About this sermon
Isaiah 40 announced comfort for God’s people, and Luke 2 shows that comfort arriving in the child Jesus. The shepherds told what they had seen, and Simeon took the infant in his arms and blessed God, for his eyes had seen the Lord’s salvation, a light for the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. God incarnate came near in true flesh and blood, and believers slow down from the distractions of the season to worship him with wonder.
Sermon transcript
It’s a joy and privilege to be with you once again to open God’s Holy Word. And before we do turn to our primary passage this evening, please turn to Isaiah chapter 40. I used the last portion of this as the call to worship this evening, and I was delighted to see, if I’m not mistaken, that there was a sermon this morning on Isaiah chapter 40, so this works well. The Spirit loves to weave these things together in the minds of preachers who are not in any way in collusion. Isaiah chapter 40. We’ll read verses 1 through 9. Isaiah 40, verses 1 through 9.
This is God’s holy word. Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak kindly to Jerusalem and call out to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity has been removed, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice is calling.
Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness. Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Let every valley be lifted up. Let every mountain and hill be made low. Let the rough ground become a plain and the rugged terrain a broad valley. Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. A voice says, call out. Then he answered, what shall I call out? All flesh is grass and it’s loveliness like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Get yourself up on a high mountain, O Zion, bearer of good news. Lift up your voice mightily, O Jerusalem, bearer of good news. Lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your God.
And now please turn to the Gospel of Matthew. Just before our passage in Luke, we’ll look to the Gospel of Matthew chapter five. Our Lord Jesus taking upon himself in a very self-aware way, not only the mantle of the Old Testament prophets, but the very fulfillment of the scriptures they spoke and wrote, including, of course, the passage that we just read. So, Matthew chapter 5, just a few verses. Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 17, excuse me. Matthew chapter 5, beginning in verse 17. Do not think that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And now please turn to the gospel of Luke chapter two. Luke chapter two. And the reason for these preceding passages are in the first case, the consolation and the great proclamation of comfort to come to God’s people. And then Matthew five shows us by and or rather how and by whom that comfort comes. It comes by the Lord Jesus Christ, who, as I alluded to earlier, fulfills from the heart every last syllable of the written word of God. And so now we see the Lord Jesus brought as a boy to meet two saints who had very much had lives steeped in these scriptures and who were looking actively and viscerally for the hope and the consolation of God’s people. And then they saw him. Luke chapter two, let’s begin our reading in verse 15. Once again, this is God’s holy word.
When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child and all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things. pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.
And when eight days had passed before his circumcision, his name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. And this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple.
And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him into his arms and blessed God and said, Now, Lord, you are releasing your bondservant to depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation. which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel. And his father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed. and a sword will pierce even your own soul, to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. At that very moment, she came up and began giving thanks to God and continued to speak of him to all of those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. The child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
Brothers and sisters, let’s pray now and ask for the Lord’s blessing on both the preaching and the hearing of these His words, which we’ve just read. Let’s pray. Father, we quiet our hearts and we focus them once again now for the preaching of your holy word. We thank you that this written word was meant to be preached and we pray for the blessing of your spirit that it would be proclaimed in truth and that it would be received by your people with faith and love. Father, as always, we cry out to you on behalf of any in this assembly who do not know Christ as Lord and Savior. Father, however many times perhaps that person or those people have heard the gospel If it has never hit home, oh God, please would this evening be the time and these moments be the moments that you’ve set aside for all of eternity to move by your power in that heart or those hearts to bring faith and life and freedom in Christ. And for all of us, Lord, who do know you, we pray that these scriptures this evening with which we may be very familiar would be fresh to us this evening, that by the grace of your spirit, we would hear what the good shepherd, the Lord Jesus, would say to us this very evening through this word that has already been spoken and recorded. And we pray that you would strengthen us and build us up by these words and conform us, as has already been prayed, more fully to the character of the one to whom every syllable points, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We ask these things in his holy name. Amen. We often hear this phrase commonly used among Christians.
