Holding Onto Hope - Luke 2:21-38

A quiet temple visit becomes a thunderclap of hope. Pastor Trent opens Luke 2:21–38 as we follow Mary and Joseph’s humble obedience, then meet Simeon—a devout, Spirit-led man who waits for the consolation of Israel and finds it in his arms. His first words after holding Jesus are startling and beautiful: “Now let your servant depart in peace.” That line reframes fear, aging, and death itself, not with denial, but with the confidence that God keeps his promises.

In this message, we draw out what it means to wait well in anxious times, how Christians can embody an unanxious presence grounded in a known ending, and why Simeon’s joy speaks to our own restless hopes.

Transcript

Setting The Scene In Luke 2

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Well, good morning. If you have a copy of God's Word, go ahead and open it up. Find Luke chapter 2. We'll begin in verse 21 as we continue our two-year-long series through the Gospel of Luke. Luke 2, verse 21 through 38. This morning we're going to look at what has to have been the most exciting and unexpected baby dedication service there has ever been. We're going to begin shortly after Jesus' birth. Of course, at this season of Advent, we've been looking at the first coming of Christ. And now we're looking at him as an infant and a young baby. And we're going to look at an encounter maybe you've never read about before. It's in Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 21. And it's a long section. So I'm going to go through quite a bit of it, make some comments here and there. If you have an outline, make sure you pull it out. This is right after the story of Jesus' birth, verse 21. At the end of eight days, that is eight days after Jesus was born, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus. The name given by the angel Gabriel before he was conceived in the womb. So just a quick note here before we move on. Joseph and Mary did just as the angel Gabriel had instructed them. In verse 31, Angel Gabriel, a messenger of the Lord, said, You shall call your baby's name Jesus. And they obeyed the Lord. Verse 22. Quick point of clarification here, that time of purification is for the woman. In the book of Leviticus, there was a law that the woman was ceremonially unclean after giving birth for forty days. Then they were to go to the temple for a time of purification. That's where they are. They brought Jesus up to Jerusalem, he's now forty days old, a little more than a month old, to present him before the Lord. Okay, so they've obeyed Leviticus, the Levitical law from the Mosaic Covenant, that the woman must purify herself. Now they're presenting their young baby boy, their firstborn child, to the Lord, as instructed in the book of Exodus. After the death of the firstborn in Egypt, who do not cover their doorpost with lamb's blood, the Lord said, The males who first open their mother's womb shall be presented to the Lord. And so they're obeying again the Lord's word. And we continue in verse 24. And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Again, they're obeying the word of the Lord. Now, in God's word, in the book of Leviticus, parents could have presented to the Lord a lamb, or they could have also presented two young pigeons. Now, this is notable briefly for two reasons. The first is it tells us a little bit about Mary and Joseph. We already know some of this because they're from Nazareth, and they go to, of course, to Bethlehem, but they were poor. They could have brought a lamb. The cheaper option is to bring two young pigeons. First thing it tells us is they're poor. The second thing that I just want to note here is though they did not have a lamb to offer in sacrifice, is a lamb who will be sacrificed not with them? He is. What do we learn about Mary and Joseph from verse 21 through 24 before we see Simeon? We see they are godly parents. They are not rich, they are godly. They respond and obey not only the supernatural revelation from the angel Gabriel to call their baby boy Jesus, but directives from God's law in Exodus and Leviticus. They know God's word and they live to obey it. Verse after verse, these these verses record their obedience from the name of Jesus to the purification of Mary to the presentation of Jesus to making a sacrifice before the Lord. They might have been poor, they might have been a young married couple, but they were righteous. They sought the Lord. This is where he grew up in wisdom and in stature. He grew up with parents who, while not perfect, were godly. Now, more to the story. Let's meet Simeon. Verse 25. Now we know righteousness truly begins with faith in God's word. And so Simeon had faith in God's word, and you'll see that. And it was visible in his actions. He was a devout man. He lived a life in obedience to the word of God that he had faith in. This morning, in our time together, I want to pose three questions that I hope you'll ask and answer from Simeon's example. Three questions. Here's the first. If you're a note taker, this is what I want you to write down. It's in your notes as well. Are you confident in God's promises? Are you confident in the promises of God? Our text tells us that Simeon, this man we're introduced to, was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Do you know what the word consolation means? Maybe you've heard of the word console or to be consoled. What does it mean to be consoled? It means to be comforted in the midst of grief. To be comforted in the midst of grief. Consolation feels like a safe and comforting hug that you need and you've been waiting for. I was going over my notes yesterday, and I received a text message from a good friend of mine in Texas. This friend of mine, his name's Matt. And Matt and his wife Callie just had their second baby, a little girl, Lennon. And Lennon has gotten real sick over the last couple weeks, and unfortunately, during the holidays, had to go to an intensive care unit, a little baby. And yesterday I'm writing about uh uh you know consolation, making some notes in my sermon, and uh he texts me a picture of Lennon just wrapped around his neck. I thought, oh, that's a that's a really good picture of what you know Simeon had a hunger for, that the Lord would kindly come down and console his people. They had long waited for the Messiah to come to save them from their sin, to lead them, to be their guide, and to comfort them. Simeon is an example for us. He had been eagerly waiting for God to keep the promises that he had made to come and save his people. