Luke 2:26–32

We know nothing about Simeon except his character: he was upright and devout, and he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. His hope was not just for his own good, not even for his own spiritual good. His heart longed for the blessing of the people of God. He felt their condition deeply, and he knew what alone could meet it — and Who alone could bring real comfort. The Spirit let him know that he would not see death until he had seen the Christ, Jehovah's Anointed.

His privilege was beyond words. It went past the privilege of all the famous saints and prophets who had spoken before of the coming Messiah. He would not only know that Christ was born; he would truly see Him, know Him, and hold Him as his own... There, by the blessed Holy Spirit, Simeon was given to know that the baby on Mary's knees was none other than Jehovah's Christ.

People who came often to the temple courts saw nothing new here. A poor couple, their poverty shown by the mother's offering, came up to the altar with their firstborn son in his parent's arms. But Simeon knew what others did not, not even the priest on duty, because the Spirit of the Lord had taught him: the child of that poor mother was the Christ of God.

Another sign of God's pleasure in this devoted man was this: "it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (verse 26). What joy must have filled his heart when this revelation from God came to him! What is more, "he came in the Spirit into the temple" at the very hour when the parents of Jesus brought Him in "to do for him according to the custom of the Law" (verse 27). The Spirit rested on this godly man. The Spirit gave him the revelation. The Spirit led him to see Jesus, so that he could say, "my eyes have seen your salvation" (verse 30).

He can never hope to see the day when the Messiah is shown openly to Israel. Might he not have complained about his hard lot? He has to die just as the fulfilment of his hopes comes into sight. Yet all he said was, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace"... His heart's love was set on the Christ of God. If the Christ is to go, he is content to go. He has no wish to live if Jesus is to die!

He belonged to the faithful few in Israel who, in dark days of decline and turning away from God, held fast to the Word and waited for it to be fulfilled as promised. The Lord had a faithful few then, who waited for His first coming. Now His faithful people wait for the blessed Hope, His coming again to receive them to Himself... The Spirit led him into the temple at the right moment. His waiting ended when he held the child in his arms.

In Simeon the Holy Spirit was working with singular energy. The Spirit could not yet live inside him, but He was upon him. Through the Spirit he had a revelation, and the Spirit guided him into the temple at the exact moment to meet the child Jesus.

Here is a vessel that God can use, and whom the Spirit does use. He is well prepared to receive the Lord in the temple. Whatever is done in this holy matter must agree fully with the mind of God. The thing to stress is the holy character of the vessels God had prepared to handle this situation rightly.

Simeon is introduced in the condition of a priest, coming into the temple. God Himself had given him light, and in the power of the Spirit of God he was ready to take in the occasion with understanding. One feature of the opening chapters of Luke is the presence of the Holy Spirit as the power that moves the people mentioned. The Lord Jesus Christ is set before them from outside, while the Spirit works inside them to prepare their affections to receive Him.

God is good, and He would give suitable witnesses. So this godly man came in at the very time when the parents brought in the infant Jesus to do for Him "according to the custom of the Law." But he sees that in that baby was One altogether above the law. In grace He might become subject to it. His parents were, of course, right to show full respect for its rules.

His parents had brought the Baby in to do for Him "according to the custom of the Law." So we have both features of Galatians 4:4: "born of woman, born under the law." It is important to see that He did come "born under the law." That was necessary if blessing was to come to the Gentiles. Every righteous requirement was fulfilled.

The Lord must appear, and where must He appear? In the temple (Malachi 3:1). How could He appear in the temple if there was no temple on Mount Zion? So the temple had to be built, because the Messiah was to appear in the temple when He came. When we open the Gospels we find the record of the Holy Baby brought into the temple at a set time. The Holy Spirit led Simeon there at that same moment, as Luke tells us.

The people who filled its courts day by day often saw a poor couple approach the altar with their firstborn son in his parent's arms. The mother's offering showed how poor they were. There was nothing new in that. But Simeon knew what others did not, not even the priest on duty. The Spirit of the Lord had taught him that the child of that poor mother was the Christ of God.

We read that Simeon "took" Jesus up in his arms. It should be "received Him into his arms". Every reverent soul will see at once that this fits better, and it is in fact the correct word. He received Him into his arms, we may be sure, from the hands of Mary. What a sight! Think of that devoted mother handing her Child into the arms of old Simeon! Think of Simeon, given the priceless privilege of taking into his arms that Child in whom God would establish and perfect all His purposes!

Simeon had received the revelation that he would not die until He had come. The Spirit led him into the temple at the right moment. His waiting ended when he held the child in his arms. He was a baby, like any other baby. Yet faith saw in Him what He is, the Lord's salvation for His people; He who had come to do the great work.

Simeon knew what no one else there knew — not even the priest on duty. The Spirit of the Lord had taught him that the child of that poor mother was the Christ of God.

The word "blessed" carries two senses here. Simeon blessed God as a creature worshipping his Creator. This is the worship that man may give to God alone, and that God alone can rightly receive.

