Luke 2:22-35 | The Light Foreshadowed

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Good morning.

What most of you don't have a chance to recognize is that we had a last-minute change to our order of service this morning, which means I get to preach longer.

No, I won't put you through that.

Some of you, however, have been put through something that maybe you expected, maybe you didn't.

How many of you have endured foundation problems in your home?

Just a handful of you.

I remember very clearly one time when Allison and I were looking at a home to purchase, and we were taken down into the basement of this home, and the wall was caved inward and was starting to crack and buckle on the inside.

Yeah, I wasn't going to buy that house.

Wasn't interested in that.

But we wouldn't have known about that buckling foundation had we not walked in the home and then gone down the stairs into the basement.

And then walked in the basement into that particular area of the basement where the wall was buckling.

That's the way it is with foundations, right?

They're not supposed to be generally noticeable.

Sometimes you might see them.

Most of the time, unless you are purposely looking for a foundation, you might not see it.

But it's there.

At least you hope it is.

Most of our homes today have a firm foundation.

Similarly, our faith should have a firm foundation.

We might not see it all the time.

It might not be perfectly visible.

We might not even think about it, but it is there.

I want you to think with me this morning of another word for a foundation.

A premise.

A premise.

Do you know what premises are?

That's the plural for premise.

It's a simple concept that we can easily overcomplicate.

A premise is a fact or a statement, maybe even another element of reality that supports something else.

It can support another statement, a conclusion, or a question.

It comes before or underneath something else.

So we have the reality that our homes have foundations.

And we understand that as a premise.

If we have a home, we presume that there is a foundation under it.

You drove to church this morning.

Maybe some of you walked, but if you drove to church this morning, there's a premise behind that.

Your vehicle had fuel in it.

We might not think about that.

There's a premise behind it that your tires had air in it.

Now, a premise is a part of logic that we use regularly in communication, even though you might not realize it.

Just like your home has a foundation, you might not think about it on a regular basis.

You may even spend time in your basement and never process the fact that there is a foundation surrounding you that is holding up the house on top of you.

It's there.

Why would I talk about logic, specifically an aspect of logic, a premise, as I ask you to turn to Luke 2?

Why would I do that?

I want you to think about premises with me because our trust in God is strengthened and our joy at Christmas time is expanded by meditating on the premises of our passage this morning as we contemplate the arrival of the light of the world.

The Puritan pastor Thomas Manton asked about God's grace in this way.

He said, He that is so wise, so loving of mankind, our supreme judge and king, would he hide his light under a basket?

I think his word was actually a bushel, not a basket, but you get the point.

Manton's question about hiding God hiding his light stands on two premises.

One is implied and one is stated.

The unstated biblical premise of Manton's question is from 1 John.

You're probably familiar with it.

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

So Thomas Manton is presuming that God is light.

There's an assumption that underlies, underlays, whatever.

Sorry, grammarians.

I'm not a grammarian.

That's underneath supports as a foundation for his question.

That's the unstated premise.

Then comes the stated premise in Manton's question.

God is a wise, loving, supreme judge and king.

Two premises upon which he asks this question.

Would that kind of a God hide his light under a basket?

In our modern way of communicating, we might phrase Manton's statement like this Would the wise, loving, supreme judge and king of mankind hide his light from us?

Manton's question is no.

Absolutely not.

God is light, and in his wise, loving, and righteous rule, he would naturally reveal his light to us.

That is the essence of the statements made by an old man named Simeon in Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Like Thomas Manton, Simeon's statements in Luke 2 are built upon premises about God's light.

Look at your Bible with me in Luke chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

I'm just going to read the whole section for us, get us some context so we understand what's going on here.

Our focus will be in the middle of the passage, though.

Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse 22.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And when the time came for their purification, that is, we're talking about Joseph and Mary taking the infant Christ to the temple on the eighth day after his birth.

When the time came, according to the law of Moses, they brought him, that is Jesus, up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord, 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.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation or the comfort of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came into this in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God, and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

That means it's time for him to die.

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.

And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him, and Simeon blessed them and said 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 thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

Amen.

Our focus today, the next two Sundays and Christmas Eve, is on the arrival of the light of the world.

And here Simeon confirms the light arrived.

But that's not the end of the story, is it?

The church has celebrated that arrival for two thousand years.

It's normal for us.

But I wonder if it's not too normal.

Do you think that the Christmas season impacts you as it should?

Let me ask the question differently.

Do you think that your comprehension of God's work in the incarnation can increase so that your joy in the Christmas season can be enhanced?

Do you think you can comprehend and understand more of what God has done so that you can appreciate the season more than you already do?

Hopefully, every single one of you says yes.

If you say no, we have to talk afterwards.

Come and see me.

