Luke 2.21

AFTER 8 DAYS, the child was circumcized. It was the first time the name of Jesus was spoken outside his mother and father. In the temple where he was circumcized, His name must've resounded from wall to wall, hallowing the room, the name above every name, the name out of Heaven, the name of Jesus Christ. According to Luke's text, His name of Jesus was not given to the shepherds, only that He was Christ the Lord. But Mary knew. She was told His name before she even conceived. No man's life was so predestined as that of Jesus of Nazareth.

When the day for purification according to the Law came, He was presented in Jerusalem. This rite comes from Exodus 13.2, 10. Two turtledoves were sacrificed for Jesus. This must've made a deep impression in His young eyes, in the city which would be His destiny. Did He hear the voice of the Spirit, explaining why a sacrifice must be made? When He will be baptized, the Spirit comes to Him in the form of the same dove which was brought by His father. He will cleanse the same temple in which He makes His purification.

Simeon was there. He was an old man, having waited long for the consolation of Israael. A strange old man, he was filled with the Holy Spirit as John will be and Jesus is. The Spirit of God told Simeon he would not die until he had seen the Lord's anointed, the savior of Israel.
Simeon came into the temple--in the Spirit, 2.27. Did he know this would be the day, this would be the child? If he didn't know coming into the temple, he did know when he saw the Child. When Luke uses the phrase--he took Him into his arms and blessed God--this conveys to us the gentle care with which Simeon held the baby. Simeon looks at the Child, but speaks to God.

What we might notice is what the shepherds noticed: Simeon praises God for His Word coming true--Thou does let Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy word, 2.29. The shepherds recognized this new child, this new age, this peace with God on the basis that the angel told the truth, that Simeon had been told the truth. It is this Word which is truth that is different from any other age or time or epoch.

Simeon says--mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Quite a statement saying that a person is salvation. This would never be said of a general, senator, philosopher. To say that someone is salvation is to say the world isn't just the way it is, but that the world should not be like this. It is to say there is some gulf between the way the ancient world was--dicatators, starvation, wars for economics, old age diseases, birth defects--and that this world could or should be different. Anyone else would say, some future idealistic world is not possible, only a dream of the idle rich.


And then to say that this person Jesus is a revelation to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, that is rare. It implies the Gentiles will be shown something which they could never have known otherwise. Certainly, in the ancient world it is the Jews who were considered unlearned compared to the Greeks, lacking in political power compared to the Romans, with little or no history compared to the Egyptians or Chinese. And yet it is to the Jews that the light of this revelation has comee.

All of this is stated well by Isaiah 42.6-13 in prophetic language. Notice as you read Isaiah, the very beginning of v.6--I am the Lord. It is He the Lord who has come in Luke 2.


All of this and much more were being said about the Child. Priests and wise men and shepherds and those holding scrolls, those awaiting Israel's history and restoration to glory, those from other countries, those who sit in the street, they all were speaking of this Child. Mary and Joseph heard this, and they took it all in as much as they could.

Simeon then says gravely--this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed...and a sword will pierce even your own soul..to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed, 2.34, 35.

One wonders if Jesus was Joseph's first born. Other passages in the NT imply Jesus had brothers and sisters. If He is first-born, this scene with Simeon is a close, intense one, a private scene. If He is not Joseph's first child, His sisters and brothers could have been here, experiencing mixed emotions about who their brother Jesus really was.

The old lady Anna (or Hannah) came up to the family. She lived in the temple, serving day and night with fastings and prayers. Would she have approached Joseph and Mary if Jesus was their only child, or would she have deferred to Joseph as father? It may be that Anna was willing to approach the child if Joseph had other children there or it may not. Certainly the text we have from Luke says nothing either way.

Anna gave thanks to God for Jesus, seemingly to realize who He was. She seems to have turned round to speak to everyone about Him, everyone who was interested in the redemption of Jerusalem. Evidently there were many there in the temple who were looking for and expecting to see the redemption of Jerusalem or the consolation of Israel. Surrounded by those who were of this opinion and desire, word could easily have spread throughout the temple and the city and along the roads leading outward. When God is in your midst, it's hard to stay quiet.

The message of Simeon and Anna seems to be that while they and many with them believed by faith in God's covenant with Israel, they all saw Him.