Yearning for His Coming Home (Luke 2:21-38) • James Sutton

The home for the holidays where we're looking at passages of Christ's incarnation, and this is the season of Advent. It is a season of longing, of waiting, of anticipation, and we have a great passage this morning to look at that. So we're gonna read that together starting in Luke chapter two verses 21.

Let's read it together. Starting in verse 21.

And at the end of eight days when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel And the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. He came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Faneuil of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up to 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. — Luke 2:21-38

Let's pray. Oh, Lord Jesus, we thank you and we praise you that you came. Lord, you didn't have to come. We didn't deserve it. And yet you came. You came into our world of sin and suffering and death and horrible things in order to bring us home. Lord, we pray this morning as we look at your word that we would see you. We would see you clearly, and our hearts, which were made to long for you, would find their complete satisfaction, and that we would be full as we gaze into your loving eyes. Lord, would you meet with us through your word? We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

The American Aversion to Waiting

Well, it is Advent, and I have been reflecting a lot lately on how little we like Advent as Americans. In fact, we like to wait so little, and I think as we have taken the liturgical calendar, Christmas has gobbled up Advent like Pac Man and Thanksgiving too. And is working on Halloween. But we really like Halloween, so it hasn't quite gotten that far yet. But we don't like the idea of waiting for Christmas. We don't like the idea of waiting period. In fact, Americans are especially known for our loathing of waiting. We have invented and created everything instant from microwaves to fast food. My favorite, a couple years ago, Amazon marketed their grocery delivery service as Amazon Prime Now. We can't be bothered to wait in line at a grocery store. We want it delivered. And honestly, all of us were a little disappointed with the two hour wait time of Amazon Prime Now, so they got rid of that name. It felt like false advertising. We want everything now, and we hate the waiting places. I'm going to name them and you're going to spit on the ground.

The reception area at the doctor's office. They make an appointment, but then you have to wait. Why the appointment if you have to wait? The interstate during rush hour. It's an interstate. It's supposed to move. Why isn't it moving? Why do I have to sit here with all these other people angry, some of them giving me obscene gestures? It's not my fault that the car in front of me won't go. I hate this. I hate it especially on the holidays when I'm trying to get home from Thanksgiving. I just want to get home. Why isn't it moving? It's called an interstate.

But while we're on the subject of transportation, perhaps one of the worst offenders: the DMV. Do you know that North Carolina is number 38 in states in terms of wait time at the DMV? Our DMV is among the worst in the country. And every time you go there, you feel it, don't you? It's terrible.

But my least favorite is any time I call any company that has an ongoing service arrangement with me, and I get put on hold. Press 1 to speak to this, press 2 to speak to that, but then you press it and you're not speaking to another person. It's another list of numbers. And then they say, "Please hold. You're number 38." And then every so often, they come back to reassure you that you're actually making progress. You get to number one, and then it disconnects. Waiting. It's not my favorite.

But the Bible has a lot of positive things to say about waiting, specifically about waiting on the Lord. In fact, it encourages us to develop a posture of waiting on the Lord. Notice some of these passages of scripture. There's something like 30 to 50 of these in the Old Testament alone.

Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. — Psalm 33:20

I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in his word, I hope. — Psalm 130:5

For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait for him. — Isaiah 38:18

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. — Psalm 37:7

I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined my ear to hear my cry. — Psalm 40:1

But as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. — Micah 7:7

I would go on, but you'd get sick of waiting as I read all the different passages where God says, "Hey, wait on me. You'll be blessed. I'm a good thing to wait for."

The Long Longing

Today's passage features two perhaps experts in God's word—perhaps to disciple us on what this looks like: Simeon and Anna. I want to look at both of them in a way that highlights their longing as instructive for us. But more than that, I want to see what they're longing after, because that is the thing that makes the waiting worthwhile.

So our outline for today is: The Long Longing. The second point is The Long, Long Longing, and the last point is The Shockingly Satisfying Savior. Okay? A lot of L's and then some S's.

Let's start with the long longing. I want to look at these two people: Simeon and Anna. They're two old people. Did you catch that? They are not young. You know Simeon's old because as soon as he sees Jesus, he's like, "Alright, now at last, I can die." And Anna, we actually get her age. She's 84. These are old people, and they're old people that have a specific longing, each of them.

