Lord, now thou lettest thy bondman go, according to thy word, in peace;
Simeon has spent a long life waiting for God's promised comfort for Israel. Now he holds the baby Jesus in his arms and asks his Master for permission to go.
Simeon does not use the ordinary word for "Lord." He uses a stronger one:
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.
Another writer follows the same word through the New Testament:
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.
Simeon calls himself God's servant — older translations say "bondman", a slave. He does not walk out on his own. He asks his Master to release him.
The eyes of Simeon have seen God's salvation, and he begs of the sovereign Lord that he may go.
God had made Simeon a personal promise, and Simeon now points back to it:
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?
Everything around Simeon that day followed the law of Moses. His peace came from somewhere else:
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.
Simeon is holding a baby. He will not live to see what that baby will do. One writer explains why he was content anyway:
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!
Others put the weight on what he already held: "All his desires were satisfied, every link with earth was broken as soon as he had God's salvation, and he was ready to depart in peace" (Edward Dennett).
One writer reads the verse as a pattern for the end of a believer's life:
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.
- Master. Simeon addresses God with the word for an owner of slaves — sovereign authority over all men, not the nearer title believers use for "our Lord."
- Servant. Because God is Master, Simeon speaks as His slave. He asks leave to go; he does not take it.
- Word. His release rests on a promise God made to him. God acts here in sovereignty, and sovereignty with Him means goodness.
- Peace. The law could never let a sinful man go in peace. That peace comes from the Child in his arms.
- Ready. Holding Christ satisfied him. The glory he would never live to see cost him nothing, and a believer knows that same readiness when God's time has come.
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
An old man in the temple takes a newborn into his arms and announces that he has now seen what God had promised him. His words raise the question that runs through the whole scene. How can anyone say he has seen salvation? The work is not done yet — no cross, no empty tomb, only a baby.
Simeon does not say he has seen a plan or a promise. He says he has seen God's salvation, and what he is holding is a child. One writer turns this into advice for anyone beginning the Christian life:
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."
The salvation had not yet been accomplished. Simeon's confidence rested on the One who would accomplish it, and the weakness of the infant did not shake him:
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.
Another writer weighs the exact wording:
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.
Many people saw that baby. Only Simeon saw salvation in Him, and the difference was not in his eyesight:
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.
Simeon asks to go, and he asks it in peace. Where does that peace come from?
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.
With salvation in his arms, Simeon had nothing left to wait for:
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.
Before Simeon says a word about nations or about himself, he blesses God. That order matters:
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?
- Seen — Simeon's eyes saw a baby; his faith saw God's salvation. The sight was given, not achieved.
- Personal — What he saw was not a system but a Saviour. Spell salvation "HIM," not "IT."
- Early — The work was not yet done, but the Worker was there, and that was enough for faith.
- Peaceful — The law could never send a sinner away in peace; holding God's salvation, Simeon could go.
- Worship — Simeon's first act after receiving Christ was to bless God — the surest mark of a reconciled heart.
which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples;
Simeon, an old man in the temple, takes a baby into his arms and calls Him God's salvation — the salvation God has made ready in full view of all peoples. Two questions follow. How could Simeon see salvation years before the cross? And how far does "all peoples" reach?
Simeon is not holding a plan or a promise. He is holding the Saviour, and in Him he sees God's salvation.
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.
Simeon puts Israel and the nations together in one salvation. And the word "prepared" says who arranged it.
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's faith was not shaken by the weakness of what he held. And he saw how far this salvation had to reach.
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?
Simeon goes further than the angel did, and the difference sits in one word.
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.
Simeon lists the nations before Israel, and the older prophets do not. Commentators differ on what that reversal marks. One reads it as a picture of the present period, while Israel stands aside. He works from an older wording, "revelation of the Gentiles," not "to the Gentiles":
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.
Another reads the same two clauses as the coming reign of Christ over the whole earth:
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.
Simeon's song ends with what holding Christ did to Simeon himself.
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.
- Person — God's salvation is a Man before it is a work. The work was still ahead, but the Worker was already in Simeon's arms.
- Prepared — the word points back to God. He ordered and arranged this salvation Himself.
- Peoples — the plural is deliberate. This salvation may come out of Israel, but it cannot be shut up there. The same need calls from every side.
- Pattern — Simeon names the Gentiles before Israel, and the prophets did the reverse. Commentators differ: some see the present time, while Israel is blind; others see the coming reign of Christ.
- Peace — whoever receives this salvation gets what Simeon got: a satisfied heart, a quiet spirit, and no fear of leaving the world.
a light for revelation of [the] Gentiles and [the] glory of thy people Israel.
In the temple, Simeon holds a baby and describes the future of the whole world. He names light for the nations first and glory for Israel second, and commentators read our own age out of that order.
English versions word this line in different ways. One writer argues the common renderings miss the point: the nations themselves are what the light uncovers.
"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.
Before Christ came, the nations outside Israel had no place in God's public dealings with the world.
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.
He also names what that unveiling brought them.
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.
Simeon names the nations before Israel. One writer reads the whole present age out of that order.
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.
The same writer answers the question that raises: does Israel's future glory undo what the nations have received?
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.
One writer sets this line beside other Scriptures about how the present age ends.
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.
Another writer follows the same line forward into the book of Acts.
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.
One writer pictures Simeon beside Moses on the mountain, looking out at the land.
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.
- One Person, two effects. One Child is both — light for the nations, glory for Israel.
- Revelation means unveiling. Commentators prefer "revelation of the Gentiles." Nations once invisible in God's dealings now stand in view.
- Order matters. Simeon flips the prophets' order. Writers read that flip as a preview of this age: Israel set aside, the nations reached.
- Glory is future. Light is shining now; the glory of Israel waits — after the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.
- Held, then released. Simeon held God's salvation in his arms and was ready to go; that same salvation is sent out for all men everywhere.