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Home , Simeon (son of Jacob)

– THE MAN (Lk. 2:25)

In our previous study we looked at the details Luke gave concerning the life of Anna. In just a few words, he presented us with quite a of information. We are turning our attention now to Simeon, Lk. 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in , whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of : and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child , to do for him after the custom of the law, 28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed , and said, 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 33 And and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Along with Joseph and Mary (Lk. 2:7), the shepherds (Lk. 2:16), and Anna (Lk. 2:36-38), Simeon was privileged to have been among the first to bear actual witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. By this means, Luke provides proof from different people, - from different backgrounds, - as to the authenticity of the Saviour’s birth. It was as if he was saying … if you want confirmation, - and you are perfectly entitled since the Old Testament required the testimony of two or three witnesses (cf. Dt. 17:6; 19:15), - … if you want confirmation of the miracle of the Christ-child coming into this world, here are the people who have indisputably witnessed it! … And Simeon was one of them.

Could you trust him? Yes, because the emphasises he was just and devout. There would have been who did not have those two qualities, but Simeon had due to the influence of the Holy Spirit, 25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple

He wasn’t one of those priests in the temple who were there for the money and the popularity … working hand-in-hand with the corrupt money-changers. Neither was he one of those priests who was steeped in the rigid dead traditions of men. Instead, Simeon was there in the temple every day waiting for the coming of the , 25 waiting for the consolation of Israel. 2 What a way to be remembered! Simeon was looking forward to the coming of the Messiah … that is how he is introduced to us, … “Here’s Simeon, he just and devout, and He is waiting every day for the Messiah to come!” … That is how Simeon was known by everyone who came into the temple!

By the time Jesus would have been brought to the temple He would have been forty days old. That was in accordance with the Old Testament law that said His mother could not have come any sooner because she was considered ceremonially unclean. For her to have been cleansed a special offering would first of all have to been made, 22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; 23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) 24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. … So, when that was completed, Mary and Joseph are now standing with Simeon … and Simeon has the baby Jesus in his arms. Notice how verse twenty-five begins, And. Luke emphasises how he is continuing on from the information in the previous verse, And, behold. This is important. This has great significance, behold.

These were times when good and Godly men were ‘few and far between’. The nation of Israel was in an apostate state. The people were being ruled by foreigners, set in place from Rome. Locally, they had a cruel and despotic King Herod. They had fallen away from the truth upon which their nation had been founded, and they were simply using religion as an old artefact that harked back to the past. Really, it meant nothing to them … they just needed to be seen to be doing it! Religiously, they were dead … having known the truth but they had turned away from it. To put it into our language, salvation and God’s righteousness were being preached in only a few places … just here and there, scattered throughout the land. Generally, the priests and the religious organisations talked about God, but they knew nothing of Him within their own hearts. Their religion consisted of laws, and canons, and decrees … Their religious leaders knew nothing of God, - the religion of the Pharisees was legalistic, while the Sadducees were worldly-minded. The voice of the prophets was silent … and yet, in the midst of it all, God continued to maintain a small remnant who were looking forward in earnest anticipation and expectation, trusting in God to send the consolation of Israel. … There were very, very few men like Simeon who relied upon the promises of the Old Testament Scriptures relating to the coming of the Messiah and His Kingdom. 3 … And the Holy Spirit was surely working amongst these people, - few as they were, - possessed with such a blessed hope. Most of the population of Israel, - as the story unfolds, - rejected Jesus … but God was keeping faithful a very small, and a very blessed, remnant of believers who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem (v.38).

So here in the temple of Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus was being presented. And the Lord planned it that a man of the calibre of Simeon would be there to receive Him.

This is Simeon’s one and only appearance in Scripture. Simeon was a very common name. He was, no doubt, named after one of the sons of , who was the patriarch of his tribe. ‘Simeon’ simply means “heard” … and by implication, “God has heard”. His mother wasn’t his father Jacob’s first choice for a wife, - that was , but (Leah and Rachel’s father) tricked Jacob into the marriage. Originally, Leah couldn’t have children but the Lord made it possible for her to give birth to first, and then Simeon (Gen. 29:31-33).

Let’s not rush away from this name … Throughout his life, this man who held the baby Jesus in his arms, - Simeon the , - had lived with the great hope of Israel resting upon the Messiah … He was constantly reminded of it when people called his name, “Simeon” … “God has heard”. … In the midst of the nation’s incarceration by a foreign invader … “Simeon”, “God has heard”. Surrounded by false religion in an apostate land … “Simeon”, “God has heard”. … Simeon, don’t stop believing for our God has heard! His name was a reminder God hears the prayers of His people, and God had heard the cries of His small remnant who were calling out to Him for the consolation of Israel to come. … It is like when Jehovah said to Moses, Ex. 3:7 I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in , and have heard (shama`… from the same root as Simeon!) their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. … And as the prophet said, Is. 59:1 Behold, the LORD'S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear (shama`).

4 Do you sometimes think God has not heard your prayer? … Well, here is Simeon and for the greater part of his life he had been praying for God to send a deliverer, a King, a Saviour, a Messiah to Jerusalem … and one day, - almost at the end of his life (v.26,29), - God shows He had heard his prayer, and He wonderfully answered. … “We know not the hour when He cometh, At even, or midnight, or morn; It may be at deepening twilight. It may be at earliest dawn. He bids us to watch and be ready, Nor suffer our lights to grow dim; That when He may come, He will find us All waiting and watching for Him” … That was Simeon, and this small remnant of God who were keeping watchful in Jerusalem.

