Simeon: Salvation

 

He took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:

"Lord, now Your are letting Your servant depart in peace,

according to Your word;

for my eyes have seen Your salvation

which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,

a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,

and the glory of Your people Israel."

Luke 2:28-32, NKJV

 

After years of waiting, the day had finally come.  Going to the temple in obedience to the Holy Spirit, when Simeon saw Jesus in the arms of Joseph (or Mary), he knew that this was the fulfillment of God's promises, the culmination of a life he'd spent in devotion to God.  Simeon wasn't a priest, and this wasn't the official presentation of the child at the temple.  This wasn't the legal redemption of the first born, nor the purification of the mother.  This was a God-ordained moment of worship and blessing for all those involved.

 

Taking the child in his arms, Simeon raised his voice in praise to God.  The anticipated moment was hear.  Now what would he say?

 

"I can die in peace now, because I have seen Your salvation for all people.  I have seen the light of the world, the light of glory."  Simeon had looked upon the very face of God, and he rejoiced over it.

 

Do we realize that the Jesus we know is that same Jesus that Simeon saw?  Has the depth and power and greatness of the Christ we met in salvation penetrated our reality?  Jesus Christ is indeed the savior of the world, the one who came to rescue mankind from the depravities of sin, from the captivities of satan and sickness and self.  Jesus came with a hand outstretched from the manger to bring hope and help and healing into a world so desperately in need.

 

Yet many times we view him as some kind of eternal Santa Claus, a heavenly benefactor who exists to give us everything we ask for, get us out of our self-made messes, and bless us with stuff we don't need and won't appreciate anyway.  We forget that the reason He came was to give us new life, abundant and eternal life when we believed on Him.  We forget that His invitation was one to be born again, a transformation that readies us for eternity.  The Apostle Paul will later write, "It is not I who live, but Christ who lives within me."  And another place he would say, "I am crucified with Christ, and yet I live.  Not I, but Christ who lives within me.  And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God."

 

Salvation is not about us getting a better deal out of life, but about us receiving and reflecting His eternal and powerful life from within!  Simeon understood what He was seeing when He met Jesus, and from that moment on He lived as a dead man.  "I can die in peace..."  But still he proclaimed that his salvation was our salvation, the salvation being made available to all of humanity, to everyone who would believe in the power of this child, this infant Jesus, to save.

 

Thank You, Jesus, for the light of revelation and glory that You have shined down on us!