First Temple Visit
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...and to offer a sacrifice....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. Luke 2:22-26, ESV.
Jesus and His family were Jewish. As a result, the family obeyed the cultural laws that He Himself had given to Moses 1,500 years earlier. About a month after His circumcision (performed on the eight day of His life, Luke 2:21), the family took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem for the ceremonies connected with the purification of His mother and the dedication of her firstborn son.
The Temple visit undoubtedly occurred before the arrival of the Magi, since the parents would not have come to Jerusalem to tempt fate once Herod had been aroused. And, furthermore, they left Bethlehem for Egypt almost immediately after the Magi departed.
During their visit they met Simeon in the Temple, a godly man who belonged to a remnant of the Jews who were faithfully studying the prophecies regarding the Messiah ("the consolation of Israel"). Another student was Anna the prophetess who spent most of her waking hours in the Temple, speaking of the coming deliverer to all who would listen (verses 36-38).
Simeon was unique in that God had told him that he would not die until he had seen the Christ child. And when he discovered Jesus, he blessed Him, noting that he had now seen the salvation of God (verse 30), who would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for [the] glory" of Israel (verse 32, RSV). In that proclamation the aged Simeon moved beyond the general parochialism of the Jews. They all too often were looking for their own deliverer, not the Savior of all people. But in the inspired words of Simeon we discover even in Jesus' infancy that His incarnation would provide atonement for all people--both Jew and Gentile.
Here we have an important lesson. As members of a certain sector of God's family we can hold Jesus too close to ourselves and to those who think and believe just like us. We tend to see Him as our Savior. But Simeon's words remind us that Jesus is the Savior of all who accept Him and His work on the cross.
Simeon noted that all people will fall or rise (verse 34) in terms of their relationship to Jesus. Here we have a hard saying. William Barclay enlightens it by pointing out that "it is not so much God who judges a man; a man judges himself; and his judgment is his reaction to Jesus Christ."
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...and to offer a sacrifice....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. Luke 2:22-26, ESV.
Jesus and His family were Jewish. As a result, the family obeyed the cultural laws that He Himself had given to Moses 1,500 years earlier. About a month after His circumcision (performed on the eight day of His life, Luke 2:21), the family took Him to the Temple in Jerusalem for the ceremonies connected with the purification of His mother and the dedication of her firstborn son.
The Temple visit undoubtedly occurred before the arrival of the Magi, since the parents would not have come to Jerusalem to tempt fate once Herod had been aroused. And, furthermore, they left Bethlehem for Egypt almost immediately after the Magi departed.
During their visit they met Simeon in the Temple, a godly man who belonged to a remnant of the Jews who were faithfully studying the prophecies regarding the Messiah ("the consolation of Israel"). Another student was Anna the prophetess who spent most of her waking hours in the Temple, speaking of the coming deliverer to all who would listen (verses 36-38).
Simeon was unique in that God had told him that he would not die until he had seen the Christ child. And when he discovered Jesus, he blessed Him, noting that he had now seen the salvation of God (verse 30), who would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for [the] glory" of Israel (verse 32, RSV). In that proclamation the aged Simeon moved beyond the general parochialism of the Jews. They all too often were looking for their own deliverer, not the Savior of all people. But in the inspired words of Simeon we discover even in Jesus' infancy that His incarnation would provide atonement for all people--both Jew and Gentile.
Here we have an important lesson. As members of a certain sector of God's family we can hold Jesus too close to ourselves and to those who think and believe just like us. We tend to see Him as our Savior. But Simeon's words remind us that Jesus is the Savior of all who accept Him and His work on the cross.
Simeon noted that all people will fall or rise (verse 34) in terms of their relationship to Jesus. Here we have a hard saying. William Barclay enlightens it by pointing out that "it is not so much God who judges a man; a man judges himself; and his judgment is his reaction to Jesus Christ."
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