Now, concerning more information about the kind of man he was … he was ‘just and devout’. The word for ‘just’ is the word di,kaioj which means ‘righteous’. He did not earn that righteousness, but that righteousness was given to him as a consequence of God declaring him as righteous. His whole confidence and trust were in the Lord. Simeon had recognised the sin around him in his nation, and also the sin within himself … and for God to have declared him as ‘just’ means that Simeon had arrived at a stage in his life when he trusted in God to forgive him his sins, Ps. 37:39 the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD. He had cast himself on the mercy of God, and God had declared him di,kaioj, righteous on the basis of what Christ would accomplish in bearing his sins in the future on the cross … in the same way God had declared righteous (Gen. 15:6), and also (Gen. 6:9). And it was this righteousness of God that set Simeon apart from the other apostate priests. … In our language, Simeon was a saved and sanctified separated saint! … And that is what the word ‘devout’ (euvlabh,j) indicates. He was a ‘tzadik’ … a person driven and devoted to righteousness. He lived a very careful and a very cautious life. He took the greatest of care to reverence and respect God in all he did. … Here was a true Jew, - the type that God had intended for all His people to become!

Luke not only tells us about this man’s character, he also tells us about his theology … or to be more precise, his eschatology. Simeon had soaked himself in the reading of the prophets and the Old Testament Scriptures concerning the promise of God to give the people a Deliverer. Things were dire in the nation … but instead of Simeon giving up, he looked up! He would have known and loved such verses as Is. 59:20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. He would have studied the covenants God made with Abraham and . He would have read the portions in the Law of Moses pointing forward to the Messiah. 5 He would have known the new covenant God made with Israel through for he was actively waiting for the consolation of Israel. He believed in a future coming of the Messiah that would ultimately fulfil the word of God spoken to Isaiah and to Micah (Is. 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever … Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of , yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.)

This Messiah would be a King reigning over the promised Kingdom, of which Jerusalem would be its earthly capital. Along with his friends, Simeon would have rejoiced in the message, Jer. 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. He would have read and reread from Isaiah and Micah, Micah 4:1 (cf. Is. 2:1-4) the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. … The Messiah will one day return to Israel’s capital … and Simeon would have soaked up all the Scriptures pertaining to the promise.

Yes, nothing less than this was the hope Simeon was anticipating … and it wasn’t just personal for it was a hope he had for his nation of Israel, - the people out of every one of the twelve tribes. In fact, he knew he was coming near the end of his days on earth (26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ ... 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word), but he trusted in God’s promises for a future application relating to his people.

6 We don’t apologise for speaking so often about the second coming of the Lord Jesus… and especially not when it is highlighted time and again throughout God’s Word. I would like to think that if we lived in the days of Simeon, each of us here would have belonged to that small remnant who was waiting for the consolation of Israel It is what Simeon longed for, as he read and studied the Scriptures, and as he watched the signs around him. …

I hope each of you, - as the redeemed children of God, - are looking forward to Him coming because it is also what our Lord is yearning for, for in the words of the Song of He says to His people (in the most romantic of language), 2:14 O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely … 4:7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. He is longing, as Paul wrote, Eph. 5:27 that he might present [her] to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

And something else that comes through very strongly concerning Simeon is that he longed to see the salvation of his own people. He yearned for the small remnant to turn into a mighty nation of believers in God, the consolation of Israel. He wasn’t simply thinking of himself and a few of the little group … he was aching for God to come upon all his people. Imagine the hearty ‘Amen’ Simeon would have bellowed out in response to Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter eleven and verse twenty-six, And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

He cared about his people’s salvation, and he prayed for them to be saved. His preaching in the temple would have been all about God’s righteousness and man’s need for repentance. He would have had a true and sound ministry! “Lord, come down among us and make Yourself known to us!” … The word for “consolation” of Israel is para,klhsij … and so the old man would have been crying out to God, Come amongst us and bring comfort and strength, solace and refreshment, Is. 40:1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned … That is what Simeon and his companions in the Lord were praying for! Lord, keep the covenants You made with us … May we know your mighty power to change and to save our nation! Lord, keep your Word and lift us out of the abyss of unbelief and apostasy we have gotten ourselves into! 7 This old man was “standing on [God’s] promises that cannot fail, when the howling storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God [he] shall prevail, [because he was] standing on the promises of God! The more his nation travelled away from the Lord, the more his heart ached, and the harder he prayed for he kept on believing and trusting, Is. 40:10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Such verses as these were well-known to Simeon … Is. 49:8 Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages … 13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

So here we have this excited old man, with Jesus in his arms. His heart would have been beating ‘a hundred to the dozen’ because here he was, filled with the Holy Spirit (v.25,26,27) … It was the Holy Spirit directing him to be just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. Such was the work of God’s grace in his life! … Lk. 1:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

Let’s hold the up in front of us as if it were a mirror … what do we see? Do we see someone who is just and righteous, as God counts righteous? Do I see the evidence of the work of His grace in my life? … Am I growing in Christ? Also concerning my faith, am I devout … am I carefully guarding the work God has and is doing within me for His glory? … And am I waiting for His return? Am I looking forward to that day when He comes back for me, and for those with me who are waiting for the consolation of Israel?

This is my hope, and I trust it is your hope too. May God keep doing within us that same work of the Holy Spirit as He did within Simeon so that His Name and His glory would be honoured among His people today! Amen.