“And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”
My Notes
What Does Luke 2:38 Mean?
"And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." Anna the prophetess, an 84-year-old widow who never left the temple, arrives at the exact moment Simeon finishes his blessing over the infant Jesus. Her response is twofold: she gives thanks to God, and she tells everyone who was waiting for the Messiah that he's here.
The phrase "that instant" emphasizes divine timing — Anna didn't arrive early or late. She walked in at precisely the right moment. And "all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem" reveals the existence of a faithful remnant — people who hadn't given up on God's promises despite centuries of silence. Anna becomes the first evangelist of the Messiah's arrival, and she's an elderly widow. God's first announcement team isn't the religious establishment; it's an old woman who never stopped waiting.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What promise from God have you been waiting on for so long that it's hard to keep hoping?
- 2.What does Anna's decades-long faithfulness in the temple teach you about the value of unseen spiritual work?
- 3.Who are the people in your life who are 'looking for redemption' and need to hear that God is moving?
- 4.How does Anna's story challenge the idea that God uses only young, visible, or prominent people?
Devotional
Anna was eighty-four years old. She'd been a widow for most of her life. She lived in the temple, fasting and praying day and night. And at the exact right moment, she walks in, sees the baby Jesus, and becomes the first person to tell others that the Messiah has arrived.
God's timing and God's choice of messenger are both remarkable here. After four hundred years of prophetic silence, the first evangelist isn't a priest, a scholar, or a political leader. It's an elderly widow nobody would have put on a platform. A woman whose entire qualification was faithfulness — decades of it, unglamorous, unseen, in the same temple, with the same prayers, waiting for the same promise.
Anna spoke "to all them that looked for redemption." There were others — a quiet network of people who hadn't stopped hoping, hadn't stopped watching, hadn't stopped believing that God would keep his word. Anna found them and told them: it's happening. He's here.
If you've been waiting for something from God for a long time — so long that it feels foolish to keep hoping — Anna is your patron saint. Her decades of faithfulness weren't wasted time. They were preparation for a moment she couldn't have predicted. Your waiting isn't empty. It's positioning you for an "instant" you can't see yet.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And when they had performed all things,.... Relating to the purification of Mary, and the presentation and redemption of…
Coming in that instant - Αυτῃ τῃ ὡρᾳ, at that very time - while Simeon held the blessed Redeemer in his arms, and…
Even when he humbles himself, still Christ has honour done him to balance the offence of it. That we might not be…
that looked for redemption See Luk 24:21; Mar 15:43; 1Co 1:7; Tit 2:13; Heb 9:28. See Excursus VII.
in Jerusalem The…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture