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Guest (Female): This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us today. At Connect with Skip, we're passionate about helping you understand God's word and apply it to your everyday life through clear, practical Bible teaching.

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Skip Heitzig: Would you turn in your Bible, please, to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2? We continue our little series called "Overlooked," looking at lesser-known people in the Bible. We don't want to overlook them. We want to consider them and see what lessons they have for us. And we come to a very special lady in Luke chapter 2 by the name of Anna, and we're going to look at serving God in old age.

Question, just curious, if you want to be honest, it would be great: how many of you are 50 years old or older? Raise your hands up. Okay, look around. Check it out. Look around. Hands down. How many of you are 49 or below? Raise your hands. Welcome, one and all.

There was a ten-year-old girl who asked her grandmother, "Grandma, how old are you?" And the grandmother said, "Well, honey, when you're my age, you just don't tell people how old you are." And the little girl said, "Well, please, just tell me. I promise I won't tell anybody." And Grandma said, "No, I'm going to keep that a secret."

Well, about 20 minutes later, the granddaughter comes in bouncing, happy, and she says, "You are 75 years old, and you weigh 140 pounds." And Grandma said, "How did you figure that out?" She says, "I went into your purse," and she held it up, "I've got your driver's license right here, and I did the math. So I know how old you are and how much you weigh."

And then she looked at the driver's license and said, "And I also saw that you got an F in sex." Today we're going to look at an F, a female in the Bible, a gal who is rarely mentioned. In fact, I'm going to make a guess that probably none of you have heard a sermon on the life of Anna.

That's because she is typically overlooked. She is overlooked, in fact, I made an interesting discovery this week. I was looking at all my commentaries in my library, and I made the discovery that most commentators hardly say anything at all about her. She has very little space. She's usually combined with the other figure in this chapter next to her, that is Simeon. And she is sort of a PS, a postscript. Very few words are written about her in commentaries.

Luke is the only gospel writer that even mentions her at all. She didn't show up in Matthew, or Mark, or John. Luke is the only one, and he only has three verses about her. Three verses of scripture, but I think we need to understand what Luke is doing and why he is mentioning her.

Luke introduces the birth narratives of Jesus, and he wants to assemble a great cloud of witnesses to attest to the most magnificent birth in history—the fact that there's an incarnation, that God became human flesh. And so what he does is he assembles several witnesses, including the archangel Gabriel, Elizabeth, her husband Zacharias, even John the Baptist, who leaps in his mother's womb when Mary comes in the house.

There are also angelic hosts that show up outside of Bethlehem that Luke tells us about, shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem. Then he mentions Simeon and then Anna. He's giving witness after witness, attestation one after another, to point to this very significant birth.

Now why is that important? Here's why: for 400 years, heaven has been silent. Between the Old and New Testament, they're called the 400 silent years. There has been no word from God for 400 years. There have been no prophets giving any kind of prophecy. There have been no miracles to speak of, no ministry of angels. Now, all of a sudden, there is an explosion of all of that activity. There are angels from heaven, there are testimonies being given, there are miracles that are ongoing, there are prophets that are speaking.

With that in mind, let's look at our text in Luke chapter 2, verse 36 through 38. "Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in at that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him," Jesus, "to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem."

Everything we know about Anna is in those verses. Everything. It's contained in these three verses. Only three verses, but there is a significant amount of information that is deposited in three verses. We know her age, we know her tribe, we know the name of her father, we know her marital history, we know her heartbreak, we know her commitment to God, and we know her response to Jesus Christ, all in three verses.

So Luke, the master of using the economy of words, gives all of that information, and we're going to look at that. Now, before we jump into that about her in particular, just a word about women in the Bible. You should know that there are many prominent women in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that God used.

And I say that because the ancient world was predominantly male-oriented. It was a man's world. And in that man's world, however, there were many outstanding women of faith. Here's just a few: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Jochebed—that's the mother of Moses—Abigail, Ruth, Esther, Deborah, Miriam, Hannah, Mary, Elizabeth, Martha and Mary of Bethany, Priscilla, and Lydia.

That's just a sampling. When we get to the New Testament, there are women that are part of the ministry of Jesus who are mentioned: Mary Magdalene is one. Another woman by the name of Joanna, another woman by the name of Susanna. Then there's the Samaritan woman that Jesus had on purpose a visit lined up for.

There's a woman who came to Jesus who had an issue of blood that the doctors couldn't heal, and Jesus paused to heal her. There were women present at the cross. There were women who were first to the tomb. And then there are people like Timothy, who owe their entire faith to women—Mom and Grandma. Paul writes in 2 Timothy chapter 1, "When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also."

It was Herbert Lockyer who wrote a book called *All the Women of the Bible*, in which he writes, "The church owes more than it realizes to the prayers, loyalty, and gifts of its female members. Today, churches would go to pieces if it were not for the presence, perseverance, and prayers of women."

