Faithful Fulfillment: The Light of Redemption

Luke 2:22 – 40

 

It’s the 28^th of December, and in three more days the year 2025 will come to a close. Before we look to the year ahead and make all sorts of resolutions and plans and promises to ourselves and others we often first look back and look at how this past year has gone.

 

Did you meet your health and fitness goals that you set last New Year? Did you fulfill your family time promises if you made any? Did you take a trip that you said you would, or read all the books you planned to?

 

Maybe you made a commitment to develop and improve your quiet time and Bible reading time, did you meet it? Despite falling behind throughout the year, I managed to catch up and will finish reading through the entire Bible by the last day of the year.

 

Often, we make promises to ourselves, to others, even to God. But we’re human, and we often fail at fulfilling our commitments and keeping our promises. Maybe we aimed to high and fell short, or maybe life just happened and we didn’t even try.

 

But unlike us, God always keeps His word, God faithfully fulfills His promises. He does so on His time and according to His will. Scripture contains His every promise, the OT tells the history of the world and His people and through direct promises and prophecy it all led to this moment in Scripture, the moment we celebrated this past week, the birth of Christ.

 

Our passage today is all about fulfillment, the fulfillment of Mosaic law and the fulfillment of God’s promises. It shows us a new family faithfully doing what is right according to the law, and it shows us two people, well advanced in years, who faithfully waited on God to fulfill His promise of deliverance and redemption to all who believe in Him. Let’s read God’s Word together: Luke 2:22 – 40.

 

The first thing we see is Joseph and Mary faithfully fulfilling the law of God’s OT revelation. The law is mentioned five times in our passage today, four times as the Law, and one time as God’s Word. Even though we have a new and better covenant with Jesus, the law and the old covenant still serve as a moral guide and this is made clear here.

The reality is that we cannot truly and fully understand the NT and what Christ did for us without some knowledge and understanding of the OT. We call them testaments because the Latin word testamentum means covenant or promise. They are the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. We may not live under the old one, with its sacrifices and feast days and specific laws, but under the new one the old one is fulfilled in Christ.

 

The law of the old covenant stipulated that 7 days after giving birth to a son, the boy is circumcised on the eighth day. Then 33 days later, on the 40^th day, the family goes up to the temple to offer sacrifices for the purification of Mary. Leviticus 12:6 spells out what the mother is supposed to give to the Lord as a sacrifice, a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or dove for a sin offering, to purify herself after having given birth. This is the time for their purification that begins our passage today.

 

Fulfilling the commands of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem for the purification rites to officially dedicate him to God as their firstborn son. As the firstborn, Jesus’ life was to be dedicated to God, and He was to be called holy to the Lord. This consecration of Jesus was the main reason for going to Jerusalem, though the purification rites of Mary are a model of obedience.

 

But Mary and Joseph couldn’t afford to offer up a lamb as a sacrifice. Instead, in accordance with Leviticus 12:8, they presented two birds as sacrifices as a poor person’s substitute. Their low and humble position in life didn’t prevent them from carefully following the regulations of Mosaic law, they were faithful and careful to fulfill it to a tee, demonstrating faithful obedience to God.

 

While there at the temple in Jerusalem they encounter a man named Simeon. Apart from this story in the Gospel of Luke, Simeon is entirely unknown, but he plays an important role in Jesus’ story. Simeon was a righteous and devout man, who had been waiting faithfully for the salvation that Jesus brought, the salvation that began with His birth, paid for on the cross, & secured by His resurrection. The consolation of Israel.

 

The consolation of Israel, Simeon had been waiting for the day that the one who would bring comfort to God’s people, the one who would redeem them. This consolation that he waited for was brought about by the inauguration of the messianic age, the birth of Jesus the Messiah.

This consolation was not the fulfillment of Jewish political hopes that involved deliverance from their enemies and oppressors, and the restoration of David’s throne. This consolation is the salvation that Jesus brought to God’s people. Simeon was faithfully awaiting God’s salvation, the coming of His kingdom that the birth of Jesus ushered in.

