The noise abroad has always been the same, and the causes are always urgent and demanding immediate change. Anna in the Temple is our theme, as we examine the living, the cause, the impact of this largely unnoticed passage in Luke 2, there is no doubt in my study of this person from the Scripture, there is much to be thought out, meditated upon.
I found myself comparing 2 causes, one being the spiritual cause of Anna, the other being that of the Zealots. Their sole aim was the overthrow of the rule of Rome over Israel. The cause being political and military.
The political cause; what history tells us
The Zealots came about around the time of the Roman invasion, and were a permanent feature in Jesus’ day. It is probable that Zealots were near Jesus, even Simon, one of the disciples was a Zealot. It may be that they got their “cause” out of memories of times past when God put Israel above many of the nations round about. When the Temple was constructed, the many battles the armies won. Now they saw decline in the shape of invasion and occupation. They saw that overthrow through a David type figure was hoped for. It is obvious that this cause saw Jesus crucified saw the Zealot cause defeated. We then see the overthrow of Jerusalem and destruction, in 70AD. The cause died as the peoples were scattered over the known world.
What this all shows us that a mere political or military aspiration will not restore to a nation what is a spiritual question first. If the cause does not accurately perceive God’s plan in all the things God was doing in that period, we can be deceived by the many false leaders that rose up. We have already seen this in the last message, last Chapter. It is obvious to the metric Gamaliel that the origin of the Zealot cause being human by the lack of longevity and efficacy. What was not counted on, was that as soon as the nation of God’s people rejected Jesus, and Jesus saw this in Luke 19, that they had not recognized the hour of their visitation, therefore, the writing was on the wall. Jesus wept as He saw 40 years down the road, the Temple and Jerusalem laid in waste. The cause was laid waste, because they failed to recognize what God was doing. Paul in Romans 1o:3 sums it up well.
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
They were first ignorant, then self righteous, also rebellious because they were not submitted to a righteousness because their ignorance blinded them to a new demonstration of righteousness in Christ.
The Spiritual cause; what eternity shows us
Anna had embraced a cause that would change not only Israel but the whole world. That is because it was not limited to a man or woman, it was rooted in God Himself. It was rooted in a cause that centered in a King on the Throne, bringing order and harmony for the whole of eternity. The way this would come about would be through a prophet forerunner in John the Baptist and through Jesus the Messiah, being born in the same fashion as men, but with a eternal cause as the motivation. When we read the Word, and as Anna exercised patience in the Temple, beyond all the upheavals and expectations. There is value in waiting and meditating, waiting and worshipping, waiting and reading Scripture. This value is in the reception of revelation knowledge. What is important is the origin of this knowledge. The issue of knowledge is what brought man into the fall. Knowledge from God is what we must seek, and it will not fill our thinking, nor will it correspond to our expectations. Our cause it not being seen, or known, rather be seen by God and known by Him.
I am returning to these themes because I think as a Church universal, we have framed the Gospel in our “routines” and sometimes we need to wait in patience because beyond altar, pulpit, platform, there is a great service to be done, where noone sees, because the busy will not deal well with waiting, the proud won’t like being unseen. I see a great shift from a meeting based functioning, as I see great persecution on the way, and already with shootings taking place, buildings set on fire, this is indication that the Church must grasp what God is saying. He is telling us; start to prepare as My Son is returning to implant His Kingdom. What are we doing to prepare? Or are we being taken unawares of the spiritual changes taking place in that unseen dimension?
The fact is Anna was in the right place when Jesus appeared. Will we be? We will be in the middle of God’s plan if we discern properly the right causes to follow, and not pander to our own whims and opinions. May we be attentive!
Maranatha!!!
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