title: simeon’s song · 2019-01-06 · title: simeon’s song . page . 1. of . 17 18. th....

Title: Simeon’s Song

of 17 18th December 2018 GBC-HP Luke 2:21-35 Luke Thomson DRAFT

This is the week after Christmas, and I wonder if anyone got a Christmas gift that they didn’t really want?

I’d encourage you NOT to put your hand up because that may cause an awkward conversation later.

As a result, were you one of the first ones in line at the gift exchange counter on Boxing Day?

Just a few years ago, while I was still a teenager, I was really keen to get a tent for Christmas.

But this was not just any tent, I had a specific one in mind.

It was a blue three-man tent with a window at one end with some really neat pull-down strips at the sides for extra air circulation.

With this in mind, I took care to describe to my parents what it was, what it looked like and at what shop it could be found in.

Christmas day arrived and yes, there was a present with my name on it about so big, the right size of the tent that I was hoping for.

I was SO excited, this could be the tent!

I could picture setting it up for the first time in the backyard.

I could imagine the camping adventures that me and my mates could go on.

I was SO pumped!

I started to carefully unwrap the gift, well with as much care that an excited teenager can.

I unwrapped the gift with soaring excitement.

I was convinced that it was the tent, and as the last piece of the Christmas paper fell away, yes it was blue!!

However, it was at that point my excitement instead of soaring even further, started to nose dive dramatically.

It was blue, but it wasn’t the right shade of blue.

And the fabric wasn’t the right sort of fabric that a tent has, no, it was cotton fabric – it WASN’T a tent.

I was SO disappointed, event to the point of being gutted as my hopes were flying so high.

But I had to mutter a surprise thank you for the dark blue bedspread that I’d received!!

of 17 28. December 2018 GBC-HP Luke 2:21-35 Luke Thomson LT.S.2018.12.28.ChristmasPlayListSeries.Lk2.25.35.v2.3 Web Version.docxV2.1

Obviously, the gift that I desired and hoped for was not the gift that I required, that I needed.

The tent was my desire, the bedspread was something that I needed.

I was looking for, I was expecting something that I didn’t get, and the result from my heart was disappointment and not true gratefulness and thanksgiving.

For some people at the time of Jesus birth, they were looking for some military muscle or some political triumph over the oppression that they were facing in the day.

And so for some, the coming of Jesus was not what they were expecting, but He was precisely the one that was needed, precisely what was required.

However, Simeon, our guy in our reading today, was looking for in expectant hope.

For Simeon, the coming of Jesus was expected, was exactly what he was expecting, and it brought praise and thanksgiving from heart and lips of Simeon as he held in his arms the child Jesus.

The hope of the future in the child Jesus, is Simeon’s hope, and it’s my prayer that each one of us has that hope too.

This message is the last of our Christmas Playlist Series.

We’ve already looked at Mary’s song: where we looked at the God who was mindful of us, and merciful to us.

Then we heard Zechariah’s song – telling us that when we experience God’s faithfulness, we then cannot BUT sing about His faithfulness!

Last week we heard the Angel’s song, when the heavens burst open and the angels proclaimed the good news of great joy for all people;

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

And so, this leads us to this week and our final song in this Christmas Playlist series, Simeon’s song.

Simeon rejoiced in that this baby Jesus was the fulfilment of his hope in the past promises of God and the baby Jesus was the hope for deliverance for not only the nation of Israel, but also the people from the nations of the world.

So, the big idea for today is: The Christmas Baby is the Fulfilment of Our Hopes.


Past Promises. V 25-27.

Promises Fulfilled. V28-32

Our Hope in Fulfilled Promises. V 33-35.

Past Promises. V 25-27.

Today, the writer of this Gospel, Luke, has introduced us to Simeon, another character in the early account of the birth of Jesus.

He’s another one added to the list of devout and reliable witnesses to the birth and early life of Christ.

Notice that none of the witnesses that Luke brings to us in the Christmas accounts have come from the social elite.

Over the past few weeks it really has been a parade of nobodies from nowhere testifying to the birth of Jesus.

There’s been shepherds from the fields, Mary and Joseph from the back of nowhere, and Zechariah and Elizabeth from a speck on the map in the region of Judah.

This is because it’s these types of people – the nobodies, the needy - who God reaches out to.

This’s revealed in Mary’s song that we looked at the beginning of this Christmas Playlist Series where Mary sings regarding the great God that;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. Luke 1:51b-53. ESV.

It’s those who are aware of their need that God reaches out to, and Simeon was such a guy.