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. He was a godly man waiting for the advent of the Christ. Now remember, we talked about this last week. Christ is not Jesus' last name, but rather is a title for who Jesus is. The Christ or the Messiah is the one who was promised in the Old Testament to come and save God's people. And Jesus is that Christ, the Christ. You see, Jesus has come to bring comfort to God's people, comfort to all who hurt and who hunger for righteousness. He's come to comfort those eagerly waiting for him, to console them. In fact, when Jesus later visits his hometown of Nazareth and he preaches, he quotes Isaiah 61. He opens the scroll, he reads from Isaiah 61, and he reads this The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, that is the consolation. After reading it, Jesus said, This has been fulfilled in your hearing. Simon had been waiting for that, hungering for that, hoping for comfort. Jesus was the comfort he was long waiting for. So this guy was a righteous and devout man full of faith, with eyes focused on the fulfillment of God's promises from his word. He was waiting well. He took God out of his word and was confident in his promises. That's where I want to begin this morning. I want you to sincerely, I want you to think for a moment. What promises has God made to you, his child, and his word? What promises has he made? What promises should we believe from God's Word? Stake our life upon. That we will be saved from the coming wrath of God because of Jesus' death in our place where he took upon himself the punishment of God. That we need not fear future punishment. That Jesus will return for us, that he will wipe the tears from our eyes, that he will remove the stain of sin, sickness, sorrow, and strife, that he will he will totally make everything new, that he will dwell with us in the new heavens and new earth, that we will enjoy his presence, that we will live with him and enjoy him forever. Do you believe these promises? Like, are they your guiding hope in life? Are you confident that what God has said, He will do? Do you look forward to that day? Are you eager? And in the meantime, are you waiting well? Just like Simeon, who in this moment God's Spirit descends upon so that he sees Christ. You have the Holy Spirit of God within you. You have seen Christ. Not visibly, but you've seen the truths of what God has said and you've believed them. The Holy Spirit has made them alive in you. The Holy Spirit has shown you the truths of God's word are in fact true, and you're called to stake your life upon them, to wait well for them to come to pass, just like Simeon. Simeon, Jesus' first coming, you and I, his second. Let's look at him. Simeon, the Holy Spirit was upon him. This is a unique occurrence in the old covenant. Just like with Elizabeth, the Holy Spirit comes upon her, and she understands that the baby in Mary's womb is the Christ. The Holy Spirit comes upon Simeon, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, verse 26, that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Now, we can just suppose some things here. I don't know. We're supposed to think about who Simeon is then. He believes, without the shadow of a doubt, that he will see the Messiah promised for thousands of years during his lifetime. You think he told people about that? Yeah. Do you think people thought he was crazy? Yeah. Probably so. It had been more than 400 years since God had spoken through a prophet to his people, and now you have Simeon, this guy walking around the temple, a devout man, telling people that he is going to see the Messiah who was promised to come before he died. He's telling people who knew the Bible, but who had become discouraged and dispirited. To many, this man had to be a little crazy. Imagine others had given up and had begun to put their hope in security. This guy's hope was in the Lord's salvation. That was his story, and he stuck with it. Salvation is coming. Believe me. It's coming. And you can imagine critics all around him. Critics who had held on to their Jewish tradition but had left the faith of their fathers. Yeah, that's what our great-great-great-great-great great great great great-grandpa said. We get it. Oh, that's Simeon again. Twenty generations had passed since they heard from God through a prophet. And again, at that point in God's timeline, there were many who held on to Jewish tradition but had left faith. You think of the different groups described in the New Testament. The Sadducees seem to have, for speaking in generalities, given up. For the most part, that group's protocol was not to upset Rome and no one would get hurt. Then you have another group, the zealots. They hadn't given up per se, they had just given up on the Lord to do it. So they tried to take matters in their own hands and rebel against Rome, finding their own salvation, becoming violent themselves. Maybe another group. So for many, Simeon, you can just imagine for a moment, was probably the Lord is coming soon sign guy in the middle of a Bible belt city.

