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Dr JD HarlessTri-County Christian ChurchDecember 24, 2017Resources: Expositors & CommentariesTHE SPIRIT OF FULFILLMENTLuke 2:22-33Occasionally I like to go down Memory Lane. Sometimes it is a good trip … sometimes not so good. One of the things that brings a smile to my face is remembering when our kids did something and then they would come running … grab my hand and say “Daddy, come here, look what I did.” They were so excited … and it was fun seeing the pride they had in what they accomplished.We sang a song two weeks ago that brought those memories back to me. A phrase of that song went like this … “Noel, Noel, Come and See What God has Done.” I envision the angels grabbing the hands of the shepherds and saying “Hey guys, Come and see what God has done” and rushing off to Bethlehem. And I see the star almost crying out to the wise men … “Hey, Wise guys, Come and see what God has done!”And then there is Simeon. An old man waiting for the coming of the Messiah … and the Holy Spirit telling him … “Simeon, take a look and see what God has done.”It is that passage that I want us to look at today … so turn with me to LUKE 2:11-35. Watch this video portrayal of our passage with me … Video … Jesus Presented at the Temple … 1.54Taken from YouTubeLet’s walk through the passage together this morning …READ VERSES 22-24 … 22?When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23?(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24?and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”?I want to spend just a few minutes looking at these three verses because I think that most of us have been incorrectly taught about them. If I were to ask all how old Jesus was when Joseph and Mary took him to the Temple … most of us would probably say that he was 8 days old. We would say that because of what LUKE 1:21 says … On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. But we would be wrong to believe they were there on the 8th day. Yes … Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day just like it says in this verse. All Jewish boys were. It was a law of God to do so. The circumcision was a sign that they were God’s people. But the little boys did not have to be circumcised at the Temple. Most of the time they were circumcised at home. And even if they did take the boy to the Temple to be circumcised … the mother would not be able to attend … I WILL explain that in a moment. There was a logical reason why God had to wait until the 8th day. It wasn’t until the 8th day that the blood clotted correctly. They waited so the son would not bleed to death.But it was not the 8th day of Jesus’ life here on earth that Joe, Mary and Jesus went to the Temple. Mary was not even allowed to enter the Temple on the 8th day of Jesus’ life.Listen to what LEVITICUS 12:1-8 says … The Lord said to Moses, 2?“Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. 3?On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. 4?Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. It is not until after the 40th day following Jesus’ birth that Mary is even allowed in the Temple. They went to the Temple for her purification rites. Look at VERSE 6 … 6?‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.?j 7?He shall offer them before the Lord to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood. So … following the 40th day Joe, Mary and Jesus go to the Temple to offer the sacrifices for Mary’s atonement. BUT … that is not the only reason that they go to the Temple. Look at VERSE 22 again … When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23?(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”)It was God’s law that the first-born male belonged to him and was to be consecrated to him. We find this in EXODUS 13:1-2 … The Lord said to Moses, 2?“Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.” This ceremony was directly connected to the 10th Plague in Egypt. If you remember … the death angel passed over Egypt and if there was not lamb’s blood on the doorposts … the death angel would kill the firstborn son. God spared the firstborn Jewish sons but the trade-off was that they now belonged to him. Jesus was the firstborn son of Mary and was taken to the Temple to be consecrated to God. The parents would then pay the priest 5 shekels to buy back … or redeem the baby boy.………. Now let’s read on … VERSES 25-27 … 25?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. 26?It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27?