Who Knew?---- by Bishop Toby S. Morgan
There are a couple of interesting characters who quickly flow in and out of the life of Jesus around Christmastime (Luke 2:21-40). In fact, when he was only eight days old, Mary and Joseph took him to the Temple to present him to Jehovah. As they were giving him back to the Father, two people, a man and woman, both well advanced in years, pop into his life for no more than five minutes. They appeared like a shooting star, a flash and then they were gone. Yet these two elderly saints, Simeon and Anna, are so profoundly used by the Holy Spirit, their appearance raises a question in my mind, “Who Knew?”
This Christmas season, as we are engaged with our usual busyness, it is easy to miss the greatness of the gift sent from heaven. Like so many others rushing in and out of the Temple that day who totally missed the fact the Messiah was over in the corner, snuggled in the arms of his mother, you and I can become so self-absorbed we too miss the fact that God in the Flesh has come, and indeed still lives among us. When this season is finished, the decorations have been stored, the last of the left-overs discarded, and the arrival of the credit card statements remind us we once more overspent; may we have enjoyed such an encounter with the Savior that people look at us and utter the question, "Who knew?"
For instance, who knew someone could hear God whisper when no one else was trying to hear His voice? After all, that is what happened to Simeon. We call the time between Malachi and the birth of Jesus the “silent years.” It is as if God just shut up heaven and went dark. Yet in the middle of that silence, He was still speaking. The only problem was the vast majority of people on this planet had tuned Him out and considered their deafness as silence on His part. That was all changed when an old man named Simeon uncluttered his life to the point he heard heaven’s whispers. He heard heaven’s Holy Ghost tell him that he would not die before he saw the Messiah (Luke 2:26). We are not told how this happened, but since he was alone, it appears it was not emblazoned in the sky. Somewhere along the way, even when no one else was bothering to listen, Simeon did what people who want to hear from God must do, and he caught a small whisper that he was going to see the Christ. May it be said of you and me this Christmas, in the fire and chaos of our time (war is raging in Israel as I write these words) who knew they were so in tune with heaven they would hear the whispers of the Holy Ghost? He is speaking. We need to slow down and listen.
There is another “who knew?” that might be said of us. Who knew they would wait through desperation until deliverance appeared? Meet Anna. Anna had lived in desperation for a long, long time. She had been married for seven years and then became a widow. Depending upon who you read, she was either a widow of eighty-four years, which would have made her more than one hundred years old, or she was eighty-four at the time of this occurrence and had been a widow for over sixty years. Either way, Anna had been in desperation for decades. Yet she did not succumb to the pressures of her time nor give in to the sorrow that marked her life. Instead, she diligently clung to the promises of God through prayer and fasting (Luke 2:37). Who knew this aged saint of Israel, a woman whose life had been marked for so many years by desperate straits, would walk in one day and bump into the Son of God? May some of us, struggling with desperate situations, have at the end of this season the amazed words pointed in our direction, “Who knew they would encounter God in such a powerful way?”
One last question: Who knew welcoming God’s kingdom would be so different than expected? Let us be honest, Simeon held the Creator of the Cosmos in his arms (Luke 2:28). Who knew God would show up in such a fashion? On a white stallion? Sure. Legions of fierce fighters aligned behind him? Absolutely. But a baby…a normal, ordinary, run-of-the-mill baby? Yet that is precisely how the plan of God had been orchestrated, and it was up to Simeon to welcome God's invasion…regardless of how it appeared. Perhaps we have become so steeped in our narrow views of how God can and cannot appear, we have missed Him in the past. May it not be said of us moving forward. May people say of us after this season, "Who knew they would be so open to the working of the Holy Ghost, they would have a new and fresh encounter with heaven?"
It can happen…to you! Slow down through this season and let the One who appeared long ago reveal Himself afresh in your life. May His grace and glory become so powerful, so prominent, your life leaves everyone around you saying, “Who knew?”
Bishop Toby S. Morgan
State Administrative Bishop
Virginia Church of God State Office