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A little crazy. Oh, that's old Simeon. We've heard that, we know.

Unanxious Presence And Christian Hope

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But their lives didn't revolve around that hope. Simeon's life did. Everything in his life was about the Lord fulfilling his promises. His life revolved around God's word. He was ready, he was anticipating it. And when the time came, his joy was full. He's here. He's here. Everyone else saw in Jesus just another baby boy. But for Simeon, the Spirit of God opened the eyes of a sinful man, aware of his state before God, so he did not just see a baby, he saw the Savior. He's here. And this is your story, more to your story than you might think. Just like us, Simeon would not, most likely would not be alive for the miracles or resurrection of Jesus. He had the word of God and the Spirit of God. And when God opened his eyes to Jesus, it was the highlight of his life. He was all he'd been waiting for. It's what we know of Simeon. It's Simeon's story. He knew, loved God's word. That's what he's known for. The moment he met Jesus was the highlight of his life. I ask for a moment. If you were to write down just a few highlights of your life, would like would Jesus be at the top? What would be most important in your life if everything else was taken away? What does your life revolve around? What or who is your whole life about?

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Simeon's the Bible guy. Who got to see Jesus?

The Mission: Light To Gentiles And Glory To Israel

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That's what we know about him. Joy in the presence of Jesus. Something to think about. Verse 27. He came in the spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the customs of the law, again, the things we already read about, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, you are now letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. Okay. He took Jesus and he said, You're now letting your servant depart in peace. What does he mean by depart in peace? Well, what he means by depart is die. He's talking about death. So think of think about this moment for just a moment. Just a minute. He's a seemingly strange guy to many. He's not a priest or a prophet. Simeon says he's got a word from the Lord. He grabs your son and he basically says, I can die now. You do that to one of the babies in the nurseries upstairs, I guarantee you there's going to be an issue. One that will include a free police car ride to the police station. This is a very interesting scene. This has to be, again, the most unexpected baby dedication service there has ever been. But realize the gravity of what's happening here. Jesus has come. This is fulfilling a promise made to God's people thousands of years old. This is the hope of God's people. This is no longer God's silence, God's salvation. The baby Jesus has arrived, and he's arrived so that people might have everlasting peace in the presence of God. Now this word depart is really interesting. And I want to camp out here for just a moment. The word depart in the text is often a word used in that day for freeing a slave. So he may be thinking of his death as a sort of release from a long task. He's saying, Lord, you can take me now. My work is done.

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I'm ready to rest. You've kept your word. Isn't this interesting? Like you can say, okay, well, he wants to be with Jesus, but Jesus is there. Let's not so quickly move past this.

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He sees Jesus. He's there with Jesus. Jesus is there with him. He's holding in his hands the very Savior who holds him and the world in his hands.

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And he says, I'm good to go.

Destiny, Opposition, And Mary’s Sorrow

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I'm good to go. Thank you for fulfilling your promises and now allowing me to conclude my life on earth peacefully. I've been a slave to my sin and I'm ready for freedom. So many people all around the world are running from death. Running from it. Doing all they can to live as long of a life as they can. Workout regiments and supplements, memberships and money. One of my favorite shows that I've referenced before is Indiana Jones, the third of the first three movies, The Last Crusade. What are they all on a mission to find other than the Holy Grail? Which, according to tradition in Indiana Jones, if you drink from it, you have everlasting life. You don't die. And they're all willing to die for it. To live longer. Why? Because we're terrified of death. But Simeon's not. Simeon knows that at the moment of his death, he will immediately be transferred to the Lord of his life, and more than that, without the stain of his sin. Without sorrow, strife, sickness, depression, disease, syndromes, pain, without all that is corrupt in the world that resulted from the fall, but with God. I'm ready to go. You've kept your word. I can depart in peace. He has come to save, as he promised. I will be saved. You see, it wasn't just crazy Paul who said, Oh, death, where is your sting? And to live is Christ, but to die is gain. Jesus came to defeat death and the grave. So Simeon's been serving the Lord all of his life, but now his difficult sanctification will be delightful glorification. It's for him, and it's for all who take God at his word, who believe in his son. So here's the second question I want to ask you this morning. Are you at peace with your future? Are you at peace with your future? We ought to treasure Christ like Simeon because we do have a peace that outlasts our grave. Death for the Christian is but an enemy that has already been defeated. It has been long said before, death is but a doorway to the presence of God. But now, still awaiting glory, we feel the pole of sin. We agonize over all the pain that sin causes in our world. We long for sin to be eradicated, and we long to be with our Savior. Scripture says we groan, Romans 8, serving him faithfully, standing in grace, Romans 5, until we see him face to face, 1 Corinthians 13. So we groan together. We look forward to that day. But we know it's coming. We know it's good. And we're at peace. Are you? This is one of those places I think Christians can offer a unique apologetic to the world.

