Luke 2:25: And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, Then he took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, “Lord, now let 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 people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher: she was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, who departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spoke of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. (Luke 2:25-38).
It seemed to be just another ‘ordinary’ day, in another ‘ordinary’ year under Roman occupation in the city of Jerusalem. From what we know, the spiritual condition of Israel at that time was quite barren and hard. Generally, the Pharisees who knew their scriptures inside out, were spiritually blind to the real meaning of what they were reading.
And yet there was a man named Simeon, and what distinguishes this man in this passage is not his learning or that he had heard any rumours of significant events. Firstly we are told that he was a righteous and devout man. We could say that he was a man who loved God and his ways and that he walked in the fear of the Lord. This devotion towards God led him unavoidably to live righteously before his God. His was a ‘heart’ religion, not a formal an outward one! The scriptures alert us to the significance of Simeon with the word ‘behold’ at the beginning of verse 25 – “and behold there was a man in Jerusalam…”. In his devotion towards God he identified with the interests of his God and was obviously carrying a burden that God would visit his people with the promised Messiah – an understanding of which he undoubtedly got from the Scriptures. But his interest was far more than being just doctrinal or academic. He hadn’t settled down with a feeling of intellectual satisfaction as to the correctness of his eschatological outlook. He had heart-felt concern for the work of God among his people. Without having heard the words of Jesus, he yet no doubt had in his heart a continuous prayer of, “Sanctified be your name, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in Heaven!” He was ‘waiting for the consolation Israel!’ And we can imagine that this was not just a passive waiting, but a prayerful disposition that arose as incense before God.
Isn’t it wonderful when a city has a man like this. In the midst of spiritual barrenness the word of God comes through this man who is walking with God.
That his prayer touched heaven, as it were, we can see from the way that God answered him. God told him by his Spirit that he wouldn’t die without seeing the Messiah. And on this ‘ordinary’ day, just like any other, it was the Spirit of God that led him into the temple. Outwardly, for other people, there was nothing different or extraordinary about this day. However, Simeon was walking ‘in the Spirit’, and ‘happens’ to come into the temple and sees a baby.
This man, Simeon, saw and recognised what hardly anyone else saw or recognised that day. And what comfort and joy it brought to his heart! He had been praying and longing that God would send the much-needed Saviour and Redeemer to his people. And now he was utterly satisfied and felt completely blessed that he was able to see the Messiah in person! He walked with God and his prayerful devotion and righteous living brought him into a fellowship with God where the Lord could speak and reveal such things to him! Simeon recognised the signs of the time! All this, not the fruit of academic study, but of a life of prayerful devotion and walking humbly with his God. Isn’t it wonderful when a church has men and women like this?! Oh yes, he would have known the Scriptures, but he didn’t rest in them (John 5:39); he didn’t just sit back waiting for things to pan out according to his fixed eschatological outlook.
It is an interesting and instructive aspect of the word of God that even though the Lord promises something, yet he still seeks an echo or counterpart of his own heart of love and eternal purposes in the hearts of his people in prayer. (Did not God Himself wonder at one stage that there was no intercessor? Isaiah 59:16). Witness the prayer and fasting of Daniel after he had read in the book of Jeremiah that 70 years of captivity were determined for Israel. As we can see, Daniel certainly searched and studied the scriptures – but he didn’t stop there! He could have simply rejoiced and thanked God that at the end of 70 years the Lord would bring his people back into their land. But no, he humbled himself before God and prayed. He humbled himself because of the waywardness of generations of his people that had led them into captivity. Daniel was grieved with the things that grieved God! Daniel prayed fervently and sacrificially (in terms of time and abstinence) for those things that God himself was wanting to do. It is a remarkable and wonderful thing. God found a man whose disposition and burden concerning the work of God on earth reflected His own, and Daniel had the wonderful testimony that he was a man ‘greatly loved.’ If one is just an armchair theologian, or a student of eschatological outlooks , or someone who submerges themselves in end-time conspiracy theories, how significant and effective can one really be in the work of God? How effective can I be if I spend far more time with my head in books – or the internet – rather than with my knees on the floor? If you understand the context in which I’m speaking, you will understand that I am not against serious study.