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, This is the only time that this man … Simeon … is mentioned in the Bible. We know absolutely nothing about him other than he was old … he was righteous … and he was devout. That is all we know.Why was Simeon given this privilege of seeing Jesus? And … even more … why was it so important that it was mentioned in the New Testament? I obviously do not know for sure … but I do have my thoughts. I believe that Simeon … a common nobody represents all of us. You and I are not going to be mentioned in the Scriptures. We are just common nobodies. BUT to God … we are important enough that he allows us to see Jesus. Maybe not physically … YET … but certainly spiritually!There is a very important point I want us to see here that has everything to do with our Christmas Sermon Series titled the SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS … Look at the last of VERSE 25 … and the Holy Spirit was on him. And now look at the first part of VERSE 26 … It had been revealed to him by the Holy SpiritAnd lastly … look at the first part of VERSE 27 … Moved by the SpiritSimeon being in the Temple just at the right time was not happenstance! It was all orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he saw the Messiah … and the Holy Spirit saw to it that God’s promise was fulfilled. Once again … we see the Holy Spirit actively involved in the Nativity Event. He is busy bringing fulfillment to Simeon. But Simeon is not the only common nobody that the Holy Spirit brings fulfillment to. He is also very busy doing the very same thing to us.What I find interesting though is this … what kind of Messiah did Simeon expect to see? The Jews were looking for a King … a great warrior … someone to overcome the Roman Government and set them on top of the government mountain. Is that what Simeon was looking for?I guess there is no way we can honestly know what Simeon was looking for … but what we can know is that the moment he saw the baby Jesus he knew it was the Messiah! Listen to his song of praise … VERSES 29-32 … 29?“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30?For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: 32?a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” There is no doubt … Simeon knew this was the Messiah! But there is something in this song that makes if obvious that he recognizes that this Messiah is Someone much bigger than just a physical King of Israel. He recognizes that this Messiah is a Messiah for everyone … Jews and Gentiles alike.Let me share with you three lessons that we can learn from his common nobody named Simeon that brings us fulfillment through the Holy Spirit … 1 … SIMEON ANTICIPATED THE MESSIAH … SO MUST WEI am sure that we are not any different than most of you this time of the year. We have bought presents via internet. Thank God for Amazon … right. One of the benefits of using Amazon … like many other businesses … is that you can track where your gift that you have purchased is. Each day you go to the internet and see if the package is any closer. And then the day comes that you go to the internet to track your package and it says “Your package will be delivered by 6:00 tonight.” You are beside yourself! It is about to arrive! And every few minutes you go to the front door to see if the package is setting on your front porch. Anyone else experience that? It is exciting, isn’t it?Eugene Peterson writes in his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction … “Joy is nurtured by anticipation … Just as joy builds on the past, it borrows from the future. It expects certain things to happen.” In the same way that Peterson says Joy follows anticipation … I would argue that fulfillment also follows anticipation!Our passage this morning makes it very clear that Simeon was anticipating the coming of the Messiah. And why not? All of the Old Testament pointed to this very event! There would come a Messiah that would bring with him salvation!Our situation is a bit different than Simeon’s. He was anticipating the first coming of Jesus. We are on the other end of history of that event. We know that Jesus came to earth by being born in a manger in Bethlehem. We also know that he went from the Cradle to the Cross. We don’t have to anticipate that. It has already happened.But there is something we should still anticipate … and that is his Second Coming. Simeon would wake up each day wondering … “I wonder if today will be the day the Messiah comes.” And we should do the same … “I wonder if today is the day that the Messiah will come.”In the same way that God … through the Holy Spirit … promised that Simeon would get to see the coming of the Messiah … He promises us that we too will get to see the coming of the Messiah.Listen to PHILIPPIANS 3:11 … 20?But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21?who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. Anticipate that my friends! The Christ is coming again! God has promised it! Hold on to that promise … desire it more than anything else!2 … SIMEON RECOGNIZED THE MESSIAH … SO MUST WEA second lesson that we can learn from Simeon is to recognize the Messiah!I am sure that Simeon was not the only person in the Temple on that day! But it seems that Simeon … and one other older lady named Anna … were the only ones who recognized that this ‘8 day’ old baby was the Messiah.Why? Why did the others not know? Why did they not recognize who Jesus was? My thought is that they did not know because the baby did not fit the preconceived idea of what the Messiah would be like.There is no way that a Messiah … the King of the Jews … could possibly be a baby. He had to be a mighty warrior! He had to be more powerful