◄ Luke 2:38 ►
Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Study Bible
Coming forward at that moment,

This phrase refers to the prophetess Anna, who was present in the temple at the same time as Simeon, who had just blessed Jesus. The timing is significant, as it underscores divine orchestration. Anna's presence at this precise moment highlights her devotion and the fulfillment of her long years of waiting and worship. The temple, where this event occurs, was the center of Jewish religious life, symbolizing God's dwelling among His people.

Gal 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son,…
Rom 5:6 For at just the right time, while we were still powerless…
Mal 3:1 “Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way”…

she gave thanks to God

Anna's immediate response to seeing Jesus is one of gratitude, reflecting her recognition of the fulfillment of God's promises. Her thanksgiving is an act of worship, acknowledging God's faithfulness. This mirrors the biblical theme of giving thanks in all circumstances, as seen in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Her gratitude also aligns with the Jewish tradition of offering thanks to God for His acts of deliverance and provision.

Psa 107:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;…
Col 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all…
1Th 5:18 Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is…

and spoke about the Child

Anna's proclamation about Jesus indicates her role as a prophetess, one who declares God's truth. Her speaking about the Child suggests she recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the long-awaited Savior. This act of speaking is significant in the context of Jewish tradition, where women were not typically seen as public proclaimers of religious truth, highlighting the inclusive nature of the gospel message.

Mat 2:8 And sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and search…
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,…
Mic 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small…

to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

This phrase refers to the Jewish expectation of a Messiah who would deliver Israel from oppression and restore its former glory. The "redemption of Jerusalem" is a messianic hope rooted in Old Testament prophecies, such as Isaiah 52:9 and Zechariah 9:9. Anna's message would have resonated with those who were longing for political and spiritual liberation, pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of these prophecies. The mention of "all" indicates that her message was inclusive, reaching out to a community of expectant believers.

Isa 52:9-10 Break forth in joy, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem,…
Psa 130:5-8 I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word…
Isa 62:11-12 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed to the ends of the earth…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Anna
A prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was a devout woman who spent her days in the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer.

2. The Temple
The central place of worship for the Jewish people in Jerusalem, where Anna encountered Jesus.

3. The Child (Jesus)
The infant Jesus, whom Anna recognized as the one who would bring redemption.

4. The Redemption of Jerusalem
Refers to the hope and expectation of the Jewish people for deliverance and salvation, which Anna proclaimed was fulfilled in Jesus.

5. Those Waiting for Redemption
The faithful remnant of Israel who were eagerly anticipating the coming of the Messiah.
Teaching Points
Faithful Witness
Anna's life of devotion and her immediate response to Jesus' presence teach us the importance of being faithful witnesses to God's work in our lives.

Recognizing God's Timing
Anna's encounter with Jesus "at that very moment" highlights the importance of being spiritually attuned to recognize God's timing and presence.

Proclaiming Redemption
Like Anna, we are called to speak about the redemption found in Jesus to those around us, sharing the hope of salvation.

Living in Expectation
Anna's life exemplifies living in expectation of God's promises, encouraging us to remain hopeful and patient for God's fulfillment in our lives.

Role of Women in Ministry
Anna's role as a prophetess underscores the significant contributions women make in ministry and the proclamation of the Gospel.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does Anna's life of devotion and worship challenge our own spiritual practices and priorities?

2. In what ways can we be more attentive to God's timing and presence in our daily lives, as Anna was?

3. How can we actively share the message of redemption in Jesus with those who are waiting for hope and deliverance?

4. What can we learn from Anna about living with expectation and hope for God's promises?

5. How does Anna's role as a prophetess encourage us to recognize and support the diverse ways God calls people to serve in His kingdom?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Isaiah 52:9
This verse speaks of the redemption of Jerusalem, which Anna proclaimed was fulfilled in Jesus.

Malachi 3:1
The prophecy of the Lord coming to His temple, which is fulfilled in the presentation of Jesus at the temple.

Luke 1:68-79
Zechariah's prophecy about the coming redemption through Jesus, paralleling Anna's proclamation.