The passage says that Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel. And how was he waiting? He was righteous and devout. Both of them are in the temple. Both of them are practicing the Jewish religion faithfully—a religion of an oppressed people who had been oppressed by several different empires over the course of their lifetime and their predecessors' lifetime. All of them have been sitting in this oppressive environment and then faithfully waiting for what? Simeon's waiting for the consolation of Israel.

A while back, we did a series on the holy spirit. Do you remember that? What is the holy spirit called? The comforter. The Greek word for comforter is paraclete. And when I was preaching one sermon in that series, I focused on that word "paraclete" and how it's translated sometimes as helper or advocate, but often as comforter. And the Latin word "comfort" means "with strength." Do you remember that? Comfort means with strength. That word "paraclete" appears here. The consolation of Israel—it could easily be translated as "the comfort of Israel." It's the word paraclete again. So what is he looking for? He's looking for someone to come with strength. He's not just looking for some sort of "oh, there, there." He's looking for the manifestation of a powerful advocate who will walk alongside of him in his life, and he has been waiting his entire life for that.

And in case we don't catch that paraclete piece, Luke makes it really clear that this comfort isn't just some sort of abstract comfort. It is a person. The passage says that Simeon had been told by the holy spirit—the comforter, right—that he would see the Lord's Christ. He would see the person, the person who would come in strength to comfort and add consolation to Israel.

Similarly, Anna—old in her years, a prophetess—she'd been waiting her whole life. She lost her husband after seven years of marriage and since then had been a widow. Presumably had no children. It doesn't say that, but it seems like that.

Otherwise, she would have been living with her family and it says she lived night and day in the temple. Probably not literally lived. It just means that she was there all the time. And what was she doing? She was praying and fasting, longing for what? It says longing for the redemption of Jerusalem. Longing for redemption, release from imprisonment. These phrases, the consolation of Israel, the redemption of Jerusalem, were heavily used throughout the prophets to symbolize the coming of the realization of all of Israel's national identity hopes and dreams. Things like them being great among the nations, them being a light to the gentiles, all the things that Simeon sings about when he sees the baby Jesus.

Now let's pause for just a minute. Can you identify with Simeon and Anna? Right? You can almost imagine what some of their life must have looked like. They must have gone through incredible hardship, and they must have been in the temple with that hardship very much on their sleeve, going before the God of their forefathers, their ancestors saying, how long? What are you waiting on this morning? When we sing that song of Advent that Danny found, which is so beautiful, and it talks about specific hurts and hardships in this world, which one speaks to you? What is it that as you're singing that song, your heart goes, how long? How long, oh Lord?

I don't know what their specific hurts were, but I can tell you that underneath of them were the things that they're very—the word of God says that they were longing for. They longed for comfort. Some of us are alone. We long for someone to come and be an advocate, a helper. We feel lost and totally abandoned. Or redemption. Some of us feel enslaved, whether by our sin or brokenness or the sin and brokenness of others, and we come with that longing.

But I want you to see something else. It's really interesting in this text. The names Simeon and Anna are significant. Simeon was the second son of Leah. Remember Leah, Jacob's wife? She was the not so attractive one. She was the forgotten one. She was the one that felt despised. And she had this second child, and she named him Simeon, which means the Lord hears. She was a mother who regularly was before the Lord saying, how long? How long will I have no value? When will you give me value? When will my husband value me?

And Anna, Anna incidentally also has a similar name that ties to a similar theme. Anna is short for Hannah. Do you remember her? In the Old Testament, the mother of Samuel. She went to the temple night and day and prayed that God would give her a child. And he did. Do you see the connection Luke is highlighting? He's pointing out, hey, in God's sovereignty, he brought these two people with these names that tied back to the national identity of their forefathers and this kind of constant longing for a child, and guess what? Here's a child. All of their hopes and dreams, everything, the landscape of who they are pointed to their need and desire.

The Long Longing

And let's look at that. The long longing is our second point. It wasn't just individual longing that they represented. Their names point us to that fact. But more than that, the landscape, the way that Luke describes the scene. I want you to just see all the different imagery of longing, of promise that is being waited for.

