Luke 2:37
And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Luke 2:37 belongs to the account of Jesus being presented to the Lord in Jerusalem. That presentation involved the sacrifice required by Jewish law for the mother, a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering, with provision for the poor to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons instead. The offerings had to be without blemish because they represented Christ, who was Himself free from physical deformity, with a strong and healthy body unmarked by defect, living throughout His life in conformity to nature's laws, and physically as well as spiritually an example of what God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws.
Anna was an aged widow and a prophetess who departed not from the temple but served God continually night and day with fastings and prayers while waiting for the Messiah. Her faithfulness reflects the pious aged Jews who looked, believed, and earnestly prayed for the coming Messiah when the priesthood was corrupt and Jewish faith was clouded by departure from God and by traditions enforced as commandments. They trusted God would not leave His people to be a reproach to the heathen but would raise up a deliverer as in time past, and from the predictions of the prophets they thought the appointed time for Messiah to come had arrived and the set time to favor His people had come. They expected His coming to bring a clear revelation of the divine will, to free doctrine from traditions and needless ceremonies that confused faith and to dispel the cloud of ignorance and bigotry, and they waited day and night praying that they might see the Saviour before they died, believing the promised time was near.
She stood at the close of the Jewish dispensation, when the spirit of prophecy, after nearly disappearing from the Jewish church for a few centuries because of corruption, reappeared to usher in the Messiah. God spoke through her in that work together with Zacharias, Simeon, and John the Baptist. As one of the prophets to whom God opened the future, she shared in the revelation of the first advent of Christ to suffer for sinners and His second appearing in glory to destroy His enemies and complete the redemption of His people.
She came in as Simeon spoke, confirmed his testimony about Christ, and gave heartfelt thanks that she had been permitted to see Him. Together with Simeon, she was preserved to recognize Jesus in the temple and testified there that He was the divine promised Messiah. As a prophetess she spoke about Jesus to all those in Jerusalem who looked for redemption and were waiting for redemption.