Holy Boldness

obeyed what they knew to do and let the rest take care of itself. God’s people do not make prophecies come to pass!!! They simply invite them in, make room for them, agree with them, align with them, ponder them, and adjust to them. This is part of our ongoing cooperation with God’s divine initiatives.

Naming Jesus

On Jesus’ eighth day, Mary and Joseph took Him to be circum cised in accordance with the law and there they aligned themselves with the prophecy from Gabriel and named Him “Jesus.” Tradition would have had him be named Joseph like his father or someone else in the family. But like John the Baptist his cousin, God had a special name for His son. The Hebrew spelling of Jesus is Yeshua , which means “salvation.” Another stunning word came when Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple, in accordance to the law, to be dedicated to the service of God and to offer sacrifices for the firstborn. A man was there seemingly waiting for them by the name of Simeon. He was a prophet but in particular, he was a watchman. What was he watching and waiting for? He was waiting on the fulfillment of a prophecy that God had given to him personally. He was told that he would not die until he had seen “the Lord’s Christ.” (Luke 2:26) Obviously, this promise had gripped the old prophet because Luke describes him as someone “looking for the consolation of Israel” (v. 25) which means that he was someone who was pressing for the fulfillment of all the prophetic hopes of Israel thus bringing relief to her unfulfilled dreams. Simeon’s prophecy Luke tells us that Simeon came to the Temple that day “in the Holy Spirit” (v.27) at the same time that Jesus’ parents brought Jesus to be dedicated according to the prescription of the law so that there was a convergence of the word and the Spirit. When they met each other at the Temple, Simeon burst forth with prophetic exclamations. Taking Jesus in His arms, Simeon immedi- Word and Spirit

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