Friday, January 12, 2007
Thus Spake Anna
To whom did Anna speak in Jerusalem that fateful day when Simeon recognized the Messiah? This dear woman was over one hundred years old, yet she dwelt with God in the Temple, serving Him day and night with fasting and prayers. You are NEVER too old to serve the Lord!
When Anna came by Simeon in God’s perfect timing, she too gave God a heartfelt thank you and wasted no time; speaking “of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem,” she sought out the faithful…the ones “she knew really BELIEVED God’s Word!” (p 128; Christianity Is Jewish)
The ones who heard the good news, the Gospel, had already committed themselves to accept the prophecies and Old Testament promises as factual, literal, God-breathed. These people KNEW God and trusted God’s WORDS: A Messiah was coming some day, some where near Jerusalem. Just as believers today need each other for encouragement, accountability, teaching, feeding each other and cleansing each other’s feet as Jesus taught us, the believers then knew each other and shared in the Promises…waiting and praying. Now that the Word was out, THE PROMISE, the Messiah was here among them; although a small baby, those with faith to believe KNEW THIS WAS BIG!
Do you need to first believe the possibility before you can accept your own redemption? Do you need to KNOW the promise before you can accept its fulfillment? Of course, you need not be a believer to become a believer! Yet there is some accuracy in the story of Anna. We must prepare Him room. Even if your salvation comes suddenly in a moment of remorse and brokenness, the seed will only take root as you realize the cost, the history behind it…God’s promise of love and justice from the beginning. Our intellect and emotion is STRONG and WILL fool us. Dear child of God, you had better be a BELIEVER, heart, mind, soul, and strength, the hour you first believe. Only with this kind of commitment can anyone experience the “peace that passeth all understanding.”
When Anna came by Simeon in God’s perfect timing, she too gave God a heartfelt thank you and wasted no time; speaking “of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem,” she sought out the faithful…the ones “she knew really BELIEVED God’s Word!” (p 128; Christianity Is Jewish)
The ones who heard the good news, the Gospel, had already committed themselves to accept the prophecies and Old Testament promises as factual, literal, God-breathed. These people KNEW God and trusted God’s WORDS: A Messiah was coming some day, some where near Jerusalem. Just as believers today need each other for encouragement, accountability, teaching, feeding each other and cleansing each other’s feet as Jesus taught us, the believers then knew each other and shared in the Promises…waiting and praying. Now that the Word was out, THE PROMISE, the Messiah was here among them; although a small baby, those with faith to believe KNEW THIS WAS BIG!
Do you need to first believe the possibility before you can accept your own redemption? Do you need to KNOW the promise before you can accept its fulfillment? Of course, you need not be a believer to become a believer! Yet there is some accuracy in the story of Anna. We must prepare Him room. Even if your salvation comes suddenly in a moment of remorse and brokenness, the seed will only take root as you realize the cost, the history behind it…God’s promise of love and justice from the beginning. Our intellect and emotion is STRONG and WILL fool us. Dear child of God, you had better be a BELIEVER, heart, mind, soul, and strength, the hour you first believe. Only with this kind of commitment can anyone experience the “peace that passeth all understanding.”