There’re a few things that we can notice about him here in verses 25.

Righteous and devout are the first words that stand out about Simeon.

He was what we’d call a great bloke.

He was a bloke who was righteous in his dealings with those around him, with those he met in life. He’d be the neighbour that you’d love to have, the bloke who’d be great to do business with. He treated everyone well and paid his bills on time.

But he was also devout – he was a bloke who was a dedicated and committed believer in the Lord God.

In other words, he was the very model of an ideal god-fearing Jew.

Another thing that we can observe about Simeon is that he had the Holy Spirit on him.

This was a bit unique at this time, especially at that side of the Cross – but it marked Simeon as different – Luke is painting Simeon as a prophet of the Lord – one on who the Holy Spirit rests1.

There’s an echo here of the servant from Isaiah’s prophecy here.

In verse 26 it tells us that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he was going to see in his lifetime the promised messiah with his own eyes.

The last thing to notice here in verse 25 about Simeon was that the he was anticipating the consolation of Israel2.

What’s that you may ask? Good question.

The people of Israel had been suffering under the domination of nations around them for over 800 years.

The latest people crowding in on their space were the pesky Roman army, and the people of Israel had had enough already!

So, the people of Israel were looking forward to solace, comfort and encouragement from the Lord God, to provide rescue, deliverance from the domination of other people over them.

1 Is 61:1. 2 Isa 40:1-2; 49:13; 51:3; 52:9; 57:18; 61:2.


Christmas in Australia is generally a rather warm time of the year.

Not sure if you’ve been in a similar situation, but I remember one time when my family and I were away on Christmas holidays camping and it was so hot.

Even being in the water in the middle of the day was not enough.

Heat and camping with kids can be an interesting time to say the least, and like other people of the time, what do you do?

You try to find solace from the torment of the heat and the kids whinging by fleeing in refuge to the shopping centres for relief from the heat and to find something for the kids to do.

So, consolation has the idea of solace, comfort, encouragement, deliverance rolled into it, and that’s what the people of Israel were looking for – solace and deliverance from the heat of oppression.

God had already told them through the prophets that they were going to be delivered from oppression.

In the book of Isaiah in the old testament, it foretold of the Lord comforting his people, and redeeming his people.

It says in Isaiah 40,

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and announce to her that her time of forced labor is over, her iniquity has been pardoned.

Isaiah 40:1-2. CSB.

This passage links the thought of comfort for the Israelites based on the pardon, based on the forgiveness of her iniquity, her sins.

This was the comfort that Simeon was looking for.

He was looking for the time of oppression and forced labour to be over.

He was looking for the time when the sins of the people would be pardoned.


Isaiah also prophesied of a servant of the Lord, one who’d come and deliver Israel3.

“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel… Isaiah 49:6. ESV.

As a result, Simeon was living in the hope, in anticipation that God’s promise was going to come to pass that the nation of Israel was going to be delivered from oppression, and that her sins were to be pardoned.

He was looking for a deliverer who would come and deliver, restore Israel.

He was looking for the messiah, the deliverer.

In verse 27 we see Simeon in the temple.

We don’t know how long Simeon had been waiting to see what God had promised, it could’ve been years, so obviously apparent that he was a very patient guy.

For me I can get a bit antsy if I’ve got to wait too long, especially if it’s something nice that I know is coming.

I suppose a bit like kids on Christmas morning who’ve been told to wait for the whole family to come before being allowed to start to open gifts.

They can get a bit toey!

Simeon was longing for something far greater than nice.

So I wonder if Simeon knew that morning as he rolled out of bed, that today was going to be the day that he held salvation in his hands.

I wonder what he felt as he headed toward the temple that morning?

I wonder if he bypassed his usual stop the coffee cart and waved away the usual offer of the Jerusalem Post as he hurried to the temple court?

3 Is 42:1


Whatever happened, it was the Holy Spirit that had led him to be in the right place at the right time so that the meeting with Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus could happen.

The Sovereign God has His hand in ensuring that everything was in order for at the right time and at the right place.

And we can see in verse 27, Joseph, Mary and the Infant Jesus, entering the temple court.

They’d come to perform for the Lord Jesus what was customary under the law.

Now, with these events, while they may be a bit different, a bit unusual for us here in modern Australia, they were ordinary and usual back in the day of Joseph & Mary.

But even in the ordinary & mundane, God’s purposes are fulfilled.

This is the same for us, each moment of life does have an aroma of eternity on it, even in the ordinary & mundane moments of life.

