Luke 2:25-35
At the time of the birth of Jesus Christ, the promise and expectation of the Messiah’s coming into the world had become a matter of traditional belief but not of vital faith and hope among the Jews. There was no comfort in it. If their hearts were stirred up at all, it was because of God’s work in the past. They remembered those ten plagues and how Moses delivered them up out of Egypt. They remembered the great King David and all of his exploits on behalf of the nation. They remembered the wisdom of King Solomon and the glory of the first temple.
They remembered the history but not the promise—not what God was going to do in the future. They observed all the religious forms, but they failed to interest themselves in the promise of the coming Messiah. Even when some strangers stirred up all of Jerusalem by asking, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” no one in the entire city had enough interest to go with the wise men to Bethlehem to see what had happened—a child who was born a king.
But there was a man who seemed to be an exception to the rule. His name is Simeon. While the multitudes were comforting themselves with what God had done in the past, Simeon lifted his eyes to the heavens awaiting the fulfillment of the promise—not what God had done, but what God was yet to do. Simeon demonstrates what it means to be a believer. Faith is being sure of what we hope for (Heb. 11:1). That means waiting in faith—not for what God has already done, but for what God has promised he will do.
But who was Simeon? Just who Simeon was is not known. Some think he was a priest, but Scripture does not say. All we know is what is recorded here. He was a man the parents of Jesus came across in the temple when it was time for the child to be dedicated and offered up for God’s keeping and care. Five things are said about him personally, and from these we are able to see what made God use him to proclaim one of the greatest messages of all time, namely, the events and fate of the child Messiah’s life.
Simeon was a man that God used in a most magnificent way to encourage Joseph and Mary (vv. 25-27). First, Simeon was a just and devout man. The word “just” means righteous, well-behaved, living as one should live. Simeon was a man who treated other people as he should: justly. The word “devout” means cautious and careful in relation to God. It means reverence for God, or being pious. Simeon was very careful in his relation toward God.
Second, Simeon was a man who looked for the coming of the Messiah. This is what is meant by “the Consolation of Israel.” Faithful believers among the Jews felt that Israel could find consolation only in the Messiah. They longed and ached with all hope and patience for His coming. Joseph of Arimathaea was another example of one who “waited for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43). The world can find consolation only in the coming of Christ (Titus 2:11-14). Believers must long for the Messiah and ache with all hope and patience for His return (2 Peter 3:3-18).
Third, Simeon was a man led by the Holy Spirit. The idea seems to be that the Spirit was upon him continually. This shows just how closely Simeon was living to God. He must have been a very, very special man, a man who held God ever so dear to his heart and whom God held ever so close to His heart.
Fourth, Simeon was a man who was given an unusual promise. At some point, the Holy Spirit revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah.
Fifth, Simeon was a man who saw and held the Messiah. How often Simeon must have walked to the temple waiting for what God had promised to do (Malachi 3:1). Then one day it happened. Simeon was again led by the Spirit into the temple. As good Jewish parents, Mary and Joseph brought their firstborn son to the temple when He was forty days old to dedicate Him to the Lord.
As they came into the outer court to make the necessary sacrifices, they were met by Simeon who saw that the Child in Mary’s arms was different from all the others—that he was the Christ-child. Simeon did not have any doubt that this was the promise of God fulfilled. He looked at the tiny baby with the eyes of faith and realized afresh the wonder, sovereignty, and faithfulness of God. He had seen God’s salvation.
Much to their amazement, Simeon asked to hold the baby. Even more amazing are the words that he spoke:
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:29-32)
What an incredible moment this was—Simeon was seeing with his own eyes what God’s people had waited centuries to see. He was holding in his arms the salvation of God: not a great king, prophet, or priest, but a little baby.
But what can we learn from Simeon about the Christ-child?
One, the child was God’s salvation; He would be the source of peace for the world. Simeon had “seen and embraced” the Messiah, God’s salvation. Therefore, he was now ready to die in peace. The Child is the One everyone must see and embrace by faith if they would be ready to die in peace.
Two, the child was the One appointed to be God’s salvation. This confessed that the child was God’s salvation. Everyone must confess that the child Jesus is God’s salvation, through whom God saves the world (Acts 4:12— “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved”).
