarkable for the comings and goings of angels. First, the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would have a child in their old age and that the child would be the forerunner of the Messiah (Luke 1:5–25). Zechariah found this hard to believe and his doubt resulted in his living the discipline of silence for nine months.
Next, Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary with the news that she was the chosen one to bear God’s Son, David’s heir, a holy Child (vv. 26–38). Mary questioned how this would happen, knowing she was a virgin. The question came from faith and not from doubt, and Gabriel’s response pointed to the overshadowing work of God the Holy Spirit. Mary submitted to God’s will and became pregnant.
Joseph, Mary’s fiancé, was torn by the news of her pregnancy. He loved Mary, but if she had been unfaithful, he wanted a quiet divorce (in their culture engagement brought all the obligations of marriage with none of the benefits). An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, confirming the manner in which Mary had become pregnant and affirming the identity and gender of her Child (Matt. 1:18–25). The angel also directed that two names be given to this Child: Jesus (“Jehovah saves” or “God is salvation”) and Immanuel (“God is with us”). Joseph married Mary.
After Mary gave birth to baby Jesus in Bethlehem, an angel of the Lord appeared to shepherds in the fields outside the town. The blazing light of his arrival frightened the shepherds, and the good news he gave them about the birth of the Savior amazed them. This is the only time that angels proclaim the gospel. The angel gave a sign by which to find the newborn (Luke 2:12). Then a multitude of angels—a heavenly host—appeared to declare glory to God and peace on earth (vv. 13–14). (This has come down to us as the song of the angels, although the text says the angels were “saying” their piece. Still, might not angelic voices have a musical quality?)
Some time later, following the visit of the Magi, an angel of the Lord appeared again in Joseph’s dream, telling him to take his family to Egypt to escape Herod’s paranoid violence (Matt. 2:13). Joseph obeyed the traveling orders. After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared yet again in a dream to tell Joseph to take his family home (vv. 19–20).
The Meaning of the Angelic Activity
What are we to make of all this angelic activity?
First, the news brought by the angels could not have come from a human source. Zechariah and Elizabeth knew they were too old to become parents. Mary had kept herself pure and knew that pregnancy was not possible through human means. Joseph needed divine wisdom and guidance in his relationship with Mary and in caring for the infant Jesus. Thus in each case the word had to come from a supernatural source.
Next, the Son of God was coming to earth—a King entering His domain! In heaven, angels do God’s bidding and offer ceaseless worship. How appropriate that heavenly servants be given a part in preparing the way for the Savior’s birth! The paradox of the eternal Son of God entering time as a human must have astounded the angels. God’s plan of salvation fulfilled by our Lord Jesus is something “into which angels long to look” (1 Pet. 1:12 NASB).
Further, each message from the angels focused on the person of Jesus, God’s Son. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son, John the Baptist, was to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. Mary was favored by God to carry the Son of God in her womb, providing His human nature and body. Joseph’s angelic encounters spurred him to take Mary as his wife and to provide for and protect Mary and Jesus. The shepherds were directed to find the newborn Savior for themselves. The goal of each angelic encounter was pointing people to Jesus.
Finally, Jesus is superior to the angels (Heb. 1:4). He is superior to angels because He is the Creator (vv. 2–3), God (v. 3a, “exact representation”), the Savior (v. 3b; 2:16), and King (1:3, 8). Because of the exalted position of the Lord Jesus Christ, the worship of angels is wrong (see Col. 2:18).
God appoints His angels to serve and protect His people (Heb. 1:14). Angels are not a source of power for humans or a means of controlling circumstances, persons, or things. We are not to worship angels (Rev. 22:8–9). We do not pray to angels because they are not our intercessors (“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”—1 Tim. 2:5 NASB). Angels worship and obey Jesus (Heb. 1:6–7). Jesus did not come to earth to save angels but to save “Abraham’s descendants” (2:16). The apostle Paul stated that believers in Jesus will judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). This truth implies, then, that the least of the redeemed human saints has a higher place with God than any angel!
Human beings continue to encounter angels because angels continue to be God’s ministers to the saints on earth (Heb. 1:14). At times, when showing hospitality to strangers, God’s people have entertained angels without knowing it (Genesis 18; Heb. 13:2). If you believe you have encountered an angel, evaluate the experience with these questions:
- Whom do you praise, the angel or Christ who sent the angel?
- Has the experience deepened your faith in Jesus Christ?
- Are you looking for angels or looking at Jesus?
An eternal relationship with the living Savior is much better than an encounter with angels.
See: Joseph, Light, Mary, Shepherds, Songs
Anna
Many of the Jewish people who frequented the temple in the days of Caesar Augustus recognized Anna, an elderly widow, because she came to worship there each day. Some of them knew her personally; they had talked with her about her favorite subject—the coming of the promised Messiah (Luke 2:36–38).
She was too poor to own any scrolls of the prophets, but during her long life, she had often heard these promises read in the synagogue, and they were written permanently on her heart. Perhaps her favorite was from the prophet Malachi—“‘Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Mal. 3:1).
And He did come!
As Anna entered the Court of the Women, she saw her friend Simeon standing by a couple with a baby, and Simeon was loudly praising the Lord. “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel” (Luke 2:29–32). Anna joined the praise service and gave thanks to God that the Messiah had been born; then she went and spread the good news among her friends. She is still spreading that good news.
