Living A Radical Life: The Reward of Faithfulness

In Luke 2, we meet two extraordinary yet often overlooked figures in the Christmas story: Simeon and Anna. These two elderly saints, living at the very end of the Old Testament era, are portraits of faithful expectation. They stand as symbols of what it means to hope in God even when all evidence might suggest otherwise.

For centuries, Israel had awaited the coming of the Messiah, a promise stretching back to the covenant God made with David. But the road to fulfillment was long and often bitter. By Simeon and Anna’s time, 400 years had passed since God last spoke through the prophets, a period known as the "Intertestamental Silence."

During this time, Israel endured foreign oppression, the desecration of the temple under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and the heavy hand of Roman occupation. Many clung to the promises of a deliverer, but for others, the promises of God had faded into mere tradition.

Why, then, did Simeon and Anna stand out? John Piper asks this important question stating, "here we have two old Jewish saints, representing as it were the very best of the old covenant which is now giving way to the new with the coming of the Messiah. And the question I have asked is, Why these two? Of all the Jews that might have been chosen to recognize the child-Messiah and take him into their arms and speak of his coming, why these?"

Why were they the ones to recognize the Messiah when He arrived, while so many others failed to see? The answer is simple: they were looking.

Their lives of faithful expectation teach us three critical lessons about how we are to live as we await Christ’s work in our lives and His ultimate return:

Don’t Give Up: Hold to an Expectant Faith.

Don’t Give Out: Live an Expectant Life.

Don’t Give In: Cultivate Enduring Faith.

Let’s explore these lessons together.

1. Don’t Give Up: Hold to an Expectant Faith

Simeon and Anna teach us the importance of expectant faith, a faith that refuses to give up even when God seems silent.

Luke 2:25 describes Simeon as a man "waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him." Simeon didn’t just passively hope for God’s promises; he actively anticipated them. He believed that God would fulfill His covenant to comfort and redeem Israel.

Luke 2:25 ESV

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.

Anna, a prophetess, is described as a widow who “did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day” (Luke 2:37). Her devotion reflects a faith rooted in hope, not despair.

This kind of expectant faith is not a fleeting emotion but a settled confidence in God’s promises. It’s the same faith that carried saints like Abraham, who "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3).

Application: What about you? Are you holding to an expectant faith? Maybe you’re waiting for God to move in your family, your church, or your own heart. The story of Simeon and Anna reminds us that faith is the bedrock of a life lived in expectation.

Don’t give up on God’s promises.

2. Don’t Give Out: Live an Eternal Life

Faith isn’t just something we feel or believe; it’s something we live. Simeon and Anna didn’t just wait passively; they lived lives that reflected their hope in God’s promises.

For Simeon, living an expectant life meant being led by the Spirit. Verse 27 says, "He came in the Spirit into the temple," showing that his steps were guided by God. Anna’s life of fasting and prayer wasn’t simply an act of devotion—it was an expression of her hope in God’s faithfulness.

Living an eternal life means aligning your actions with the promise that this is not our home. It’s easy to lose sight of eternity in the grind of daily life, but Simeon and Anna challenge us to live each day as if God’s promises are true—because they are. The promise of the babe coming was that he would come again.

Those around Anna and Simeon lost sight of eternity. They wanted to see Messiah, but over the years they had lost their enthusiasm or focused too much on this world and it’s worries. Messiah was no longer an eternal king, he was just another political promise. As the years rolled over into centuries the promises of God became stories they told their kids. But not for Simeon and Anna. They believed. They were waiting for this moment. They were living for this moment.

As Christians, we have the risen Christ. We know the whole story. We know that in the end Christ wins. And as such we are to live lives marked, not with fear, but with an eternal FAITH. The kind of faith that causes a young man to surrender to ministry, or a young couple to go as missionaries to a foreign land. It's the same faith that causes a 65 year old retiree to start a ministry to disciple people in jail.

Illustration: Think of a farmer who plants seeds in spring. He doesn’t just sit back and hope for the best; he waters the crops, pulls weeds, and waits for the harvest. In the same way, living with expectation means actively participating in what God is doing.

Application: What would it look like for you to live an expectant life? Maybe it’s being intentional in prayer, sharing your faith, or stepping out in obedience to God’s call. Whatever it is, don’t grow weary in doing good, for in due season you will reap if you don’t give up (Galatians 6:9).

3. Don’t Give In: Cultivate Enduring Faith

The final lesson Simeon and Anna teach us is the importance of endurance. Faith is not a sprint; it’s a marathon.

Simeon and Anna were faithful not because their lives were easy, but because they trusted God’s promises. They endured decades of waiting, persecution, and likely moments of doubt. But they didn’t give in to the temptation to abandon their hope.

Hebrews 11 reminds us of the great cloud of witnesses who endured in faith:

Abel offered a better sacrifice because he believed.

Noah built the ark in obedience to God’s warning.

Abraham left his homeland and waited for a city whose architect and builder is God.

Simeon and Anna belong to this hall of faith. Their lives echo the call to endure, to keep running the race set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2).

This side of the Consolation, like Simeon and Anna and all these saints, we are called to endure. This world is filled with pain and sorrow. It's filled with troubles and trails, but God calls us to faithfully seek him even in the midst of our struggle.

The True test of salvation is our endurance. I've known people who say they "walked away from the faith." Many of them have church hurt, or have encountered questions they can't answer so they back off of their commitment to Christ. But God says that his people will be faithful to the end and endure.

Illustration: In the 1968 Olympics, marathon runner John Stephen Akhwari of Tanzania fell and injured his leg. Despite the pain, he finished the race. When asked why he didn’t quit, he replied, “My country did not send me 5,000 miles to start the race; they sent me to finish.”

Application: What about you? Are you tempted to give in to discouragement, fear, or apathy? Remember Simeon and Anna. Remember that God calls us not just to start the race of faith, but to finish it.

Conclusion

Simeon and Anna lived with expectation, teaching us to:

Don’t give up on God’s promises.

Don’t give out in your walk with Him.

Don’t give in to doubt or discouragement.

In many ways, their lives point us to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises: Jesus Christ. He is the consolation of Israel, the hope of the nations, and the Savior of the world.

Today, the question is not whether God is faithful—He is. The question is, are we living in expectation? Are we looking for Christ, not just in the grand moments but in the everyday?

As we wait for His return, let us follow the example of Simeon and Anna:

Don’t give up on God’s promises.

Don’t give out in your walk with Him.

And don’t give in to doubt or discouragement.

Instead, live each day with the faith that the One who promised is faithful, and He will do it.