Acts 2:17-18
The outpouring of the Spirit on all people, including women like Anna, who prophesy and speak of God's works.
Sermons
The Circumcision and Presentation of JesusR.M. Edgar Luke 2:21-40
Anna an Example to the AgedJames Foote, M. A.Luke 2:36-38
Beautiful Old AgeH. W. Beecher.Luke 2:36-38
First Female Testimony to ChristVan Doren.Luke 2:36-38
Occupation of AnnaDr. Geikie.Luke 2:36-38
Piety in the AgedPreachers' TreasuryLuke 2:36-38
The Prophetess AnnaJ. Parker, D. D.Luke 2:36-38
The Story of a Lonely Woman's WorkMarianne Farningham.Luke 2:36-38
The Testimony of WomanhoodW. Clarkson Luke 2:36-38
People
Anna, Aser, Asher, Augustus, Cyrenius, David, Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Phanuel, Simeon
Places
Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Nazareth, Rome, Syria
Topics
Child, Confessing, Continued, Deliverance, Expecting, Forward, Freeing, Giving, Hour, Instant, Jerusalem, Likewise, Moment, Praise, Redemption, Spake, Speak, Speaking, Spoke, Talking, Thanks, Waited, Waiting
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Luke 2:38

     2203   Christ, titles of
     6720   redemption
     7145   remnant

Luke 2:1-40

     5652   babies

Luke 2:36-38

     5743   widows
     7266   tribes of Israel

Luke 2:38-52

     2520   Christ, childhood

Library
December 25. "I Bring You Glad Tidings" (Luke ii. 10).
"I bring you glad tidings" (Luke ii. 10). A Christmas spirit should be a spirit of humanity. Beside that beautiful object lesson on the Manger, the Cradle, and the lowly little child, what Christian heart can ever wish to be proud? It is a spirit of joy. It is right that these should be glad tidings, for, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy which shall be to all people." It is a spirit of love. It should be the joy that comes from giving joy to others. The central fact of Christmas is …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Was, Is, is to Come
'... The babe lying in a manger...'--LUKE ii. 16. '... While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven...'--LUKE xxiv. 51. 'This same Jesus... shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go...'--ACTS I. 11. These three fragments, which I have ventured to isolate and bring together, are all found in one author's writings. Luke's biography of Jesus stretches from the cradle in Bethlehem to the Ascension from Olivet. He narrates the Ascension twice, because it has two …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Boy in the Temple
'And He said unto them, How is it that ye sought Me! wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?' --LUKE ii. 49. A number of spurious gospels have come down to us, which are full of stories, most of them absurd and some of them worse, about the infancy of Jesus Christ. Their puerilities bring out more distinctly the simplicity, the nobleness, the worthiness of this one solitary incident of His early days, which has been preserved for us. How has it been preserved? If you will look over …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Simeon's Swan-Song
'Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: 30. For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.'--LUKE ii. 29,30. That scene, when the old man took the Infant in his withered arms, is one of the most picturesque and striking in the Gospel narrative. Simeon's whole life appears, in its later years, to have been under the immediate direction of the Spirit of God. It is very remarkable to notice how, in the course of three consecutive verses, the operation of that divine Spirit …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Shepherds and Angels
'And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. 10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Angel's Message and Song
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the LORD came upon them, and the glory of the LORD shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the LORD . And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

December the Nineteenth the Sun of Righteousness
"A light to lighten the Gentiles." --LUKE ii. 25-40. That was the wonder of wonders. Hitherto the light had been supposed to be for Israel alone; and now a heavenly splendour was to fall upon the Gentiles. Hitherto the light had been thought of as a lamp, illuming a single place; now it was to be a sun, shedding its glory upon a world. The "people that sat in darkness" are now to see "a great light." New regions are to be occupied; there is to be daybreak everywhere! "The Sun of Righteousness …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

December the Twenty-Fifth Christmas Cheer
"Good will toward men!" --LUKE ii. 8-20. The heavens are not filled with hostility. The sky does not express a frown. When I look up I do not contemplate a face of brass, but the face of infinite good will. Yet when I was a child, many a picture has made me think of God as suspicious, inhumanly watchful, always looking round the corner to catch me at the fall. That "eye," placed in the sky of many a picture, and placed there to represent God, filled my heart with a chilling fear. That God was …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Religious Joy.
"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."--Luke ii. 10, 11. There are two principal lessons which we are taught on the great Festival which we this day celebrate, lowliness and joy. This surely is a day, of all others, in which is set before us the heavenly excellence and the acceptableness in God's sight of that state which …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Wilderness: Temptation. Matthew 4:1-11. Mark 1:12, 13. Luke 4:1-13.
The University of Arabia: Jesus' naturalness--the Spirit's presence--intensity, Luke 2:45-51.--a true perspective--- the temptation's path--sin's path--John's grouping, 1 John 2:16.--the Spirit's plan--why--the devil's weakness--the Spirit's leading--a wilderness for every God-used man, Moses, Elijah, Paul. Earth's Ugliest, Deepest Scar: Jesus the only one led up to be tempted--the wilderness--its history, Genesis 13:10-13. 18:16-19:38.--Jesus really tempted--no wrong here in inner response--every …
S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks about Jesus

