” Lord now you are letting your serevant depart in peace…”  These are the words of Simeon,a just and devout man , waiting for the consolation of Israel.(Lk 2:25)

Simeon’s words seem to me an expression of his faith rather than resignation to his fate.Alas, he has seen with his own eyes the Christ of God ,as told by the Spirit before he dies. In my mind there’s no doubt that Simeon’s heart was  bursting with joy, even if the consequence is his own death.

Imagine if you will ,that between the Testaments,we can trace at least 400 years period.A period where empires rose up and then came down.In that period, remarkably,God has never  sent a judge nor raised a prophet among his people. There was great “silence” from the Lord. Quite strange!What could be the purpose of God for this silence?

 Yet in the hearts of those who are waiting,in deep recesses of their soul, the sound of long ago prophetic messages,keep coming back  in disarray…”a virgin shall conceive and bear a son”…”but you Bethlehem,in the land of Judah…out of you a Ruler shall come, who will shepherd my people Israel”

Admittedly,not all of God’s own people were excited! Our hearts moan in sorrow whenever we read the witness of John, “He came to His own,and His own did not receive Him” (Jn 1:11).Yet  the likes of Simeon,the coming of Christ is everything. Their waiting hearts speak ,God is true to His promises and will deliver what He has promised.God will not forget His people,and, Simeon for one,  willingly waits and expects.

Then it has come. The Word of God says “then Simeon took Him up in his arms and bless God and said, “Lord ,now you are letting 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 peoples.A light to bring revelation to the gentiles and the glory of Your people Israel”(Lk 2:28-32)

Now that he has seen the LORD he is more than willing to go. As if Simeon is saying AT LAST! AT LAST! AT LAST!

May your heart be bursting with Joy for the coming of the Savior in your heart today 

        

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 7th, 2006 at 12:56 pm and is filed under Salvation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.