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Simeon’s Song of Recognition
Luke 2:21-35
Intro
Christmas is not the celebration of the end of the year but the beginning of the celebration of a Savior.
We have a tendency to associate Christmas with a Myth, a fairy tale.
We talk about Santa Clause and how he lives in the north pole, has elves who make toys, and flies on a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
Then people begin to associate Jesus with a myth about Christmas as well.
and that is the purpose Luke writes this story.
He writes to declare the truth; A Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord.
He wants us to know the real story of Christmas is no fairy tale.
If you notice, the songs of Christmas, we have been studying all begin with a devout follower of God.
In Mary’s Song of Joy, we see a teenage girl who knew more about God than most of us ever will.
In Zachariah’s Song of Praise, we see a priest who praised God for the fulfillment of His covenant promises to the nation Israel.
Last week we saw a heavenly choir proclaim peace on earth and good will toward man.
And the point Luke is making here is the birth of the Savior is confirmed by those who are truly faithful to God.
In Fact, Luke tells us himself, at the very beginning of his gospel in chapter 1:1-3 why he is writing.
1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us,
2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
3 it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order.
It is a long believed tradition that Luke’s account of the gospel story was given to him by Mary herself.
Now we don’t know if that is true or not.
What we do know is Luke confirms the birth of the Savior through the testimony of those who faithfully lived for God.
And the same thing is true in our life today.
We confirm the birth of Christ to the world by faithfully living for God.
(Read Luke 2:21-35) Our focus is going to be on Vs. 25-35, but I want to start at Vs. 21 to set the context.
“And when eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord
(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),
and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for 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 in 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 into his arms, and blessed God, and said,
“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
A Light of revelation to 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 Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—
and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
(Pray)
Context
In our passage this morning, Vs. 21-24 provide the background of our story.
Jesus has been born in Bethlehem.
Mary and Joseph named Him just as the angel told them.
Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua which means Yahweh saves.
According to their custom He was circumcised on the eighth day, and now it is 40 days later, and the time has come for them to present Him in the temple.
The Levitical law required two things.
1.
When God protected the firstborn of Israel on the night of the Passover in Egypt, he declared that every firstborn son had to be redeemed.
That’s what is going on in verses 22-24—they are going through the ritual of redemption by presenting their firstborn in the temple.
Also, they are offering a sacrifice for Mary.
When a woman would give birth, she was considered ceremonially unclean and was required to bring an offering to the temple.
What is interesting here is notice what they bring as a sacrifice in Vs. 24: a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
This speaks of the absolute poverty of Mary and Joseph because what they were supposed to bring was a lamb, but if a person couldn’t afford a lamb, they were allowed to bring pigeons instead.
How ironic is that?
I want you to notice the beauty and the irony of the Bible.
The parents of Jesus were too poor to offer a lamb as a sacrifice for Mary, yet her Son was the Lamb of God who will be sacrificed for the sin of the world.
While they are at the temple, we are introduced to a man named Simeon, who will become the main character of the story.
Everything we know about Simeon is written in this passage because this is the only place he is mentioned in the Bible.
But we are given a great deal of information, what we learn here is that Simeon was a man who was faithfully living for God.
And really that is the point of the story.
Luke uses faithful believers to confirm the birth of the Savior to the world.
And that same thing is true in our life.
I want to show you 3 ways Simeon lived a faithful life.
I. Simeon’s Character, Vs. 25-26.
Here is a man of God.
A man of impeccable character and we see that in his faithfulness to the Lord.
Many people believe he was a priest because we get the impression, he was at the temple often, but if that were true, I believe Luke would have told us he was a priest.
No, I believe Simeon was just a lay member of the congregation.
Someone who was devoted to God.
Verse 25 tells us several important things about Simeon. 1.
It says, “This man was righteous and devout.”
The word righteous means he was right with God.
The things of God were important to him.
It means that Simeon was a man of faith.
This is the same word used to describe Abraham in Genesis 15:6.
“Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
So, Simeon is a man of faith.
Not only was he righteous, he was devout.
The word devout means he was careful.
It is a word that has been lost in our English language.
We don’t use the word devout anymore, but it is an important biblical word.
It means Simeon was careful to do the things God required of him and he was careful to avoid the things God didn’t want him to do.
In other words, He had a healthy fear of the Lord.
When we put these things together, we get a picture of a man of faith who lived his life to please the Lord.
Then learn something about his theology.
We learn a little bit about what Simeon believed.
We are told, “he was looking for the consolation of Israel.”
That means he had a messianic hope.
He believed in the promises of God, because he was waiting for the Messiah to come.
He was a man that understood the spiritual condition of the nation.
He understood they were living in darkness and their only hope was for the Savior of the world.
We live in a similar environment today, and we need to be like Simeon.
We need to be a people who stand in the present with one eye on the future.
We need to be a people who understand that this world will never be what God intended it to be until Jesus returns.
Simeon was looking for the first coming of Christ and we are patiently waiting His return.
Then we learn why he was able to be faithful to God, we are told “the Holy Spirit was upon him.”
This describes someone who is anointed by God.
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