First of all, notice that we have prophets, two prophets, a prophet and a prophetess. That's fairly extraordinary in scripture. Doesn't happen all the time. They have a male and female prophet. Not too long ago, we talked about in Exodus, Moses and Miriam, prophet and prophetess who worshiped, who led the people of God in worship. Right? And so this is kind of like nodding to that perhaps. But these prophets, they have promises, and they represent a long line of promises.

In fact, the Jewish people have built their entire identity around remembering the promise. The promises of God, the covenants, and these promises had been delivered over eons. It started all the way back with the fall with Genesis 3 that Adam and Eve were promised that one from Eve's line would crush the head of the serpent. Do you remember that? And ever since then, there has been a group of people that God has preserved to remember, expand upon and specify more about that promise, and the Jewish people were that people. Over and over again, God would give them ways to remember, hey, I've promised. I've promised. I've promised.

And you see that in this passage. Jesus is coming to the temple in order to do what? Be circumcised. The sign of the promise to Abraham that not only would Abraham have lots of offspring and be made into a great nation, but that that nation would bless all people. That from that nation would come the fulfillment of that promise to Adam and Eve.

Remember the promise by doing this act of circumcision, this image of cutting off sin and casting it off and being made holy. Remember, I'm going to do that for you. Carry this sign. And yet, the reality that Anna and Simeon are living in is a corrupt Jewish temple system, all kinds of corruption in the leadership, oppression from foreign powers. There's this sign, but where's the fulfillment? Do you feel that longing? Do you see that symbolism as the background?

Notice also that they're coming with a sacrifice. What's the sacrifice? Two turtledoves and two pigeons. That's not part of the song. But why two turtledoves? Why two pigeons? Well, because in the Old Testament, it was required when a woman gave birth to come and offer a sacrifice of a lamb—a cleansing offering and also a thank offering. But there was a provision made. If you can't afford a lamb, then you can do two turtledoves or two pigeons. And so they come with that offering, this sacrifice.

What's that sacrifice meant to symbolize? The sacrificial system, the whole thing. And it basically pointed to the need for atonement for sin. You need to have some kind of death in order to cover the sin that you guys have committed. And yet, there's no sufficient sacrifice. The sacrificial system had gone on and on and on, and thousands of animals killed every year, and yet nothing would satisfy the righteousness of God. The sacrificial system itself was an allowance like the two turtledoves. Like, hey, if you don't have something sufficient, we'll let this go for now. Do you see? There was this sacrificial system, but it never satisfied. It wasn't enough.

And then the temple itself, where this was happening, that was a place of longing. You know, in Solomon's day, the temple under Solomon was described this way. Solomon built the temple, and when the priest came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not stand to minister before the cloud because of the glory of the Lord and how it filled the house. Those were the good old days when Solomon built the temple. God's Shekinah glory was dwelling there in the temple. Everybody in the world would come and see this and go, wow. Like, the very physical manifestation of God's glory.

But then the people, they got kind of enamored by other promises. They got lured away into waiting on other things, and God said, I'm leaving. Ezekiel describes this in chapter 10:

Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. While I watched the cherubim spread their wings and rose from the ground, and as they went, the wheels went with them. — Ezekiel 10

God left the temple before the exile. And while he did come back, in Ezra three, we get a description of the rebuilding of the temple. When they had finished the temple, many of the older priests and Levites and family heads who had seen the former temple wept aloud when they saw the foundation of his temple being laid. The second temple was a disappointment. It was sad compared to Solomon's.

God's people had been given his house. He was dwelling with them in Shekinah glory so that the whole nations could see. They were literally a light to the nations. And God left, and now they have this house where God's presence is there but it's not seen or felt to the same degree. When is God gonna come home? Do you feel that longing? When is the temple going to be restored to its former glory?

And in fact, Herod, this usurper king, had come in and was trying to do that. The temple itself was under construction. Like, this story is literally happening in a construction zone, which is a place of longing. When's it gonna be done? The whole setting is designed to kind of point us to the longing of the Jewish people, the longing that Simeon and Anna represented.