There's an old kind of a cute legend that when God created the heavens and the earth, He created Adam, and He looked him over and He said, "I think I can do better." And so He made Eve. Of course, we know the Bible says that God said it's not good that man should be alone, but that's just a cute little legend.

And then it was Solomon, you remember in Proverbs 31, who said, "A woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." And that's what we're going to do. We're going to look at this woman named Anna, and we're going to honor her for her status.

Now, just a quick little background before we jump and pick this apart. It's a very special day that is going on here in the temple in Jerusalem. It's a day of purification for Mary—I'll discuss that in just a moment—and a day of dedication. Purification and dedication. They have walked from Bethlehem five or six miles. They are now in Jerusalem, 40 days after the birth. It's a time of purification, it's a time of dedication.

But we're going to look at this woman, and I want to give you some characteristics, character traits that are remarkable. First of all, she was spiritual. She was spiritual. You'll notice in verse 36 of Luke chapter 2, "Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher."

Okay, just a few words about her name. Anna is a name that means favor or favored, favored one, or grace. You've been graced by God. Anna is the same basic name as Hannah with an H back in 1 Samuel chapter 1 and 2, the mother of Samuel the prophet.

Now, her husband's name is not given. Apparently, he died when they were married seven years, so he died pretty young. So he's not even mentioned, but her father's name is mentioned, and that is Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.

The fact that Luke includes that, I think, is noteworthy. I think the Holy Spirit does want us to know a little bit about the tribe of Asher. So the tribe of Asher was one of the ten northern tribes. Remember, there were 12 tribes—ten in the north, two in the south. The ten northern tribes were taken captive by the Assyrians in 722 BC. Largely, the ten tribes all fell away from God, apostatized. God said He's going to take them into judgment, and that happened in 722 BC.

However, before that captivity, before that judgment, King Hezekiah of Judah down south wrote letters to the ten northern tribes, basically begging them, pleading with them to return back to God. Forsake your idolatry, get right with God. And it says in the Bible, in 2 Chronicles chapter 30, "some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem."

Guest (Male): You're listening to Connect with Skip Heitzig. Every day, friends like you help connect people around the world to the life-changing truth of God's word through clear, verse-by-verse Bible teaching. And this month, we'd like to thank you with a practical resource designed for the challenges of everyday life.

When you give, you'll receive *Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Living*, a collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig. Through *Pray This Way*, *Technicolor Joy*, *Unforgiveness: Forgiveness vs. Sweet Revenge*, and *Standing Firm in Unsettled Times*, you'll discover biblical wisdom for prayer, joy, forgiveness, and finding peace when life feels uncertain. We'll send this special collection as our thanks when you give $30 or more to support Connect with Skip Heitzig. Call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com/offer. Now, let's return to today's teaching.

Skip Heitzig: So she is related to those who decided we're going to get right with God, we're going to forsake our idols, go down to Jerusalem, and worship the way God wants to—leaving paganism in favor of a relationship with God. So that's the tribe of Asher.

But what's interesting is verse 36 calls her a prophetess. It's a very unusual designation because if you know anything about prophets, they're usually men: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, etc. Most of them are men, but not all of them were men.

The Old Testament mentions three different women who go by the title of prophetess. One is named Miriam. Miriam, in Exodus chapter 15, it says, "Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, went out with timbrels and dances." She was a prophetess.

Then there was Deborah, in the book of Judges chapter 4. The text says, "Now Deborah, a prophetess, was judging Israel at that time." So she's a leader and she is a prophetess. The third one is a woman by the name of Huldah, H-U-L-D-A-H, Huldah. She's mentioned twice, 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. It says, "Huldah the prophetess who lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter."

So those are the three Old Testament prophetesses. I should mention there are two others in the Old Testament. One is Mrs. Isaiah. We don't even know her name, but she is called a prophetess, probably because she bore a son who had a name that spoke of something prophetic that would come. His name was given: Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz. That was his name. It's a very, very strange name, but it had prophetic implications, and because of that, she is called a prophetess.

And then the other one, the last one, the fifth one, I'm just mentioning her because she is called a prophetess, was a false prophetess. She shows up in the book of Nehemiah chapter 6 as a false prophetess who tried to intimidate Nehemiah.

When we get to the New Testament, there was a deacon in Jerusalem who became an evangelist by the name of Philip, who lived in Caesarea eventually. In Acts 21, it says he had four virgin daughters who prophesied. So all of that to simply say they show up, but they're very rare. But she was a prophetess.

Now, the passage doesn't tell us why she is given this title in Luke chapter 2, but you should know that a prophet or a prophetess doesn't necessarily refer to somebody who predicts the future. Sometimes it does, often it does, but not always. Sometimes prophets foretell; other times, prophets just forthtell. Foretell is to predict; forthtell is just to tell forth or speak God's truth.

It could be that Anna was an elderly woman in the temple who, when younger ladies came in, she just encouraged them, exhorted them, taught them through the word of God to trust in the Lord with all their hearts.

