The First Woman to Share the Gospel BY Rachel Green Miller for Core Christianity
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
What makes someone beautiful? Is it her appearance? Or his smile? Maybe it’s the person’s personality or kind nature. Would Jesus have been considered beautiful? Isaiah 53:2 tells us, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” And yet, to those who have faith in Him, Jesus is the most beautiful, the most precious, the most beloved person. Like Isaiah 52:7 says above, He is beautiful because He brings us good news. He is lovely because He brings salvation to His people.
From His mother, Mary, to the women at the tomb, many women played essential roles in Jesus’s life and ministry. Women were also instrumental in spreading the gospel. The Samaritan woman at the well spread the good news of the Messiah to her town. Mary Magdalene told the disciples the good news of the resurrection. And one woman had the honor of being the first to share the gospel.
Waiting at the Temple
In Luke 2, Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple to present Him to the Lord and offer the sacrifice required after the birth of a firstborn son. Simeon, led by the Spirit, took the baby and said, “My eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples” (Luke 2:30-31, NASB). As Simeon finished prophesying about Jesus, another prophet stepped up.
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
Anna, a prophetess, came to Jesus in the temple and praised God. In Joel 2:28-29, God promised that He would pour out His Spirit and the sons and daughters of Israel would prophesy. We see the fulfillment of that prophecy in Acts 2 at Pentecost. But here, shortly after Jesus’s birth, we get a taste of that fulfillment in Simeon and Anna. These two prophets witnessed Jesus’s dedication at the temple and recognized Him as the long-awaited Messiah, the promised Savior of God’s people.
