Summary: God has promised Simeon that Simeon will see the Messiah. This promise is fulfilled when Mary comes to the temple to make an offering for purification. Simeon sings of the great comfort and peace we can all have.
You can listen to the full message here:-
Today we are going to look at the last song in our “Advents Song” – this is the Song which Simeon sings.
We find it in Luke 2.
Lat’s start reading and look firstly at the context of the song Luke 2:22-24
As we read through these verses we see some thing very interesting – this is just an ordinary event that happens on any ordinary day at the temple. Joseph and Mary, like many Jewish parents before them, are just going about their daily lives and doing daily activities because the Law of Moses or the Law of the Lord required it from them.
Purification after childbirth.
It is part of the law that is connected to the purification rites of the temple.
On the 8th Day the baby boy is circumcised.
Then after another 33 days it is time to go to the temple and the mother of the child would make an offering for purification.
The regular offering was to sacrifice a lamb. But the purification law gave special permission for poor families
If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.
Since Jesus was the first born there was another law which applied.
Consecration of the Firstborn
This law was put in place as a reminder an event when, during the Passover, the first born of the Israelites were not put to death because of the blood of the lamb on the entrance to their homes.
From that point on the firstborn were consecrated to the Lord and the firstborn males belonged to the Lord.
It is just an ordinary day – following the law.
Nothing Joseph and Mary were doing would make them stand out or draw attention to themselves.
Yet they did get the attention of someone.
Let’s keep reading Luke 2:25-35
Simeon is waiting for the promised Messiah because Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the promised one.
In this specific case the Messiah is described as The Consolation of Israel.
It is not a well-known description of Jesus.
We are more familiar with names such as Rock, Good Shepherd, Almighty, Son of Man, Immanuel.
Maybe if I pronounce the name in Greek some of us will be a bit more familiar.
pa?????s?? t?? ?s?a?? (parakleesin too Israel)
I’m going to put 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 on the screen - the underlined word is parakleesin.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
You can see that some of the “comfort” words have not been underlined. That is because there are a few different Greek words that translate to “comfort”.
The comfort here is not “comfort” we offer to one another as human beings.
It is a comfort that has it’s foundation in the power and work of God.
When Simeon is looking for the Consolation of Israel … the one who brings comfort … he is looking for God to work in a powerful way.
God does that all the time
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
The powerful work of God giving comfort in the middles of circumstances which can be difficult.