Wednesday
Wednesday
The Song of Simeon
My eyes have seen your salvation … a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.
Luke 2:30, 32
We are introduced today to that godly old man named Simeon. He was eagerly awaiting the Messiah, and God had told him that he would not die before he had seen him. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he entered the temple courts at the precise moment that Joseph and Mary arrived there with their eight-day-old son. It was a marvelous example of divine synchronization.
Now Simeon had the spiritual discernment to recognize Jesus. He took him up in his arms, not just instinctively to give him a cuddle, but as a symbolic gesture of recognition, which he interpreted in his song. “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word” (Luke 2:29 NAB).
Firstly, Simeon saw Jesus as the salvation of God. What his eyes had actually seen was Mary’s child; what he said he had seen was God’s salvation, the Messiah God had sent to liberate us from the penalty and prison of sin.
Secondly, Simeon saw Jesus as the light of the world, who would both enlighten the nations and bring glory to Israel. Consciously or unconsciously he echoed Isaiah 49:6, a verse that was later to have an important place in Paul’s mission theology.
Thirdly, Simeon saw Jesus as a cause of division, a rock that some would stumble over and others would build on. He would cause some to rise and others to fall. Confronted by Jesus, neutrality is impossible.
The story of Simeon is a lesson in spiritual recognition. May God give us the discernment to see beneath surface appearances to the reality of Jesus Christ!
For further reading: Luke 2:25–35