Anchor My Faith

Simeon Meets Jesus

Scripture: Luke 2:27-28

We left the previous lesson with some suspense to be relieved in this lesson. How would Simeon come to meet Jesus, as required by the promise. “And he came in 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” (Luke 2:27 ESV). From a previous lesson, we know that the Holy Spirit was upon Simeon and had informed him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. In a similar manner the Holy Spirit now informs him that it is time to go to the temple to meet Jesus, the Lord’s Christ.

We read in Malachi: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1 ESV).  Simeon is seeking the Lord and Malachi says that he will suddenly come to his temple. This now occurs as Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the temple. Clearly God has these two events timed; Simeon knows it is time to go to the temple because Jesus is now being taken there. There is nothing that can overcome this act of God and prevent Simeon and Jesus from meeting at this time.

It is the custom of the law to present the child to the Lord, and then redeem him by making an offering of five shekels for purification and to offer those sacrifices appointed by the law. The five shekels comes from the following: “Everything that first opens the womb of all flesh, which they bring to the Lord, whether man or beast, shall be yours; nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall surely redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And those redeemed of the devoted things you shall redeem when one month old, according to your valuation, for five shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs” (Numbers 18:15 – 16 NKJV). The sacrifices appointed by the law were for Joseph and Mary, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons (Luke 2:24, see previous lesson).

Simeon is directed to Jesus and: “he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said” (Luke 2:28 ESV). What a blessed time this is for Simeon. That same Spirit that revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he saw with his eyes the Messiah, was directed to go to the temple at the precise time and as he arrived there he was directed by that Spirit to Jesus and with a rapture of joy he takes the child from the arms of Mary and Joseph into his own, embracing him with all affection and respect imaginable. As he does he praises God and gave him glory for this great goodness of sending the promised Messiah and long wished for Savior. Simeon rejoices for seeing the Messiah, for his truth and faithfulness is making good his promise to him.

What Simeon said will be covered in our next lesson.

Prayer

Father, how beautiful it is to see in this day’s lesson, as we walk along the path through the gospels, a prophesied event come to pass in the sovereign meeting of Simeon and the baby Jesus. How many times in our life have you brought together events that altered the course of our lives according to your will. Father, I think of my salvation, a trip I took as a teen, and my call to minister in Asia for a period of time, to name three. Clearly you choose people and assign them tasks to perform. In our lesson Joseph, Mary and Simeon had assigned tasks.