Another possibility is that she simply spoke forth praises to God, maybe even with the accompaniment of music, which did happen a lot in the temple. I mention that as a possibility because some of you will remember in 1 Samuel chapter 10, Saul, before he was crowned king, met a group of prophets with stringed instruments, tambourines, flutes, and a harp. They were prophesying. They were just speaking forth God's word in accompaniment to music.

Or, here's another possibility: she became known as a prophetess because of her response to seeing Jesus and what she said in testifying about Him. I just don't want you to think necessarily that she has an ongoing prophetic ministry where she's running around the temple saying, "I've got a word from the Lord for you." It may or may not be that. I tend to say that it was not.

By the way, interesting fact—FYI, no extra charge. There's a guy mentioned before her by the name of—anybody know? Simeon. Simeon is just called a man, not a prophet. And yet, Simeon gives an actual prophecy about Jesus. His words are recorded. Whereas Anna is called a prophetess, but there's no record of anything she said. Just an interesting observation. She is part of a group mentioned in verse 38, those who looked for the redemption of Jerusalem.

So that's the first character trait about Anna: she was spiritual. Second to make note of, she was venerable. Now, I'm being polite here, and I looked it up so you know what I'm doing. "Venerable" is a word, according to the dictionary, that means respected because of age. See, it's nicer to say venerable than she was an old lady.

She was a venerable lady. And notice how nice Luke is. He does mention numbers here, but she says she was "of a great age." A great age. In verse 37, "this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple but served God with fastings and prayers night and day."

Now, that means one of two things. Number one, it means she was 84 years old, or number two, it means she has been a widow since her husband's death for 84 years. Now, if that's the case, if you lean to number two, that means she's a lot older than 84. If the marriageable age for most girls at that time was age 13 or 14 and she was married seven years and then she's a widow for 84, she's 104 or 105 at least.

So most modern translations will just give her the age of 84 years old. So either way you want to slice it, she was of a great age. "How old are you?" "A great age." "Well, how old is that?" "It's a great age." It's just a very nice thing. It's a venerable age.

And I appreciate this. I appreciate those kind of generalities about age the older I get. Somebody said, "The great thing about being this old is there's not much peer pressure because you don't have many peers."

There are perks, you know. I asked you to raise your hand a minute ago. There are perks to age. I found this. Maybe some of you will appreciate the perks of being over 50. You ready?

Number one, kidnappers are not very interested in you. Number two, in a hostage situation, you are likely to be released first. Number three, people call at 9:00 PM and ask, "Did I wake you?" Number four, there's nothing left to learn the hard way. Number five, you eat dinner at 4:00 PM. Number six, you enjoy hearing about other people's operations. Number seven, you have a party and the neighbors don't even realize it. Number eight, you quit trying to hold your stomach in, no matter who walks into the room. Number nine, you sing along with elevator music. And number ten, your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

All the funny business aside, the great point I want to make is that age should never be a barrier to service. You are never too old to be used by God in a very strategic and profitable way. No matter how old you are, you can begin a new walk with God, you can begin a fresh adventure with Him. And there are so many examples of people God used at a great age.

Abraham and Sarah were told to start a new life when he was 75. He was 100 and she was 90 when they had Isaac. Moses was 80 years old when he was called to be Israel's deliverer. Caleb was 85 years old when he wanted a whole new adventure—"give me this mountain." Simeon was old as well in this chapter. The Apostle John wrote the book of Revelation at the ripe young age of about 99.

And then there are other examples, like the playwright George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, 94 years old when one of his plays was first produced. Benjamin Franklin, framer of the constitution, when he was 81 years of age.

I just want to say as a pastor that we need older saints active and involved. We need—this church needs—let me give you a few reasons why we need you. Number one, your experience. You've got mileage. You've lived out so many experiences that we can glean from. Job chapter 12 says, "Wisdom is with the aged man, and with length of days comes understanding." So you have experience.

The second thing you have is you have stability. Because you have lived so many experiences, not much rocks your boat. You're stable. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 37, "I was young and now I am old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God's people begging bread." That's stability.

And then the third thing you have, probably, is you have time. You have time. The responsibilities of raising kids are largely over. And the Bible says concerning those who are aged in Psalm 92, "They shall still bear fruit even in old age." So Anna, she was spiritual and she was venerable.

Guest (Female): Thanks for joining us today on Connect with Skip Heitzig. Before we go, remember, your generosity helps share God's word with people around the world, bringing biblical truth, encouragement, and hope to those who need it most.

And this month, we'd love to thank you for your gift of $30 or more by sending you *Biblical Wisdom for Everyday Living*, a collection of four lifestyle booklets from Pastor Skip Heitzig: *Pray This Way*, *Technicolor Joy*, *Unforgiveness: Forgiveness vs. Sweet Revenge*, and *Standing Firm in Unsettled Times*. These practical resources will help you apply God's truth to everyday challenges and grow deeper in your walk with Christ. Give today at connectwithskip.com/offer or call 800-922-1888. Thanks for spending time with us today, and we'll see you next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig.

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