I want us to consider if there might be a little more clarity, a little more depth, an understanding of God's light that can strengthen our trust, that can enrich our joy during this season.

And I want us to do that by briefly considering some of Simeon's implied premises.

What's an implied premise?

When a premise is implied, it means it's not directly stated.

It's there, but like a house foundation, you might not always see it unless you go looking for it.

It's not something that you perceive that isn't there, it's really there.

But you might have to look a little further to find it.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Let's imagine that I invite you to our home for supper time.

Some of you call it dinner time, and you'll get over that eventually.

Let's imagine that I invite you over to our home for suppertime.

Because our culture connects food with the word supper, we could say that the implied premise of my invitation is that food will be served and that we're going to eat.

You would likely interpret my invitation as an invitation to come and eat together.

No, I didn't mention food in my invitation.

I never mentioned eating.

I invited you to our home for supper time.

But inviting you to my home for supper time implies that food will be present.

And we will eat it.

We use implied premises in our conversations and writing all the time.

And that's what Thomas Manton did.

Would the wise, loving, and supreme judge and king of mankind hide his light from us?

Now remember, there's an implied premise.

God is light.

Simeon's faith displays similar premises.

Look with me at his faith.

We see here that Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the temple on the eighth day after his birth to fulfill the requirements of the law.

They offered a sacrifice, a small sacrifice of a couple of birds.

And then God's Spirit caused old Simeon to be in the temple at the same time.

Simeon came up, took hold of this infant child, and with eyes of faith, he saw the eternal light of God between his hands.

Who would have dreamed we could hold God in our hands?

Maybe better.

Can you hold light?

Who would have dreamed that we could hold the light of the world in our hands?

How did Simeon know that Jesus is the light of the world?

The simple answer is that the Holy Spirit told him.

Multiple times in our passage, beginning in verse 25, we see the Spirit being present.

The Spirit is upon him.

The Holy Spirit reveals to him that he wouldn't die before he'd seen the Christ.

He comes in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is surrounding this whole event.

So how did Simeon know?

Well, God the Spirit told him.

But that isn't all we see here.

Luke shows us that old Simeon was waiting for the consolation of his people.

You see, he knew something was coming.

He knew God was about to do something extraordinary.

And he knew it because he knew God's word.

Simeon had seen the light foreshadowed in Scripture, and so now when it's in his hands, he rejoices because he sees the divine eternal light in the infant in his arms.

Similarly, if we can gain a measure of Simeon's belief in God's premises and strengthen our trust in God's promises, our joy will be enriched as we rest in God's provision.

Consider with me three ways Simeon should impact our joy in light of Christ.

First of all, Simeon seeing the light of God in the infant Messiah should enrich our anticipation of seeing the light of Christ.

Notice that Simeon says in verse 30 that he saw God's salvation.

He saw God's salvation, that salvation which is in verse 32, light for revelation to the nations.

There's an implied premise there that God is light and that God designed his light to be seen.

Simeon would not have seen the light of God's salvation if God had not designed his light to be seen.

Have you ever realized that God is connected with light all throughout your Bible?

It's a fascinating study.

I encourage you to do it sometime.

Think about this.

Do you remember the very first words spoken in recorded history?

It's in Genesis chapter 1 in verse 3.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

And God said, Let there be light.

And there was light.

If you read Genesis 1, in view of 1 John 1, 5, some fascinating insights result.

1 John 1.5 says, God is light.

And he's set apart from his creation.

He acts as creator, which means he does the work.

He's set apart.

He's distinct from it.

Therefore, when God spoke and said, Let there be light, he ordained that an attribute of his being illumine creation.

In other words, God turned on the sun, the moon, and the stars so that they would remind us of him because he is light.

It wasn't this cold this morning, but one of these winter mornings when you see a sun dog in the morning, it should remind you, my God is light.

God gave his creation an element of his being to illuminate his world.

So God wants us to see his world in light of who he is.

He wants us to see his world not through dark glasses or jaded opinions or unbiblical theories, but through the light of his glory.

In his book, The Cross and the Experience of Our Lord, R.

A.

Finlison, suggests that there's even a divine purpose in the order of words for days in Genesis 1.

Have you ever thought about why it's recorded evening and morning was the first day, evening and morning was the second day, and so on?

Why not morning and evening?

Is it just some poetic way of writing it down?

Maybe.

Finlayson suggests, though, that the phrase evening and morning is that way because God always faces the light.

He's always looking forward and seeing light.

That's an interesting thought since God brought order and life out of the chaos when he gave light to his world and separated the darkness from the light.

God is always looking forward to light.

His light brought into his world.

Perhaps that's why it says in the book of Revelation that in the end God will banish darkness, for the Lord God Himself will be the light, with no need for sun or moon.

From beginning to end, God faces the light because he is light.

Maybe Finn listens right.

Something interesting to think about.

