SIMEON THE MESSENGER (Lk. 2:26-28) People, - past and present, - have claimed special infillings and manifestations of the Holy Spirit so, what does Luke mean when he presents this man Simeon by using these terms? Lk. 2:25 the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost... 27 he came by the Spirit into the temple. The Holy Spirit came upon Simeon over thirty years before the Day of Pentecost. Prior to Pentecost, in the Old Testament era, the Holy Spirit had already rested upon a number of people, for example, Ex. 35:31 And he [the LORD] hath filled him [Bezaleel] with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship Num. 27:18 the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit I Sam. 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. However, in that era, the Holy Spirit s presence did not always remain, for example when Samuel anointed Saul, he declared, I Sam. 10:6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man 9 And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day. 10 And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. However, later on, we read that because of his disobedience to the Lord, I Sam. 16:14 the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul. Other men upon whom the Holy Spirit came for a specific purpose at a specific time included Samson (Judges 14:6), Balaam (Num. 24:2), Daniel (Dan. 4:8). They were singled out because God had a function they would perform on His behalf. Similarly, in the Jerusalem temple on this day when Jesus was carried in by his mother, God had a man set in place, with a special anointing of the Holy Spirit. This was a particular priest whom God had specifically selected for the task and Lk. 2:26 revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So, here we have Simeon, just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him (Lk. 2:25). He believed in the consolation of Israel in literal fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies. He lived in expectation of the coming of the Messiah the anointed of the Lord Who would restore the Kingdom to Israel the Kingdom that had been promised to David, with all the blessings previously covenanted to Abraham. Now, there is no doubt Simeon acknowledged Jesus to be this Messiah because that is what he affirmed when he held Him in his arms, Lk. 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
2 What a testimony! He had been living for this moment when He would see the Messiah and the Lord made it so special it was even better than he could have imagined! He had been looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, and the Messiah came straight to him! What a privilege! The waiting is over. The watching has ended. What will that day be like when Jesus Christ returns to this earth for the second time, and we shall rise to meet Him in the air, and we shall be with Him forever! That is what we read in Scripture but don t forget our earthly words and earthly descriptions fall so far short in their ability to adequately describe the glories of God on that great day, as Isaiah wrote, Is. 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. And there, standing in the temple with Jesus in his arms, this was more than Simeon could ever have dreamt of And when Jesus returns, - no matter how often we read and study the passages concerning that great event, - to use John s description, - I Jn. 3:2 it doth not yet appear what we shall be It is beyond the comprehension of our earthly minds! And here is old Simeon, - a man upon whom the Holy Spirit was, - and he is in the presence of the Messiah. His heart is at peace. His mind is settled. He is ready to go home to the Lord. What a way to go! It is the only way to depart this life having met Jesus. If you have never met the Lord Jesus Christ, and if you have never invited Him to be your Saviour, and if He is not your Lord and Master you are not ready to depart this life! You haven t made the preparations that are necessary for God to welcome you into Heaven. If you die, and depart from this scene of time, you will go the only way that sin can take you for you will descend into Hell and you will realise what you should have done when you had the opportunity to receive Christ as your Saviour but it will be too late then! You will not be able to roll the clock back. You will not be able to cry out to God, I want to believe now for the opportunity will have been taken away from you forever II Cor. 6:2 now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. So, here is Simeon, and he belonged to the small remnant who was expecting the Messiah, Christ. He was convinced by the Old Testament and its promises concerning Him and His Kingdom. He was one of those who took the Old Testament literally, and he quoted from Isaiah who also took God s promises literally. Isaiah s writings are the most quoted of all the prophets in the New Testament over sixty-five times! His writing style is unrivalled in the versatility of its expression, its imagery, and the richness of its vocabulary. His vocabulary consists of 2,186 different words compared to Ezekiel s 1,535. Isaiah was a fantastic writer!
