Waiting - Luke 2:25-35

©December 22nd, 2024 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Advent

If you’ve ever had a loved-one go through a medical procedure, you’re probably familiar with a place where you end up spending a lot of time—the waiting room. Maybe you’ve waited for a child to be born, a family member to come out of surgery, or to hear about someone’s condition after an emergency. Whatever the situation, most of us are familiar with the experience of spending time in the waiting room.

Most of the time, when we go to the hospital, we know there’s going to be some time spent in the waiting room, so many people come prepared. They have a book to read, some work to keep them occupied, a TV series to watch on their phone, or they just plan to occupy themselves in conversation. The waiting room usually isn’t too bad, as long as things don’t drag on too long. When things start taking longer than expected, then we start to worry. Each passing minute causes us to wonder why we haven’t heard anything and what’s going on.

This was the experience of the people of Israel. They had spent the last 400 years waiting for the Messiah, wondering when the promise was going to be fulfilled. You may find yourself in a waiting room right now as well. Today, we’ll find hope and encouragement as we look in the manger and see a God who keeps His promises—a truth which will help us when we have to wait.

Silent Years

At the close of the Old Testament, the Jews had returned to their homeland and rebuilt the temple but were still under the control of the Persian Empire. In the book of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar had a vision that foresaw all the changes that would take place. These changes happened exactly as Daniel had predicted.

The Persian Empire was conquered by the Greek leader Alexander the Great. Alexander conquered much of the world. He unified his empire by spreading a single language (Greek) amongst all his conquered peoples. When Alexander died, his empire was split among four of his generals. Initially Ptolemy controlled the region of Israel, but another general’s descendants eventually seized control. These kings were known as the Seleucids.

One of the kings was particularly evil: Antiochus IV Epiphanes. He built a statue of Zeus in the temple and sacrificed a pig (an unclean animal) on the altar in the temple. This led to a Jewish revolt, and the Jews actually won back their independence for a period of time. But fighting against themselves led to the Roman Empire coming in and seizing control of the area. All of this happened in a 400-year period.

Throughout Israel’s history, they had often heard from God. God spoke to Moses, He spoke through the judges and through numerous prophets. In the years leading up to the Babylonian captivity, there were several prophets who spoke to the people. These prophets predicted the downfall of the nation, but they also predicted a redeemer. The prophets had also predicted that the people would return to their own land and rebuild (which they did). And then, the prophecies ceased. For the next 400 years, the people were simply waiting, hoping for the day that God would send the promised Messiah to come and redeem the people.

The Messiah

Though the people were waiting, it wasn’t as though they didn’t know what was going to happen. God had told them a Messiah would come. The religious leaders were familiar with many of these prophecies. For example, when the wise men came to King Herod, he asked his religious leaders where the Messiah was to be born, and they quickly and correctly answered that He was to be born in Bethlehem. They knew this because of a prophecy in Micah 5.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf. 3 The people of Israel will be abandoned to their enemies until the woman in labor gives birth. Then at last his fellow countrymen will return from exile to their own land. 4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the Lord’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. 5 And he will be the source of peace. (Micah 5:2-5a, NLT)

The religious leaders were familiar with passages like this and believed that one day God would fulfill His promises to them. They just didn’t know when.

As they read these verses, however, they misunderstood what God was saying. I can understand how they got it wrong. They looked at this prophecy (and others like it) and concluded that the Messiah would be a great military leader who would ultimately conquer the world. They surely assumed that this prophecy must refer to a Jewish Alexander the Great, who would usher in a time when Israel would become the dominant power in all the world, and that God would establish their kingdom forevermore.

I understand how they get that from this prophecy, but that isn’t who the Messiah proved to be. There were also other prophecies that painted a different picture of the Messiah. Probably the most famous is from Isaiah 53.