Even in the little moments of life God’s purposes are fulfilled.

We can see this here today in the verses before us, with the actions and deeds of Joseph & Mary.

Like Simeon, Joseph & Mary were righteous & devout.

This’d already been seen in their observance to keeping the law in having baby Jesus circumcised4, and in the purification5, verses 21-24.

In doing this, Jesus is identified with the people of Israel6.

And why, why was this necessary?

Galatians 4:4-5 tells us:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Jesus had to be identified with the people to be in a position to be able to gain redemption for the people, to be able to provide salvation for people.

Jesus had to be identified with the people to buy them out of slavery to sin and its consequences.

4 Gen 17:9-14. 5 Ex 13:2; Ex 13:12; Lev 12:6,8. 6 Rom 8:3; Gal 4:4; Heb 2:17; Mat 3:15


The other thing to note about Joseph and Mary, they name their son Jesus – as requested by the angel Gabriel.

The name given – Jesus – remember what this points to?

As we are told in Matthews’ account of the birth of Jesus – that he will save his people from their sins [Matthew 1:21].

In his name, Jesus – the purpose of his coming, the mission that he was sent on is declared.

To save His people from their sins.

For us too there is no other name – because as we will see soon in Simeon’s song – that this salvation has extended to you and me.

For the people of Israel, there is salvation, there is deliverance, there is pardon from sin in no one else.

For us, for you and me, there is salvation, there is deliverance, there is pardon from sin in no one else.

And so, it’s with thankfulness and rejoicing that we sang together;

There is no other name In heaven can be found Through whom we are redeemed Through whom Your grace abounds No other name can save But Jesus Christ our Lord

The actions of Joseph & Mary, show their hearts, that they were genuine people of God, truly devoted to him in fulfilling the law, being obedient to what God revealed to them through the angel Gabriel.

In these actions of Mary bringing the Lord Jesus to the temple, as it says in verse 22,

“to present him to the Lord”

There’s an echo of an event in the OT here, from the life of Samuel.

If you remember that Samuel was a child who was dedicated to serve the Lord in the temple by his mother Hannah, who’d yearned for a son. [1 Sam 1-2]


Through prayer she promised to dedicate her son to the Lord God, and that is what she did when she was blessed with a son – she dedicated Samuel to the Lord for service in the temple for life.

And so in similar fashion, here is the baby Jesus brought and dedicated to service to the Lord.

This one that will be called Holy – the son of God7.

The one who was to be a saviour of his people.

How much Jesus belongs to the Lord God is something that Joseph & Mary, in particular Mary, will only slowly come to understand8.

Through these actions by Joseph & Mary, Jesus fulfils the requirements of the law, affirming his identification with his people.

This one who was the Promised One of God, who through the actions of Joseph & Mary was prepared and ready to fulfil the requirements of the law.

He was ready to fulfil the promises of God.

And it was this one that Simeon was looking for in expectant hope.

This leads us to the second point for today,

Promises Fulfilled. V28-32

Unlike anyone who’d opened a gift on Christmas day and was disappointed – Simeon was the exact opposite!

He was definitely NOT in the line at the gift exchange counter!

We read of Simeon taking up the Lord Jesus in his arms and praising God in verse 28.

Some parents may get quite anxious if their new-born was picked up by a stranger while they were out going about their business.

If Mary and Joseph were initially taken aback by the actions of Simeon, this was soon replaced by amazement at what Simeon said in verse 29.

7 Lk 1:35 8 Lk 2:41-52.


And here it seems that Simeon’s task for life is complete with the coming and recognition of the promised deliverer.

““Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;”

There’s a nice picture here of the old servant – Simeon, holding in his arms the greatest servant of all – the Lord Jesus, the one who came not to be served, but to serve and give His life a ransom for many.

One who was at the end of service, holding in his arms the one who was just at the beginning of His service.

The other thing to notice in what Simeon says;

let your servant depart in peace

Here’s a note of relief in seeing the fulfilment of promise – and that is peace.

The deliverer, the messiah had come, now I can have solace, comfort, I can now have peace.

I wonder if Simeon had tears of joy, rejoicing and relief in his eyes as he goes on to say in verse 30 and 31;

for my eyes have seen your salvation 31

that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples

Notice here that the salvation is a person – Christ Himself.

Here is the Glory of the Lord, the salvation of God revealed in the person of Jesus Christ9.

But this salvation was not as many of the Israelite people thought and wanted back in the day.

They were looking for an immediate deliverance from those Romans, rather what they really needed was something else.

Salvations desired is often not the Salvation required.

