This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Christmas” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, December 31, 1989.

from the beginning readings at verse 21 and we will read through verse 40. But with eight days to accomplish for the circumcision of the child whose name is called Jesus. With the two names of the angels and four different trees in the world. And when the days of the purest faith and accordance of the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to which was presented to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every nail that openeth the wound shall be felled wholly to the Lord. Under offering sacrifice, according to which baptism is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of fiddle-wells were two young kitchens.

And behold, There was a man in Jerusalem, his name was Phineas. And the same man was just underground, waiting for the consolation of Israel. And he went again to the promised land. And it was revealed unto him by the one ghost that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord Christ.

And he came by the spirit of the And when the parents brought in the child, Jesus, the gift of their master, the custodian of the law, then proceed to him, the offspring of his own, and let God stand. Will you now let us bow thy head in comparison to Jesus, according to thy will? For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which God hath prepared before the face of all people. Be one, be one in the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And don’t pretend there’s never love in advance change which was spoken of.

And say, and bless them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set to the throne of Isaac again, mother of Israel, before a time which shall be spoken again. Mary, of course, shall hear through thine own foremost that the facts of many lives may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prostitute, the daughter of Samuel, of the tribe of Asher.

She was of great age and had lived with her husband seven years of their virginity, and was a widow of about four to four and four years, which the prophet Joshua the prophet would serve God with fasting and praying night and day. And she coming in, wrapped in sweet green silk, likewise unto the Lord, and stated him to all men that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Galilee. And the child grew, and wrapped strong and sweet, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

Father, we do hope that with us, we may be able to have us to put your word away and shelve it and not think about it for periods of time. We ask, Lord, that in the coming year, we might keep the word and so on. The word and the prayers are to us and the prayers are unto us in the church. And also as we Our evil opportunity is placed before us and as that responsibility is ours to rehearse your word this day. May we do that. The Lord will help to defend you, taking up his picture day by day and reading it. We pray our God that this word which is given to us for life may come to us As wife and baby, may we feel His presence and tremble, may we receive the comfort and be delighted. And Lord, may we be conformed to the image of Christ which is the end surface of that Word which is given to us. Bless us with this hour, God. And may our resolutions with regard to the Lord be blessed. the aspect of Jesus Christ.

It is not a novel name. It is not a new name to us. It is certainly a name long standard of a great tradition in Israel itself. a name for one of the tribes, in fact. One of the sons of Jacob. The second son of Leah. You can read about that second son, his birth, in Genesis chapter 29. The name a play on the Hebrew word, which means to heal. And Leah gives her second child, the name Simeon, because she confesses, the Lord has heard that I am unloved. The Lord has And the name Simeon is to play upon the idea of hearing, the Lord himself hearing.

So it is Leah’s individual condition. not the choice of Jacob. She is, in fact, the unloved wife. And in her unloved condition, she is spurned, and she suffers severely. Yet God has an eye for her. While she is unloved by her husband, she is loved of God. and cared for by him. And what is denied then, the wife that is love, is granted to her. Rachel is barren, Leah is perfect. The Lord indeed has her then, Leah. He has taken into account her condition and has responded to her by giving her children, alleviating her affliction.

Now it could be that there were circumstances in Simeon’s family that were comparable, maybe that the affliction was barren this time, to which the Lord responded, and the child is memorialized with a name, a name that also speaks for the fact that the Lord has responded, the Lord has heard.

But whether or not there were circumstances attached to the birth of Simeon from Luke 2, it is clear that his name now has special significance in his adult life. His name speaks to us of more than just an individual condition. It may well be that we see the individual plight of Leah taking center stage in the stories in the book of Genesis. It may well be there was an individual circumstance that gave rise to the naming of Simeon in this New Testament setting.

But that individual consideration gives way to something greater now, in light of what God is doing specifically in relationship to this man. God does indeed hear us in our individual plight. There is affliction known by each of us, a private affliction carried by each of us. There are reasons why we particularly cry out to God and ask him to hear us, to consider us, to consider our circumstance. But Simeon finds his place in the account of Luke not because he’s just one more person with an individual problem. And don’t misunderstand My intention is not to minimize the individual problem or the personal affliction that we bear.

Any of this. But here we are dealing with those things that are of the most supreme importance. The greater and weightier things. Things that carry us beyond ourselves to greater considerations yet. Considerations in which the fate of entire peoples are in the balance.