The Baby Fulfills All

And here's the thing: The baby that comes fulfills it all. They longed for the presence of God in the temple, in the glory of what was designed, of what was prophesied, and here in this form of this baby is the new temple. Jesus referred to himself as the temple, God dwelling with us, a person who would then take us and make us into the temple according to Ephesians two.

The ceremonial and sacrificial law, the greater lamb had come, had been brought to the temple. The sacrifice is here. Finally, a sacrifice that will suffice. The consolation of Israel, the Messiah had come. This was the Messiah. Simeon knew it. It's him. The redemption of Jerusalem. He's come to offer himself as a ransom to atone for sin and set us free. Anna knew it. The conquering messianic king, Simeon prophesied he will cause the fall of the enemy and raise up the humble. He's gonna be victorious. He's finally gonna crush the head of that serpent.

The fulfillment of all of their national longings had come to the place where they had met with God in the past, and it blew away all of the glory that had come before it, but nobody could see it but Simeon and Anna. And they rejoiced.

The Shockingly Satisfying Savior

Let's talk about the shockingly satisfying savior, this baby that comes. It's just a baby. Simeon's response and Anna's responses ought to shock you. I would submit to you that if you spent every day of your life after being married seven years and then your husband dying, all the way until you're 84 in this auditorium waiting, and then all of a sudden, a stinky baby with a diaper shows up about to be circumcised, and that's all you get. You might kind of go, is that it? But that's not Anna, and it's not Simeon's response.

Simeon's response, when he sees this baby, it's just a baby. He hasn't fulfilled all the things that he knows it's going to do yet. He doesn't get to see that. He knows he's not going to get to see that. He knows he's going to die, and he just gets the baby. And he just says, well, I can die now. Cool. Would that be enough for you? I don't know if that would be enough for me.

Anna. Anna stops lamenting, stops praying, stops fasting. She starts rejoicing and telling everybody, I just saw this baby. I'm not gonna live to see anything that it does, but man, what an amazing gift to get to see this baby. Would that be enough?

I think oftentimes the world looks at Jesus, at Christians, and it's like at Christmas and we're just kind of like, oh, look, the child has come. They're like, big deal. A child came? Why is that such a big deal? We have to remember the fact that this child is the culmination of all of the Lord's work throughout history, all of the longing of their national identity, all of their personal longing they saw fulfilled in this child.

But it is worth noting that they didn't get all of it. They got a little bit. They got an already and not yet. They got exactly what we got, but we got a little bit more already and a little bit less not yet than they got. But is it enough for us?

I want you to see this because I think this is what Luke is really trying to drive home in this passage. Jesus Christ is the only thing in the world that will truly satisfy, and the shocking satisfaction that Anna and Simeon display, you're meant to see that and go, wait a minute. What's so special about this kid? What's so amazing about this baby?

And there's a couple things that I want you to see. Jesus is the most satisfying thing in the world because anything that the world has to offer, you know what? It's never enough, is it? Think about all the things that this world has to offer. In fact, the world actually tells you, you're never gonna get enough of me, so keep trying. Keep getting in line to wait for more because maybe if you get a little bit more, it'll be satisfying.

Years ago, there was an ad. Lays did this ad. Do you remember the ad? Bet you can't eat just one. That's the world. Here's a potato chip. Bet you can't eat just one. Want another one? Here's another one. I in my life have eaten a lot of potato chips. I have never gotten enough. That's the world.

Anna and Simeon, they get just one moment with Jesus, and it's enough. Why is that? Because he's the most satisfying thing in the world. His perfection, their knowledge of his perfection means that all of the other things, all of their hopes and dreams, they're as good as done. They're prophets. They know that's coming.

But more than that, all of their waiting suddenly has the purpose that they've longed for. They've been doing this their whole lives. They have to have been wondering, does any of this matter? But all of a sudden, their lifetime of waiting is suddenly incorporated into the grand narrative of redemption as an offering of sacrifice of praise of the great Lord Jesus, our Messiah. It made their life have meaning. Lays have never done that for me. They just make me fatter.

But Jesus takes all of our suffering, all of our hardship, all of our waiting, he incorporates it into story, and as soon as it gets incorporated into the story, we know it's gonna be okay.

