"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ he Lord" Luke. 2:11
Many people and places are mentioned in what we are pleased to call The Christmas Story. We read of Mary and Joseph, of the shepherds and the wise men, and of Bethlehem and the hill country of Judaea.
A man named Simeon
But other persons and places have their place in the Bible record of the birth of Christ. One such is “a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon” (Luke 2:25). He was a just and devout man to whom the Spirit of God revealed that he would not die before he had seen “the Lord’s Christ”. What a wonderful expectation that was!
One day in the temple in Jerusalem his expectation became a reality. It was 40 days since Jesus had been born and Mary and Joseph brought Him to the temple to present Him to the Lord in accordance with the law of the Lord. When they entered the temple Simeon immediately knew that this was the child he had been waiting to see and he took Him up in his arms and gave thanks to God saying, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation”.
Salvation appreciated
Consider those words, “mine eyes have seen Thy salvation”. Simeon was holding an infant in his arms and may have gazed upon His face as he spoke. Yet Simeon knew and believed that in this Child was salvation, and we ought not to be surprised by this, for His name Jesus means
“He shall save his people from their sins”.
A piercing sword
Simeon spoke amazing words that day including this prediction concerning Mary,
“Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also”.
This happened over thirty-three years later when “there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother” (John 19:25). Her anguish must have been heart rending as she witnessed the awful sufferings of her first born and tenderly loved Son. A sword pierced through her soul that day.
Salvation available
Yet if Mary felt that piercing, how much more did God, Who was giving His only begotten Son (John 3:16), and Christ, Who was giving
“Himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:6).
Was such anguish and suffering really necessary? Yes indeed, for it is the only means through which a holy and righteous God can offer salvation to sinners, guilty before Him.
Simeon’s words have a vital message to us all. They teach us that salvation is in a Person, and from the apostle Peter we learn that there are no alternative sources of salvation.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
You may never have realised this, but there is nothing that you need more than salvation. Today will you acknowledge you are a guilty sinner?
“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31)
“Thou shalt call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21)
“My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1:47)
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15)