He Is The Christ

So far in our Advent series, we started off with establishing the deity of Christ by examining his claim to be the “I AM.” This was controversial and pushed some of the Jewish leaders of the time over the edge to utter rejection of him, but His existence as the God-man is essential to our redemption.

Last week Pastor Steve took walked us through the name Emmanuel, God with us. It truly is wonderful to know that in the incarnation, Christ has assured our union with God. In this, he examined a couple of the messianic prophecies that we see in the Old Testament concerning Christ, of which there are many. One could spend a lifetime studying in detail the prophecies of the coming of Jesus and their New Testament fulfillments. All in all, there are said to be well over 300 prophetic references to Christ, depending upon how you count a few minor details.

One of the major themes in the Advent is the fulfilment of prophecy and God keeping His promises. We have the glorious blessing of being able to look back at nearly 2000 years of church history and seeing God’s faithfulness on display throughout the centuries; and not just that, but more importantly, we have the ability to examine the scriptures in both the Old and New covenants. We see with somewhat of a birdseye view in that we can see a promise of God in the Old, and immediately cross reference its completion or fulfillment later on in scripture. Especially concerning the coming of Christ, this is of tremendous value to our firmness of faith.

But what is oftentimes lost in our thinking are all the people who lived between the promise and the fulfilment. The faithful ones knew and believed that all the promises of God would be fulfilled, because God is a faithful God, but between the close of the old testament scriptures and where we pick up in the New Testament, what is called the inter-testamental period of about 400 years, many had lost their zeal of expectancy for the promised coming of a redeemer. Just as sometimes we feel relatively alone in our faithfulness to God, certainly by the time the first century A.D. rolled around, the faithful, expectant remnant were feeling a bit alone.

Among that believing remnant recorded in scripture, we find an old couple named Zachariah and Elizabeth. Along with them, we obviously have Mary and her espoused husband Joseph. Also, we read of some lowly shepherds who were eager to follow the announcement of the messiah’s birth. Here in , we find two more of that believing remnant. Later in the chapter we read of a faithful older lady named Anna.

Our passage today records the account of one of the faithful believing remnant of Israel. Simeon was a man who certainly believed the promises he read in the Tanach, the Hebrew old testament, but he also was privileged to have a special promise concerning the messiah made directly to him. Judging by the references in the text, he, too, was an older man at this point. He had waited his entire life looking for the consolation of Israel. And while, for the most part, God had been silent concerning revelation, He made a special promise to Simeon that we want to examine today.

Simeon was promised by God that before he died, he would see the Lord’s Christ - The Messiah - The Anointed one of God. The Messiah was expected to be a redeemer, a leader, a human figure descending from the line of David, to be called the Son of God, and much more. No matter what Simeon had in mind when he was promised he would see the Messiah with his own eyes, he had no doubt when he saw Jesus, even if just as an infant, that this was the promise of God in fulfillment. He knew the Consolation of Israel had arrived. He knew that this was the Messiah - The Annointed - The Christ.

As we look at this passage, i want to see this theme:

Let us worship our Savior, the Messiah, for God has kept His promise.

To examine the text, I want to see three facets.

The Predicted Coming of Christ

The Proclaimed Glory of Christ

The Prophesied Authority of Christ.

1. The Predicted Coming of Christ - 25-26

“There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.” All that we know about this man is given to us in this passage. He evidently was from Jerusalem. He shares his name with one of the sons of Jacob, the tribe that was named after him, and also with The Apostle Peter who’s surname was Simon (same name, different spelling.) The name means “The Lord has heard.” That will become significant as we read on.

“This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.” From this short biographical sketch, we find that Simeon was faithful, a devout follower of God, but more than just being religiously devoted, The Holy spirit records that he was, indeed, righteous. From this description, we find that he was not just one who was merely a Jew outwardly, as Paul described, but rather Simeon was a Jew after the kind of Father Abraham - who was made righteous by faith.

