I'd like you to take your Bible and to turn with
me to Luke chapter 2. We're going to look tonight
at another one of these individuals who is on
the fringe of the Christmas story. Last week
we looked at John the Baptist. The greatest of
those born among women, said the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tonight we're going to look at a man that some
of you may not have heard about before. Although
if you have read your Bible, you will recognize
him. All we know about him is found in Luke chapter
2. We'll begin in verse 21. And when eight days
were completed before his circumcision, His name
was then called Jesus, the name given by the
angel before he was conceived in the womb. And
when the days for their purification according
to the law of Moses were completed, they brought
him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
As it is written in the law of the Lord, every
firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called
holy to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice according
to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle doves or two young pigeons. And behold,
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
And this man was righteous and devout, looking
for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit
was upon him. And it had been revealed to him
by the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death
before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he
came in the Spirit into the temple. And when
the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry
out for him the custom of the law, then he took
him into his arms and blessed God and said, Now,
Lord, thou dost let thy servant thy bondservant,
depart in peace, according to thy word. For my
eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast
prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light
of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory
of thy people Israel. And his father and mother
were amazed at the things which were being said
about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to
Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed
for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and
for a sign to be opposed, and a sword will pierce
even your own soul, to the end that the thoughts
from many hearts may be revealed. The Lord Jesus
Christ was taken by his parents to the temple
in Jerusalem. in order to fulfill the requirements
of the law for a Jewish male. That was because
the Lord Jesus Christ desired that he might fulfill
all righteousness. Therefore, he voluntarily
placed himself under the law, that in every respect
he might observe it and keep it for our sakes.
On this occasion, as they brought their eight
-day -old infant to the temple, they were confronted
by an old man who apparently had long been a
part of the temple scene. As I said, this is
the only reference to Simeon. The words really
are brief, but what occurs here is not unimportant.
I'd like for us to think about Simeon tonight
as one of these people, one of these significant
people, who is often placed on the fringe of
the Christmas story. Let's consider three things
about Simeon. His person. What kind of a person
was he? Well, we find out in the text that is
before us. Let's consider, secondly, his prayer.
which is significant. And then, thirdly, let's
consider his prophecy. Simeon is described in
verses 25 through 27 in a five -fold way, which
gives us an insight as to the kind of person
that he was. In the first place, we read that
he was righteous. That does not mean that Simeon
was a perfect man or that he was sinless. What
it does mean is that he was right with God. Of
course, he lived before the cross. The Lord Jesus
Christ had not been sacrificed. In fact, he holds
Jesus in his arms. But here was a man who was
justified before God by his faith. His faith
was in God's promise of a coming Redeemer. And
that righteous position before God overflowed
in the way that he lived so that his moral character
can be also described as righteous. And so we
have a man who is known as a righteous person.
But there's a second word that's used of him.
It says he was devout. That is a word that we
don't use much anymore because it seems to have
certain overtones that belong to the pilgrim
era of our country. But the term devout is a
very warm kind of word, really. For to be devout
meant to be pious in the very best sense of the
term. It is a mingling of love and fear. The
word really describes for us what it meant to
have the fear of the Lord in the biblical sense.
As to his religious makeup, Simeon is described
as a devout person. He realized as he served
in the temple that this was the temple of God.
Furthermore, he knew the claims of God and the
prophecies of God upon the nation of Israel.
And in a day when there was a great deal of self
-righteousness and hypocrisy on the one hand,
and on the other, a lot of theological liberalism
among the Jews, the two extremes being the Pharisees
and the Sadducees, here is a man who is properly
described by the Holy Spirit as being both righteous
and devout, a God -fearing person. Furthermore,
we see that he was a man of faith, for it says
concerning him in verse 25, he was looking for
the consolation of Israel. This term, consolation
of Israel, is actually a messianic name or title
for the Lord Jesus Christ. The term consolation
is the same one used of the Holy Spirit in the
Gospel of John. The paraclete, the encourager,
that is the one who is called alongside for assistance.
One of the names given to the Lord Jesus Christ,
a name which we sang in that song a few moments
ago, is the consolation of Israel. What a beautiful
name for him. And I doubt that there was ever
a time when the Jewish people needed consolation
more than in that time. He was to be their encouragement.
