Who is Simeon

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

WHO IS SIMEON

Luke 2:25-32

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 upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 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, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

NIV

Certainly we could spent this time focused on the words of Simeon concerning Jesus, and perhaps we will continue with this section of the gospel and do that. But today it seems appropriate to focus our attention on Simeon. First we should notice he was a righteous and devout man. We might take our life lesson from the character of this man and consider if we are righteous and devout. Of course we are righteous, or holy because we are in Christ, but when we consider, Simeon did not have that covering yet, he was righteous or equitable in character or act or by implication innocent, holy. We could ask ourselves if we are righteous in the sense being equitable in character, if we are fair and impartial, just, even-handed, unbiased, or unprejudiced as well as being devout, reverencing God. To reverence God is not to become too familiar or casual with him. Simeon understood God was the Almighty God who could by his word bring either a blessing or complete destruction upon man. We cannot afford to become too casual in our relationship with God, even in our worship times. The other thing we notice about Simeon is he was waiting for the consolation of Israel and he was moved by the Spirit. This consolation implies a summons, a call, which Jesus is that call, as he called the people to God, through him. But we also should note the Holy Spirit was upon him and had a promise which he believed as we see he was also moved by the Spirit. Simeon was a man who believed God, he was filled with the Spirit, even before the Spirit was poured out upon all men, and he followed the leading of the Spirit. Again we can take a life lesson from him in that we too should be filled with the Spirit, that is the Spirit is upon us, and thus we should follow the leading of the Spirit. We should not act upon our own, but go when told to go, and stay when told to stay. There is much in the character of Simeon we could learn from. It would be wise for us to ponder on being righteous and devout, filled and moved by the Spirit.