What we do know is that in the New Testament, darkness represents the realm of Satan and death and judgment.

Satan's called the ruler of this dark world.

So if we put this all together, we might say that from beginning, from the very beginning, light represents God Himself and the hope of life that he brings to his world, while darkness represents the works of the devil who hates the light and wants to overcome the light.

It makes sense why they would become the image of hope that God gave to Abraham.

God said, Your hope is in my light.

God followed that up by coming to Abraham in the darkness of night as a torch.

That hope expanded when God spoke prophetically of a star of Judah who would come to rule.

I'm convinced that was the text that the Magi read to learn that a star would mark the birth of God's Messiah King.

The thousands of years of life on earth before that first Christmas were much like Abraham's experience with God.

Sin had covered the earth with a long, deep darkness.

But those with eyes to see still hoped in the God who gave the world's lights to point to him.

That beloved Christmas song, O holy night, whisks us through the millennia with the words, long lay the world in sin and error.

And in the midst of that, old Simeon saw the light of God's salvation.

A light God Himself had ordained to be seen.

And God ordained that mankind would one day not only be reminded of him by the presence of light in the sky, but would see his light in the person of his son.

Old Simeon must have felt the burden of the ages of darkness.

Sin had stolen across the world that was robed in God's light, bringing darkness by blinding people to it.

Simeon felt that burden.

He looked for its release, its consolation, its comfort.

And in this moment, he takes this infant and he declared that he saw the light of salvation, the infant Messiah.

The implied premise is that God designed his divine light to be seen, and that stirred joy in Simeon.

Friends, our joy should be enriched by anticipating seeing the light of Christ.

First in salvation, and ultimately when we behold him.

Like Simeon, seeing God's light can enrich our lives and our hope.

Our lives are enriched first with eyes of faith.

As we look through Simeon's eyes at the infant, believing that he is the world's savior who would robe himself in human flesh that he might die the death of a slave on a Roman cross.

And so entrust ourselves to him.

That's how we first see his light.

Secondly, we look with anticipation to the future when we, like Job, will see God's light with our own eyes.

Job says, one day I know I will see my living Redeemer with my own eyes.

That hope brightens your Christmas because it adds an element of anticipation, but it only adds anticipation if we first believe that God is light and that he has sent his son as the light of the world.

Anticipation is the greater part of Christmas, isn't it?

Especially the younger you are.

Your excitement about the season is driven by what you might receive, what you might unveil and open.

Oh, Christian, let your joy be driven by the anticipation of seeing the light of God in the face of Jesus like old Simeon.

If we can gain a measure of Simeon's belief in Scripture's premises and strengthen our trust in God's promises, our joy will be enriched as we rest in Christ's promises.

Look with me at a second element of Simeon's faith.

Sho intensify our desire for understanding.

Not understanding just for understanding's sake, but so that it would lead us to commit our trust to Messiah Jesus and offer joyful worship.

I've returned to this passage here in Luke 2 too many times to count.

It continues to fascinate me.

I'm astounded at the broadness and the depth of Simeon's knowledge of Scripture.

And it was not merely knowledge, it was something like familiarity.

That is, he speaks of Scripture as though it's his friend, some friend that he knows very well, that he spent his life with.

You see, as you become friends with God's word, you become friends with its author.

And as you become friends with Scripture and friends with Scripture's author, you begin to have it infuse your entire being such that it just comes out of you.

I could preach another sermon or two on the riches here, but I want to point out just three nuggets for you.

The first nugget is that Simeon is familiar with God's promises of salvation.

If you look over at chapter three of Luke, chapter three, verse five, it says, Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be made low, the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

This is talking about John the Baptist.

Our scripture reading for this morning.

John the Baptist came as the prelude to all flesh seeing the salvation of God.

That comes from Isaiah chapter 52, verse 10.

Isaiah 52:10

But what seems to be the case is that Isaiah is borrowing something that is much older than Isaiah the prophet.

What's older than Isaiah the prophet?

Well, Psalm 98.

Psalm 98, beginning in verse 2, seems to be the basis for what's going on in this text that Simeon quotes.

Psalm 98.

The Lord has made known his salvation.

He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.

He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Simeon knows that.

He continues on by telling us that he's familiar with God's promises of revelation.

Now, revelation here means to reveal something in the way that you sort of unveil it, you unwrap it.

In more picturesque language, it means to turn the light on, to shine light in the dark so that something becomes visible.

Simeon is overwhelmed as he holds the great revealing light in his arms.

Maybe he's reminiscing about Isaiah 42, 6, where God says, I am Yahweh, I have called you my servant, speaking of the Messiah, in righteousness.

I will take you by the hand and keep you.

I will give you as a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations.

What does that mean?

A light just to see where they're going?

Are they lost?

Yes.