That was God's plan for him. As the Messiah,
the one who was called to them to aid them. Israel
had been in spiritual darkness basically for
400 years. Their last prophet Malachi laid down
his quill and that was the end. No more revelation
from God. And during those 400 years of darkness,
there were only a few, only a few who truly looked
for the consolation of Israel. But one of them
was Simeon. When it says that he looked, it means
that he eagerly anticipated the coming of this
one who was called the consolation of Israel.
This word to look means to wait, to expect. It
is used elsewhere in this very gospel of a slave
scanning the horizon, looking for his master
to come back. And so it seems as though, perhaps
particularly because of the specific revelation
he had, Simeon Daly was expectantly longing for
the coming of the consolation of Israel, the
Christ. And so he was a man of faith, a man of
faith. Furthermore, we see about him in our text
that he was a spiritual man. He was a man who
waited upon the Lord. We notice several times
the mention of the Holy Spirit in relation to
him, and you must realize that is unusual in
the Old Testament. For there was not the ministry
of the Holy Spirit to believers in those days
as there is today. It says regarding him that
the Holy Spirit was upon him. Now that is unusual.
There was a special ministry of the Holy Spirit
to this man. And it says that that included,
verse 26, that the Holy Spirit revealed to him
that he would not see death before he had seen.
the Lord's Christ. And it says, and he came in
the Spirit into the temple. So here was a man
who waited upon the Lord, a man who walked with
God, and the result of that was that the Holy
Spirit revealed some things to him, and the Holy
Spirit guided his steps. Now may I make an application
before I go on to say that that is part of the
ministry of the Holy Spirit to us today, to be
our teacher, to show us what God has revealed
in His Word, and to direct and to guide our lives.
We can only know that ministry, though, when,
like Simeon, we walk with God and we wait upon
Him. this man had not obeyed the Holy Spirit.
Let's just suppose for a minute that he was resting,
being an older person perhaps in the middle of
the day, resting and preparing himself to go
back to finish his duties. And suddenly the Holy
Spirit impressed upon Simeon as he rested, go
now to the temple. And let's just suppose that
he stretched there on his couch and said, Lord,
I'll do it later. Not now, please. What if he
had been disobedient to the Lord's specific direction
to him at that moment? Think of what he would
have missed. He would have missed seeing the
Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, he would have
missed having his name in the Bible. He would
have missed out on a lot, but he was obedient.
The Holy Spirit prompted him, and away he went
to the temple. And at that very moment, coincidentally,
Mary and Joseph were walking into the temple
with their new baby in her arms. And I think
that that says something to us. This is probably
an application out of context, but I'm going
to do it anyway. How do we come to worship? Do
we come in the Spirit, as did Simeon? Do we come
with the Holy Spirit having prepared and prompted
us to come for worship? Do we come expecting
God to say something to us, to do something in
our lives? Simeon did, and we ought to follow
his example. Well, furthermore about him, we
see that he was a humble man. You'll notice in
verse 29 that he calls himself a slave, a bond
servant. And I would compare his humility to
that of John the Baptist. You see, it's that
kind of a person that God really deals with.
The kind of person who walks humbly with his
God, as the Old Testament prophet commanded.
The kind of one who perhaps doesn't care who
gets the credit, who gets the glory. as long
as he's obedient and does what God wants him
to do. We see the humility of this man, Simeon.
And then in verse 28, we see Simeon's prayer.
This prayer is sometimes called the nunc dimittis,
the two first words in this prayer in the Latin.
It means, now Lord, let your servant depart.
In this prayer, Simeon says, Lord, I'm ready
to go. Lord, I'm ready to die. Only a true believer
can say that. Only one who knows that his after
death, his eternal destiny is secure. Simeon
had suddenly found the fulfillment of the promise
he had received. He held in his arms the babe,
the Christ. And he says, Lord, I'm ready to go.
I like that. And then he calls the Lord Jesus
Christ three names, each of which is important.
He says in verse 30, My eyes have seen thy salvation.
I believe S can be capitalized because here the
Lord Jesus Christ is described as the salvation.
Of course, his very name, Jesus, means Jehovah
is salvation. He is the anointed one, the salvation
of God, the one appointed from eternity past
to bring redemption for the people of God. This
is he. And Simeon addresses God, holding him
in his arms. And then he calls him secondly in
verse 32. The light of revelation to the Gentiles.
