We're going to look up together Luke chapter 2 and starting at verse 22.
Let's hear God's word to us.
When the time came for the purification rites required by the law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him, that's Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord.
And to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was righteous and devout.
He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was on him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.
Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.
When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him what the custom of the law required,
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace,
for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.
The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother,
This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel
and to be a sign that will be spoken against,
so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
And a sword will pierce your own soul too.
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phenuel of the tribe of Asher.
She was very old.
She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage
and then was a widow until she was 84.
She never left the temple, but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying.
Coming up to them at that very moment,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
And the child grew and became strong.
He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him.
Amen.
Jonathan, thank you.
Let's pray again for ourselves and for Jonathan.
Father, we thank you for your word.
We thank you that it is true, that we can trust it.
And we pray that the grace of God would be upon us.
And the Holy Spirit who is active in Simeon's life and Anna's life,
that same Spirit would be active and at work in our lives right now,
through Jonathan, as he brings your word to us.
Bless us all.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thank you, Johnny.
If you could keep your Bibles open as we will be dipping in and out of the passage.
It's a rather long passage, but a very encouraging passage.
We'll start off with a question.
What are you waiting for?
If you could think of one thing that you were looking forward to,
one thing that you really wanted to happen,
perhaps in the next week, the next month,
or before you pass from life, what would it be?
If you ask that question to people of different ages,
you'll probably get a different answer.
You talk to somebody who's really small and ask them what they're looking forward to,
what are they waiting for, they'll say,
I'm waiting to be bigger, to be older.
Or as people grow up and you ask them,
what are you waiting for?
They'll say, I'm waiting for somebody to marry,
or I'm waiting for a child to be born.
If you think about it, we wait for a lot of things.
Some things are quite trivial.
We wait for the kettle to boil.
Apparently, we spend four months of our lifetime waiting for the kettle to boil.
But we can wait for something more serious as well.
We might be very ill and sick.
It might be a long-term sickness.
And we're waiting for a relief of that,
waiting for that pain and suffering to end.
But we wait a lot.
This morning, we're going to meet two people who are also waiting,
and not just two people in particular,
a whole nation who are waiting for something to happen.
This morning, we're going to meet Simeon and Anna.
We're going to meet them in the temple.
Both of them are older,
and both of them are waiting for the promises of God to be fulfilled.
And they're going to do something quite amazing in our passage.
But they are going to recognize Jesus.
Our passage is toward the end of the book of Luke.
We've been reading that a lot for the last few weeks, haven't we,
in our Christmas services.
For Luke details a lot of the early life of Jesus.
And if you want to sum up the first two chapters of Luke,
it would be the arrival of Jesus into the world
and the fulfillment of those promises.
And we're going to meet up with Jesus
as they make the five-mile trip from Bethlehem to Jerusalem.
Take a look at verse 22 onwards.
The time of their purification,
according to the law of Moses, had been completed.
Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
Notice the number of times it's going to speak about
the law of Moses or the law of the Lord.
As it is, verse 23,
as it is written in the law of the Lord,
every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord
and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said
in the law of the Lord,
a pair of doves or two young pigeons.
We read a lot of things that perhaps are alien to us.
A time of purification, sacrifice,
fulfilling the law of the Lord.
The Israelites had specific instructions.
When a child, when a boy was born,
the mother had to wait for seven days
while she was unclean.
They then would circumcise the child
and then wait another 33 days
to present him to the Lord and offer sacrifices.
In addition, as Jesus was the firstborn child,
he would be presented to the Lord
for all the firstborn of all livestock and people
belong to the Lord.
What we can take from this is that
Luke is very keen to emphasize
that Jesus' parents fulfilled the law of the Lord.
And if we're unsure as to what that's what he wanted,
take a look at verse 27.
He says,
In the middle of it,
when the parents brought in the child
to do for him what the custom of the law required,
Luke was keen to make sure that we knew
that Jesus' parents had followed the law.
And in case we missed it,
take a look at verse 39 and 40.
Verse 39,
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required
by the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
So Jesus was going to be brought up in a household
where God's commandments are followed.
But God was also going to use their obedience
to ordain events
so that he would meet Simeon and Anna
in the temple on that very day.
Verse 25,
Here we're going to meet Simeon
who's been faithfully waiting for God's promises.
