{"id":175,"date":"2011-01-02T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T17:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=175"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:09:03","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:09:03","slug":"the-long-awaited-child-has-come","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/02\/the-long-awaited-child-has-come\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long Awaited Child Has Come"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 2: 25-35<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was not much into babies.\u00a0 The only baby in my boyhood was my little sister who showed up to spoil my sole claim on my parents.\u00a0\u00a0 Later on I would see moms with babies but have little interest in them. \u00a0Until my wife and I got married and started thinking, well more than thinking about babies — we’re going to have one of those?<\/p>\n

Well not quite yet.\u00a0 It took a while for us to conceive.\u00a0 When, we wondered?\u00a0 Could something be wrong? But then came our first.\u00a0 At long last, I got to hold that little one in my arms and since then it’s been a joy for me to hold babies.<\/p>\n

What a joy it must have been for Simeon.\u00a0 This Child wasn’t his child.\u00a0 He didn’t even know Mary and Joseph.\u00a0 But this was a child that he had waited for.\u00a0 A child believers had yearned for since Adam and Eve.\u00a0 But now the waiting was over.\u00a0 This day in the temple, Simeon could know and so can you:<\/p>\n

The Long awaited Child Has Come
\n<\/strong>I.\u00a0 See Him for what He is\u00a0 (25-32)
\nII. While Others do not.\u00a0 (33-35)<\/p>\n

Luke tells us about Simeon.\u00a0 He was a devout believer who tried to live a godly life according to the Law of Moses.\u00a0 He believed God’s Word of promise.\u00a0 He would send the Messiah, the Christ.\u00a0 So he was waiting. He was waiting for what the Messiah would bring to God’s people.\u00a0 The consolation of Israel.<\/p>\n

Think about that word consolation.\u00a0 It means when calls you alongside, to comfort or encourage you.\u00a0 How we need that as we go through this life.\u00a0 This has been a season where I have seen tears of grief roll down some of your faces.\u00a0 I know that some of you are struggling.\u00a0 People like Simeon were struggling in their own way.\u00a0 But here God calls you to his side.\u00a0 The comfort he brings is not just some words.\u00a0 No it\u2019s a child whose very presence is God saying to us.\u00a0 \u00a0I am with you.<\/p>\n

The Holy Spirit had told Simeon something very special.\u00a0 He would get to see the Lord’s Christ before he died.\u00a0 And this day, Simeon knew he had a divine appointment to keep.\u00a0 The Spirit moved him to go to the temple to look for the Child.\u00a0 But how could he know him with so many other parents there with their first born sons?\u00a0 Somehow as Simeon moved through the temple courts, the Spirit told him that child is the One.<\/p>\n

28 <\/sup>Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29<\/sup>\u201cSovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30<\/sup>For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31<\/sup>which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32<\/sup>a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.\u201d<\/span> Just imagine Simeon’s joy.\u00a0 He now held him in his arms.\u00a0 Do you realize what he was saying.\u00a0 Lord, you did just what you promised.\u00a0 The Long awaited Child has come.\u00a0\u00a0 I can now die in peace.<\/p>\n

So can we.\u00a0 At times, even the strongest believers fear death.\u00a0 You and I weren’t supposed to die.\u00a0 And the devil comes to torment us with doubts and fears.\u00a0 So we need each other.\u00a0 We need each other when we are weak and about to leave this life.\u00a0 We need to remind each other of what it means that God sent his Son.\u00a0 Simeon reminds us. When my time comes, you now allow me to depart in peace.<\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 30<\/sup>For my eyes have seen your salvation 31<\/sup>which you have prepared in the sight of all people,<\/span>… Many a soldier has fallen to the ground wounded and helpless.\u00a0 He needs rescue.\u00a0 So do we.\u00a0 On our own, we are in desperate need of rescue.\u00a0 On our own, we have a record of sin a mile long that would condemn us to a real place called hell.<\/p>\n

See the Child for what he is<\/strong>.\u00a0 He is your salvation.\u00a0 He is your rescue.\u00a0 He is your forgiveness.\u00a0 That’s why Simeon could not just die in peace but also live in peace.\u00a0 And so can you.<\/p>\n