Three, the child, God’s salvation, was prepared for all people. Simeon saw that God’s salvation was not for any one people or nation or group. The Messiah had come to save all men. Anyone could now be saved, no matter who they were or what they had done. He was not willing that any should perish. Paul later confirmed this when he said in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Four, the child, God’s salvation, would be a light to the Gentiles, to the unbelievers of the world. The child came to be the Light of the world. This simply means that He came to be the Revelation of God, to reveal the way, the truth, and the life to men (see Luke 1:76-79).
Five, the child, God’s salvation, would be the glory of Israel, of true believers. The Messiah would be the glory of all Israelites (Jews) who truly believed. In fact, He was to be the glory of all who believed, no matter their nationality. He would be the One in whom both Jews and Gentiles would boast; not in their ancestry, good works, or religious exercise. The reason is clearly given by Scripture: By Him, the believer is justified and saved to live with God eternally.
The parents marveled at the predictions. The predictions would amaze anyone, but they were given for an additional reason. Joseph and Mary needed to be assured and encouraged. Imagine what they had been through and were yet to go through because of the child (Matthew 2:13-23). God saw to it that they were strengthened in this experience.
Six, the child was to be the cause of many falling and many rising (v.34). The child would be what the Scripture calls the stone of stumbling and the chief cornerstone. Many would stumble and fall over Him. They would not notice, look, study, prefer, choose, believe, or trust Him and the salvation He was to bring. They would simply choose another way other than God. Therefore, they would stumble and fall over Him just as they would stumble over a stone lying in their path.
But many would rise because of Him. They would take notice, choose, and believe Him and the salvation He would bring. Therefore, He would become their foundation, their cornerstone. Decisively, Jesus Christ causes every man to make a choice. A man either rejects the Messiah, God’s salvation, and falls (eternally); or he accepts and he rises (eternally) (1 Peter 2:4-10).
Seven, the child’s fate was sealed (v.34-35). The child was to be opposed and eventually killed. He was the “sign which shall be spoken against.” Christ was a sign of both God’s love and judgment. It is this that causes men to react. Men want a god that allows them to live as they desire, not a God who demands total self-denial and obedience (Luke 9:23). They want a god of indulging love, not of sacrificial love; a god of license, not of demanding love.
Therefore, when Christ is set before men as the Messiah of self-denying love and obedience, they react. Why? Because if they disobey Him and fail to live sacrificial lives, they bring judgment upon themselves. Within every society, Christ and His genuine followers are spoken against with varying degrees of reaction and persecution. The speaking against ranges all the way from simply ignoring believers to killing them (martyrdom).
Note the words spoken to Mary, “A sword shall pierce through thine own heart also.” This is a reference to the sorrow she was to experience at the cross, seeing her Son, the only begotten Son of God, rejected and killed by men (cp. John 19:25-27). But note also the purpose for the child’s death: to reveal the inner thoughts of man’s heart. Men either see the love of God revealed on the cross and surrender to the saving grace of God, or else they look upon the cross as a repulsive sight and reject the saving grace of God.
They either see Christ dying for their sins and receive the forgiveness of God offered by the cross, or else they recoil from the thought of sin within them and turn from the forgiveness of the cross (Matthew 16:21-23).
To which camp do you belong? You must come to Jesus Christ as your Savior. You are to be reconciled to God through the Christ. No matter who you are, you are called upon to embrace Jesus by faith in the saving grace of God provided through his Son; faith that receives the promise of God’s salvation even though you may not completely understand it; faith that receives Jesus as the only begotten Son of God.
Through His death, God has provided the way for sinful people to be reconciled to himself. Yes, the consolation of all the ages has come. In Him, you will find the comfort for which your heart yearns. You should not be like the Israelites were before the birth of Jesus, looking only to the past but indifferent about the future.
We are drawing ever nearer to the final consolation of God’s divine purposes. Christ is going to come again. He will inaugurate the new heaven and earth in which all the effects of sin and death will have vanished. There will be no sorrow, no sickness, no pain or suffering. Every tear will be wiped away. God himself will dwell with us!
That is what we are waiting for. It is for this consolation we long and pray. The Holy Spirit promises to each one who believes in Jesus Christ that we shall see that glorious day. We look forward to Christ’s second coming. And we can never be fully satisfied until that day has come.
Rev. Kayode Ilupeju,
Good News Baptist Church,
47/49, Olufemi Road,
Off Ogunlana Drive,
Surulere, Lagos.
Tel.: 0803-302-1008
