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Born under the Law (Gal. iv.4) the Saviour was to submit to all its ordinances. Accordingly on the eighth day after His birth He was circumcised, like any other Jewish child, and received the name of Jesus. Moreover on the fortieth day after His birth, the Virgin repaired to the Temple, and presented her humble offering of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons (Lev. xii. 2, 6,8), according to the law of her purification. Without pomp or earthly circumstance, the infant Saviour, the Messenger of the Covenant, came to His temple (Mal. iii.1), and might have left it equally unnoticed. But two humble worshippers, who had long been waiting for the consolation of Israel (Lk. ii.25), recognized “in helpless infancy and clad in mortal flesh” the long-expected Messiah.

There was living at Jerusalem a just and devout man named Symeon. Though far advanced in years, he had received divine intimation that he should not see death till his eyes had rested on the Lord’s Christ. He was now present at the national sanctuary, when His parents brought in the Child to do for Him after the custom of the Law (Lk. ii.27), and no sooner did he behold the Child, than he saw that the long-promised hour was come. He took Him up in his arms, and blessed God that at length his eyes had been permitted to see His Salvation, the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel (Lk. ii.32). Then while Joseph and Mary were marvelling at his words, the aged seer, already on the verge of the eternal world, blessed them also, and addressing the Virgin Mother declared that her Child was appointed for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and that a sword should in days to come pierce through her own heart. At the same time there came forward an aged woman, a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel. Seven years had she lived with her husband after quitting her maiden state, and since his death had remained in widowhood upwards of 84 years. Though the territories of the tribe of Asher, to which she belonged (Lk. ii.36), were at a great distance from the Holy City, yet there she had taken up her abode, and was constant in every act of worship and in her attendance at every sacred service. She too drew near while the Holy Child was being brought into His Father’s house, and, like the aged Symeon, gave thanks to God, and spake of Him to all those that were looking for redemption in Jerusalem (Lk. ii.38).