Luke 2:25-40
Would You Recognize Christ If You Saw Him?
Would you recognize Christ if you saw Him? Now that is
an interesting question, isn’t it? After all, what is one baby among so many?
Don’t they all look alike? If nobody told you who the baby was or who the
parents were, would you know this child? Here is the marvel and miracle of
Simeon. The baby Jesus, according to our text for this morning, is only forty
days old. Simeon had never met the baby’s parents. Yet, in this baby Simeon
recognized the Messiah. How many see Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, and
the Savior? What does one have to have to recognize the Christ in this child
Jesus? That my friends, is the question we will consider this morning,
To recognize the Christ in Jesus there are three
things that are necessary.
1. To
recognize the Christ we must first look for Him in hope. “Now there was
in Jerusalem a man called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting
for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him…"
Simeon had looked for the Savior’s coming for many a
year. We have witnessed His coming and we anticipate His Second Coming on the
last great day. Like Simeon we need to look for Him in a hope that He will come
at just the right time. As He came the first time at just the right time he
will also come again in glory at just the right time. There is still a time for
us to wait for Jesus. It is not in the anticipation of the celebration at
Christmas but rather it is in living in anxious expectation for Him to return
at just the right time to take us to be with Him in glory. Like Simeon Live in
that hope.
2. To
recognize the Christ we must live close to God. Luke tells us something about Simeon’s character. He
was "…righteous and devout…"
(v.25)
Isaiah (45:22-25) tells us to "turn" (v.22) This is a common word
in the Old Testament. Often it is used as "return". It means to
repent, to change one’s mind, and make an about face from serving Self to
serving God. To turn indicates that a person has gone away from God, by being
faithless in serving false gods and rebelling against the true God.
To turn means grace. God asks us to come back to Him
and if we do, there is forgiveness and acceptance. Simeon remains for us an
excellent role model of what it means to remain faithful. It does not mean that
one remains perfect in every respect but rather that we see in Christ the
reason for our salvation and then in repentance and faith we turn to Him for
life. That’s what it means to be devout. That’s what it means to live close to
God. To have our focus on Christ is what is needed today.
3. To
recognize the Christ we must be led of the Spirit. Luke tells us "Moved by the Spirit, he went to the temple courts…and took the child in
his arms…"
Simeon was a Spirit possessed man. He did not have to
wait until Pentecost to get the Spirit. This reminds us that the Spirit is as
old as God is, for the Spirit is God Himself. When and how Simeon received the
Spirit, we do not know. It is enough that we see that the spirit possessed
Simeon, for the Holy Spirit gave him the revelation that the baby Jesus was the
Christ. It was the Holy Spirit that inspired him to enter the temple at just
the right time to see and behold Jesus. Likewise the same Spirit has directed
you to behold this baby and for you to recognize Him as the Christ.
Having seen the Christ Simeon was now ready to depart
from this world in peace. Simeon was now ready and content to die. He was
willing to depart this life because he had received his wish to see the
promised Messiah.
In every person’s death, there is the time when the
dying person accepts the reality and necessity of death, and then is ready to
go. For Simeon, death had no terror because he, having seen Christ, was sure of
his salvation.
You and I have seen the Lord’s salvation as well. For us the future has no terror because we have seen the Lord’s Christ and thus we too are assured of our salvation. May the prayer of Simeon be our prayer too as we say farewell to 2020 and hello to 2021. Having witnessed Christ we are now free to face the future with the same assurance as Simeon. We can be at peace for God is at peace.
Passive Sentences –7%
Readability – 76.7%
Reading Level –6.0
Simeon copyright © Ed Riojas, Higher Things
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