2 My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. (Isaiah 53:2-9, NLT)

With the benefit of hindsight, we can see the remarkable accuracy of how this predicted the life of Jesus. But the Jewish leaders didn’t look at this passage as speaking about the Messiah. After all, how could both passages describe the same person? They couldn’t imagine that a great king would also be sacrificed for others. How could you set up a kingdom and allow yourself to be killed and treated like a criminal? It simply didn’t make sense.

The issue, of course, was that they were assuming they’d properly understood what God was saying. They hadn’t. Their interpretation of the prophecies about the Messiah were exciting to them, because they liked the idea of becoming a world superpower. But God had something much bigger, some much more all-encompassing in mind. They simply couldn’t understand it yet.

This fact always gives me pause when we begin to think of the promises God has made regarding His second coming. There are many who are convinced they know what God is going to do. I’m far less confident, as I can easily see how the Jews misunderstood the prophecies about the Messiah. But I do know this, God will fulfill every one of His promises—just maybe not in the way we expect.

As much as we give the Jewish leaders a hard time for missing the birth of the Messiah, they did one thing that was commendable. They trusted that God would bring Him! These people had not heard from God in 400 years. They had been subjects of several different world powers during that time. They had experienced all sorts of trials and hardships, but one thing remained firmly fixed in their minds—God was going to send a deliverer! They misunderstood who He was, they even rejected Him, but they continued to trust that God would keep His promises.

Simeon

This leads us to one of the seemingly minor characters in the story of the birth of Jesus. Most of the time we focus on the prophecies made to Joseph and Mary, on the trip to Bethlehem and the angelic visit to the shepherds. We talk about the star guiding the wise men and Jesus’ family fleeing to Egypt. But we tend to forget about them going to the temple to have Jesus dedicated and circumcised on the 8th day, according to Jewish custom.

During their trip to Jerusalem, they encountered several different people who were somewhat surprising. One of them was Simeon.

25 At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him 26 and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, 28 Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, 29 “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. 30 I have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared for all people. 32 He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” (Luke 2:25-32, NLT)

Simeon was a righteous and devout man who had been eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. I suspect that in this way Simeon was not much different than many of the men in Israel at this time. They had been waiting, knowing that God had promised a Messiah, a deliverer, and were eagerly expecting the day when the Messiah would arrive, hoping, praying that it might be during their lifetime.

What set Simeon apart, however, was that the Holy Spirit was upon him and was leading him. The Spirit had told Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died. The Spirit led Simeon to the temple that day, and I have to assume, also led him to Jesus. Simeon immediately recognized that this was the promised Messiah and praised God, saying he could now die in peace because he had seen the Lord’s salvation.

I don’t know if Simeon understood the significance of what he said in that moment or not, but what he said was profound. He said that the Messiah’s salvation was for all people(not just Jews), and that He would be a light that would reveal God to the nations (the rest of the world). But Simeon didn’t stop there. He then spoke directly to Mary.

33 Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. 35 As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” (Luke 2:33-35, NLT)

Simeon’s words are startlingly accurate. Clearly, he was speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. After 400 years, the Messiah had come! Simeon was grateful and felt that he could now die in peace, knowing God’s plan would soon come to fruition.

So What?

You may be saying, this is a lovely history lesson, but what does it have to do with us? Why does any of this matter?

Here’s why it matters: the people we’ve learned about today are not that much different than us. They knew God’s promises, but had waited a long time and hadn’t seen them fulfilled yet. But they still trusted that God would do what He said. They faced all sorts of hardships and times where they felt like God was distant. They may have questioned their faith at times, wondering if God is real, then why hasn’t He done what He said yet? And yet, they continued to trust.

We are not that different. Many of us find ourselves in the waiting room today.

· Waiting for a diagnosis or the outcome of a treatment plan.

· Waiting to see if things will get better, or if this will be your new normal.

· Waiting to see whether you’ll still have a job.

· Waiting to see whether a relationship can be repaired.

· Waiting to see what God has in store for you next.

· Waiting to see if the hurts of the past will ever heal.

· Waiting to see if God will ever come to your defense and aid.

· Waiting to see when God will bring the story to a close (either through our death or His return).