For Jesus is the light of the Gentiles<\/strong>.\u00a0 No one likes it when the rains come down so hard that the lights go out. Of course, we have candles and flashlights. Not so spiritually.\u00a0 People grope around in their own spiritual darkness without hope and without God.\u00a0 Some try to invent their own light, their own truth, their own gods or just deny there is a god. But it’s still darkness.\u00a0 Only worse. for such people have deceived themselves.<\/p>\n

See the Child for what he is<\/strong>.\u00a0 He is the light that chases away that darkness.\u00a0 Remember what Jesus said to Philip when he asked him:\u00a0 show us the Father\u00a0 Don’t you know me Philip after all this time! <\/em> For to know this Child, to know Jesus is to know God. \u00a0\u00a0It’s to know God as your Father who loves you and cares for you.<\/p>\n

That’s why this child is also the glory of Israel<\/em>. Jesus was born a Jew, a descendant of Jacob, or Israel.\u00a0 But as John wrote: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.<\/span> (1:11) Yet this Child born to Mary is their glory.\u00a0 He is the greatest Jew ever born, that descendant of King David who now rules on high. \u00a0So let us pray for our Jewish friends and neighbors that they too may see this Child and believe in Him as Simeon did. The long awaited child has come<\/strong>, the glory of Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, there are times when we are not so sure.\u00a0 There are times when we don’t see so clearly.\u00a0 Just the other day, someone said. Pastor, I hope I am believing the right things<\/em>.\u00a0 The devil loves it when he can shake our faith.\u00a0 And it would sure be easier if everyone saw this Child as Simeon did. Our light and salvation.\u00a0 Peace for living and dying.\u00a0 But many do not.\u00a0 Yet it should come as no surprise.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit showed Simeon what others would say about this long awaited Child.\u00a0 So see him for what he is while others do not. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bring up the name Jesus.\u00a0 Preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. You are all but guaranteed to get a reaction one way or another.\u00a0 I used to think if only I could tell people about Jesus and what he’s done for them then so many more will believe.\u00a0 How could they not? But look what Simeon prophesied by the Holy Spirit. \u00a0\u201cThis child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 <\/sup>so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed<\/span> The very same Child, the very same message is like a precious stone to some but for others it is like a rock that people stumble over in their unbelief.\u00a0 The Child, this Jesus, such a joy to us is an offense, a kind of foolishness to others.<\/p>\n

And look what his mother, Mary, had to look forward to. Many a parent looks at his\/her child and wonders what life with bring. Sometimes it brings great sadness.\u00a0 I think of a mother we know who was probably feeling great pain this Christmas over her Navy son.\u00a0 This past year his plane crashed in a training accident with no survivors.\u00a0 Simeon tells Mary that she would feel that kind of pain one day. …a sword will pierce your own soul too.<\/span> And she would as she looked upon her Son on a cross.<\/p>\n

Why would it come to that?\u00a0 The easy answer is that his enemies got him killed.\u00a0 But there was something far bigger going on than that evil.\u00a0 This Child, the son of Mary and the Son of God had come to be our salvation.\u00a0 To do that a kind of sword would pierce his soul.\u00a0 The sword of God’s justice for your guilt and mine, a sword that would cause him to cry out. My God, my God why have you have forsaken me.<\/span> Why?\u00a0 We know. For God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.<\/span> He did not spare his Son but gave him up for us all<\/span>.\u00a0 We believe that. That message has raised us up to be God’s children through faith in Jesus.\u00a0 It’s given us hope that shines in the darkness. \u00a0So don’t let this world drag you down.\u00a0 When you go to college, you will find yourself in classes with teachers who think it\u2019s their mission to save you from this so called myth.\u00a0 Don’t let them. \u00a0For this long awaited Child has saved you and made you God’s own.<\/p>\n

There only one thing left to do.\u00a0 Simeon took him up in his arms and praised God.\u00a0 Take him up in your heart and do the same. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 2: 25-35 I was not much into babies.\u00a0 The only baby in my boyhood was my little sister who showed up to spoil my sole claim on my parents.\u00a0\u00a0 Later on I would see moms with babies but have little interest in them. \u00a0Until my wife and I got married and started thinking, well more than thinking about babies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}