And again, light should be capitalized. The reference
here goes back to Isaiah chapter 42, verse 6.
Chapter 49, verse 6. Where the light of the Gentiles
is promised by God. The one who would come and
lift the darkness off of the pagan Gentiles of
the world. My friend, it's because the Lord Jesus
Christ bears this title. that most of us are
saved tonight. For he was born of the Jews, but
he is not just the Savior of the Jews. He is
the Savior of Jew and Gentile alike, thank God.
We who are Gentiles and who were at one time
cut off from the promises of God now have been
brought into those promises through the grace,
the grace of God. We've talked about that already
in Romans chapters 9 through 11. You know, it's
interesting, just as a sidelight, that in Acts
chapter 13, verses 44 to 47, the Apostle Paul
quotes that same prophecy from Isaiah, and he
says in that case that he and Barnabas are the
light to the Gentiles. That's an interesting
thought, isn't it? They had been sent to preach
among the Jews, but if the Jews were going to
reject the message, he says, we will take it
to the Gentiles as Isaiah prophesied that we
would be the light to the Gentiles. I think there's
an application there for us. For while this is
the name and the title of the Lord Jesus Christ,
dear people, we are called upon by God also to
be the light of the world. We are to reflect
him who is the light. of the world. But he has
set us to be his illuminers, illuminaries, to
reflect his light to the pagans around us in
their darkness. And then he calls the Lord Jesus
Christ by a third title, the glory, again I think
capital G belongs there, the glory of thy people
Israel. When you said the glory to the Jews,
what did they think of? A good Jew would immediately
think of the Shekinah, that visible manifestation
of the presence of God, which they call the glory.
I believe this word is so rich, which Simeon
says, because the Lord Jesus Christ is the Shekinah
of God, the glory of God come in the flesh. Isn't
that what John says when he corroborates in John
1, 14? And the word became flesh and dwelled
amongst us, and we beheld his what? His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. The Shekinah of God
come in the flesh. It's a curious order, isn't
it, these names? He calls them first the salvation
of God. then the light of the Gentiles, and then
lastly the glory of Israel. It is not accidental
that they come in that order, because that is
the order of his manifestation. He was manifested
as the salvation of God by his work, his saving
work at the cross and at the resurrection. But
then that message being rejected by national
Israel went to the Gentiles first. and has been
a light to the Gentiles primarily during this
age in which we live. But my friend, there is
a day coming when the Jewish people will be converted
as a nation, and then the Lord Jesus Christ will
be their glory. The glory of Israel will be realized.
Simeon amazed. Mary and Joseph by his words.
Simeon then blessed them, but it says that he
spoke to Mary these words. And notice that there
are three specific prophecies given regarding
this child. The first one I want to point out
is in verse 35. You'll notice... that in the
middle of his prophecy, Simeon interrupts himself
and addressing Mary says, and a sword will pierce
even your own soul. What does Simeon mean by
this? Simeon... is delivering the first word
given after the birth of the Lord Jesus regarding
his coming suffering. He is telling Mary that
there will come a day when because of this child
she has born, it will be as though a sword pierced
her soul. And when was that? Undoubtedly it was
as she stood at the cross and saw this child
that she brought into the world crucified. Who
can know the pain of that mother? Who can tell
the piercing agony in her soul as she saw her
firstborn cruelly mistreated and nailed to a
cross maybe those of us who are parents perhaps
more specifically maybe those of you who Our
mothers can begin to appreciate how this prophecy
must have struck her years later as she reflected
upon it. You say, oh, how did she remember that?
The Spirit of God brought it to her mind. It
says in the context here that she hid these things
away in her heart. Not fully understanding them,
she nonetheless remembered them. And we believe
that it was because Luke spoke to Mary as he
was writing this in preparation for the writing
of this gospel that he was aware of this whole
incident. Only Luke tells about it among the
gospel writers. Mary, the mother of our Lord,
was one of his sources for getting information
about all of this. And it was Mary. who recounted
for Luke the prophecy of Simeon in the temple
that day. And a sword will pierce your own soul.
But there's another word of prophecy here that
is given. He says, this child is appointed for
the fall and the rise of many in Israel. Not
only do we see the prophecy about his suffering,
but we see the prophecy about his being set as
a stone, actually a stumbling stone for the nation
of Israel because of their unbelief and their
pride in their self -righteousness. And may I
say that the Lord Jesus Christ is still today
a stumbling stone to those who in their self
-righteousness and unbelief reject and refuse
him. For a person rejects him to his own damnation.
