I wish we knew more about this man.

Luke 2:25-29

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Our devotion today is taken from Luke chapter two, verses 25 and 26. And this is following Jesus birth.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God. (Luke 2:25-28)

I always wish that we knew a little bit more about this gentleman named Simeon. It’s always assumed that he was an older man and he is one of the people that, you might say, is between the old and the New Testament. He was waiting for the Messiah to come and was one of those, the Bible calls them a remnant of true believers, that were waiting for the arrival of this Christ child.

He saw through all of the false ideas that many people had about the coming Messiah. Some people thought he was going to be a king or a great warrior, but he here now teaches us some things about being ready and let’s learn some things from him. First of all, just patience. I know a lot of times I’m a very impatient person. When I go to a place like Disneyworld or something, I want to get right through the line. I hate having to wait.

And sometimes that can be a problem for us when it comes to our spiritual lives as well. Sometimes we wish we could dictate to God how we want things to go and how quickly we want things to happen. And when we have to wait, it oftentimes can bring on a lack of faith. And sometimes while we’re waiting, we can also get very distracted and allow our attention to shift.

But Simeon, we’re told, was waiting for the consolation of Israel. That means for the arrival of Jesus. And in patient faith, he was waiting for God’s timing to take place, and he had been told that he would not leave this life until he got to see the Lord’s Christ.

The second thing that we can learn from Simeon is that real faith. True faith embraces Christ and looks for him and puts all of its hope only in him. I bet there were a lot of other babies brought into the temple grounds that day. Simeon maybe saw a number of other children around him, and yet here he was focused on this one child that he knew was going to bring salvation for all people the glory of Israel, God’s promised Messiah.

And that’s kind of a picture of what faith is like. True faith is always looking for Christ, is always looking for the wonderful hope of going to heaven that God gives us only in that Savior. And so Simeon really teaches us how to put our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Another thing that we learn from Simeon is that faith is content to live here in this life, but is really looking forward to going to heaven. That’s really what the Christmas message is truthfully all about. It’s not just the benefits that we receive as Christians here on Earth, but it’s the wonderful hope of heaven that we have coming for us in Christ.

Saint Paul once said, “For me to live is Christ, but to die is gain.” And Lord, let now your servant depart in peace.

May God give all of us that same wonderful faith that looks forward to the coming Savior so that we can also leave this world someday in his peace. Amen.