The Christmas Key 3: Revelation and Glory

Intro

Luke 2:25–35 NASB 2020

And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him in his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Now, Lord, You are letting Your bond-servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples: A light for revelation for the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. And Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and as a sign to be opposed—and a sword will pierce your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Big Idea: The coming of Christ is the key to our light, revealing the truth and glorifying His church.

The greatest gift God could possibly give us is Himself.

Simeon saw that the presence of Christ on earth brought the living and active saving power of God to bear on our broken world. Christ’s mission was a mission of light from the very beginning. Since Adam and Eve sinned the entire world was plunged into a dark, upside down reality in which they are so trapped in their darkness that often light and freedom are actually more fearful concepts for them then the bondage they are in. Outside of Christ darkness is all we know.

Christ is the great illuminator. Wherever He goes He shines the light of truth, enabling people to see truth, goodness, and beauty without the taint of sin and death.

His light reveals God to all, and specifically fills His people with His presence and power.

What Simeon saw was magnificent to him because he understood the significance of Christ’s presence in the world. He knew that from that point on everything would be different. Sure there would still be darkness, but now there was an ever present light and where there is light darkness can no longer forever prevail.

Tension

Of course just as they did in Jesus’ day, people often have mixed reactions to light. We’ve been in darkness for so long it has become all that we are familiar with. Though created for light, we have become naturalized to darkness. The process of coming out of darkness and into light can be traumatic and turbulent for us.

In fact, no one can or will possibly make this transition of his or her own volition. It takes the intervention of One who has a will big enough to overcome our present darkness and a heart strong enough to love us even as we have rejected Him as He works to redeem us.

Only through Christ can we see the light and respond properly to it. Only by His presence in us can He cleanse us from within and make light our true nature once again.

Christ came to restore you and me. The question is, will we open ourselves up to Him and let His light shine in us?

Truth

I. Because Christ has come, we have light for revelation.

This is specifically a personal revelation of God to all peoples, not only a select few Jews.

This revelation means that we may know God personally; who He is and what He is like.

Previously few people knew God in this sort of intimate way. Nearly all of them were Jews, and even within God’s people it was only a select few who got to see God face to face or receive prophetic words.

Now things are quite different because Christ has come and His work has utterly opened the door for people to know God and to know Him intimately.

John 1, 1 John 1

II. Because Christ has come, we have light for glory.

As if knowing Him were not enough, God has gone far above and beyond this. For His people, not only can we know Him but we have His special presence active in and among us.

“Now, roughly speaking, God relates to space as we do to our body. He occupies and overflows it but cannot be localized in it. Every point in it is accessible to his consciousness and will, and his manifest presence can be focused in any location as he sees fit. In the incarnation he focused his reality in a special way in the body of Jesus. This was so that we might be “enlightened by the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).” -Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy)

Because of this reality we can say that Christmas is not only about God who has come into the world generally, but also God who has come into His people specifically.

After Moses and the people finished building the tabernacle, there was a real and visceral experience of the presence of the Lord filling that tent. The glory was so strong that not even Moses could stand to enter in.

Exodus 40:34–38 NASB 2020

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day when it was taken up. For throughout their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel.

Something similar happened when Solomon built the first temple.

Remember when Isaiah had a vision of the temple full of God’s glory? The glory of God knocked even a holy man like Isaiah to his knees. Now this presence, this glory, is in us.

It can be said that what the Apostles experienced at Pentecost was something akin to these experiences the OC saints had except that the new temple God was filling with His presence was not a building made by human hands. Rather the new temple which carries His glory is His church. His glory is our glory and it is His light within us that brings this glory into us.

His presence in us does something extremely profound to us.

Because we are His body, filled with His presence, we carry His glory. As Christ is light, so we become light in Him.

Ephesians 5:8–11 NASB 2020

for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), as you try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

Application

1. Let us revel in the miracle that is His glory in us. Let’s take time daily to remind ourselves that we are not what we used to be, and that we carry the very presence of God.

2. Remember that we are clothed in a righteousness that is not our own, but comes to us as a gift of grace through the light of Christ. What makes they church lovely has nothing to do with us, or how cool or relevant we try to be to the world. What makes us lovely is Christ in us and it is Him whom we must major in.

Our enemy would love nothing more than to get us focused on something else besides Christ.

3. Remember that because Christ was able to save us, there is hope for everyone.

This week I read to perceptive sentence, “moral discourse today is so fruitless because it lacks any commonly accepted basis on which moral differences can be discussed and assessed.” -Carl R. Trueman (The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self)

There are many today who perceive this large gap of understanding of truth which exists between the regenerate and the unregenerate. Some are overwhelmed and perhaps even crippled by the depth of the darkness that exists in the world. Some have even quit doing evangelism, conceding it as frivolous in our postmodern age.

Still others remember that every saved soul throughout history has been a miracle, ourselves included. If Christ can save a wretch like me, then I suppose he can save any wretch regardless of how deep into darkness he or she may be.

May we go forth today remembering that not only have we seen a great light, the light has taken up residence within us. We are clothed with and filled with His glory and we are to set the world ablaze wherever we go.