 

Simeon’s testimony at the temple weren’t the words of some crazy man. No, his testifying to who God’s Son is and what He came to do was reliable because the Holy Spirit was upon him. God’s personal word to Simeon guaranteed him that the Christ, God’s anointed one, God’s comfort would come in person before Simeon died. God kept His promise to a man known in all of history simply because he waited obediently for God to fulfill His promise.

 

And the Spirit led Simeon into the temple, and when Jesus’ parents, obedient to the Law, brought Him into the temple, Simeon took the baby into his arms and blessed God. He blessed God by saying how all of this is according to God’s Word. Lord, he begins, Sovereign Lord in Greek, God’s sovereignty is always on display throughout all of Scripture.

 

Because God had fulfilled His promise to not only His people, but to Simeon, now Simeon, the servant of God, could depart in peace. He could finally pass on from this life in peace, according to God’s promise to him.

 

He could do so because as God had promised Simeon, his eyes had seen God’s salvation in the face of the infant Jesus. Jesus was what Simeon had longed for and looked for all these years—the salvation, the deliverance of his people.

 

Such salvation is not a human act or human possession. It is God’s salvation. This salvation, testifies Simeon, God prepared in the presence of all peoples. He prepared for it clearly on the stage of world history where all people could see, because it is for all people because out of all people God has called those who believe in the name of Jesus.

 

This salvation is not merely for Israel, because Jesus is a light of revelation, revealing and bringing redemption and salvation to the Gentiles as well. Salvation is more than fulfillment of Israel’s political and national hopes, salvation is a light revealing God and His purposes and ways to all people, Jew and Gentile alike.

Israel did have a special place; they were God’s people. In Jesus, they received glory, because they were the important instrument that God used to bring salvation into the world. In doing so, the revelation that is salvation found only in Jesus Christ, fulfilled the promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2 – 3, that he would be a blessing to all nations.

 

And Mary and Joseph marveled at what was said about Jesus. The shepherds amazed Bethlehem and Jesus’ parents with what they said about Him, and Simeon here also amazed Mary and Joseph. News about Jesus is never ordinary.

 

News about Jesus leaves those who hear it wondering: How can this be? Who is this? The Good News certainly is spectacular and good, and amazement and wonder ought to be everyone’s reaction to experiencing such divine revelation in Christ.

 

Simeon continues his blessing, but what he says next doesn’t sound like blessing at all. His words describe pain and separation. Turning to Mary Simeon tells her that Jesus is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel. Jesus’ birth kicked off what is seen throughout the Gospel of Luke, the great reversal.

 

Many of the lowliest people would come to Christ, believe in Him, be healed and forgiven, and lifted up by Jesus. Meanwhile, many in Israel, many of His own people, many of the religious elite who should have known better, rejected Him and crucified Him, and they fall instead of being lifted up. Jesus causes the rising of the humble, and the fall of the proud.

 

Jesus would be yet another sign, the ultimate sign, from God to be rejected by Israel, the innermost thoughts, the hearts, of many would be revealed. The light that is Jesus reveals God’s glory and plan for His people, and it also reveals the innermost thoughts of the human heart. And in Mary’s heart and soul, she would come to experience great sorrow at the rejection and crucifixion of her beloved Son and Savior.

 

And that’s the last we hear from Simeon. As quickly as he entered Jesus’ story he exits it, but by the power and leading of the Holy Spirit he had some truly impactful things to say. Next, also being led by the Spirit, is the prophetess Anna, who’s very brief and only appearance in Scripture is here.

Being a prophetess, Anna recognized who Jesus was and His role in bringing about God’s salvation. Just as Simeon’s righteous and devout character, and being filled with Spirit, made him a reliable witness to testify concerning Jesus, so Anna’s Spirit filled prophetic role, and her piety, qualifies her in a similar way. She was certainly a reliable witness to what God was doing through Jesus.

 

Anna was quite advanced in age for back in their day. She was married for 7 years before her husband died, and she lived the remaining years of her life as widow. Based on the Greek text of this passage, it is unclear if she was 84 years old or had lived for 84 years as a widow, making her over 100 years old. Either way, she had lived most of her life as a widow, which was a very long time.

 

What’s truly significant about Anna’s widowhood and age is that it demonstrates her single-minded devotion to God. Scripture tells us that as a widow, she spent all her time in the temple, worshipping with fasting and prayer day in and day out. That’s some serious devotion to God.

