people held fast to the highest ideals of Moses and the prophets, and they were always alert to any sign of the promised Messiah. It was hard to be part of “the remnant.” God had not spoken in more than four hundred years. That’s how long it had been since the last of the Old Testament prophets. When Jesus was born, most people had no idea that God was doing “something new.” Simeon and Anna were exceptions. They detected God’s new plan. God had another way to get the attention of the masses—a man