He had the Child in his arms, and at such a moment you would expect him to bless the Infant. But he does not. For he had that Child in his arms, not as a weak infant to entrust to God's care, but as God's Salvation. In that glorious character, at the moment of nature's complete weakness, he held Him up and gloried in Him. The lesser is blessed by the greater. It was not for Simeon to bless Jesus, though he could rightly bless Mary.

Everything around him spoke of the law of Moses, and of the singing David had set up to go with it. Yet he turned his back on it all. He must often have heard the musicians with cymbals and trumpets, and the human voice — the sweetest instrument of all — praising Jehovah together. He must often have watched the service at the altar too. None of that held him now. He was taken up with the infant child of a poor mother, and all the sacrifices offered on that altar, as we know, were only pictures of Him.

Simeon — "Received Him into his arms, and blessed God." Dear friends, I want to say this to you tonight. If you will receive this blessed Man and hold Him as Simeon did, substance will be formed in your heart, and out of it you can praise and bless our God and Father. Simeon did not have the light we have. He did not have the Holy Spirit in the way we have Him. Yet he stood there under the power, guidance, influence and teaching of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit always calls attention to the preciousness and glory of Christ.

Verse 29 gives us a remarkable statement. Simeon says, "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace." The word "Lord" here is really "Despot." We see in it the effect of a man moving under the power of the Spirit of God. Simeon recognised that supreme power was with God, not with the Emperor. Only a person who has the advantage of the indwelling Spirit can understand where this world is heading.

Notice that the word used here for "Lord" is not the usual one. The same term occurs in Luke 2:29, Acts 4:24 and Jude 4. It means the Lord as "sovereign master." It is also used in 2 Peter 2:1: "denying the Master who bought them." This is not the nearness in which we know Him as "our Lord." It is the general relation of authority in which the Lord is Master of the whole world — of all men, whether bad or good.

The eyes of Simeon have seen God's salvation, and he begs of the sovereign Lord that he may go.

He begins with what is personal to himself. God is acting in His sovereignty, and he can rejoice — for sovereignty with Him means sovereign goodness. He has fulfilled His word to him, and now he may depart in peace. What, indeed, could man have sought or imagined on God's part so blessed as what He has done? Who could have thought what the Babe in Simeon's arms meant for the heart that could take it in?

He sees that in that babe there was One altogether above the law. In grace He might come under it, and His parents were of course right to honour every one of its rules. But Simeon "received Him into his arms, and blessed God." He said, "Lord, now You are letting Your bondman go according to Your word, in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation." The law of Moses never could let a sinful man depart in peace. So to speak, it never ought to. ... It was not imagination, but solid faith; it was "according to Your word." There is nothing so sure as the testimonies of God and His Word.

Here was this aged saint. He had spent a long life "waiting for the consolation of Israel." Now, just before his eyes must close in death, God lets him see as an infant the One who is the fulfilment of his hopes... He might well have complained about his hard lot, having to die just as the fulfilment of his hopes was in sight. Yet in fact he simply said, "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace." He foresaw the approaching tragedy of the Cross, and more than that, his heart's love centred in the Christ of God. If the Christ is to go, he is content to go. He has no wish to live if Jesus is to die!

Suppose a man walks with God and has finished his course. He knows that his work is done, and he is aware that the Lord's time has come. He has companionship and communion with the Lord he has walked with. If he only comes to a bed of sickness, he is not ready to go yet. He is not afraid; God is teaching him something else. But when God's time has come, all is joy and readiness. He feels like Simeon: Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace.

It is important, I think, to link salvation with the Lord Himself. We have it in present and enjoyed possession when we have Him. Simeon's words show this plainly. He held the infant Jesus in his arms and said, "My eyes have seen Your salvation." The Lord's words to Zacchaeus show it too: "Today salvation has come to this house." He was there, and He was salvation. I advise young Christians to spell salvation "H.I.M." and not "I.T."

Simeon knew, at last, that here was God's salvation. The work was not yet done, but here was the Worker of it. His faith did not fail as he considered the weakness of those infant hands that now held the task. Already his eyes had seen this salvation. It might come from Israel, but it could not be shut up in Israel. No, God had prepared it before the face of all the peoples.

The whole tone here is not what we may call formal. It was not that the work was done. But in Christ there was, in principle, "God's salvation" ... The Spirit might not yet say "God's righteousness," but He could say "God's salvation." It was the person of the Saviour, seen according to the prophetic Spirit, who would in due time make everything good as to God and man.

Only the anointed eye could discern who He was, the eye of faith. The angels voiced the gladness of heaven and proclaimed the greatness of that Babe. Yet His lowly birth and deep humility made no appeal to people — except to men like Simeon, who had the eye of faith. He was an old man, unknown and perhaps poor in the world, but rich in heaven's reckoning, and highly favoured of God ... The old saint had waited for a sight of God's Salvation until his natural eyes grew dim. At last he looks on Him and knows Him.