 

And at that very hour that Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple, she began to give thanks to God because she too recognized what Simeon did, she too saw what God was doing in the person of this little baby and gave thanks to the Sovereign God.

 

And then she turns to the others who were there and tells them all about the infant Jesus, who He was and what God was doing through Him. Those other folks that Anna spoke to were there at the temple worshipping God and waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem, and there He was.

 

There at the temple, in the city of Jerusalem Jesus was revealed as the Lord’s Christ, God’s salvation for all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, the redemption of Jerusalem, for glory to God’s people Israel. There in the same city where later Jesus would be tried, tortured, crucified, and killed. There that infant would later die for the forgiveness of sins, willingly giving His life for us.

 

When Joseph and Mary had done everything according to the Law of the Lord, they went home to Nazareth. And Jesus grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom, and the favor of God the Father was on Him.

 

Joseph and Mary kept the law blamelessly, serving as a model for how believers should strive to live, though we know we all fall short. But beyond that, they had to fulfill the requirements of the law because their baby boy Jesus would ultimately fulfill all the law with His life, death, and resurrection.

 

Because God’s faithfulness is ultimately revealed in Jesus, who fulfills the promise of salvation and redemption, you can trust in His perfect plan and live in faithful response to God’s gift of grace through Jesus.

 

God’s sovereignty and faithfulness is beautifully on display here in our passage today. This Scripture shows us both God’s faithfulness in keeping His promises and it calls us to respond to His faithfulness with obedience and trust.

 

Mary and Joseph carefully fulfilled the requirements of God’s law, even in their humble circumstances, demonstrating for us that despite the arrival of the Savior of the world obedience to God is still important. The value of the OT as a guide for moral Christian living is seen in how Mary and Joseph kept the law in our passage today.

 

Simeon and Anna demonstrated that real faith in God and belief in His promises takes tremendous patience, sometimes waiting our whole lives just to see God move. They show us what it means to trust in God’s plan over our own, and how to respond in faith to the gift of eternal life God has given us in Christ Jesus.

 

Like Mary and Joseph, you can respond to God’s faithfulness with your own faithful obedience, even when life is challenging. They didn’t have much, but they were still able to remain faithful and obedient to God through their sacrifices and presentation of Jesus at the temple. God had revealed to them directly what He was doing through Jesus, but He never told them it would be easy. Despite their humble position in society and the challenges they faced, they were still expected to be obedient to God, and so are you.

 

Like Simeon and Anna, you can trust that God always keeps His promises, though in His own sovereign timing. They trusted that when the time was right, God would reveal to them through His Spirit how He was fulfilling His promises.

Like Mary and Joseph, and Simeon, and Anna, you are to dedicate yourself to the worship of God and spiritual growth. Mary and Joseph worshipped God through their obedience when they offered their sacrifices. It wasn’t the sacrifices themselves that mattered, rather their obedience to God. Simeon and Anna demonstrate a life of dedication to God and spiritual growth, the kind of growth that only the Holy Spirit can cause in you.

 

Today, I urge you to embrace humility and submit every part of your life to Christ so that God’s light can reveal and transform the entirety of your heart. Sanctification is a process, it began at the moment of your salvation, but it requires crucifying your flesh daily, picking up your cross daily, humbly submitting the lordship of Jesus Christ over your life, daily.

 

I ask you not to keep this revelation to yourself, not to keep the good news of God’s salvation to yourself, but to go and share the gospel of Jesus with others. It was never meant to stay with one person, the light of Christ is for all people, and you and I are tasked with taking it to them. That’s our part in the story.

 

When you look back on your year, did you share Jesus with others? When you look back on your life, were you faithful and obedient to God? Did you trust in His promises? Whatever your answer to these questions may be, if there is still breath in you, you can still commit to making the most of your time on earth for God.

 

Today, I encourage you to hold on to God’s promises, no matter your struggle in life. This story of baby Jesus being presented at the temple serves as a reminder that God’s faithfulness is ever-present, and His plans culminate in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who brings hope and redemption to your life, and the life of others.

 

Let’s pray.