Sinion’s name then has significance in this context not because of some individual incident in the life of his parents or in his personal life, but because of the condition of the people of God as a whole. His name will in fact memorialize the activity and the action of God. God hears. Not just for the benefit of one of us, not in terms of the parameters that are dealt out to us in our individual circumstances, but with respect to the circumstances of all of God’s own. With respect to the condition of God’s people as a whole. In Simeon, then, we are going to see that responsiveness to God, that is testimony to the fact that God does hear. And he brings resolution to the long-standing dilemma for his people as a whole. But I’m not interested. But I’m not interested in that. All I’m interested in are my own personal problems. That’s all I care about. and religion has value only so far as it deals with my own personal difficulties.

If simian is to be useful to me then, He must be translated for me, interpreted for me, in those terms. And if he’s not, then he’s useless. And utterly unimportant. And truly, I can’t be bothered. practical for me. Making relevant to my own personal problems. Making relevant to the problems I experience on the job or the problems I’m having in my marriage or the difficulties I’m having at home or the crushing financial questions that I’m dealing Make him relevant to my health. Do something to make him meaningful to me, particularly. Because if you don’t, he’s of no value. Really, he’s of no value to me. Sinion stands out then on the pages of the New Testament. He is here for us.

For the greater, the weightier consideration, the fate of an entire people, not just one individual, the problems of mankind, humanity as a whole, the severity of that problem, Man separated from God, more at a distance from God and His glory. Man in need of reconciliation, man in desperation crying out to the heavens to be heard.

Will God respond? Is salvation merely a matter of me learning how to cope? Is salvation merely a matter of mental health? Is salvation merely a matter of getting my checkbook balanced? Or getting through the day? We’re just learning how to survive. We’re surviving one more illness. You see, simian is a concentration killer. for the entirety of a nation, of a people, whose purpose it has been to wait for and to prepare for the coming of God, the coming of God.

Now we are told that this man is righteous and devout. I delight in the righteousness and devotion spoken of him, attributed to him. He is found in the temple, not because the Spirit just happened to move him at that particular time. Nor are Mary and Joseph in the temple because the Spirit happened to hold them at that particular time. These people, simian and virgin, are righteous and devout, not giving excuse as to why they may not go and appear in the temple. They submit themselves to the institution. They comply with the law. They are dutiful. That, in fact, is true. It is obvious.

But that is the least. That is the least qualification in the description of devotion and righteousness. There are many who claim to be more devout and have more righteousness, who don’t even perform that service, or those services to the Lord. wonderful, righteous, and dutiful foe. Yes, Joseph, Mary, Simeon, also Anna, mentioned later in this text. We’ve read about her also. But here is the least of the considerations with respect to that righteousness and devotion. While least, it cannot be dismissed But we are here dealing with something much more.

For you see, it isn’t merely then a submissiveness to the law or a devotion to morality that sets Simeon apart in his righteousness and his devotion. He is regular in his temple service. He is dutiful in his performance because of his love for God. But even more than that, as you read the text, we are told that his righteousness and his devotion are attached to the fact that he is looking for the consolation of his people. If your hope is taken away from you, all you have left is bare morality. And bare morality will not save you even if you keep the love of God. It won’t work. What drove this man was his hope. And that informed his righteousness and his devotion. That’s why he was in the temple. And that’s why he kept the law. And that’s why he served God as he did.

What is the prospect of your own piety, your own devotion? That others will then not have occasion to speak ill of me, that I will keep my nose clean spiritually speaking, that I will perform those things that are expected of me, that I will be dutiful, that I will be moral, that I will be above reproach in some sense. Those who have this hope purify themselves. He was looking for the consolation of Israel. He was a man of hope, and that informed his godliness, his piety, his devotion, his subservience to the law, and his temple worship.

We are told also that the Spirit the spirit that is holy. The Holy Spirit was upon him. In this he is set apart from Israel generally. He is a prophet with whom resides the spirit of revelation that has been given A revelation specifically now has been communicated to him. He will not see death until he has seen the Lord Christ. The composite picture of this man then, we see in him an embodiment of Israel that has waited Yet there is within it and upon it the testimony that the Lord shall hear and now has heard.

