EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/13/2026
8:56 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: “Anna”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
2:36-38
Message of the verses: “36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter
of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with
her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night
and day. 38 And coming up at that very
hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were
waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
This evening we will look at the last section from
John MacArthur’s 15th chapter from his first commentary on the
gospel of Luke, and as seen in the “focus” it is about Anna.
The next testimony to Jesus was
given by the prophetess whose name is Anna. Now in the Greek from the Hebrew name
Hannah, which means “grace.” Now like
the Old Testament Hannah, Anna was characterized by prayer and
fasting. This can be seen of the OT
Hanna in 1 Samuel 1:7, 10-16. That she was a prophetess does not actually
mean that she predicted the future, but that God had used her to speak His
word.
MacArthur writes “The Old Testament
mentions five women who are called prophetesses. But neither Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron
(Ex. 15:20), Deborah (Judges 4:4), or Huldah (2 Kings 22:14) had an ongoing
prophetic ministry as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the other male prophets
did.” Now I want to look at 2 Kings
22:14 “14 So Hilkiah the priest, and
Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum
the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she lived in
Jerusalem in the Second Quarter), and they talked with her.” “A fourth, Noadiah
(Neh. 6:14), was a false prophetess.
Isaiah’s wife was described as a prophetess (Isa. 8:3) because she gave
birth to a son who was given a prophetic name.
Among the New Testament women, only the daughters of Philip are called ‘prophetesses’
(Acts 21:9), with no explanation beyond that.
Anna may have been called a prophetess because, as noted above, she was
a teacher of the Word. Or she may have
been a prophetess more like Isaiah’s wife because she testified that this Child
was the Messiah.
“That Anna
was a member of the tribe of Asher is noteworthy. Asher was one of the ten tribes that
formed the northern kingdom and were taken captive by Assyria in 722 B.C. But
the so-called ten lost tribes were in fact not lost. Before the fall of the northern kingdom, in
response to letters from King Hezekiah of Judah (2 Chronicles 30:6), ‘some men
of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem (v.
11). Their descendants would be among
those who were carried away captive to Babylon, and returned to Israel after
the exile.
“While Simoen’s old age is inferred,
the text explicitly states that Anna was advanced in years. Luke explained that she had lived with
her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow to the age of
eighty-four. Some interpret the last
phrase to mean that Anna lived as a widow for eighty-four years after the death
of her husband, which would mean that when she was more than one hundred years
old. Both translations are possible and
both support Luke’s statement that she was advanced in years. That she never left the temple suggests
that Anna lived in the temple complex, perhaps in one of the apartments in the
outer court normally occupied by priests doing their two weeks of annual
service. She was not idle, but spent her
time at the temple serving night and day with fastings and prayers. Prayer is often associated with fasting
in Scripture (cf.5:33; 2 Sam. 12:16; Ezra 8:23; Neh. 1:4; Ps. 35:13; Acts 13:3;
14:23); fasting is the self-denial that accompanies passionate prayer. Anna was singularly and completely devoted to
the service and worship of God; such a devout, godly woman was a fitting
witness to Jesus.
“In God’s providential timing , at
that very moment—while Simeon was uttering his prophetic hymn of praise—when
came up to the little group. In his
typical understated way, Luke gave no details of the meeting or of what
transpired between the time Anna arrived and when she began giving thanks. Certainly Simeon, whom she most likely knew,
along with Joseph and Mary, must have told her who the Child was. But Luke merely noted that Anna began
giving thanks to God for the baby Jesus.
All the long years of passionately petitioning God gave way to an outburst
of joyous praise. Hers, though the words
were not recorded, is the final hymn of praise in Luke’s account of Christ’s birth,
along with those of Elizabeth (1:41-45), Mary (1:46-55), Zacharias 1:67-79),
the angels (2:13-14), and Simeon.
“Anna’s testimony to Jesus did not
end with this incident. Instead, from
her place inside the temple, she continued to speak of Him to all those who
were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem; that is, the believing
remnant, everyone who anticipated that the Lord would visit His people with
salvation, who believed that the promises given through the prophets would be
fulfilled, and looked for the blessings of the Abrahamic, Davidic, and New
covenants to be realized.”
4/13/2026
9:31 PM
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