Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms …

–Parallel verses:
I Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬-‭12‬
[speaking of Jesus] Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

As I think of things I have waited on for a long time, a few come to mind: 1) I have waited to be reunited with my mother since she passed away when I was 14. Someday in heaven we will be reunited around God’s throne room, worshipping him. It will be glorious! 2) I had waited a long time to see all of my brothers and sisters come together for a reunion. My parents we divorced before they became Christians, and this fractured our family once. Then, after my mom’s death, and my dad’s remarriage, our family had some additional painful hurdles to overcome. Through much prayer and intention of the Christians in our family, God accomplished this in McCall 7 or 8 years ago now. I saw reconciliation happen between my sisters and now many of my brothers and sisters are moving close by. 3) And my hope is for those who are still lost in the ways of this world — in my family, friends, and workplace — that they will soon come to know the Savior of the World, Jesus Christ.

We see in the passage in I Peter that the prophets of old searched “INTENTLY and with GREATEST CARE” to find out about the coming of the Messiah. How intently do I search after the things of God? It consumed the prophets! And now we have Simeon who had a hope to see the consecration of Israel — the coming of the Messiah who would save them. It was revealed to him that he would see the Messiah and he did. And it seems like he just refused to die until he was blessed by God. He was TENACIOUS in his pursuit to see Jesus! He saw baby Jesus when he was very old.

This tells me we should never give up on our hope in God and his Word to us. He always delivers, and in the waiting — he builds our faith.

What a listing of credentials Simeon had: “… who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.”

I read a commentary by Charles Spurgeon on this and he described the words righteous and devout this way: 1) Righteous – this is our outward relationship and service to mankind. 2) Devout – this is our inward relationship and service to God. He went on to say that many men like to tout they are good to people and that should be good enough, they don’t need religion or God. They are good to people, but shun the God who made them? Spurgeon says this is only half a man. Instead of having outward religion that appears religious, we should seek after inward devotion, that in truth seeks to know the nature of the one true God, in humility and reverence.

This is convicting to me and it excites me that I have much more room to grow in my devotion and righteousness.

Lord, teach me to be a man devoted to you; and through the strength of my closeness to you — righteous in how I serve others. May your Spirit be on me more and more regularly. Help me to cast off the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12:1) and CLING TO YOU!