And we see that faith played out in that he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” This is the word “Paraklesis” of which the same root is used later to describe the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives as the comforter. Simeon was a man who loved God, and also loved his fellow Israelite. He earnestly desired for the comfort of his people to come. The Old Testament is full of references of God comforting his people through the coming one, and in the writing of the Rabbis, they often described the Messiah as one who would be the “Menachem” which means comforter.

That Simeon’s name means “God has heard” is significant, for no doubt Simeon was not just waiting for the comfort of Israel, but he was most certainly pleading with the Lord. When thinking of his situation, I can imagine that Psalms like were often on Simeon’s lips of prayer.

Psalm 13:1–2 ESV

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Psalm 13 ESV

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Well, The idea that “The Lord has Heard” came true for Simeon. Not only was he familiar with the many many promises of a coming comforter to his people, but in verse 26, we read of a special gift of revelation that God gave to Simeon.

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. We are not told how he recieved that revelation, other than the fact that it came from the Holy Spirit himself. Imagine having that weight in the background of your thoughts. Was it a long time from the revelation to the fulfillment? Was there excitement, fear, doubt? Were there days where Simeon felt he was nearing the end of his life and thought, perhaps i just dreamt that whole thing up. Perhaps I will just die with the thousands who have gone before me without seeing the Messiah.

On the other hand, I’m sure there were many days where Simeon lived in a state of joyous expectation, knowing that in this miraculous revelation from God there was a promise that the messiah was coming soon. In reality, Simeon is a type of the entire lot of believing Israelites. All had been promised that God’s would come to comfort His people, and all the believing ones were waiting with joyous expectation. But in Simeon’s case, He knew it could’t be long.

And here is where we encounter our name for Jesus, which is Christ. The word here is Christos in the Greek. That word is used to translate the Hebrew equivalent Moshiach. In both languages, the name means the annointed one. In the Old Testament, it was used to refer in a small sense to Kings, to Priests, and to Prophets. In the sense here, however, we are referring to not just a prophet, a priest, or a king, but we find in our Savior the Prophet, Priest, and King, as the book of Hebrews shows us.

And What Simeon was waiting for, the comforting of Israel, God’s people, was exactly what our Savior brought. In , we read a description of the comforting of Israel that Jesus would later quote about himself.

Isaiah 61:1–3 ESV

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

Isaiah 61:1–2 ESV

Later in Luke’s Gospel, when Jesus would come into the Synagogue on the Sabbath and read that very passage, he would then sit down and say “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

In this passage we see that he is the annointed one, (root word Moshiach). He brings good news, binds up the broken, proclaims liberty, opens prison, proclaims the Lord’s favor, his vengance against sin, and finally, he comforts all who mourn.

This is our Savior, the messiah, the annointed one, the Christ. This is who Simeon had been promised to see before his death.

Later, after jesus Ascension, Peter would cite and concerning Christ.

Acts 2:25–36 ESV

For David says concerning him, “ ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Peter had been the one when Jesus asked, Who do you say that I am, he responded “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

God had always promised the coming of the redeemer - the Messiah. And on the cusp of the fulfillment, Simeon had been given this extra reminder. This extra prophecy. This little boost to his expectation. An expectation of not just good times for Israel, but expectation of the Messiah himself.

2. The Proclaimed Glory of Christ - 27-32

We don’t know the time that passed between the revelation to Simeon and the transpiring of this account, but we can fill our imagination with some of the anticipation of waiting.

In his commentary on Luke, R.C. Sproul puts it this way.

A Walk with God: Luke The Consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25–28)

When I think of Simeon, I think of this old saint, who spent his days in the temple. He would come into the temple each morning. He would look around and the priest in the temple would say, ‘What are you doing, Simeon? What are you looking for?’ Simeon would say, ‘Well, I just came today to check and see if the Messiah was here.’ He would be disappointed day after day after day. But God had told him that he would see the Messiah and he had waited and waited, and gone time after time after time, presumably, to the temple, yet every time that he went, looking for the Messiah, the Messiah was nowhere to be seen. The promise was not fulfilled.