I wanna examine it a little bit more deeply this evening, and that’s the expression, a childlike faith. What does it mean to have a childlike faith, especially in the way that the Lord Jesus commends it in the Gospels? Well, our text this evening teaches us to have a childlike faith by way of telling us of two very mature blessed saints. Sadly, older adults tend to suffocate kids’ curiosity very early on in their lives. What’s the question little kids always love to ask, and that we older adults almost always try to shut down?
It’s the question of why. Why, why, why, why, why? Granted, that question is sometimes asked disrespectfully or perhaps out of a spirit of malcontent, in which case those conversations should be shut down. But in itself, Why is a brilliant question. Why can wrap its arms around the universe?
And in the heart of a child whose eyes are aglow with curiosity, why is a question born not only of that curiosity, but also of wonder and even affection? This is why children are the truest and the very best learners. They love to ask why and they also love to say wow. And they smile as they learn truths which stagger their young souls.
And so we should want to answer them in a way that provokes more curiosity, more wonder, more affection, because these instincts that boil up within their souls and come to overflowing in the form of the question why, these instincts are God-word instincts. They are meant to lead their inquisitive hearts to the only one who can answer a question as big as why, and who can provide all the wow that their young hearts crave, and even more.
The Lord does not answer, of course, all of our specific why questions. He does not directly speak to every issue to the extent that we sometimes wish He would when we cry out why. But think of how much, brothers and sisters, that He has said directly to us. Wow. And here’s why. Jesus says it’s out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. And here we have words from the mouth of God, the inspired expression of his abundant heart.
A childlike faith then seeks to know God’s heart by way of God’s word. Childlike faith trusts God’s word, and as is the nature and purpose of this word, childlike faith is led by God through that word to God’s son. And that childlike faith is having a field day in the hearts of the two blessed saints the Lord tells us about in our text this evening. For Anna and for Simeon, their childlike faith had become sight as they beheld the Son of God.
There’s so much wow in their hearts. And in this text, in this evening, to kindle our own childlike trust in the scriptures and therefore in the very same Savior which they beheld with their own eyes. We’ll explore the why behind the wow that Luke makes such a priority in his narrative. Let’s look at that wow. Luke tells us over and over in his gospel, and in these early chapters in particular, the people marveled at what was happening. They pondered these things. Mary does in her heart.
In Luke 2, as we’ve read, speaking of the shepherds to whom the angels had just announced the good news of Jesus’s birth. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. In verse 33 of our passage, Mary and Joseph react to what Simeon said about their boy. This child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. And remember, if you’re familiar with these events as recorded in scripture, Mary and Joseph had both been visited by angels from heaven, telling them what was to be and telling them who it was that God was entrusting to their care.
And so why does Luke repeat what might seem to be redundant? Well, he lets us know that they hadn’t gotten over it. How could they have? Luke keeps putting before us the astonishment, the amazement, the wow-ness of what was happening because he and ultimately the Holy Spirit want us to feel it too. And the wow wasn’t prompted merely by the miraculous nature of everything that was going on. that the Savior was finally in the world and that the Savior was God incarnate wasn’t just a stunning display of supernatural might. Friends, it wasn’t just powerful, it was personal. With insight given by the Holy Spirit, Luke tells us what’s happening in Mary’s heart. Again, verse 19, Mary was treasuring these things in her heart.
She was pondering them. There’s nothing more basic to the human experience and perhaps nothing more beautiful than the relationship between mother and child. The mutual affection and love between mother and child. Well, how about the relationship between this mother and that child? What a wonderful expression of God’s own heart. God incarnate’s first relationship with mankind was with a woman. Mary brings God incarnate into the world. She holds God incarnate in her arms and leads God incarnate by his hand.
