Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Luke 2:30 “. . .For my eyes have seen Your salvation. . .”
A CHILD WHOSE FUTURE WAS KNOWN
When parents bring a new baby to church, it creates quite a scene. Everybody wants to see the baby and many will want to hold him or her. No matter how many babies a person has met, one never really loses the sense of wonder at the fact that all of us big, tough adults start out so tiny and delicate. When a baby is being passed around there is often speculation about the baby’s future. Will he grow up to look more like Mom, or more like Dad? Will she grow up to be this, that, or the other thing?
Of course, we never know what the future holds for a little baby--with one exception. When Simeon held the baby Jesus he knew that the child was like none other he had ever seen. This was not just another delicate child, Simeon was holding the Almighty God at the same time he was holding a little human baby.
Simeon could also definitively say what the future held for the Christ-child because God had revealed it to him and many other through the Scriptures. This child was the product of God’s gracious plan to save sinners. The only begotten Son of God would become man when the time had fully come. This perfect little child would grow up and continue to be perfect. He would face many temptations just as we do, yet never give in -- never fail as we so often do.
And when this child was all grown up and in the prime of life, He would take the sins of all people upon Himself and die the death that we all deserve -- in order to take our sins from us and through faith give us His righteousness in return.
There was no question in Simeon’s mind as to what the baby he held would grow up to be. Jesus would become the Savior. Simeon rightly saw God’s salvation when he beheld the Christ-child. Not just his own salvation, but the salvation of all who believe that the baby Jesus was God’s Son sent to save sinners.
As Simeon held his Savior in his arms, may we all hold fast to the truth that salvation is found (and “seen” even now) in no one else but Jesus Christ, our Lord.