And then finally, that one day Simeon came to the temple with a special urge. He sensed the Holy Spirit drawing him to that place one more time in particular. I can imagine the scene. Here comes Old Simeon, finding his normal place in the temple. The priests see him once more, only this time the scene is not as normal. This time Simeon sees a young couple, who had brought their child in to fulfill the customary dedication according to the law. Not an unusual circumstance, but with this couple there was something different. With this couple, there was a special child in their arms. Not just an ordinary Jewish Boy, no, this time there was something miraculous.

Without warning, it seems, Simeon rushes to Joseph and Mary and takes the infant Jesus into his arms and broke out into this Spirit-inspired song of worship. Instantly, because of the Holy Spirit coming upon him for this very purpose, he recognized his Savior - the Lord’s Christ.

He took him up in his arms and blessed God

This song of worship is structured much like many of the Psalms in Hebrew Poetic form. It is structured in three couplets all declaring the glorious work of God. In reality, this is one of the earliest of Christian Hymns written directly about our Savior Jesus Christ, God incarnate. It has come to be known by its Latin title, Nunc Dimittis - which means “now you dismiss.”

Vs. 29 - Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word.

Here we find the sovereignty of God on display in the fulfillment of His promise. The word for “LORD” here is not the normal greek word that is used to describe God. Rather, it is the word despotos, from where we get our english word Despot. That word has negative connotations as an evil, selfish, ruler. But in the truest sense of the Word, it means one who has complete ownership and authority.

Simeon here is recognizing that God was in control of his very lifespan, causing him to live until he would see this day, and bringing this day forward in his perfect timing. This is an excellent reminder that behind the story of Christmas, and behind the story of all of our lives is a sovereign Lord who is in complete authority and complete control.

Simeon could now Die in peace because he had seen the miraculous work of His sovereign Lord come to fulfillment. Simeon didn’t need to see Christ grow up, perform miracles, raise the dead, preach the gospel of the kingdom, die on the cross or rise again - the very fact that he saw Christ face to face was enough for the Spirit to confirm the plan of the Lord to him.

Vs. 30-31

We see here the salvation of God on display in the fulfillment of his promise. Even in beholding this seemingly helpless child, Simeon sees the salvation of the world wrapped up in peasant’s swaddling cloths.

Vs. 32

we see here the spread of the work of the Messiah in the fulfillment of God’s promise. Not only did Simeon recognize that Christ had come to redeem his people, but he also saw God’s plan from the foundation of the world unfolding to redeem for himself a people of every nation, tribe, and language.

This was not a new concept, but Yaweh’ had been revealed all throughout the Old Testament as having a heart of redemption for all kinds of people, not just ethnic Israel.

Isaiah 9:1–2 ESV

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

Here Isaiah prophesies the future glory of the land beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations. You may recall the reaction of Nathaniel when Phillip told him of Jesus of Nazareth - “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And similarly, in , we read of a division among the people about whether Jesus could be the Christ, and they said, “Search and see that no prophet arises out of Galilee.”

2. The Proclaimed Glory of Christ - 27-32

The Jews looked down on the Galileans with a level of contempt. Being more distant from Jerusalem and in closer contact with the heathen nations to the north than many of the other towns, there was a detestation of the contact with the heathen culture. Certainly nothing good could come from a place so closely related with the outside world - but yet here Isaiah prophesies that very thing. And although Christ’s birth was in Bethlehem, his family originated with their hometown in Nazareth in Galilee, and he spent much time in Galilee in the area of Capernaum.

We don’t know the time that passed between the revelation to Simeon and the transpiring of this account, but we can fill our imagination with some of the anticipation of waiting.

From Christ’s interaction with the woman at the well, we know he was not afraid to contact those who were rejected by his people.

