It looks to me like all the kids are going to burst if Christmas doesn’t hurry up. How many days is it until Christmas kids? They will probably scream out 2 days. Yeah, only two days left and Christmas is here. Do you guys think you can wait? Hopefully you will get a mixed expression of yes and no. Have you guys ever heard the story of the kid who peeked at his presents? You better get a no because it is your story. He was ten years old with shaggy black hair and his green pajamas. He watched as his parents walked by his doorway and down the hall to their room. Creak!!!! He heard their door shut with a thud. Now was his chance to take a small peak at the gifts. Soon he heard the crinkling of presents in the living room. His sister had already beaten him to the punch. He ran to the living room and there by the tree he saw his sister’s startled look. She thought she had been caught by mom and dad. Nope, it was just her older brother ready to check his presents. Under the tree stood what seemed like a mountain of shiny red and green boxes. Slowly he scratched at a corner to see the box and figure out what he had gotten. It wasn’t long before he had scratched and pulled at almost every box under the tree. Satisfied that he knew what he was getting, he went to bed. The hours rolled by so slowly as he drooled over getting to play with his new games. Six a.m. took forever but had finally arrived. He tore into his new gifts but the excitement was gone. He knew what he was getting and had thought about it for the last five hours. All the fun of Christmas was gone because he couldn’t wait until he was supposed to open his presents.
Parents, how do you think your kids are doing? Are they waiting patiently or are they about to jump out of their cloths? I bet it has probably gotten a bit worse every single day we drew closer to Christmas. How would you like your children to display patience? How well do you express patience? Do you treat your children with patience like God’s almost infinite patience? I wish I could say that I did but I have been caught up in the instant generation like everyone else. I like instant food! I like instant internet; I think I would almost die if I had to go back to dial-up. How many of you are willing to wait at a restaurant for more than thirty minutes to eat? Today, I am not going to give you the fifteen ways to be a patient person speech. I just want you to learn of three great rewards a patient person receives for waiting for God to act. Simeon had waited his whole life for one single event to occur and from his experience I want you to see what could be in store for you if you just learn to wait.
You will find comfort beyond this world! – Luke 2:25
“And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.”
The man known only as Simeon lived in Jerusalem and followed God. We know almost nothing else about the man but we do know what Israel had been through in the last centuries. They hadn’t spoken to God for four hundred years. Not a single prophet came, nor even a whisper came from God for four centuries. How many generations of people must have passed in this amount of time? Let’s say five passed each century. This would mean that somewhere around twenty generations of people passed during the inter-testament period. This is the name for the four hundred years between the Old Testament and the New Testament in your bible. Today, you can find Bibles for around four dollars almost everywhere you go at least here in America but in those days all they had were the scrolls that held the Old Testament. These scrolls never left the temple at any time.
The common person had almost nothing. Simeon seems to be one of these common people yet, he believed in the prophecies of the Old Testament. He knew that someday his waiting would come to fruition. Simeon was looking for the comfort or consolation of Israel. Israel had been ravaged by war and had been conquered several times, most recently by Rome. The inter-testament period was full of religious wars, the desecration of the temple, and the rise of state-religions. Rome now appointed the high priest of the Jews instead of God. The whole Jewish system had been destroyed from its original design by this point in history. Simeon was hoping and praying that God would comfort his distressed and distraught people.
When the Ancelets had their daughter, Amy and I traveled up to Macomb to see them. We stopped at a restaurant in town to eat lunch before continuing to the hospital to see how the new addition to their family was doing. As we got done eating, my wife stood up holding the baby so that I could get out. All of a sudden she is half bent over going “oh, oh, oh grab the baby.” I finally realized what she needed and grabbed the baby as I watched her hobble around going “oh, it hurts.” She probably could have used some comforting about then. Well, being the man I am, I stalwartly stood beside her and laughed all the way to the car. I think this is final confirmation that my wife and I are 50 instead of 23.
After my wife waited a bit, the pain went away and her back returned to normal but man will she never ever live that one down. Most pain and illnesses do not just instantly go away no matter what you do to them. Most require a wait period. Your friendships don’t just mend instantly. Sometimes it takes a while to get it put back together. Sometimes we also have to learn to wait for God to heal situations and comfort wounds as well. Simeon had probably been waiting his entire lifetime for God to fix Israel. Simeon was most likely an old man who had been waiting to find comfort and consolation. If you have an argument with your spouse and go back to them all angry, you will chew them out and cause twice as much damage than has already been done. If you wait, calm down, and then go to reconcile the situation you may find that the other person is much more wiling to listen. Sometimes God puts us in uncomfortable situations for a reason and we will have to wait to receive comfort.