This looks back to Zechariah’s song back in Luke chapter 1, where he sang that the children of Israel would gain a knowledge of salvation - through the forgiveness of sins. [Luke chapter 1:77].

This echo’s the prophecies that we looked at from Isaiah.

And that’s exactly what God gave them, that is the deliverance that God provided for them.

That’s in reality, what the Israelites needed.

9 Is 40:5; 60:1.


But as Simeon’s song continues;

a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

In the term a “Light for revelation to the Gentiles” Simeon was referring to the plan that God had pointed to, that salvation was going to be for the all the nations10 of the world and not exclusively for the Jewish people.

This is an echo back to Isaiah 49 and verse 6, but the last part of the verse where it says;

I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Is 49:6b

The Jewish nation were to be the people through who the nations of the world were to be blessed, through which salvation was to come, through who God’s Glory11 was to be revealed.

But there was a problem with this for the Jewish people, because rather than being a brilliant light of witness to the world, they’d been a poor representative of this to the nations of the earth.

But now in the person of Jesus, the true light had come, true salvation had come, the true Israel, the true servant of God – and there he was in the arms of Simeon.

Jesus Christ the Lord.

Jesus the saviour of the world.

Yes, this Salvation was to be for All people of the world.

No matter what shade or colour.

The church here at Holland Park is an example of it, we have people from all over the earth.

People from Europe, or European heritage, some from the Americas, both north and south.

Some from Asia, some from India, some from the Middle East.

10 Is 42:6; 49:6; 52:10. 11 Is 46:13.


Some from Africa – well a bunch from South Africa.

Even some from deepest darkest New Zealand, England and yes even those from New South Wales!

Yes, the gospel is for the people of all nations!

No wonder that Simeon could praise God, because here He was, the Saviour of the World, the light for the nations.

Light is a marvellous thing isn’t it?

We can enjoy the pleasure of light displays at Christmas with homes and yards decorated, can’t we?

We find it useful in that in the pitch black we can turn a light on so that we won’t trip and stumble on things, particularly if we were trying to sneak some gifts out to place under the tree for Christmas morning.

However, sometimes we don’t like the light at times, because we don’t like what it reveals.

Not sure what things are like in your home, but there have been times when people or friends are on their way around to pay you a visit and you’re looking to make a good impression on them, that you go to the extent of hiding things away in cupboards, or stuffing things in behind doors so that they are out of sight, out of the light where they can’t be seen.

Now this may be for good reason, like for example in that you’re looking to sell your home, and a potential buyer is on the way around, and so there is a frantic tidy up that happens.

And you hope that they won’t open that cupboard, or open that door and expose what’s been hidden.

This can be a little like our hearts and lives.

We can have things hidden away, so that from the outside everything looks sweet and nice.

However, once the door has been opened, once light has shone in there, we don’t like what we see.

Not sure what your heart, what life is like, but with each of us there are doors, there are areas that we want hidden, we don’t want light in there to reveal what sins and deeds are hidden away.

This’s the light Jesus brings, one that does reveal our failures, our inadequacies, our sins.


John 3: 19-20 tells us..

The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed. John 3:19-20. CSB.

The Bible tells us that we are all sinners, each one of us has doors and cupboards in our lives that we would prefer to be kept shut.

And it’s these sins, these deeds that put us in danger of the judgement of God

But the other thing that Jesus brings, is a light of hope.

A light of salvation.

That’s the salvation that Jesus came to bring – a salvation through the forgiveness of sins.

There in Simeon’s arms was the Lord Jesus the one through whom the fulfilment of the promise of God in salvation was going to come.

This brings us to our final point of today:

Our Hope in Fulfilled Promises. V 33-35.

In verse 33, Mary & Joe marvelled at what Simeon said and I suppose with everything else that had gone on recently their heads and minds would have been starting to whizz a bit thinking what all this could mean.

They’d been visited by the shepherds coming and telling them what’d happened to them, and angel visits to both Mary & Joseph.

Like it can be hard enough adjusting to a new born with addressing the infant’s needs, feeding and changing nappies, lack of sleep and the like, but then to be told this!

Reading with me from verse 34;

34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”


Their initial amazement would’ve turned a bit on edge with this extra bit of information that Simeon shared.

Parents like to hear nice things about their kid, like it has its fathers’ nose, and its mothers’ mouth, aww - how cute.

But in one moment Simeon was saying that the child Jesus was going to be a blessing, and then in the next breath saying that the child will cause stumbling, one who would be opposed, and will piece Mary’s own soul.