But he sees that in that baby there was One altogether above the law. In grace He might become subject to it, and His parents were, of course, right in paying every respect to its rules ... The law of Moses never could let a sinful man depart in peace — so to speak, it never ought. For peace to be real and righteous, it must come from the God who gave the law. He is present in grace, present as man in this world, and present to suffer for sins, the Just for the unjust. And so He was, for such was Jesus.

As soon as he held God's salvation, all his desires were satisfied. Every tie to earth fell away, and he was ready to depart in peace ... With the holy Child in his arms, Simeon stood at the centre of God's purposes. From there he looked on to the time when the Gentiles would come into the light, and when Christ would be the glory of His people Israel.

God's sovereign work is in view in what He told Simeon, and God has in mind to bring us into the good of these things. Has knowing these things produced in us the same effect it produced in Simeon? When he took the Babe up in his arms he "blessed God". Could there be a greater evidence of reconciliation than a company marked by blessing God?

No wonder that Simeon, whose eyes were opened by better sight than earth can give, could see God and His salvation in the baby. It was not imagination, but sober faith. "My eyes have seen your salvation." This was what kings and prophets had longed to see, and now Simeon saw it in the person of Jesus.

Notice that he makes both one in a salvation for all, prepared — ordered — before the face of all people. The glory, though, belongs to Israel as God's people.

Simeon knew, at last, that here was God's salvation. Even if the work was not yet done, here was the Worker of it. His faith did not fail as he looked at the weakness of those baby hands now trusted with it. Already his eyes had seen it: a salvation which, being what it is, might come from Israel but could not be shut up in Israel. God had prepared it before the face of all the peoples. Could it be anything less than world-wide in God's desire, with the same need on every side calling for it?

He went one step further than the angel. He saw that God had prepared His salvation before the face of "all peoples" — the word is plural this time. Jesus was not only to be the glory of Israel but also a light to lighten the Gentiles. It was revealed to him that grace was going to flow beyond the narrow borders of Israel.

The reversed order here seems to me significant: "a light for revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel." First comes this exceptional period, in which God brings the Gentiles to light. The predicted and regular state of things will follow it. Still, once God has brought the Gentiles into light, He never puts them back into darkness.

Salvation, the deliverance of God, had come in Christ. It was for the revelation of the Gentiles, who until then lay hidden in the darkness of ignorance, with no revelation. And it was for the glory of Israel, the people of God. This is indeed the fruit of the government of God in Christ, that is to say, the millennium.

The first fruit of possessing the Christ was to bless God. It was a holy, happy, grateful acknowledgment of His salvation now seen, and it gladdened the heart of God to have His Anointed welcomed. Simeon also declares marvellous things about the Child, the Gentiles, and His people, in that order. The effect on himself was a satisfied heart, a peaceful spirit, and readiness to depart out of the world — an experience that is ours also.

"A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel" (Luke 2:32). "A light for revelation to the Gentiles" in the Revised Version is no better; its margin note has it right. It should be "A light for revelation (or, unveiling) of the Gentiles." This means that Christ is a light for bringing Gentiles into divine view. That is happening now. He will be the glory of Israel later on.

Christ has been a light for the revelation of the Gentiles. Before that, they were so completely in the dark that in God's sight they were as if they did not exist. This was not about His judgment of the secrets of the heart, but about His government of the world.

This was the revelation of the Gentiles — their discovery in darkness by the Light that had come, and their admission to an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Christ.

This is the time during which Israel is blinded, and the long hidden Gentiles come into view, brought out of the low state in which they had lain until now. But when God has finished His work among the Gentiles, the next words will come true: "and the glory of your people Israel." This verse is very important. It shows what would follow when Israel rejected the Messiah, and what comes before God brings them in later on. This is not the order we find in the prophets. There, wherever the Lord appears as the Glory of Israel, He also blesses the Gentiles in a place below the chosen people.

Once God has brought the Gentiles into light, He never puts them back into darkness. But this will not stop Him from bringing Israel to the highest place of earthly glory, above all the nations. So God's goodness to the Gentiles never passes away, and He will still keep His ancient and special promises to Israel.

This is prophetic. The Gentiles are put first. And so it has come to pass; after the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, all Israel will be saved. See Isaiah 49:5-6; Romans 11:25-26.

When Mary took Him to the temple, Simeon, one of the faithful few in Israel and a servant of the Lord, rejoiced to see in Him God's "salvation," and "the glory of His people Israel." He also saw in Him "a Light for revelation of the Gentiles," so that they, brought out of their darkness and ignorance, might be revealed in God's marvellous light. This truth is not limited to the time when our Lord Jesus Christ was here on earth. When Paul preached the gospel he said, "Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles'" (Acts 13:47). The Light, like the gospel and the salvation of God, is sent out for all men everywhere.

All his desires were satisfied. Every tie to earth was cut as soon as he had God's salvation, and he was ready to depart in peace. Moses once stood on Mount Pisgah and saw the land God had provided for His people. Simeon went further: with the holy Child in his arms, he stood at the centre of God's purposes. From there he looked forward to the time when the Gentiles would be brought into the light, and when Christ would be the glory of His people Israel.