If one turns away from the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is no hope for his soul for all of eternity.
For there is salvation in Jesus Christ alone.
But for some in Israel, he would not be a stone
for falling, but for rising. sort of a stepping
stone, or to put it in the language of the New
Testament, a cornerstone. For those who will
trust this child who grew up and went to the
cross and rose again and is now ascended to heaven.
For those, I say, who trust him, he is not a
stumbling stone, but he becomes the chief cornerstone,
not only in the church, but in their lives. He
becomes the foundation for the life. so that
the life has stability and purpose and eternal
destiny. What is your relationship to this one?
Is he to you a stumbling stone because to this
point at least you've turned from him, you've
rejected him? Is he the cornerstone of your life?
Is your life being built on him? It's one way
or the other. He also calls him in verse 35,
or the last part of verse 34 rather, a sign to
be opposed to the end that the thoughts from
many hearts may be revealed. He's a sign. The
Apostle Paul tells us that the Jews continually
sought for a what? A sign. They were always looking
for a sign. How do we know? Let's find a sign.
What's a sign? And yet they had the greatest
of signs, which Jesus himself called the sign
of the prophet who? Jonah. And that sign was
that he, as the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
would go into the earth for three days and three
nights and come out again. Just as Jonah went
into the belly of the fish and came out after
three days and three nights. He says to this
generation will be given that sign and yet the
nation as a whole rejected that sign. He says
he will reveal the thoughts from many hearts.
And that's exactly what Jesus does. He reveals
the thoughts of the heart, the attitude of the
heart toward God. One cannot be neutral. regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ. One may think he is neutral,
but he cannot be neutral successfully. One either
accepts him, who he is and what he has done,
or one actually rejects him. Neutral we cannot
be. What will you do with Jesus? What will you
do with this one whom Simeon welcomed? and held
in his arms this Christ. Have you received him?
Do you know him as your Savior? You say, look,
preacher, I've been raised in church. I was baptized
as a baby. And I've been through classes. I've
been confirmed. I've been faithful in attending
church. And you're asking me if I trust Jesus?
Yes. Yes, I do ask you that. Because you see,
there is all the difference between heaven and
hell from knowing about Jesus and knowing him
personally through faith. You see, in Simeon's
day, there were many people in the temple, but
most of them missed Jesus because their religion
was very superficial and outward. But here was
a man who truly trusted God, and he was able
to hold the Christ in his arms. Now it's possible
today for a person to be in church, to be very
religious, to go through all kinds of ritual,
routine, and classes, etc., etc., and still to
go to hell. But one must receive Jesus Christ
personally into the heart to be saved. Have you
done that? If not, will you do it tonight? Will
you let him be the light of your inner darkness?
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the study of
Simeon and how he instructs us as believers and
sets an example before us, though he lived in
a different age than we. We would pray in so
many ways to emulate him as a man of God, a faithful
man, a devout man, a spiritual man. who knew
what it was to be taught of the Spirit and directed
by the Spirit and was obedient. Father, I especially
pray for any here who do not know the Lord Jesus.
Help them right now to understand the difference
between religion and being saved. With our heads
bowed, our eyes closed, as we wait upon the Lord,
just before... closing the service, I wonder
if there's someone here who would be honest enough
to say, Pastor Cole, I have been trusting in
my religion. My faith has been resting upon my
baptism, my confirmation, my past, my works.
But I see that that's not enough. And I've never
trusted Jesus Christ truly in the heart. But
tonight I would want to do that. Tonight I would
pray and receive him. Would you lift your hand
up and put it down so that I can pray for you?
I'm not going to come back and get you. I'm not
going to embarrass you. But if tonight you would
say, yes, I want to trust the Lord Jesus Christ
this evening, would you lift your hand up and
put it down right now? I don't want to miss you.
Lift it high. Father in heaven, how we love you
and how we thank you for your son. We thank you
that he's not just the babe in the manger. But
having come into the world that way, he then
went to the cross and became our sin bearer and
is now our risen Lord, ascended to heaven and
soon to return. May we tonight rejoice in him
as did Simeon. And we pray this in his name.
Amen.