And then finally, this is maybe the most obvious thing, but those who are in Christ, those who get a little bit of him, get all of him. If you get a little bit of Christ, you get all of him. If you put your faith, the faith of a mustard seed in Jesus Christ, then guess what? You get an eternity with him.

Even though Simeon and Anna in this life only had a moment, they will be with him in eternity forever, and they'll get to say, hey, remember that time we saw you at the temple? You were a little baby. Man, look at all you've done. Look what you did with our story. Look how you incorporated into this book that Luke wrote. Look how all of our waiting suddenly mattered to people because it pointed to how great you are. Look how many other people were willing to wait on you because of that.

Look how deeply they committed themselves to you, and look how much redemption has come from that—an eternity with God, the fullness of the temple promise dwelling together in perfect harmony. It's a beautiful picture of what God does when you take a little bit of Christ. He's the only thing satisfying.

Three Points of Application

I'm going to conclude with three points of application. Three things for you to think about as you go from here.

First, if you've never encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, would you take just a little bit of time over the next month to actually consider his surpassing value? Maybe somebody brought you here. Maybe you're thinking, okay, I get you talking about longing, preacher man, because I'm just longing for you to shut up. That may be the case. But I want to submit to you that there is something that all of these people in this room, and not just all the people in this room—something like a third of the current population of the world and thousands, millions of people going back in time—have not only found surpassing value in Christ, they have given up their lives in the waiting room to point to his glory.

Would you take some time to consider that? To consider the testimony of Anna and Simeon and how much they valued this child? Would you look at him? Look into some of the promises that he offers? Look into the statement theologically that Christians believe:

God so loved the world that he sent his son, his only son, into the world to suffer and die for you.

He's not just some random baby in a manger. He came, and he loves you. Would you take some time to just consider that?

Secondly, for those of you who are Christians, perhaps you're in a place of real longing, of real suffering. I know because I'm your pastor, there are a lot of you in this category. I'm with you. I'm with you in the longing. There are heart desires that we have that while they are already met in Christ, they are not yet fully met in Christ.

Would you join me in waiting? Would you join me in longing? Would you see that as a positive enterprise to focus our attention on the one thing that's worth waiting on so we can get away from the lines of the DMV and all the world's treasures and promises, and we can focus on the one thing that will give us eternal life and happiness and hope? Will you spend some time longing this season?

And then finally, those of you who are in Christ, would you spend a little time thinking about the already? Would you think about what you have already been given in him? A friend of mine used to ask this question: What is the present value of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life? I think many of us, we put our faith in Christ and we say, okay, we're done. We have the value. It's done. But if you really think about it, the value of Christ, the salvation that he's given you—the already continues to grow. It continues to grow even as we hear the testimony of people and the work that Christ has done in and through them in their hardships and in their sufferings. We see the value of Christ grow.

Would you spend some time assessing that value, and then will you do one thing? Will you find one person and just tell them about it? Do what Anna did. Go and tell them. Jesus is so valuable.

I mentioned a couple of sermons ago that I was struggling with depression. I am now out of depression. Thank you for those of you who came up and expressed concern and care and prayer. I appreciate all of that. I'm not depressed anymore, but it has been a hard year. It has been a really hard year. But one thing I'm thankful for is how that has focused me on the value of Christ. My relationship with Christ has grown more in this last year than perhaps the ten years prior. And I see almost visibly the beautiful value of who he is. And I just want to tell you, like Anna, he's the only thing worth waiting for. And he's come, and he's coming again.

Will you take him? Will you worship him? Will you adore him? In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we praise you that you are so worth it. Lord, you didn't come to give us trinkets or things that satisfy temporarily like cars or houses, all of these things that pass away—things that just lead to us wanting more. Lord, instead, you came and you gave us yourself, the one thing that truly satisfies.

Lord, will you help us to see that during this time? Will you help us to rejoice in that? Will you help us to share who you are with others? And Lord, will you lead our hearts to a place of worship where we can commune in fellowship with you, rejoicing in the fulfillment that we already have and yet we know we will have even more of? Lord, fill us with that hope.

We pray this in your name. Amen.