It is the Christmas season and we are going to begin a series of posts focused on discovering Jesus.
The entire Bible is about Him and our goal for this series of posts will be to take the Christmas season as a time to discover our Savior whose birth is being celebrated.
I have found that any study focused on discovering Jesus in the Word is always accompanied by new levels of revelation. We will never come to the place where we have it all and know it all. Our Christian walk should be accompanied by increasing levels of revelation and understanding of the Word of God.
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
As we look into the Word it will become a mirror reflecting the glory of God and we will find ourselves being changed from one level of glory to another!
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them 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 Nazareth. (Luke 2:21-39)
There are a couple of points in Luke 2 that I want to focus on:
1. Verse 25 – …there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him: Simeon was an aged Jew. He had devoted his entire life to serving in the temple with a goal of catching just one glimpse of the Messiah. His passion to see the Messiah should be ours. Christians should be longing for the coming of the Lord but few even give it a second thought. There is no movie or event that could compare to His return. Simeon was a righteous man who knew what the prophets had written about the coming King. The verse tells us that he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel”. Waiting implies expectation. There was a divine expectation living inside of Simeon for the coming Messiah.
2. Verse 26 – And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ: He was waiting with expectation because the Holy Spirit had shown him that he would not die before he was able to see the Messiah.
3. Verses 27-29 – And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: Simeon took Jesus in his arms and blessed God. I don’t believe that words can do justice to the majesty of this moment. He had been waiting with expectation for the Messiah to arrive and was now holding Him in his arms! He recognized who the baby was by revelation from the Holy Spirit.
4. Verses 30-32 – For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel: Jesus’ parents had brought Him to the temple to present Him to the Lord. They were dedicating their son and instead had a blessing pronounced over him.
5. Verses 34-35 – And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
We will pick up in the next post with the prophetess Anna. Thank you for stopping by today. If these posts have been a blessing please follow and share our blog. God bless!
Please visit our other social media channels:
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfU4MHGJ4zTkxcxTFze4PjQ/
- Instagram: MB Bible – A verse by verse journey through the Bible @mb_bible
- Instagram: MB Devotion – Daily devotions @mb_devotional
- Twitter: @tweets_mb
- Cloud Security Training: https://www.cloudsecurityessentials.org
We recommend Dr. Kenneth E. Hagin’s book “How You Can Be Led by the Spirit of God” (https://amzn.to/2Ye45o4) as a supplemental resource for this blog series. You do not need to purchase this book in order to “credit” our account. Any purchases that you search or make from anywhere on Amazon, after first clicking on the included link, will credit this blog and support our ministry. We are truly grateful for each of our readers and appreciative of those who will help us. There is no cost to you for using our links and they provide an easy way for you to support us!
Please consider helping support our social media outreaches for as little as a $1 per month. You can enroll at https://www.patreon.com/mb_devotional
MBDevotional 