In , we find Paul and Barnabas preaching in Antioch of Pisidia. We find the same animosity of the Jewish people there toward the outsiders. What their response was is so critical to our understanding.

Acts 13:44–48 ESV

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts 13:

Here Paul and Barnabas said in no uncertain terms that Even though the majority of Israel had rejected Christ, God’s plan had not been thwarted. And God was not surprised - he had many people in that city. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. God had known that Paul and Barnabas would be there, he knew there would be resistance and rejection from the Jewish people there, but he still had people there who were appointed to eternal life. People that were not children of Abraham by blood, but children of God by faith.

This is the spread of the Glory of Christ - the Messiah. May we glorify and praise God that Christ is not just the Messiah of Israel, but that He is a light to the Gentiles as well!

Vs. 33. His father and His mother marveled at what was said. Not that they had no sense of what would be of the child, but I can only imagine that this Spirit-inspired confirmation of this miraculous birth was a welcome experience.

After Simeon’s song

3. The Prophesied Authority of Christ - 33-35

After Simeon’s song of worship, he goes on to reveal more of the work of the Messiah. Here, still under the inspiration of the Spirit, Simeon utters a brief but significant prophesy. A prophesy that revealed, while the Messiah certainly came as the consolation of Israel and would bring peace with God, he also would bring division. And his dividing line is the ultimate dividing line. To be divided upon the messiah is to be either a child of God or to remain in your sin.

Isaiah 8:13

Isaiah 8:13–15 ESV

But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”

Israel had been forewarned that Yaweh Himself would be a stumbling stone for many. We should not be surprised that Jesus is often referred to as a stumbling stone or a rock of offense as well. Christ, the messiah, is one in which, if you find him to be a stumbling stone, you have stumbled to your demise - for he was your only hope in life and death. However, if you find him to be your refuge, you have found the very mercy and grace of God.

To put it another way, with Christ, there is no neutral position. To be indifferent to Him is to be against him. This fulfills the prophecy of Simeon.

A sign to be opposed.

The word used here for “sign” is a very strong word. It is a word used often in the NT to refer to miracles. Jesus truly is the miraculous image of God. He is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. You may be indifferent about a political figure, the opinion of a professor, or a philosophical argument; but you may not be indifferent to the person of Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:21–25 ESV

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

What is called folly and nonsense by the world is here in the person of Christ the wisdom of God embodied. To us who are the called, the children of God, like those appointed to eternal life in , we find Christ to be the power of God, and the Wisdom of God.

Vs. 35

Some of Simeon’s final words to the young couple would hit very close to home. He looked, as it were, into the young, innocent eyes of the new mother, and he said, pointedly, “a sword will pierce your own heart also.” There are many heartaches in a mother’s life, but none can be greater than witnessing the untimely and brutal death of her own son. The Passion of Christ, although heartbreaking and utterly dismaying to his close followers, is the very essence of the foolish glory of the Gospel. You say your God hung on a cross and died, naked and shameful at the hands of his very creation? Yes, I say! And there could be nothing more glorious. For in that dreadful scene you have the Sovereign Lord of all the universe bringing himself lower than the lowest scum of a criminal to secure the redemption of the people that had rebelled against him. And not only did he die on that ugly cross, but after being buried in an impenitrable tomb, he miraculously rose again to fulfill his own prophecy. What you may say is foolish and detestable, I see as inexplainable and full of glory!

Praise be to God that Christ, the Messiah, the stumblingblock to many, is the rock of establishment for all who believe in Him.

He Is The Christ

Let us worship our Savior, the Messiah, for God has kept His promise.

1. The Predicted Coming of Christ - 25-26

2. The Proclaimed Glory of Christ - 27-32

2. The Proclaimed Glory of Christ - 27-32

3. The Prophesied Authority of Christ - 33-35

Let us worship our Savior, the Messiah, for God has fulfilled His promise.