And of course, with a great capacity to love and great things to love comes a profound capacity for sorrow. And we read about that in verses 34 and 35. Simeon tells Mary that her son would be a sign that would be opposed. and it would be as if a sword was driven into the core of her being. Later, we see this coming into fulfillment as Mary watches her son suffer in his saving work, ultimately upon the cross, again like a sword thrust into her soul. In highlighting the personal impact of the incarnation and here of the birth and the presentation of Jesus, Luke is emphasizing the depth to which Almighty God has entered into the human experience. Listen to Psalm 113, which we’ll sing later.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. Who is like the Lord, our God, the one who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He sets them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord. Well, in the birth of Jesus Christ and in his presentation here in the temple, the saints in our text see the loving heart of their merciful God literally fleshed out. And Luke’s continued interest in the very personal dimensions of the incarnation and the birth and the presentation of Jesus emphasizes, pun very much intended, the humanity of it all. John also takes great pains in his gospel and also in his little letter that we call First John to really put before us the true flesh and blood humanity of the Son of God.
In John 1.14, the word became flesh. And John opens his letter we call First John this way, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life. Our passage emphasizes Simeon taking hold of this baby boy in his arms.
Luke, and ultimately the Holy Spirit, want us to take personally the joy and the wonder felt by these saints whose faith had become sight. For so many, many reasons, the Holy Spirit wants us to know the nature and the reality of the incarnation, not least so that we human beings will be drawn close by our common experience of humanity to God’s own Son, so that we can personally identify with the one who not only stooped down to look upon the heavens and the earth, but who went to such astounding lengths to personally identify with us. Luke wants us to feel it. Luke wants us to know it. And not only the joy and the wonder and to ponder and treasure these things in our hearts, but Luke and the Spirit who led his writing also want us to feel the heaviness and the sorrow that comes with understanding why this blessed boy was there. Why the Lord himself came into the world. Again, please look at verses 34 and 35 of Luke chapter two.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel and for a sign to be opposed. And a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. Think of it, brothers and sisters, and let’s take this personally.
Why would Mary’s son, why would the one who, according to John, was the one through whom the world was created, why would Mary’s son, the God-man, be opposed? Because of human opposition to God, our opposition. We turned away from God in the Garden of Eden, And we daily take up that fall in our words and thoughts and actions. And to be brought back into a right relationship with God, we needed a savior.
And so early on in his gospel, Luke presses our hearts to feel that need very personally. And friends, that’s another wonderful thing about children. And I think something that has to do with childlike faith. Children know their neediness. They know their needs.
And again, sometimes the expression of that need is more of the sin of which we’re all guilty. Sometimes our children think they don’t need anyone or anything, much less to listen to adults telling them what to do. That’s childish, not childlike. And every one of us here can attest to the fact that we adults are often very childish like that.
Who are they to think they know what they’re talking about more than I do? Who are they to tell me what to do, whether or not they’re my authority? But when we’re humble and when we’re honest, we are struck with a deep and sometimes painful sense of our absolute dependence as creatures. And when we are humble and honest about our personal sin, when we’re not obsessing over the sins of others, We know we owe to God a debt which we cannot possibly pay. We need help. We need salvation. We need more than help. We need life from the dead. Have you ever been in a desperate situation? You’re out of options and you’re hurting, but you know of a particular friend or perhaps a loved one who can help. and whose mere presence can calm you and focus you in the midst of this crisis.
And so you call for that loved one and you wait. And when that loved one gets there, you just can’t help but hug that person. You hold on to that person and you say something like, I can’t believe you’re here. I can’t believe you’re here. It’s not that you literally can’t believe that that person is there. It’s just that maybe it seems too good to be true, especially now in the midst of your trauma. But there that person is, tangibly by your side to help. And you just have to embrace that person.
Well, again, notice in our text, Simeon was content, was not content rather, just to see the promised Messiah. Simeon had to hold this boy in his arms. verses 27 and 28. And when he came in the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for him the custom of the law, then he took him up into his arms and blessed God.