Note what Luke says about Simeon.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon
who was righteous and devout.
He was waiting for the consolation of Israel
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he would not die
before he had seen the Lord's Christ
or the Lord's Messiah.
Moved by the Spirit,
he went into the temple courts.
When the parents brought in the child
to do for them what was required of the law,
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.
Simeon is described as righteous.
He was good.
He followed the commands of God.
God is described in Scripture as being righteous.
Everything God does is good.
All his actions,
all his decisions are morally correct.
And we see Simeon as a servant of God
representing those characteristics of God.
But he was also devout.
He was dedicated to God.
Do you notice how many times it referred to the Spirit?
Simeon had the Holy Spirit upon him.
Look at verse 25.
The Holy Spirit was upon him.
Verse 26,
He had a revelation of the Holy Spirit.
And verse 27,
Moved by the Spirit,
he went into the temple courts.
Here was a man with the Holy Spirit was upon him.
He had a revelation,
a special promise that God had given him.
But he was also led by the Spirit.
But note that Simeon was also waiting.
He was also waiting.
In verse 25,
it describes him as waiting for the consolation of Israel.
And that word waiting is in the sense of waiting for something
that he is looking forward to,
something favorable.
We can wait for many things,
but often we can wait for things that might cause us anxiety
or stress,
something that we really don't want to happen.
But Simeon was waiting for something that he was looking ahead to.
And what he was waiting for was the consolation of Israel.
You might have picked it up from one of the songs we sang just now.
Consolation of Israel.
What was that?
Well, the word consolation,
we might use the word comfort.
And the actual meaning of that,
the Greek word meaning for it is paraklesis,
to call near or to draw alongside.
We can understand that concept of comfort,
can't we?
When we are anxious or when things aren't going well in our lives,
when we need something or someone to help us through whatever we're going through,
we want to call them near,
don't we?
We want someone or something to draw alongside,
to help us through so that we are comforted.
Simeon was obviously looking for comfort.
Think about who Simeon was in the time he lived in.
Simeon was an Israelite.
The Israelites were a people blessed by God.
They'd been given great promises of God.
They were told that they would be blessed.
They would become numerous people,
that God would be their God.
But the Israelites sinned, didn't they?
And if you read the history of Israel,
you will see that time and time again,
they sinned.
They disobeyed God.
They turned their backs on God.
God had sent them into exile.
He had brought them back.
But that relationship was broken.
Their sin was separating them from God.
When Simeon is looking for consolation of Israel,
he's looking for comfort.
But he's not looking for comfort,
thinking,
yes,
surely God is going to do this because God is good.
He could rely on promises that were in God's word.
He was righteous and devout.
He was in the temple.
He'd have heard the scriptures being read out.
Listen to these words from Isaiah,
chapter 40,
1 and 2.
It echoes that comfort that Simeon is looking for.
They read,
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin had been paid for,
that she has received double from the Lord's hand for her sins.
God was calling for comfort for his people.
Isaiah was talking to them before they went into exile.
And in a sense,
that promise was partially fulfilled.
They'd come back.
They were partially comforted.
But they didn't have full comfort.
And people like Simeon,
people like others,
were waiting for comfort to come into the world.
But Simeon wasn't the only one who was looking for comfort.
Take a look at Anna,
verse 36.
Anna was described as a prophetess.
And she was very old.
And she lived in the temple night and day,
fasting and praying.
Another servant of God who was totally dedicated to the Lord.
Coming up to them at that very moment,
she gave thanks to God
and spoke about the child to all who were looking for comfort.
forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
It wasn't just Simeon.
It wasn't just Anna.
But all of these people were looking forward
to the redemption of God.
Redemption being a deliverance,
a rescuer.
They were looking for these.
And if we had the time,
we could go through the Old Testament
and look at all of the promises of God,
of a Messiah,
of a comforter to come into the world.
As a teacher of Sunday school,
a great privilege each week
to teach the children about Jesus.
For the last year and a half,
we have been going through the Old Testament.
And it's been amazing to see the connection
in the Old Testament to Jesus
as we see promises of a Messiah to come,
a comforter,
someone to console.
And we are about to see those promises
to be fulfilled.
But Simeon had a special promise as well,
didn't he?