So going back to Simeon, here we have a man that walked with God and rejoiced in seeing the purposes of God being fulfilled much more than any ‘knowledge’, giftings, position or possessions that he might have.
What spiritual understanding and faith he had! What a heart for the work of God – “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word: “For my eyes have seen your salvation… a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” In a prophetic way Simeon continued by saying to Mary, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” he
He knew that the baby in front of him was not just to be a Saviour to the Jews but do the Gentiles also. He foretold of the opposition that Jesus would encounter and of the pain that Mary herself would experience. What commentary did he get all this from? Or was it that he just loved the word of God and had the Spirit of God give him an understanding that was spiritual rather than academic? To give context to the last sentence so that I’m not misunderstood, I would refer you to 1 Corinthians 2:6-16. What I am saying does not exclude study but is simply a warning against a dedication and dependence on our rational thinking that of necessity would deprive us of spiritual insight and understanding. But as I said, prophetic gift was also very much behind what Simeon spoke out on that day.
There wasn’t just a man in Jerusalem who recognised what was happening among them! There was also a woman who was a prophetess, and her name was Anna. She was quite old, and yet we are told that she never left the temple but served the Lord with prayers and fastings, night and day. People talk about ‘serving the Lord’, but do you think that some kinds of ‘serving’ require more sacrifice, more of a personal cost to oneself than other kinds? Isn’t it a wonderful thing when a community of believers has a woman like this? God is able to speak, reveal things and work in a special way when people live like this (See Acts 13:2). Anna ‘happened’ to come into the temple at that moment and she too recognised that the infant in front of her was the Redeemer of Israel and she gave thanks and proclaimed Him to those around!
Simeon and Anna walked with God and they recognised the signs of the times and were ‘ready’ to receive Him. It is important to be ready…is it not? In fact, what could be more important than to be ready when He suddenly appears. What good is my eschatology if I am not fully ready when He comes? What good is a dogmatic eschatology that ends up being so at variance with what actually transpires that it leads me to disappointment, perplexity and unpreparedness for the moment so that I am forced to play ‘catch up’ with what the scriptures really mean?!
Before Christ’s birth, what Hebrew scholar, what devout believer and student of the Hebrew scriptures could have anticipated or forecast the events that actually unfolded from the time of Christ’s birth? Had you or I or anyone else been alive in the years before His birth, had we assiduously studied all that the Law and the prophets said about the coming of the Messiah and His redeeming and saving work and His reign in Israel, who among us would have anticipated and accurately forecast in our eschatological framework the things that actually did happen as a result of Christ’s birth? To some extent at least, would we, whoever we are, not have been surprised, perplexed and even nonplussed by the events as they have now actually unfolded?
Think about it. With all the verses there are in the Old Testament, with all the various references, allusions and explicit statements that relate to this wonderful and glorious theme of the work of Christ, would you not agree that the scriptures do not present us with a clear timeline and water-tight explanation or eschatology of exactly how and even when certain things will happen and how they will unfold? Tell me, who, having carefully studied the Hebrew scriptures, could have anticipated this scenario in advance: the Messiah is born and grows up as a carpenter’s son in relative obscurity. After a ministry of three and a half years in which time He does many miracles, He is rejected and committed to death by those He came to save. But then on the third day He is raised from the dead. However, this Messiah doesn’t restore the ‘kingdom’ to Israel; He does not deliver them from Roman occupation; the wolf and the lamb are not brought together to lie down and eat straw; Jerusalem does not become the centre of God’s glory on earth, but rather the result of his coming is the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple within one generation, and the scattering of the Jews all around the world. The Messiah doesn’t set up any kind of earthly kingdom at all, but instructs his disciples that this Gospel of the (spiritual) Kingdom of God will and must be preached to every nation on earth, incorporating multitudes of Gentiles! Because of His death and resurrection, reconciliation and salvation is to be preached to every creature on earth – and because of His shed blood, the Holy Spirit would be poured out on Jew and Gentile creating His Church on earth, of which He would be the Head – beginning on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. This church would continue preaching the Gospel for at least about 2000 years before any significant eschatological event would take place.