Joy Born at Bethlehem
In our text we have before us the sermon of the first evangelist under the gospel dispensation. The preacher was an angel, and it was meet it should be so, for the grandest and last of all evangels will be proclaimed by an angel when he shall sound the trumpet of the resurrection, and the children of the regeneration shall rise into the fullness of their joy. The key-note of this angelic gospel is joy--"I bring unto you good tidings of great joy." Nature fears in the presence of God--the shepherds …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

"Nunc Dimittis"
We shall note, this morning, first, that every believer may be assured of departing in peace; but that, secondly, some believers feel a special readiness to depart now: "Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace;" and, thirdly, that there are words of encouragement to produce in us the like readiness: "according to thy word." There are words of Holy Writ which afford richest consolation in prospect of departure. I. First, then, let us start with the great general principle, which is full of comfort; …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

Christ About his Father's Business
But now I shall invite your attention, first, to the spirit of the Saviour, as breathed in these words, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" and then, secondly, I shall exhort the children of God, with all the earnestness which I can command, with all the intensity of power which I can summon to the point, to labour after the same spirit, that they too may unfeignedly say, "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? " I. First, then note THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. It was …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857

The First Christmas Carol
Let us turn aside, having just thought of angels for a moment, to think rather of this song, than of the angels themselves. Their song was brief, but as Kitto excellently remarks, it was "well worthy of angels expressing the greatest and most blessed truths, in words so few, that they become to an acute apprehension, almost oppressive by the pregnant fulness of their meaning"--"Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men." We shall, hoping to be assisted by the Holy Spirit, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Christ's Boyhood
LUKE ii. 52. And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour both with God and man. I do not pretend to understand these words. I preach on them because the Church has appointed them for this day. And most fitly. At Christmas we think of our Lord's birth. What more reasonable, than that we should go on to think of our Lord's boyhood? To think of this aright, even if we do not altogether understand it, ought to help us to understand rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

The Christ Child (Christmas Day. )
LUKE ii. 7. And she brought forth her first-born Son, and wrapt him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger. Mother and child.--Think of it, my friends, on Christmas day. What more beautiful sight is there in the world? What more beautiful sight, and what more wonderful sight? What more beautiful? That man must be very far from the kingdom of God--he is not worthy to be called a man at all--whose heart has not been touched by the sight of his first child in its mother's bosom. The greatest …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Music (Christmas Day. )
LUKE ii. 13, 14. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. You have been just singing Christmas hymns; and my text speaks of the first Christmas hymn. Now what the words of that hymn meant; what Peace on earth and good-will towards man meant, I have often told you. To-day I want you, for once, to think of this--that it was a hymn; that these angels were singing, even as …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

Of Having Confidence in God when Evil Words are Cast at Us
"My Son, stand fast and believe in Me. For what are words but words? They fly through the air, but they bruise no stone. If thou are guilty, think how thou wouldst gladly amend thyself; if thou knowest nothing against thyself, consider that thou wilt gladly bear this for God's sake. It is little enough that thou sometimes hast to bear hard words, for thou art not yet able to bear hard blows. And wherefore do such trivial matters go to thine heart, except that thou art yet carnal, and regardest …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Birth of Jesus.
(at Bethlehem of Judæa, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke II. 1-7. ^c 1 Now it came to pass in those days [the days of the birth of John the Baptist], there went out a decree [a law] from Cæsar Augustus [Octavius, or Augustus, Cæsar was the nephew of and successor to Julius Cæsar. He took the name Augustus in compliment to his own greatness; and our month August is named for him; its old name being Sextilis], that all the world should be enrolled. [This enrollment or census was the first step …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Circumcision, Temple Service, and Naming of Jesus.
(the Temple at Jerusalem, b.c. 4) ^C Luke II. 21-39. ^c 21 And when eight days [Gen. xvii. 12] were fulfilled for circumcising him [The rite was doubtless performed by Joseph. By this rite Jesus was "made like unto his brethren" (Heb. ii. 16, 17); that is, he became a member of the covenant nation, and became a debtor to the law--Gal. v. 3] , his name was called JESUS [see Luke i. 59], which was so called by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. [Luke i. 31.] 22 And when the days of their …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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