These verses point forward to the Hope of Fulfilled Promises.

They point forward to the cross, where indeed a mothers heart would be broken as Mary would be there at the cross watching, as her son was crucified on a Roman cross.

The cross of Christ was also to be a dividing line for people.

Jesus was the saviour for all, and yet was to be a reason for the fall and rising of many.

Jesus was a light of revelation for the nations, but Jesus was also to be a divider of people.

Jesus was going to be a dividing line of even His own people.

There were some who followed Him – the disciples, and yet we also see the Jewish religious leaders of His day rejected him.

Those who opposed him, pursued Him and arranged for His crucifixion.

This may’ve thought to be a missed step, a road block in the grand plan, but this was all part of God’s plan – God’s purpose.

You may be thinking hold the phone!

We’re talking about the birth of Jesus, not His death!

This IS Christmas, not Easter isn’t it?

However, we can’t consider Christmas without looking forward to Easter, because as Jesus name tells us – He came to be the Saviour of the World.

This is because the world is a messed-up place that needs a Saviour, that needs a deliverer.

Simeon, was looking forward to Israel’s mess being sorted out

As we looked at earlier, Israel needed pardon for sin, and the roots of Israel’s mess, is the same as ours – sin.


We’ve just a few moments ago contemplated what things you’d prefer to keep hidden away in your life, things that you’d be ashamed of if brought to light.

The reality is that we all have things like that.

Some of these things can rear up at this time of year at Christmas family feasts.

Anger and friction that can build up in us, and sometimes spill over – people do say that this is THE most stressful time of the year.

May be there’s things and sins we struggle with all year that we’d prefer to keep locked away.

What are they for you?

Whatever it is that we’d prefer to keep hidden, we may try but there is a God who knows.

And that God is holy – without sin, who can’t look at sin.

And it’s this sin that separates us from God, that’s at the root of all this mess that this world is in.

[DP]

The amazing story of Christmas is that this sin that God detests, He provided a way for this to be cleaned up.

And maybe you’re here today thinking that my life is such a mess, that God wouldn’t want anything to do with me.

You may be thinking that you’re a nobody from nowhere, and that God would quite easily look right past you to someone else.

The amazing story of Christmas is that God provided a way for sin to be cleaned up, and that He came to the needy and to the nobodies.

And this way is through the Saviour given – Jesus Christ -the saviour of the world.

The one who became like us, yet without sin to provide a way of forgiveness for us.

To get on track with getting things fixed with God, to gain forgiveness of sin to be set right with God, is through faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross.

To fulfil the purpose of the Saviour of the world, it required the death of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus said himself that it was necessary that the Christ, that the deliverer should suffer. [Lk 24:26].

And that is exactly what Jesus did.


This is because it was the distance between us and God that has to be dealt with, the distance due to our sin and disobedience.

He came to provide a way for forgiveness of sin to be realised.

This can be our Hope in the Fulfilled promises of God.

God sent his Son Jesus to redeem, to deliver, to bring peace, to take our place in judgement of sin, and this required death on the cross.

And yes, He did this for the nobodies from nowhere with lives full sin and needs.

As we sang together earlier;

My hope in darkest night My broken soul's delight No other name But Jesus Jesus

Jesus can be that light of hope in the middle of our darkness, can be our souls delight in the middle of our brokenness.

There is truly no other name, but Jesus.

Where do you stand in regard to Jesus?

What you say, what you think about the question of Jesus reveals where your heart is.

Jesus is someone who you welcome or someone you oppose.

I trust that we will be all Simeon’s here today.

Simeon was a bloke who was aware of need – his need and the nations need.

Simeon had hope that a deliverer would come, as we have seen today, he’d been looking for a deliverer, a saviour.

This was based on the promises of God, and so he had an expectant hope that that day would come.

That day had come, and he was able to praise God for the peace that he now had, because of the gift of the saviour.

This can be ours too as we consider our brokenness, our need, and yet it has been met and sorted in the person of Christ, the one who came to bear our sin and shame in our place.

Simeon could join us in singing;

Every promise of our God

Finds its ‘yes’ in His own Son


Blessings to His people come

In abundance through the One

In Christ God’s glory is revealed.

His grace, His faithfulness is shown

And so we live in certain hope,

The God of Truth our fortress strong

Simeon’s hope for the future was Jesus Christ.

The question is, is Christ your hope too?

Let’s pray.

title: simeon’s song · 2019-01-06 · title: simeon’s song . page . 1. of . 17 18. th....

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