So is he giving them the Messiah to see where they need to go?

Well, not especially.

When God gives the Messiah as a light to the nations, he's revealing something to them.

He's shining the light on something to reveal their sin and their need for him.

That's why we read in Isaiah 49, 6, which seems to be the direct parallel of Simeon's statement, where God says, it's too light, it's too small of a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved people of Israel?

No, that's not enough.

I want my glory to extend further, so I will make you as a light to the nations, so that my salvation will reach to the end of the earth.

What happens when God turns on the light of salvation for the nations?

Well, we see that in Isaiah 60, verse 3.

Isaiah 60:3

The nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.

Simeon is familiar just from his statements here of quoting scripture.

He is familiar with God's promises of salvation.

He's familiar with God's light revealing things to people who've never had this revelation before.

And he's also familiar with God's promises of glory.

God says in Isaiah 46, 13, I bring near my righteousness.

It's not far off.

And my salvation will not delay.

I will put salvation in Zion.

That's his kind of pet name for Jerusalem.

For Israel my glory.

Look at what Zechariah says.

Looking at the wrong passage.

That you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.

You see, old Simeon received divine revelation that he wouldn't die before he saw the Lord's Messiah.

That would make you keep getting up in the morning, right?

But a lifetime of scripture infusion into his heart and soul supported that revelation.

And it came rushing out in about a twenty-second blessing.

Simeon was familiar with scripture, the scriptures that reveal that God was working long ages to bring his light to the world, a saving, a revealing, and a glorifying light.

That work was undertaken before the nations so that the nations would have their hearts revealed and believe.

There's an important premise here.

The premise is that God has spoken of his salvation light before.

We know that because Simeon says very clearly, God has been preparing it.

God's been preparing it in full view of all people.

Friends, that ought to increase your joy.

You should be overjoyed that God was preparing his Christmas light for you to see if you have seen the light in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He was preparing it for you so that your heart might be revealed and turned to trust in him.

Therefore, our trust in God's promises and our hope in his glorious fulfillment should fuel our worship in the present.

But that requires that we spend some time reading and searching the scriptures with awareness of what God is doing.

Are we enriching our lives through familiarity with God's word?

Do we long to know Scripture and to know Scripture's authored?

Do we read to know and to understand so that our trust is deepened and our praise is enriched?

Simeon did.

What came pouring out of him in about 20 seconds of holding this infant is a lifetime of infusion of Scripture.

Spoken in such a way that it's not just something that he's memorized, but something that he has become familiar with and entrusted himself to.

And that is that Simeon's awareness of God's provision of light should strengthen our trust and God's promises of life.

A mere eight days earlier, God's glories streamed from heaven on shepherds tending their sheep on a dark, lonely night.

Heavenly light with heavenly hosts declared that God's holy Son had been born, loves pure light, the radiant beams from God's holy face.

Now we're not told if Simeon had any awareness of that night.

I'd like to ask him someday.

Did you know that?

But on this day, on this day when God incarnate first returned to his house, the temple, carried into it, an old man knew that God had kept his promise to send his light into the world once more.

Our aged saints.

Oh, that you would be like Simeon.

To know the moment when God's light is in front of you.

Simeon wasn't talking about the sun when he saw the light of God's salvation.

He spoke of a light so powerful that it destroys.

It's a light that destroyed the power of darkness and destroyed death's deep, destructive hold.

He spoke of a light that restores.

God's light came into a dark and dreary world, a light to those in darkness, a light more glorious than daylight, a light of hope and life.

John would later write, in him was life, and that life was the light of men.

And Simeon knew it.

You've heard me say this several times already.

If we can drill this into our minds, it's perfect.

If we can gain a measure of Simeon's belief in Scripture's premises.

And through that, to strengthen our trust in God's promises, our joy will be enriched.

Who knows how much.

As we rest in God's provision.

We should desire to be like old Simeon.

We should meditate on God's word to gain such an awareness of God's work that we speak of it like a friend.

We should meditate upon it so that God's word becomes the premise of our lives, the premise of our actions and of our thoughts.

That it is the unseen foundation that upholds us day in and day out, moment by moment.

We should meditate upon it because in that light we find true life.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus.

May you open any blind eyes this very moment who have not seen your light.

That they would be drawn to trust in you.

As the Savior come to rescue us from the darkness of sin and death.

Lord Jesus, in this season may we see you as the light of the world who brings true life.

Even as we sing light and life to all you bring.

Give us a burning desire to look at your word and to think of it more deeply than we ever have before.

So that it might become the foundation of our lives.

Restore our hearts.

Restore our minds.

Through your word, feed us.

For we know that that is the food that we need.

Build us up and strengthen us so that one day, one day when we see you with our very eyes, we will give praise and worship and honor to you, just like Simeon.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.