You will find peace beyond this world! – Luke 2:26-29
“And it has been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had sent the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, ‘Now Lord, You are releasing Your bondservant to depart in peace…’”
First, waiting can help you find comfort during the trying times in life. Secondly, waiting can help you find peace in this hectic world. Simeon had the Holy Spirit which was extremely rare in the Old Testament. (Only certain kings such as David and prophets had the help of the Holy Spirit.) The helper had told Simeon to be expecting the Messiah before he died. That day, the day Mary brought Jesus into the temple, that same Helper urged him to go to the temple. Once in the temple, Simeon found Jesus Christ born to Mary through the Helpers help. Most people believe Simeon is old because of that phrase, “would not see death.” I suspect he probably was quite old and had waited quite a few years to see this day come. Simeon had received his final wish and had found peace in it. This isn’t too uncommon in people today.
People just want one more word or action right before they pass. My favorite rendition of this is in the movies however because they are so cheesy. The person is almost dead while on life support and they say, “Come closer.” So the person leans in and tries to listen. Now depending on the movie, you can get a lot of different scenes here. If it is an action flick, the guy in the bed will do a back flip out of the bed and knock the guy out. If it is a romance flick, they will say, “I have always loved you. I will always love you.” A make-out scene will then occur. If it is sci-fi, an alien will spawn from their stomach and attack everyone in the room. Regardless, they must say that one thing to have peace before they die. Some of you may remember the sermon about looking into your eyes at your bedside before you die. Only a handful of people have hope and peace enough to go happily. Most cling to this life with everything they have because they have no peace about the next life or even how they lived this life. Yet, Simeon waited his entire lifetime and now had peace to leave this world with.
He had to wait a lifetime and only got to see Jesus one time. Simeon never had the ability to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. He never had his sins forgiven like we do. Most likely he died before Jesus started His ministry thirty years later. Yet, he was happy and at peace with even a slight glimpse at who Jesus was. He waited an entire lifetime to have peace and yet I am not sure we could wait ten minutes to have peace. Peace beyond this world can be had but you will probably have to wait for it. God will give it to you when he deems that he should give it to you and it will not come any sooner. Simeon was a completely devout person who loved God and yet he did not get it until he was old. He didn’t get it any faster than God had planned just because he was righteous. Waiting can help you find peace!
You will find salvation the day you see Christ! – Luke 2:30-32
“For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, A Light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
Simeon didn’t stop at the comfort of Israel and even after he had found peace he saw something much more in this child that he would never really experience. When he looked at the baby called Jesus, he didn’t see a stinky, diaper-filling baby. I can imagine he saw what was described in Isaiah 53. He probably saw Jesus Christ the man dying on the cross in 33 years from this time. He probably saw Him taking all the sins of the world on His own shoulders and carrying the wrath of God away from us. He probably saw the salvation of millions of people. He saw a light to reach the entire world. In the deep darkness of the world, the baby represented all the hope the universe had to live.
I have an honest question for you. When did you first realize that Jesus was more than just a guy in a book? Have you realized that he does more than make your life better? He has more in store for you than just being your buddy? When did you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior instead of just this guy at church? When you first encountered Christ in a Bible study, church or from a friend, how did it make you feel? Did you feel comfort, peace, and hope? Simeon’s eyes had a chance we will never have in one sense. He saw Jesus as a child. Yet, we can experience what Simeon experienced that day. We can experience looking into the eyes of Christ. We can see God’s salvation and even get to know Him. I can only imagine that Simeon would be jealous to know that we get to spend each day with Christ and yet he was at peace with just a glimpse.
Have you accepted Christ as your savior? Have you seen Him?! We will one day literally see Christ with our own eyes. We will see either one of two things; salvation or damnation. “For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of the God the Father.” Jesus Christ is coming back to earth some day and some day we will see Him. If we wait and live long enough we will see Jesus Christ one way or another. Do you see what I am saying here? Just as Simeon had his chance to see Jesus Christ, we too will face him but unless you have accepted Christ, it will not be the most pleasant reunion you have ever been to. Are you ready to wait? If you wait with Christ, you will see salvation someday. If you choose to not wait, you will see damnation someday.
Waiting is not a skill we are keen on in today’s society. We have instant everything and we are passing that on to our kids. It is only two days before Christmas and some of them are about to burst. Yet, they should wait or they will ruin the Christmas surprise. Simeon sets a wonderful example of waiting for the real prize in life. He could have pursued a thousand other ideas and things and yet he decided to wait his entire life for Christ. He received the great rewards of comfort, peace, and seeing salvation. You too can receive great rewards if you will only wait. You can find comfort and peace maybe in this life but most certainly in the next. You can see Christ coming to take us home to heaven and have a big fat grin on your face if you will only wait.
