Verse 34
And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel; and for a sign which is spoken against.
No indeed! Luke had not forgotten about the virgin birth, nor had his reference to "parents" and "father" been any denial of it. Notice how it comes into focus here in the words of Simeon who addressed these words, not to Joseph at all, but to Mary his mother.
Rising and falling of many ... Those rising would be such men as the fishers of Galilee who would become his apostles, and those falling would be such unbelievers as Annas and Caiaphas, the mighty high priests, and the ruling hierarchy.
A sign which is spoken against ... The name of Jesus was spoken against, not only by the Roman writers such as Tacitus, Suetonius, and Pliny, who "spoke against the Name with the most intense bitterness";[29] but "The great rabbinical schools which flourished in the first three centuries of Christianity, commonly used such names of Christ as `That Deceiver,' `That Man,' and `The Hung'." Even today the holy SIGN is spoken against by the servants of Satan throughout the world, some of whom spent their entire lives in the study of the Holy Scriptures in pursuit of the one purpose of finding something which they can deny.
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