Israel has arrived at her end point. And in so much as this man is a prophet, he speaks as it were for all the prophets, the prophetic ministry in its entirety summed up in him. For now the coming of that promised deliverance has been achieved, its arrival, is at hand. What of this Israel then, drawing back in its own self-importance, insisting upon itself and its prerogatives? Not at all.

This Israel takes up the Christ and embraces the Christ. Simeon takes the child in his arms, and in this action sets a seal upon Israel and her purpose, namely that she would be that nation through which the Savior would come. Israel, in herself, expecting the prophetic ministry in its service, these things then converging in this man, as this man embraces the child, he embraces the Christ, and when he embraces the Christ, it is as if true Israel were herself embracing that child. So Simeon blesses God and saints. His song recorded for us in verses 29 through 32. And note the particular aspects of the song. A song of true Israel. A song of the proper prophetic ministry. Now reaching its culmination point. It is a song of satisfaction.

The child doesn’t offend. What were you looking for? What did you expect? But in this one Simeon, otherwise obscure himself, with this one Simeon, otherwise obscure himself, there is the embracing of this small, this insignificant, this apparently weak and helpless child, and the child doesn’t offend true Israel. The child doesn’t offend the spirit of true prophecy.

Rather true wisdom, true prophecy recognizes in the child the fulfillment of God’s purpose. It is a song, therefore, of satisfaction. And what of us who may well be so dissatisfied? Here is one who is satisfied with a child and with the unveiling of God’s purpose and His intention.

Because salvation and the coming of God are at the center of his life. Nothing else will satisfy him. And nothing else should satisfy you. Nothing else will in fact satisfy you. But having that salvation, are you not satisfied? Are you not content? Having that, do you not have all things? If he has given you his salvation, if he has given you his Christ, has not God given you everything that you need? And will you not be satisfied with that? Why do you look for something else?

Let me tell you this, God has nothing more to give you than Christ. He can’t give you anything greater. There’s a song of faith. Now Lord, let thy servant depart in peace. I don’t even fear death now. Such is my faith and confidence with my new dress. is a threat. It is a song of piety, not of some sort of senseless mysticism. It is contempt to concentrate upon religious swoons of some form or the other.

For Simeon has seen the salvation of the Lord and that salvation has an historical outworking God’s activity in space and time and what religious devotion there is, is to be directed towards Him and towards that historical outworking of His purpose not religion for religion’s sake not some sort of spirituality for the sake of spirituality but a religious soul that is concentrated upon, focused upon that child and upon the redemption that he brings for only that is adequate and finally in addition to being a song of satisfaction, a song of faith, a song of true piety is the song of Catholic vision, that is universal vision.

Here is true Israel recognizing the intention of God. The salvation which God has now reviewed, placed, set before the eyes of this man, before Israel itself, is the salvation that He has prepared in the presence of all people, a light of revelation to the ten times who are magical Jews, say. And the glory of my people is here. The end of provincialism.

The end of nationalism. even seemingly the end of ethnicity all of them brought down to the dust by the vision of true and proper catholicity for the people of God There’s just one final word here with respect to Simeon. Of course you hear what he says to Mary directly in the verses that follow. Verses 34 and 35. Bring into view the cross, the suffering to which this child is destined as well as the suffering to which Mary herself is destined.

But you see, it is a full-ranged testimony, witness, that Simeon bears. Israel is in fact witness to the nations. Witness of what? Sinai? The Exodus? Moses? Even one of the prophets? No! Israel is witness of Christ! witness of the law, witness of some sort of temporal administration? No!

Israel is witness of Christ and of the administration of the Church, into which now Jew and Gentile have grown, in which they commonly serve the one true God, through Jesus Christ the Savior. And part and parcel of that testimony is not just some hope with respect to oneness as it concerns peoples and nations and tribes and tongues. It is a witness with respect to the cross of Christ and the price by which that glorious end is achieved. That’s Israel’s testimony to the world.

Simeon was not a Zionist, and he had no expectations with regard to Tel Aviv today. The center of that man was an expectation that culminated in Christ, His cross, His resurrection, and the church into which Gentile and Jew would be brought. in which they would be one under the banner of salvation forever. Our God, we are asking you that as Simeon memorializes the truth that you have heard your people and given them salvation we would delight with joy no less exuberant and free and full than the joy that he expressed and may the commitments that he had and commitments that we share in that our hearts too are set upon the salvation of our God the beauty and the perfection of your purpose in the world and with these things that you have brought may we be satisfied and in them may we delight

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