Luke 2: 25-35

I was not much into babies.  The only baby in my boyhood was my little sister who showed up to spoil my sole claim on my parents.   Later on I would see moms with babies but have little interest in them.  Until my wife and I got married and started thinking, well more than thinking about babies — we’re going to have one of those?

Well not quite yet.  It took a while for us to conceive.  When, we wondered?  Could something be wrong? But then came our first.  At long last, I got to hold that little one in my arms and since then it’s been a joy for me to hold babies.

What a joy it must have been for Simeon.  This Child wasn’t his child.  He didn’t even know Mary and Joseph.  But this was a child that he had waited for.  A child believers had yearned for since Adam and Eve.  But now the waiting was over.  This day in the temple, Simeon could know and so can you:

The Long awaited Child Has Come
I.  See Him for what He is  (25-32)
II. While Others do not.  (33-35)

Luke tells us about Simeon.  He was a devout believer who tried to live a godly life according to the Law of Moses.  He believed God’s Word of promise.  He would send the Messiah, the Christ.  So he was waiting. He was waiting for what the Messiah would bring to God’s people.  The consolation of Israel.

Think about that word consolation.  It means when calls you alongside, to comfort or encourage you.  How we need that as we go through this life.  This has been a season where I have seen tears of grief roll down some of your faces.  I know that some of you are struggling.  People like Simeon were struggling in their own way.  But here God calls you to his side.  The comfort he brings is not just some words.  No it’s a child whose very presence is God saying to us.   I am with you.

The Holy Spirit had told Simeon something very special.  He would get to see the Lord’s Christ before he died.  And this day, Simeon knew he had a divine appointment to keep.  The Spirit moved him to go to the temple to look for the Child.  But how could he know him with so many other parents there with their first born sons?  Somehow as Simeon moved through the temple courts, the Spirit told him that child is the One.

²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ²⁹“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. ³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation, ³¹which you have prepared in the sight of all people, ³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” Just imagine Simeon’s joy.  He now held him in his arms.  Do you realize what he was saying.  Lord, you did just what you promised.  The Long awaited Child has come.   I can now die in peace.

So can we.  At times, even the strongest believers fear death.  You and I weren’t supposed to die.  And the devil comes to torment us with doubts and fears.  So we need each other.  We need each other when we are weak and about to leave this life.  We need to remind each other of what it means that God sent his Son.  Simeon reminds us. When my time comes, you now allow me to depart in peace.

Why?    ³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation ³¹which you have prepared in the sight of all people,… Many a soldier has fallen to the ground wounded and helpless.  He needs rescue.  So do we.  On our own, we are in desperate need of rescue.  On our own, we have a record of sin a mile long that would condemn us to a real place called hell.

See the Child for what he is.  He is your salvation.  He is your rescue.  He is your forgiveness.  That’s why Simeon could not just die in peace but also live in peace.  And so can you.

For Jesus is the light of the Gentiles.  No one likes it when the rains come down so hard that the lights go out. Of course, we have candles and flashlights. Not so spiritually.  People grope around in their own spiritual darkness without hope and without God.  Some try to invent their own light, their own truth, their own gods or just deny there is a god. But it’s still darkness.  Only worse. for such people have deceived themselves.

See the Child for what he is.  He is the light that chases away that darkness.  Remember what Jesus said to Philip when he asked him:  show us the Father  Don’t you know me Philip after all this time! For to know this Child, to know Jesus is to know God.   It’s to know God as your Father who loves you and cares for you.

That’s why this child is also the glory of Israel. Jesus was born a Jew, a descendant of Jacob, or Israel.  But as John wrote: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. (1:11) Yet this Child born to Mary is their glory.  He is the greatest Jew ever born, that descendant of King David who now rules on high.  So let us pray for our Jewish friends and neighbors that they too may see this Child and believe in Him as Simeon did. The long awaited child has come, the glory of Israel.

Of course, there are times when we are not so sure.  There are times when we don’t see so clearly.  Just the other day, someone said. Pastor, I hope I am believing the right things.  The devil loves it when he can shake our faith.  And it would sure be easier if everyone saw this Child as Simeon did. Our light and salvation.  Peace for living and dying.  But many do not.  Yet it should come as no surprise.  The Holy Spirit showed Simeon what others would say about this long awaited Child.  So see him for what he is while others do not.

Bring up the name Jesus.  Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are all but guaranteed to get a reaction one way or another.  I used to think if only I could tell people about Jesus and what he’s done for them then so many more will believe.  How could they not? But look what Simeon prophesied by the Holy Spirit.  “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed The very same Child, the very same message is like a precious stone to some but for others it is like a rock that people stumble over in their unbelief.  The Child, this Jesus, such a joy to us is an offense, a kind of foolishness to others.

And look what his mother, Mary, had to look forward to. Many a parent looks at his/her child and wonders what life with bring. Sometimes it brings great sadness.  I think of a mother we know who was probably feeling great pain this Christmas over her Navy son.  This past year his plane crashed in a training accident with no survivors.  Simeon tells Mary that she would feel that kind of pain one day. …a sword will pierce your own soul too. And she would as she looked upon her Son on a cross.

Why would it come to that?  The easy answer is that his enemies got him killed.  But there was something far bigger going on than that evil.  This Child, the son of Mary and the Son of God had come to be our salvation.  To do that a kind of sword would pierce his soul.  The sword of God’s justice for your guilt and mine, a sword that would cause him to cry out. My God, my God why have you have forsaken me. Why?  We know. For God made him who had no sin to be sin for us. He did not spare his Son but gave him up for us all.  We believe that. That message has raised us up to be God’s children through faith in Jesus.  It’s given us hope that shines in the darkness.  So don’t let this world drag you down.  When you go to college, you will find yourself in classes with teachers who think it’s their mission to save you from this so called myth.  Don’t let them.  For this long awaited Child has saved you and made you God’s own.

There only one thing left to do.  Simeon took him up in his arms and praised God.  Take him up in your heart and do the same. Amen.