Even though all of these people were waiting for Jesus,
Simeon had a special one of the Holy Spirit.
Look at verse 26.
He was promised that it had been
that he would not see death
until he had seen the Lord's Christ,
or the Messiah.
He had this special promise.
So can you imagine, Simeon,
the expectation he had
that every morning he woke up,
he was still alive,
meaning he didn't see the Lord's Christ,
and he was about to.
And we see that this very day
that he was going to meet with Jesus.
Can you imagine being led by the Spirit
as he walked to the temple that day,
each step getting closer
to meeting with Jesus?
We pick it up in verse 28.
Simeon took Jesus in his arms
and praising God, saying,
Sovereign Lord,
as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared
in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for the glory of your people, Israel.
For my eyes have seen your salvation.
Isn't that an incredible verse?
All the expectation of all the years,
all of the Old Testament promises
coming together
as he took Jesus in his arms
and he could say,
My eyes have seen your salvation.
Simeon was holding a baby,
a newborn baby,
less than 40 days old.
And yet, with the eyes of faith,
he could see that this baby
was God's chosen way
of saving his people.
We've just spent a lovely time in Christmas.
We've had Christmas celebrations.
We've had lovely times
and carol services.
Perhaps we've been to nativity plays
and seen the story of Jesus acting out.
Not many people will have recognized Jesus in that.
But Simeon recognized Jesus.
But not only him.
Look again at Anna.
When Anna met with Jesus,
she said she praised God.
We're not told what Anna said,
but she gave thanks to God.
With a grateful heart,
she saw who Jesus was.
And you see,
Simeon and Anna did something
that many people in Jesus' time didn't do.
And they did something
that many people in today's world do not do.
And that was,
they recognized Jesus.
Do you recognize Jesus?
When you pick up God's word
and you see the name of Jesus in print,
do you recognize who he truly is?
That he is the one that was promised?
That he was the one that the Old Testament spoke of
would come into the world?
Do you recognize him as the one
who is your savior?
The one who would pay the penalty for your sins?
Do you remember when you first recognized Jesus?
I remember when I first recognized Jesus.
When I first time that I came to realize who Jesus was,
I'd spent perhaps 18 months
hanging around Christians.
I enjoyed their company.
I enjoyed their food.
I enjoyed spending time in Bible studies.
I was learning about God
and learning about Jesus.
But I use the word learning about very deliberately.
You see,
I was learning about Jesus
and all these great facts,
but they were all up here.
Until one day,
we were in a Bible study
and we were reading Romans.
And the verse that I came across was,
for the wages of sin is death.
Being an accountant,
I could understand wages.
You get wages for something that you are due,
that you worked for them.
And all of a sudden,
it hit me.
I was due death,
separation,
punishment,
hell,
because of my sin.
And for about two weeks,
I fought against that.
I did not want to consider myself a sinner.
Yet I knew in my head
that Jesus came to save me from my sins.
About two weeks later,
at a Bible study,
somebody pointed out to me
that there was a second half to that verse.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It was then that I recognized Jesus.
Simeon and Anna could recognize him.
They could see that he was the one that was promised.
The Old Testament had promised him.
Now I was able to do that
because I could see that my sins were forgiven,
that I did not have to pay the penalty for my sins
because I recognized who Jesus was.
Yeah, but did Simeon not say
that the Messiah was going to be
the consolation of Israel?
How then was I going to be saved?
After all, I'm not a Jew,
and I'm pretty sure none of the rest of us are either.
Look at what else Simeon said about Jesus.
Verse 31, speaking of Jesus as salvation,
he says,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for the glory of your people Israel.
God had prepared salvation in the sight of all people.
It wasn't hidden.
It wasn't something that was going to be
for a small select group of people.
It was going to be for all people.
Israelites are Gentiles,
Gentiles being those who are not Jews.
Jesus also described as a light,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles.
Does that sound familiar?
Jesus being a light.
Think of these words again from Isaiah,
prophesying what would happen in Isaiah 49.
He said,
Is it too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept?
I will also make you a light to the Gentiles
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.
Isaiah was talking about a servant of the Lord.
People didn't know who the servant was.
There was a lot of confusion,
but they knew a servant of the Lord was coming
and he was coming in the form of Jesus Christ.
