Simeon Holds The Light
Old Testament prophecy fulfilled by Jesus:
He would be a light to the Gentiles.
God’s chose Abraham to begin a nation to be His people. He intended for that nation, the Jewish nation, to share who He was with the rest of the world. God wanted all people from all nations to believe in Him. Through the years, scripture tells of many non-Jewish (gentiles) who came to faith in the One true God.
The Jews, God’s chosen people, were to be a light to the gentiles. God wanted His people to illuminate the way for others to find Him. To move out of darkness into God’s light. Then one day, from God’s chosen people, God would send the Messiah into the world. Jesus would be THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
The prophet Isaiah wrote what would one day happen:
“I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness,
I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,
And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,
As a light to the nations, To open blind eyes,
To bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.
Isaiah 42:6-7
He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the protected ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Isaiah 49:6
The words of Isaiah were fulfilled in Jesus. The words written more than 500 years before His birth were remembered and spoken by a godly man when Jesus was a baby.
We don’t know much about Simeon. There are no shelves of books devoted to the life of this man. But what we do know about him is amazing. In Luke 2:21-35 we learned that Simeon lived in Jerusalem and he 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.” Luke 2:25-26.
Simeon was a man of faith who lived before the Holy Spirit indwelled believers constantly. (The Holy Spirit indwelled believers constantly after Pentecost following the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.)
But God told Simeon that he would live long enough to see the Messiah!
At the very moment Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to the temple to offer a sacrifice to the Lord for His birth. God led Simeon there too.
Simeon takes baby Jesus into his arms. He thanked God and said,
“Now, Lord, You are letting Your bond-servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples:
32 A light for revelation for the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”
Luke 2:29-32
Simeon recalled the prophecy of Isaiah the He would be a light to the nations (gentiles).
And on that day, in God’s holy city, in God’s temple, Simeon held in his arms the Messiah, the light of the world.
Carla Killough McClafferty