3 He prophesied during the reign of four kings (perhaps five), at the volatile period when the ten northern tribes of Israel had been separated from the two southern tribes of Judah. He prophesied King Sennacherib of Assyria would not capture Jerusalem (37:6-7,36-38), and he was right! He prophesied Hezekiah, the thirteenth king of Judah, would be healed from his life-threatening illness (38:5), and he was. Long before King Cyrus of Persia appeared on the scene, Isaiah had already correctly named him as Judah s deliverer from the captivity in Babylon (44:28; 45:1). Isaiah also prophesied Jesus would be born of a virgin (7:14). He prophesied many aspects of Christ s ministry while on earth, including, - in very vivid description, - the Saviour s death on the cross, in chapter fifty-three. They all took place literally. And, - under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, - Isaiah has also spoken of the return of the King to establish His kingdom on this earth, and with a track record like Isaiah has who would disbelieve him! And this was how Simeon was focussed. He was really, truly, genuinely, passionately waiting for the Messiah! Old man or not, he had made his way up the steps to the temple every day! Hail, rain, or sunshine, he was there! He had read and reread the prophets, and he believed the Messiah was on His way. Of course, there were others in his profession who didn t. They would have scorned how he believed. These were the new set of professional priests and temple staff Remember how Hophni and Phineas took over from their father Eli and how Joel and Abijah took over from their father Samuel and neither of the four sons followed in the ways of their fathers. It was just a job/career to them that was all! And those types of priests, - with very little spirituality, if any, - would have looked down their noses at old Simeon, and how he believed. But Simeon belonged to the true Israel, for as Paul was later to amplify in Rom. 9:6, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. He wasn t referring to Gentiles, or some so-called new Israel Paul was writing about his kinsmen according to the flesh (Rom. 9:3) the Jews. The true Israel are those, - like Simeon, - who believe God s literal promises made in the Old Testament. It was to Simeon and his people who studied and believed the ancient prophecies of this Book, given to a small nation, and a remnant within them. And thirty-three years after Christ s birth there were 120 believers meeting in an upper room, - a small number in relation to the multitudes in Jerusalem during that religious season. That number increased on the Day of Pentecost when 3,000 believed in Jesus to be the Messiah, and then a further 5,000 believed but the true Israel was a little remnant compared to the size of the whole nation.
4 John the Baptist s parents, Zacharias and Elizabeth, were part of that remnant, as were Joseph and Mary, along with old Simeon and Anna and their friends and the shepherds were added, along with the first Gentiles (the wise men) and all those who were waiting for the consolation of Israel (Lk. 2:25) for redemption in Jerusalem (v.38). Whilst these were undoubtedly spiritually dark days across the whole land, yet the Lord had kept a people who had the blessed hope of the coming of the Messiah in their hearts. Yes, some of the better-off people like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea came to believe, but generally, the people who followed Jesus were the ordinary, lowly, non-descript type, and that is the kind God often chooses, as Paul explained, I Cor. 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. The Holy Spirit made sure Simeon was there that day. The Holy Spirit made sure he met the parents, and I m very certain, - in between verse twenty-seven and verse twenty-eight, - Mary and Joseph told him all about how she had conceived and he would have remembered Isaiah s prophecy, Is. 7:14 Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. I m sure it clicked with him rightaway! They would have told him they had come all the way from Galilee That also would have reminded Simeon of what Isaiah had prophesied would take place in Galilee of the nations (Is. 9:2), for it was written, in Galilee of the nations. 2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. All the verses he had studied flooded upon His mind as he stood and listened to the young Mary and Joseph telling about the birth of Jesus. Here is a man who was prepared Do you think it is important to be prepared? Would you have been prepared? Some people think you waste your time looking into eschatology, the Bible s teaching on the last things. They see no point in examining the prophetic portions concerning Christ s return because there are so many conflicting views. But that wasn t how Simeon saw it! I believe we ought to take Simeon as our example. He heeded and saw the great and wonderful times ahead the Scriptures promise and, - like him, - we see how many of the Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled when Jesus came the first time. Surely, then, it gives us the confidence to believe those remaining Old Testament promises, - along with the promises from the New Testament yet to be fulfilled, - that relate to Christ s second coming! There is no need to complicate it. Just take it as it is for that is the way Simeon took it.
5 The majority of the Jews missed out the first time Jesus came, Jn. 1:10 He was in the world and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not but Simeon received Him and Anna, and Mary and Joseph, and Zacharias and Elizabeth, and the shepherds and the wise men, and a number of others. They knew the Redeemer had arrived, and He was in their midst. God gave Simeon great news for those ancient days but also through Simeon, God has given great news for us today. In the same way He promised His Son would come to the people and land of Israel, His Word promises He will do it again. And the angels confirmed it to the disciples on the Mount of Olives, Acts 1:11 this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. How did He go up into Heaven? 9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. How is He coming back? Rev. 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him. We have looked at Simeon, the man and at Simeon, the messenger. I had intended to be finished but there is too much of relevance to rush through, so next time we shall complete our study of Simeon by looking at his message. But what an example Simeon was! He was prepared. He had read God s Word, and he believed it to be true for he was ready when Jesus came to the temple. He was watching. What does the Word say to us? Lk. 12:40 Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. I trust our attention will not be taken up with the things of the world that profiteth me nothing but instead, God will find us looking unto our Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is [today] set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:2). That is the glorious hope of the Redeemed! May God bless our study of His Word! Amen.