You see, salvation comes through Jesus
and that salvation was not going to be just for the people of Israel,
but for the people to the ends of the world,
the ends of the earth.
But as that salvation goes out to the end of the world,
not everyone is going to recognize Jesus.
Look at what Simeon says in particular to Mary.
Verse 33.
The child's father and mother marveled at what was said to them.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother,
This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel
and to be a sign that will be spoken against
so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed
and a sword will pierce your heart, your own soul too.
Note that Simeon is speaking directly to Mary,
not to Joseph, to Mary.
And he speaks to Mary that Jesus is going to be a sign
that will be opposed,
a sign that will be spoken against.
We mightn't like to think of that over Christmas, mightn't we?
We enjoy Christmas.
We enjoy going to the carol services.
We enjoy everything to do with the presents.
But Jesus didn't remain a baby, did he?
Verse 40 reminds us that the child grew and became strong,
filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
And as Jesus went through his life,
he was opposed, wasn't he?
Not everyone accepted who Jesus was.
There was many people gathered around Jesus.
They enjoyed him for a while,
and as Jesus taught them different things,
they fell away.
And the teachers of the law and the Pharisees,
they opposed him.
They even were coming up with plans to kill him.
Isaiah was prophesying to Mary that,
yes, this is going to happen to your son.
Listen to these words again from Isaiah.
Let's look forward to this servant that would come.
Isaiah 53, verse 3.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering and familiar with pain,
like one from whom people hide their faces.
He was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
And Jesus spoke about that rejection.
He knew that he was going to be rejected by people
as he went from being a baby
back toward Jerusalem to the cross.
He told his disciples in Luke 9,
the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected by the elders,
the chief priests and the teachers of the law,
and he must be killed
and on the third day be raised to life.
But notice also what he says to Mary.
He says,
A sword will pierce your own soul too.
Mary was a new mother.
She had a newborn baby in front of her,
and yet Simeon was saying,
A sword will pierce your soul too.
Jesus was no ordinary baby,
and Mary, when it comes down to it,
was no ordinary mother.
Mary would suffer also.
She would see the rejection
and the suffering of her son.
We see Mary and Jesus together in Jerusalem here,
and just over 30 years after this,
we see them again in Jerusalem, don't we?
But this time,
Jesus will be hanging on a cross
for your sins and my sins,
and Mary will be watching.
Look at how John describes it.
Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother.
Mary was going to live to see her son rejected,
a sword was going to pierce her heart too.
The question for us is,
when we see this,
when we see that Jesus
is going to be rejected by men,
what do we do with Jesus?
How do we respond to Jesus?
Are we going to be people
who believe in Jesus,
believe that he died for our sins
and rose again?
Or are we going to reject Jesus?
It's a serious question, isn't it?
Perhaps a quick question,
we might say,
well, that's not really for Christmas.
But this story reminds us
that Jesus coming into the world
was not so that we could have
a lovely time at Christmas,
and even though we do,
but Jesus came with a specific mission,
and that mission was to save his people.
The hint is in his name,
to save his people from their sins.
But note what else Simeon says.
He said, verse 35,
so that the thoughts of many hearts
will be revealed.
Our hearts are very important
when it comes to salvation.
God knows our hearts.
We cannot hide things from him.
Listen to what Paul said
to the Romans.
If you declare with your mouth,
Jesus is Lord,
and believe in your heart,
God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For it is with your heart
that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth
that you profess your faith
and are saved.
God knows all of our hearts.
We can hide things from each other,
can't we?
None of us can see one another's hearts.
And we will meet people
who perhaps profess to be Christians,
but God knows.
But what each of us needs to do is,
are we following Jesus?
God will know.
We can fool one another.
If we are rejecting Jesus,
if we're not truly Jesuses,
there is still hope.
Listen to these words from Peter.
He was speaking to a big group of people
after Jesus had ascended,
and he said,
Repent then and turn to God
so that your sins may be wiped out,
that times of refreshing
may come from the Lord.
Repent, turning away from sin,
that your sins may be wiped out.
That offer is still open.
Even if you are here rejecting Jesus,
the offer of salvation is still there.
The offer is for refreshment.
We look for that, don't we?
We long for comfort and refreshment,
and if we are believing in Jesus,
we have that comfort.
We have the comfort knowing that our sins are forgiven.
