Commenting on the fact that Elizabeth, Zechariah, and Simeon and Anna are very old, and that Luke makes mention of this, John Piper writes why this might be: “First, I think he wants us to see that an era is drawing to a close, the era of the law and the prophets. He shows us this by depicting the best representatives of that era as aged and at the point of death. They are passing away just like the era of the law and the prophets. The second thing Luke wants to illustrate is that there is no conflict between the law and the prophets and the new age of the Messiah. He shows this by depicting the most devout people under the old era as the most receptive to the new era. Elizabeth and Zechariah and Simeon and anna do not become resentful and angry that the Messiah has come, not even that he will be a “light to the Gentiles.” They rejoice that the new has come.”