East Baptist Church – Denison, TX

The Messiah (The Anointed One) Is Here 

Luke 2: 25-35

All of the song-poems we have been looking at are leading up to the arrival of the long awaited promised One the Messiah God in the flesh coming to establish His Kingdom here on earth. Today as we look to this Thursday and the celebration of His coming, we will look at the very first recorded song-poem after our Lord God stepping off the throne of glory to bring His saving grace to a sin sick world as the cure.

The back story is that of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple “to carry out the custom of the law.” In bringing Jesus to the temple, they encountered several important and significant people. One of those people was a godly man named Simeon. We see his story recorded here in this passage. And how Simeon responded to the arrival of Jesus shows us how to properly respond to not only Christmas, but our own personal encounter with this very same Christ. 

In the recording of our Lord’s earthly parents bringing Him to the temple: He set the example of coming to church;

Luke 2:25-28 (NASB77) ²⁵And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

²⁶And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

²⁷And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, ²⁸then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, (Our Lord came to earth to also establish the N.T. church.)

Do not forget for even a second that the Words we are about to read are not a hymn that is here today gone tomorrow, this is the Word of God. Let that truth on this eve of Christmas move you to see the wonder and awe of our Creator loving us so much He came in the flesh to walk not only among us but with us today by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Think of it, the world has waited four hundred years to hear a Word from God and when the time was right God came in Person. Now that is what Christmas is all about. No wonder the old preacher’s heart sang with JOY. Is your heart singing with the joy and wonder of the coming of the Christ?   

Now the grace that brings us all to look past the cradle to the cross, and not to stop there but onward to the resurrection and ascension of the same Christ. We find the grace that brought Our Lord to earth in His own Words:

Matthew 5:17 (NASB77) ¹⁷Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.

Not only do we see a promise kept, but we see praise offered. God kept His word to Simeon and in response, Simeon offered praise to God. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the stress and hoopla, and glitter of this celebration that we forget the simple offering of praise for Who the gift is. 

There’s no doubt that Simeon held that baby tight. Who knows how long he’d been waiting. He looked at Jesus…then looked again…then looked again. His heart, overflowing with joy at the coming of the Redeemer and the fulfillment of God’s promise to him. No doubt he beamed with joy. When is the last time or maybe the first time you held Jesus and let Him hold and captivate your life’s existence?