See, Simeon and also Anna, they were studied experts on their own neediness and on the neediness of their people. They really understood why the Savior had come. how much they personally needed him. Their humble wow came from knowing why. Jesus came to meet the very real, relentless, and righteous requirements that God has of his image bearers, but of which all of us fall short. All of us, except the boy in our text. At this point in Luke’s Gospel, he has taken great pains to ground the coming of Christ in a very particular context.
Jesus came in fulfillment of the Old Testament to save his people from their sins. In verse 21, when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the child, a reference to the requirements of the Old Testament law. Verse 22, according to the law of Moses. Verse 23, as it is written in the law of Moses. Verse 24, according to what was said in the law of the Lord. And in verse 39, when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord. Over and over and over, Luke again emphasizes the conformity of what was happening to that which had been written.
I think of what all of these ceremonial laws and customs and these sacrifices pointed to. God having mercy on his people, his forgiving them, his redeeming them, and now remember what our Lord said of himself in Matthew 5. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. Again, if you’re familiar with that passage, it’s so easy to take that passage in Matthew 5 for granted. They’re very familiar words from the Lord Jesus. I’ve not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
But we sometimes miss the wow of what Jesus is saying there. At his most immediate audience in the Sermon on the Mount, they may have heard the Lord Jesus talk about and extol the Word of God. And he says, truly, truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, in our vernacular, not the least dot on the I or stroke on the T, the cross on the T, will pass away from the law until everything is accomplished.
And his hearers could have easily said or thought, well, that’s wonderful, Jesus, but of course that’s true. This is the word of God that we’re talking about. So of course, every last little detail will come about exactly as God said it would. Of course that’s true, Jesus.
The really stunning thing that Jesus said before them, he didn’t just say that the word of God would all come to pass. He said, I’m the one who’s going to do it. It is all about me, and I will fulfill every dot on the I and cross on the T. And that would have been truly stunning. Jesus came not as the previous prophet saying, thus says the Lord, thus says the Lord. Jesus came saying, I say to you, this is the word of God.
This is the word of God incarnate. This is the Lord Jesus. This is the Savior taking upon himself, as I said, not only the mantle of the Old Testament prophets, but the substance of that which they preached. And here he is in the temple. Simeon took that Savior into his arms. He held in his arms the one who was the promised consolation of his people. After so long, after so much time, after so many promises were made, he was finally here. Anna had waited long and intently in her life.
Even though some translations have a specific number here, scholars do debate her exact age. But one thing is clear, she is aged. And she had spent the vast majority of her life serving the Lord, praying and longing for redemption in Jerusalem. She spent the vast majority of her time in the temple, so much so that she’s described as never leaving. She fasted, she prayed night and day, and then her prayers were answered quite literally before her eyes. The one to whom she had dedicated her entire existence and every moment of her waking day was suddenly there before her. And she thanked God.
And she went out and told others who were also looking for and longing for the Messiah. These saints are so childlike in their wonderment, in their rejoicing. They were very deeply well aware of their need and the world’s need of the one whom they were now seeing with their own eyes.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, do you know, really know, the depth of your need for the Savior in this text, the Savior to whom all the scriptures point us? For those of us who claim faith in the Savior, who claim to already know who He is and why He came, have we lost our wow at the fact that He actually did? Have we lost our deep sense and understanding of the Incarnation’s implications in our everyday lives? How long has it been, child of God, since you’ve been really quiet in your soul and truly pondered and truly marveled at what is once the most basic and the most astounding truth of our faith?
And that’s Immanuel, God with us. Have we made the time to be so moved? Well, praise God, God has made it for us. We all need the Sabbath day. We need to take God’s counsel and His command to cease, to slow down, to focus our hearts upon Him, lest our first love die the death of a thousand distractions. What a precious gift, especially in our day, is the Lord’s day. In the midst of a very loud culture, it’s really hard to be quiet in our hearts. We think of it again with reference to our children.
When we’re working with kids, when we’re teaching them, we tell them, don’t be distracted, don’t be focused, stay on task. And in the days of social media, adults telling kids not to be distracted might rank right up there on the list of all-time great hypocrisies. You can imagine an adult instructing a child, why can’t you focus? Why can’t you pay attention?