Many of us are in the waiting room of faith. And at the holidays, sometimes the silence is deafening. If you’ve been waiting for a while, if it’s taking far longer than you ever would have expected to get an answer, you can begin to feel all alone, even in a room full of people.

But I want you to see that the Christmas story is our source of hope. As we look to the manger, it’s a reminder that God does keep His promises. Christmas reminds us that we do not hope in vain, but that God hears us, sees us, and has not forgotten about His promises to us. Christmas gives us the hope and faith needed to endure the times of waiting.

Conclusion

So let’s draw some applications we can put into practice in our lives.

First, recognize that God’s plans don’t always coincide with ours. All the religious leaders knew the prophecies about the Messiah, and yet most of them opposed Jesus and condemned Him as a blasphemer. How could this happen?

I think the answer is that they had become overly confident in their vision and understanding of what God was going to do. They looked at these prophecies and concluded that the Messiah must be a military and political ruler who would come and conquer the world. What God had planned through Jesus didn’t make sense to them.

May I gently remind you that if you find yourself waiting for an answer from God, He may not answer the way you expect. Sometimes I think we miss the fact that God is answering our prayers because He doesn’t answer the way we expect. But His way is still always good and His way is always best. If you can’t see the good yet, keep looking—if it’s not good yet, then the story isn’t over yet either.

Second, be intentional about adding the word “yet” to your vocabulary. I firmly believe that the word “yet” is essential to the person of faith. Yet implies that there’s more to the story, and that one day what we hope for will actually happen. Let me show you how simply adding the word yet changes our outlook completely.

· God hasn’t answered my prayer…yet.

· Evil seems to be winning. God hasn’t destroyed it…yet.

· I feel like everything is hopeless. Nothing seems to go my way…yet.

· I’m tired. I don’t feel like I can go on. I thought God would help me, but He hasn’t…yet.

“Yet” changes the way we look at everything. “Yet” recognizes that there is still an answer coming, but it just isn’t here yet. Learn to add “yet” to your vocabulary.

Third, recognize that God knows what we need better than we do. I can understand that the Israelites desired to be a world superpower and to finally take the position they felt like God had promised. But God understood that they had a bigger need than world domination. Their greatest need was a Savior. We sometimes face the same issue. We imagine we know what’s best for us, or that we know what we need. But God sees more clearly than we do. Sometimes God uses the waiting room to teach us something. Sometimes He’s delaying because it’s not the right time. Sometimes what we think we need is actually harmful to us. We must learn to trust His plan—and His timing, including our times of waiting—more than our understanding.

Finally, we should wait expectantly for the final chapter of God’s plan. There are some prophecies in the Bible that have not been fulfilled…yet. Just as the Israelites waited expectantly for the Messiah to come, knowing it was a day of deliverance promised by God, we too have been promised that Christ will come once more, and bring a deliverance greater than we can possibly fathom. The Israelites had 400 years between the last prophecy about the Messiah and its fulfillment. We’ve been waiting for over 2,000 years. This whole story reminds us, however, that God will ultimately do what He says. While we don’t know exactly how, when, or even really what is going to happen, we can be confident of this: God will keep every one of His promises. Therefore we should live expectantly, knowing there will come a time when God will bring the story to a close. We should prepare ourselves so that we will be ready when we meet Him face to face.

The challenge of the waiting room is the unknown. We feel much more comfortable when we know what’s coming, when we can plan, when we can try to prepare ourselves mentally for what is coming next. Unfortunately, we usually don’t know what’s coming until it arrives. But God does. He is in control. He loves us. He knows what we need. He will provide for us. He will keep His promises. Do you know how I know these things are true? The baby in the manger. Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise that took hundreds of years to come to fruition. Christmas is a reminder that God always keeps His promises—not always in the time or way we envisioned, but always in a way that is good and right. Remember when you feel like God’s gone silent, He hasn’t—you just haven’t heard from Him…yet.

©December 22nd, 2024 by Rev. Rick Goettsche SERIES: Advent