"Forerunners"-- Simeon and Anna

One era that can perhaps mirror our own is the one present at the First Coming of Christ, describing conditions among the people of God and what initiatives we may expect God to take.

The whole of the period from 420 B.C. to 4 B.C. is frequently spoken of as the “Intertestament” era when the Old Testament canon had not officially been closed and the New Testament had not been started. One writer, William L. Lane, Th. D., in an article detailing the history of this period, describes the times immediately before the coming of Christ:

“It is undoubtedly true that the vast number of Jews did not commit themselves toward a party or a sectarian way of life.  They satisfied themselves with participation in the life of the synagogue or Temple of the Sabbath or special occasions and shared a common grassroots type of piety consisting of public and private prayer and the observance of certain traditions learned within the family.   

“Few persons kept alive the prophetic faith of the Old Testament pure and undefiled.  On opening the pages of the New Testament, we find such a piety in people like Zachariah and Elizabeth (parents of John the Baptist), the old man Simeon, the widow Anna, the carpenter Joseph, and Mary, the mother of Jesus.. . .what remains is only an echo of what had been loudly proclaimed in an earlier day.

“A new era begins with the ministry of John the Baptist, to whom the prophetic word comes once more, signaling the end of the period between the Testaments.” (­Bill Glass, Special Edition Study Bible, p. 1391, c. 1980.)

Here a certain passivity is spoken of among observant Jews, “going along to get along”, especially with the Romans then in power.   This passivity sets the scene for the coming of Christ, prophetically declared and expected by those prepared by the Holy Spirit, in this case Simeon and Anna.

Simeon and Anna were what we call “lay people”, not part of the religious establishment, but their presence and prophetic declarations in the Temple upon the dedication of the Child Jesus were critical to unleashing the purposes of God.  They were “forerunners”; part of a prophetic tradition which says, “Surely, the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).  There’s that sense the prophet’s speaking a thing releases it.  So both Simeon and Anna “spoke” over the Child Jesus. His life was an outworking of their prophecies (see Luke 2:25-37).

Today the Church is powerless and passive, “going along to get along”.  This is an invitation for God to “step up” His prophetic calendar part of which is seen in the re-establishment of Israel as a nation.  Accordingly, His prophets, as in the spirit of John the Baptist, are calling God’s people to repentance, referencing the host of ills besetting this country, preparatory to the Second Coming of Christ.

To warn the people in every place many “forerunner” prophets in the vein of Simeon and Anna are needed.  “Draw near to God and let Him draw near to you” (James 4:8) and perhaps He will commission you as one of His “forerunners”.