In a nutshell, this is what has happened and unfolded. Consider, who could have predicted all this from the Old Testament scriptures. Yes, looking back we can all identify verses that relate to what we now know has happened – and how wonderfully clear and precise they now appear to us! And yes, perhaps we certainly might have anticipated this or that aspect of things beforehand – like a virgin birth, and the coming of Him who would be Emmanuel, and the suffering of the Servant of the Lord – but the composite picture of events, the manner of the unfolding of the most significant details would have been beyond the best of us.
Weren’t the apostles themselves still anticipating just days before Pentecost that Jesus would at that time deliver Israel from Roman occupation and set up and earthly kingdom? None of the Pharisees expected or anticipated their Messiah and King to come as Jesus came, or to be as Jesus was. None of the disciples expected or anticipated that the Saviour of Israel would die in weakness and apparent failure. Who could have anticipated that His coming would not change anything outwardly at all in this world, that instead of blessing coming to Israel as a nation, the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews would entail within one generation. Who could have predicted that instead of setting up an earthly kingdom, the wonderful inauguration of the spiritual Kingdom of God would take place within peoples’ hearts (of both Jew and Gentile) through an inward spiritual new birth, and that the people thus regenerated would constitute His church, His body on earth? Amazing.
Do you see?
This is not to blame anyone of culpable ignorance. Not at all. On the contrary. Has not God written things in such a way so as to keep us humble and dependent on Him for understanding. Surely the Lord wants us to walk humbly before Him and close to Him day by day, knowing that such a person will have the significance and relevance of God’s word revealed to them at the appropriate time. Surely a true and spiritual understanding of these things is made dependent on our daily personal relationship with God. It was the five wise virgins who kept the oil full in their lamps that were ready to meet their Lord.
The apostle John was no doubt perplexed by some of the things that Jesus taught and did, and he even got the wrong end of the stick sometimes (Luke 9:54-56), but he was the one who laid his head on Jesus’ breast and was willing to lean on Him and learn from Him, patiently waiting for understanding and revelation to come. John was such a one who humbled himself and received the word of God with meekness. This was ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’. And to him was given revelation like no other in the New Testament! But Peter had his fixed ideas about the Messiah and exactly was He was meant to be doing on earth!
Oh dear…
Peter had got it all worked out according to his interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures! What pain, perplexity and disillusionment he had to endure because of trying to impose on Christ his eschatological views of what the Son of God should do on earth! (Matthew 16:22,23). His ‘good intentions’ of trying to bring about Christ’s Kingdom on earth according to his viewpoint earned him the rebuke, “Get you behind me, Satan: you are an offence unto me: for you consider not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Was part of Peter’s problem that he was taking some scriptures that did relate to the future but applied them in too literal a way, or simply mistimed there application? Do you think this could be a warning to us all not to be too headstrong in our opinions about things that the Bible itself is (deliberately?) not clear-cut about?
Undoubtedly it is good to know the scriptures well, but there is a more important basis for our understanding of scripture which rests not on our intellectual capacity to grasp complex ideas, but on the state our hearts and on our personal relationship to our God. Here some favourite verses that highlight this point:
“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” (Psalm 25:14).
“The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” (Psalm 25:9).
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight.” (Matthew 11:25-26).
“And if any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” (1 Corinthians 8:2)
“Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
Is your eschatology completely water-tight without the appearance or hint of a leak, without the application of an artificial band-aid to shore up a weak point? Are you more like Peter or more like John?
Some things may indeed be stated clearly for our understanding – and we have many such examples in the New Testament. But other things, and how they actually relate to one another and hold together, how they will actually unfold in detail, how literal or otherwise their meaning is, is not always revealed to us in scripture as some kind of full-proof water-tight blue-print! (Please see above for the proof of this!) In the first chapter of Revelation and verse three it says this, “Blessed is he that reads, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.” It is a blessed thing to read and to keep those things in your heart – it doesn’t say ‘blessed is he that reads and understands those things’! He or she may indeed be blessed, but the point is that it doesn’t put it like that!
The title of this article might indeed have led you to expect more, but I have limited myself to give a warning against the human ‘drive’ to sew things up in such a way that actually blinds them to the truth.
Romans5 