Anna could have given many excellent reasons for staying home from the temple—if nothing else, her age. Bible students interpret the data differently. Some say she was eighty-four years old at that time, while others say she had been a widow for eighty-four years. If she was married in her early teens, which was not unusual for Jewish girls, then she was twenty or twenty-one when her husband died; and if she had been a widow for eighty-four years, she would have been at least 104 or 105 years old at that time. The text says that she was “very old,” and eighty-four could hardly be called “very old” even in that day. But whatever her age, she didn’t allow it to keep her from the house of God. Like King David, she said, “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life” (Ps. 27:4).
Keep in mind that widows in that day received no government assistance, as elderly people do today. Moses in the Law warned the Israelites not to neglect the widows and orphans, because they were beloved of God (Exodus 22–24; Deut. 14:28–29; Isa. 1:17). Each synagogue congregation sought to care for its own needy members, but congregations were not especially wealthy and the needs were many. There were other widows besides Anna.
We are not told that she had any physical afflictions, but surely she suffered from the normal ailments that attack older people. Moses died in perfect health (Deut. 34:5–7), but he was an exception. Anna and the rest of us must endure what Solomon described in Ecclesiastes 12. But if she had arthritic joints, poor hearing and vision, and general debilitation, her problems didn’t keep her from being in God’s house to worship, pray, and witness. These are excuses we use today but they would never have come to her mind.
She might have complained about the management of the temple and refused to worship there. Even Jesus called it “a den of robbers” and threw out the merchants and moneychangers (Luke 19:45–47). Surely she knew that the religious leaders of the nation were hirelings and not shepherds and had little concern for the needs of the people. But this didn’t deter her from being in the temple day after day, worshiping God, and ministering to the people. She was a prophetess and some of the people looked to her for spiritual guidance.
No doubt, since her childhood, she had known the messianic promises that God had given to Israel and she believed they would be fulfilled. How long she had to wait! However, she never gave up but each day ministered in the temple where she hoped to meet the promised Messiah that Malachi wrote about. The Lord made sure that her timing was perfect on that one special day, and she was there just as Mary and Joseph had completed their sacrifices. The same Holy Spirit who led Anna brought Simeon to the temple too (2:27). As busy religious people walked past them, Anna and Simeon stood by the Savior and rejoiced that the promised Messiah had been born, bringing redemption to the world. What a tragedy that so many sincere people went to God’s house that day but failed to meet God’s Son!
Anna set a good example for us to follow, not only during the Christmas season but each day of the year.
For one thing, her life was focused on the Lord. We don’t have to go to sacred buildings to worship the Lord, because God doesn’t live in man-made temples, even the ones that are dedicated to Him. Certainly we ought to meet regularly to worship the Lord with God’s people (Heb. 10:25), but each day we must also have times of worship and praise, beginning with the morning hour. No matter how we feel or how many pills we have to take each morning, let’s lift our hearts in praise to God for all His mercies. “In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Ps. 5:3).
That word “expectantly” reminds us of a second characteristic of Anna that is worthy of our imitation: her life was motivated by hope. Many elderly saints have a tendency to live in the past tense, in a world they like to call “the good old days,” but Anna lived with her eyes on the future. Memories of past blessings are wonderful and should be cultivated, but we cannot live in the past, even though the past lives in us. Each day as she worshiped in the temple, Anna said in her heart, Perhaps today! Perhaps today! God’s people should be motivated by the expectation of Jesus’ coming again. At the Christmas season, we don’t worship a baby in a manger. We worship a glorified Lord enthroned in heaven, and He has promised to come again! We are waiting for “the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13 NKJV).
Anna practiced spiritual disciplines. She fasted and prayed and worshiped the Lord no matter how she felt or what disappointments came into her life. The older we grow, the more we need physical disciplines so that we don’t harm God’s temple (our body), but we need spiritual disciplines even more. “For physical training is of some value,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:8). What the apostle John desired for his dear friend Gaius ought to be our desire: “I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well” (3 John 1:2).
Anna was a thankful believer. If you asked her how she felt, she didn’t give you a medical history but just praised the Lord for His goodness. She had never heard of the apostle Paul, but she practiced what he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:16—“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Anna was a witness. She wasn’t afraid to tell others about the Lord. She also encouraged that small group of faithful Jewish believers—the “remnant”—who expectantly awaited the coming of the promised Messiah.
And what was the secret of this woman’s faith and faithfulness? The grace of God. The name Anna comes from the Hebrew name Hannah and means “grace.” She could say with Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). Grace is God’s generous favor to the undeserving because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. We don’t deserve grace and we cannot earn it; all we can do is receive it by faith and say, “Thank You, Lord.”
No doubt you have heard people say, or perhaps you have said yourself, “Christmas is for children.” Take a long look at this group standing in the temple and you will never say it again. You have Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna—and Jesus, the center of their hearts’ attention. Mary was a teenager, Joseph was perhaps twice as old as his wife, and Simeon and Anna were aged; but they were all united around the Savior. There were no generation gaps, for when Jesus is Lord of our lives, He turns “the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Mal. 4:6 NASB). He bridges the generations and brings them together.
“Christmas is for children” certainly wasn’t true at that first Christmastime, because Jesus was welcomed and worshiped by angels and shepherds, common people and sages, and especially by the older folks who had long been awaiting His coming. Christmas is for children, if by “children” you mean the humble of heart, regardless of age. “Truly I tell you,” said Jesus, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3).
He was describing Anna. Is He describing us?
See: Faith, Hope, Patience, Simeon