Hang on, I gotta take this. We are very distracted. We are very off focus, and the Sabbath lets us get blessedly back to basics, to the great big combination of why and wow at the heart of the Christian faith. Think of it, brothers and sisters. God became man. Why? Luke tells us later in his gospel, quoting Jesus, The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost. That’s you. And that’s me. He came to seek and to save you. Wow. And brothers and sisters, this really happened.
We are reading about historical events here. Luke opens his gospel to make sure we know that this happened. This isn’t some fairy tale. The opening words of Luke’s gospel are these. inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all these things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”
It really happened. And just as surely as the Lord came once, these scriptures tell us very clearly He will come again. You will see Him. And just like Anna and Simeon, your expectations will be fulfilled and in an even fuller way because it’s settling us into eternity when it happens for all of us. Our faith will become sight.
How much do you want to see your Savior? How much do you want that reunion with your loved ones who have already gone on to be with them? This, again, and just very briefly as we close, is where our kids can teach us so much. Because in their hearts, why goes to wow goes to how long? How long? Another brilliant question kids ask, and the psalmists ask that question all the time. How long, oh Lord, how long? It’s a good childlike question. And yet, waiting well takes maturity. Again, we see that in kids. We hear it, this is gonna take forever. So how do we await our Lord?
Well, Anna teaches us. Again, very briefly. Luke emphasizes not only Anna’s agentness, he emphasizes her activity. Anna is serving the Lord day and night in the temple. Psalm 113, again, we’ll sing that in just a few moments. From the dawn to setting sun, praise the Lord, the mighty one. Anna took that very seriously. And her heart in this text is a microcosm of awaiting people. They are active and not passive. They are hurting and they are hopeful.
And they are persevering in the work to which God called them to do every moment before their faith becomes sight. On the other side of Christ’s birth, the cross, the resurrection, we find ourselves in the same position as these blessed mature saints who were so full of childlike faith. And yet we have much more of the Word of God than they did, and so much more of the inspired abundance of God’s good heart before us, and also of the promise and the proclamation of Jesus, that blessed are the ones who have not seen and yet believe. So may we as his people, when he returns, whenever that is, be found waiting, and with eagerness and humility and love, serving others in his name. May we wait well until the Lord Jesus brings us home.
Let’s pray together. Our gracious God and our Heavenly Father, we so easily lose sight of the most profound, the most basic, the biggest truths in all of created reality. We so easily interpret your promises in light of our personal pains and find those promises lacking. Oh God, by the grace of your spirit, would you completely reorient that intention or that tendency in our hearts And may we see our daily lives, the happiness as well as the deep difficulties and discomforts. May we see these in light of your promise.
May we understand every moment of our lives as coming from you who are working even now to sum up all things in the Lord Jesus Christ. You who have promised that all things work together for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. You who have moved heaven and earth to send your son into the world to fulfill and to live out your promises. You who have sworn by your own name and have given the life of your own son to bring us home. Again, Father, if there are any in this assembly who do not know you, would you move in that heart or those hearts to bring repentance from sin, to bring an irresistible seeking after the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Friend and Shepherd and King.
And Father, for all of us who do, may we wait well. Give us patience and perseverance every day until the coming of our Savior. We pray, O God, that we would not feel you to be distant because you are not. We praise you for the power and the presence of your Holy Spirit. We pray that we would not grieve the Spirit, but, Lord, that we would live by the Spirit and fulfill those purposes for which you have called us to life in Christ. We praise you in his holy name. Amen.
Well, as mentioned a couple of times in the sermon, we’ll sing now Psalm 113. We’ll use the A selection from your Psalters, and then I’ll pronounce the benediction, and then our closing hymn will be on page 86, and the third verse of that particular selection. Please stand, people of God, and let’s sing in praise of our Lord. Psalm 113, selection A.
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