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In our unanxious presence. Like I don't know what tomorrow looks like. But I know what the end looks like.

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And that makes me not worry so much about tomorrow. I know there's a lot of political turmoil, there's there's wars and rumors of wars, there's all of these things all around us. That sometimes rile us up if we spend time too long online. Oh, but just a few moments in the words of God, and you see all will be well. Because he came. And because he's coming again. Do you believe that? Are you at peace with your future? I hope our witness is one of unanxious presence. We're not overwhelmed by every little thing, because every little thing is held in our all-powerful God's hand.

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We trust him.

Jesus’ Pattern: Power For The Powerless

Closing Prayer And Communion Focus

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And he's coming back. For my eyes have seen your salvation. A quick note: do you hear what he says? Our salvation is a person, and that person's come from heaven. The third question I ask for those of you, young children in the room, who may not know Jesus, or may just need to be reminded in the room. Do you know the mission of Jesus? Do you know his mission? Simeon teaches us his mission in a kind of a song. He first kind of testifies of the people for whom Christ died, what he would provide, and then he kind of testifies to the persecution Christ would endure and how he would provide that salvation. So, verse 30, let's look. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel. He says the salvation Christ comes to bring will be for both Jews and Gentiles, and it's through Christ. Now we see this talked extensively, uh about extensively in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11 through 22. We were, as Gentiles, far off from God's people. We've been brought near to God's people because of the blood of Christ, and we're joined in one family with God's people. He's made one new man in place of the two. He's broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile. We both have access to God through Jesus by God's Spirit. For through him, this is Ephesians 2.18, through Jesus, we both, Jews and Gentiles, have access, Greek words prosagoge. It means uh an invitation. It was used in uh uh in the ancient Roman world for the person that would introduce you to the king or the Caesar, the introducer, the inviter. Jesus is our access to God by his spirit to his father. In other words, there are not multiple different ways to God from multiple different groups of people. There's not the religious or ceremonial system for some and then the relationship with Jesus for others. There is one way to God, and that is through his son, Jesus Christ. We see this clearly in the Bible that our access to the Father is not our works, our heritage, our family, our upbringing, our knowledge, or our ethnicity. The only access to a relationship with God forever is through his son, Jesus. And if you don't know the Father, first John, you or sorry, if you don't know the Son, first John, you don't know the Father. Jesus is the salvation. Simeon says all this, and his father and his mother marvel in verse 33 at what was said about him. Walked in, he is kind of a strange guy, grabs their son, holds him up, and then he just says beautiful things about what Jesus has come to do. Simeon blesses them and says to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. In short, while salvation is free for sinners, it will come at a high cost for our Savior. And Simeon begins here to testify now about the rejection and persecution of Christ. So here's what Simeon's saying. Mary and Joseph, your son will determine people's destiny. He will point to the work of God and people will be opposed to it. He will be a light, but he will be a light that exposes sin and people's true position before God. And because he exposes this, he will be persecuted, and this persecution will pierce your heart. Simeon is given to us as an example and as a reminder. He is given to us as an example for what waiting well and trusting the word of God looks like. Staking your life upon it. Even if he seemed weird. And he is a reminder to us for what Jesus came to do and what would happen to him and what would happen to others. So hear me as I conclude. Simeon is an otherwise obscure character. But Jesus includes him in his story. Which is kind of the pattern of the beginning of Jesus' life. It shows us the people he came for. Jesus came meek for the weak. He came to power for the powerless. He came to die for those dead in sin. He did not sit on one throne on earth, yet he sits on heaven's throne above the earth. He hung from a tree, and he did so for you and for me. Let's thank him in prayer. Jesus, you said in John 10 that you had sheep that you had came for that were not in the fold that day. And we marvel that you would mean even us today. We were those sheep you had compassion upon, and you became our shepherd. By your spirit, you convicted us of our sin, opened our eyes to the truth, and we have not turned back. We are following you. You are the most important person in our life. Convict us when we believe that other things matter more. By your spirit, you opened our eyes to see the Christ, and we have never been the same. If that makes us look strange, oh God, we're okay with being strange. I pray, Lord, as we look back upon the mission that was accomplished 30 or so years later, we would do so with gratitude and with joy. As we partake in your meal, Lord, I pray that you would be present with us, restoring to us the joy of your salvation, renewing a right spirit within us, that we might delight in you and your ways, and share you all our days. In your name we pray. All God's people said.