Simeon was looking for that comfort
when he was talking about the consolation of Israel.
And for us now, as we read this passage,
as believers, we can take comfort
that God fulfills his promises.
Do you notice we read three verses from Isaiah?
All of those came true in Jesus.
And as we go into 2020,
we can trust that God fulfills his promises.
He made promises to his people.
Simeon, Anna, and others were faithfully waiting
for those promises to be fulfilled.
And then Jesus appeared.
We see Simeon.
He'd received God's salvation, didn't he?
After he had seen Jesus,
he said, you can now dismiss me in peace.
He'd received the goal of salvation.
He had seen Jesus.
We haven't seen Jesus yet, have we?
As believers, we know that our salvation is secure,
for there's no power or authority
can take us out of the Lord's hands.
But we have not seen Jesus yet.
We've seen him in the words of Scripture,
but we haven't seen him face to face.
So in a sense, we're still waiting
for the promises of God, aren't we?
And God gives us great promises.
Listen to what Paul wrote to the Philippians.
He said,
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and we eagerly await a saviour from there,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our citizenship is in heaven.
We're here for a temporary time only,
and we eagerly await,
we're still waiting, aren't we,
for a saviour to come.
And when Jesus comes,
he will take each one of us,
as if we are believers.
What a wonderful promise that we have.
And think of all the promises
that flow from that.
When we pass from this life,
we have an inheritance
that can never perish,
spoil, or fade.
A few weeks ago,
when Dan was preaching,
he was preaching from 1 Peter.
And in the very first chapter,
there's wonderful verses
that speak of the confidence
we can have
when we pass from this life.
Listen to these words
from 1 Peter chapter 1.
Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his great mercy,
he has given us new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead
and into an inheritance
that can never perish,
spoil, or fade.
This inheritance is kept in heaven
for you,
who through faith
are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation
that is ready to be revealed
in the last time.
We're still waiting.
We're waiting for Jesus to come,
but we can be sure
he will come.
And even though we live
in a life,
in a world,
that there seems to be
so much sorrow
and so much pain
and suffering,
when we go to be
with the Lord in heaven,
the new heavens
and the new earth,
there will be
no more pain,
no more tears.
He will wipe every tear
from our eyes,
but the old daughter
will have passed away
and the new one
will have come.
We can bring those promises
to other people.
Do you notice how Anna,
when she saw the baby,
her desire was to speak
to others?
We can bring that comfort
to others.
You see,
there's many people
in our families,
many people that we work with,
our friends,
who will have enjoyed Christmas,
who will have seen Jesus,
but will be happy
to leave Jesus in that manger
and pick him up again
next Christmas.
But we can share
the hope that we have
with those around us.
And as we go into 2020,
we can rely
on the promises of God,
that one promise of God
will ever be broken.
Here's a challenge for us.
As we pick up God's word
in the next few months,
in the next year,
and we see a promise of God,
take a note of it.
Perhaps put a little
P in your Bible
for promise.
And when you're going
through a tough time
in the year,
when you're suffering,
or life seems to be
just that little bit
too hard,
or you begin
to doubt God,
pick up the Bible,
look at the promises
that you've listed,
and trust God
to fulfill those promises,
and that when we
pass from this life,
we have a wonderful
inheritance.
Jesus might come back
in the next 12 months,
and how glorious
that will be,
but when we see Jesus,
we will be able to say,
as Simeon did,
my eyes have seen
your salvation.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you
for this wonderful
piece of scripture.
What joy,
what excitement
there must have been
when Simeon
saw you, Lord,
as a baby,
and said,
my eyes have seen
your salvation.
I thank you
that all the promises
of the Old Testament
were coming true,
and that the promised
Messiah,
the promised one,
came,
and they recognize you,
Lord,
as the one
who could save them
from their sin,
and we too have that promise,
and we want to thank you
for that.
And as we head
into the next year,
we can be confident
that you will continue
to uphold
all your promises,
for, Father,
you do not break
any of your promises.
We look forward
to you coming again,
Lord.
We look forward
to an inheritance
that can never perish
or spoil or fade,
and we think of those
that we know
and we love
who are rejecting you.
Might indeed
we have that desire
to bring that comfort
to them,
to share you
with those around,
being confident
in your word
and your promises.
in Jesus' name,
Amen.