than anyone else. He had to be smarter than anyone else. He had to be better looking than anyone else. He had to be someone that was not vulnerable … someone that showed no inclination of weakness. A small baby wrapped in swaddling clothes did not match the impression of what the Messiah would be.ISAIAH 53:1-3 says … Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 2?He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3?He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. The Holy Spirit ‘opened the spiritual eyes’ of Simeon and he was able to recognize the Messiah.Let me read you a story that drives this point home …A small orphaned boy lived with his grandmother. One night their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to rescue the little boy asleep upstairs, perished in the smoke and flames. A crowd gathered around the burning house. The boy’s cries for help were heard above the crackling of the blaze. No one seemed to know what to do, for the front of the house was a mass of flames.Suddenly a stranger rushed from the crowd and circled to the back where he spotted an iron pipe that reached an upstairs window. He disappeared for a minute, then reappeared with the boy in his arms. Amid the cheers of the crowd, he climbed down the hot pipe as the boy hung around his neck.Weeks later a public hearing was held in the town hall to determine in whose custody the boy would be placed. Each person wanting the boy was allowed to speak briefly. The first man said, "I have a big farm. Everybody needs the out-of-doors." The second man told of the advantages he could provide. "I’m a teacher. I have a large library. He would get a good education." Others spoke. Finally, the richest man in the community said, "I’m wealthy. I could give the boy everything mentioned tonight: farm, education, and more, including money and travel. I’d like him in my home."The chairman asked, "Anyone else like to say a word?" From the backseat rose a stranger who had slipped in unnoticed. As he walked toward the front, deep suffering showed on his face. Reaching the front of the room, he stood directly in front of the little boy. Slowly the stranger removed his hands from his pockets. A gasp went up from the crowd. The little boy, whose eyes had been focused on the floor until now, looked up. The man’s hands were terribly scarred. Suddenly the boy emitted a cry of recognition. Here was the man who had saved his life. His hands were scarred from climbing up and down the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw himself around the stranger’s neck and held on for life. The farmer rose and left. The teacher, too. Then the rich man. Everyone departed, leaving the boy and his rescuer who had won him without a word. Those marred hands spoke more effectively than any words. “Scarred Hands” (James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, pp.?119-120)God has given each and every one of us the ability to recognize who the Messiah is! Maybe it is the scars in his hands and feet that causes us to recognize himMaybe it is the tenderness of the love in his eyesMaybe it is the comfort of his voiceMaybe it is the joy that wells up inside of us when we are in his presenceWhatever it is … just like Simeon … the Holy Spirit leads us to him and opens our eyes to him. We can either respond like Simeon and recognize the Holy Messiah … or we can close our eyes and refuse to recognize him … just like those from his hometown of Nazareth.3 … SIMEON RECEIVED THE MESSIAH … SO MUST WEThere is one last lesson I want us to learn from Simeon … Simeon not only anticipated the Messiah and recognized the Messiah … he received the Messiah! Listen to these few words that get lost in the bigger story … VERSE 28 … Simeon took him in his arms and praised GodListen to me … if you want fulfillment in your life … you have to receive the Messiah … the Lord Jesus Christ.There were several people in that Temple on that Holy day … I am sure. But there was a great difference between the majority of those people and Simeon. Simeon received the baby. The others did not. And when they left that Temple that day … they were still anticipating a Messiah to come … They did not recognize he had been in their very presence that day.Friends … that very same Messiah is in our presence today! Not as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes but as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords … The One sitting at God’s right hand in the Throne Room in Heaven!Do you recognize Him? Have you received Him? Do you anticipate His coming again?As a third-century man was anticipating death, he penned these last words to a friend: "It's a bad world, an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are despised and persecuted, but they care not. They are masters of their souls. They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians--and I am one of them."Today In The Word, June, 1988, p. 18.PSALM 126:3 … 3?The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Noel … Noel! Come and See What God has Done!!!! ................
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