Simeon's Song

You are listening to a message from Thrive Community Church, a church located in Southwest Florida. For more info, visit us at thrive-fl.org. Welcome, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are coming to the end of this series and the last day of the year, the Songs of Christmas. And we have been covering a number of them in the Gospel of Luke, specifically, where individuals just sing out, ring out, declare, profess, and in a sense prophesy about who this Jesus is, this birth. And today we come to the last one. It's called the Song of Simeon, Simeon and then Anna, his counterpart, at the temple 40 days after Jesus' birth, see this little child and proclaim words that basically can elaborate the whole story once again. So we find out from Simeon and from Anna some amazing things about God. And both these songs really put to bed, I think, the whole idea that Christianity is just about rainbows and unicorns, you know? That everything's just wonderful and nice, and it's for nice people to have nice thoughts and nice things. What we find out is that Jesus, and what he does is both revolutionary, world-changing, destiny-changing, thank God. So today we're going to be reading from Luke chapter 2, and when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it was written in the law of the Lord. Every male child who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Now, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting 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 do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him, and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through your own soul, so 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, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at the very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who are waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. So from this text, what we're going to be discovering is that Christmas isn't, like I said, all about unicorns and rainbows and wonderful things and presents and good wishes, but it's actually the fact that Jesus, from his birth, from God's plan from forever, was appointed, that's the word, appointed, destined for, he was appointed for these things, to reveal and to expose, to ruin and resurrect, and to comfort and free. Quite the list, huh? To reveal and to expose, and this comes right out of two words that Simeon tells Mary. First of all, he says, at the beginning of this, what's called the nunc dimittis in Latin for now let me depart in peace. When Simeon cries out and says that he's going to be, Jesus will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory to the people of Israel. And then later on, when he speaks directly to Mary and to Joseph and says that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. That same word is used twice. It's the Greek word apocalypsis, which is where we get the word apocalypse from. You've heard of snowpocalypse, which ain't happening yet this year, to traffic apocalypse. Everybody's using this word, but not in the way it was really intended in the Bible. The word is not about a disaster. The word is really of uncovering, of showing, exposing, opening up, seeing things clearly for the first time. So the word really means, and that's where the book Revelation gets this word, it's apocalypse of Jesus Christ. It's a revealing and opening up. It's the only way anybody actually knows anything. We wouldn't find it. We couldn't figure it out. It's the fact that it's when Jesus shows up, now we get it. Now we see God. Now we see who he is in person, up front. Jesus is going to be a light of revelation, an apocalypse, an uncovering. So what happens when Jesus shows up? You know, the rest of the Gospel of Luke will show these words are so true that Simeon said, w...