Anticipated , Matured and Apprehended

Luke 2:25-38; 41-52

January 3, 2021

The revelation of the second coming of Christ is one of the most important and most

frequently mentioned doctrines of the New Testament. One out of every twenty-five

verses in the New Testament refers either to the rapture of the church or to Christ’s

coming to reign over the world. Bible . org.

7957 verses in the New Testament divided by 25 = 318.28

I think I remember 321 times from years past being the number both in

the Old Testament references to the coming of Jesus the first time

and same in the New Testament portraying His Second Coming.

The odds at His First Coming was astronomical for all of them to happen

as the Bible predicted. The same today. I have heard that the odds are

equivalent to one in if all the earth was drops of water.

We have studied about John the Baptist and Jesus Christ in the last two

weeks before Christmas and today I wish to study about two people

who were their contemporaries: Simeon and Anna.

As they were alive at the first coming of Jesus and what was happening in that

world, I would like us to consider the possibility of us being contemporaries

of the Second Coming of Jesus to our world.

I would like to compare what the Scripture says of Simeon and Anna

and what can be said of you and me.

The Matured part of the lesson is the relating of how Christ grew up in vs. 41-52.

Whether I can get to all or not remains to be seen.

I am hoping to cut back a little on my time as I have been going longer

than I should. Hopefully, we will get to what we need to some time,

as we are starting a new year and if God gives us 52 Sundays like He

usually does we should have plenty of time, if we use it wisely, and

under the direction of the Holy Spirit, get the job done!

Before this, however, I would like to discuss what we were studying at the

end of class last week about Light! God, the Father of Lights, and Jesus Christ,

the Light of the world and how we are to shine as lights.

APPREHEND

καταλαμβάνω - katalambano - properly signifies “to lay hold of”; then, “to

lay hold of so as to possess as one’s own, to appropriate.” Hence it has the same twofold

meaning as the Eng. “to apprehend”; (a), “to seize upon, take possession of,” (1) with a

beneficial effect, as of “laying hold” of the righteousness which is of faith, Rom. 9:30

(not there a matter of attainment, as in the Eng. versions, but of appropriation); of the

obtaining of a prize, 1 Cor. 9:24 (RV, “attain”); of the apostle’s desire “to apprehend,” or

“lay hold of,” that for which he was apprehended by Christ, Phil. 3:12-13; (2) with a

detrimental effect, e.g., of demon power, Mark 9:18; of human action in seizing upon a

person, John 8:3-4; metaphorically, with the added idea of overtaking, of spiritual

darkness in coming upon people, John 12:35; of the Day of the Lord, in suddenly coming

upon unbelievers as a thief, 1 Thess. 5:4; (b), “to lay hold of” with the mind, to

understand, perceive, e.g., metaphorically, of darkness with regard to light, John 1:5,

though possibly here the sense is that of (a) as in 12:35; of mental perception, Acts 4:13;

From last week - December 27, 2020 lesson:

CONSIDER HIS WORKS. He is “the Father of the lights.” What a

splendid title! and how suggestive of the purity of God! He is Light in His

own nature, and He is Light in all His relations to the universe. He made the

starry lights — to which, indeed, the expression seems primarily to refer.

He is the Author of all intellectual and spiritual illumination — all Urim and

Thummim, “lights and perfections.” Thus Jesus Christ, as Mediator, is “the

Light of the world;” (John 8:12) and, in relation to the absolute God whom

He reveals, He is “Light of light.” We worship, not light, but “the Father

of the lights.” Let us think of some of the lights of which God is the Father.

ü SUN-LIGHT. The sun is a great work of God. It is adorned like a

“bridegroom;” and it is strong like a “giant to run a race.” (Psalm

19:4-6) Our whole world, and many others, get all their light from it.

The moon takes the sun’s place during night; but its light is just

sunlight second-hand. Star-light, too, is sun-light, for all the

twinkling stars are suns. Now, God made all these upper lights.

He made also all light and fire which man has on earth. Every coal

field is just so much “sown” light. Every lump of coal is full of

bottled sunshine. Man may strike a light, but only God is its Father!

ü LIFE-LIGHT. The light of life is a higher kind of light than sunlight,

and it also comes from God. We see it:

Ø In plants. What makes a flower so beautiful? It is the light

of life. The eye of the daisy - the “day’s eye” — is bright

with this light.

Ø In animals. Life-light makes the birds sing and the lambs

gambol, and fills the air with the buzz of insect gladness.

The lion is the king of beasts so long as he has the light of life,

but “a living dog is better than a dead lion.” (Ecclesiastes 9:4)

Ø In man. In him this light is of a more precious kind, which shall

burn on forever. God “hath set the world (eternity) in their

heart” – Ecclesiastes 3:11) The soul that rises with us, our life’s

star, shall never set. It shall blaze on alter the great lights of

heaven shall have been put out.

Ø In angels. Every angel is “a flame of fire.” (Hebrews 1:7)

Those who stand before God’s throne are the brightest; they

are the seraphim, the shining ones. The angels are “the

morning stars,” and God is their Father.

ü TRUTH-LIGHT. This gives us the light of knowledge. Every useful

book which tells us truth about nature, or the world, or our own

bodies and minds, is a light from God. But the highest and best kind

of truth is about God himself, and about the way to Him. We have

this truth in the Bible; and so the Bible is “a lamp shining in a

dark place” (II Peter 1:19) for it tells of Jesus the Savior, who

lived and died and lives again — “the Light of the world,” the dear

Son of “the Father of the lights.”

ü GRACE-LIGHT. Truth-light is a light outside; but grace-light is one

which God kindles within our hearts. Only those persons have the

light of grace whose souls are illuminated by God’s Holy Spirit. No

sooner does he touch our sin-blinded minds and our sin-darkened

hearts than they begin to shine with God’s light. This new soul-light

will “shine more and more unto the perfect day.” (Proverbs 4:18)

All the lamps of grace are fed, as well as kindled, by “the

Father of the lights

ü HEAVEN-LIGHT. The home of God is full of light. In hell, all is

darkness; on earth, there is mingled light and darkness; in heaven,

there is only light. “There shall be no night there.” God and the

Lamb are “the light thereof.” (Revelation 21:23) And everything in

heaven reflects its light — the jasper walls, the pearly gates, the

golden streets, the crystal river, the white robes, Now it is

holiness that is the light of heaven. All there is pure. Grace-light, when

a good man dies, blazes up into glory-light. And all the holiness of

heaven streams from the Holy, Holy, Holy One — “the Father of the

lights.”

His people, again, are “children of light;” (John 12:36, Ephesians 5:8,, I

Thessalonians 5:5) they reflect the luster of the Sun of righteousness. In God

“is no darkness at all;” but sin is darkness, so it cannot proceed from Him.

He is only “the Father of the lights.”

Philippians 2:15

Matthew 5:22-23

Light of the world, shine on me,

Love is the answer.

Shine on us all, set us free.

Love is the answer. Utopia.

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me. Elton John

I Still haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. U-2

Help - The Beatles

The Episode of Simeon and His Inspired Hymn (vs. 25-35)

25 “And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon;

and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel:

and the Holy Ghost was upon him.” Many expositors have believed that this

Simeon was identical with Simeon (Shimeon) the son of the famous Hillel, and the

father of Gamaliel. This Simeon became president of the Sanhedrin in A.D. 13.

Strangely enough, the Mishna, which preserves a record of the sayings and works

of the great rabbis, passes by this Simeon. The curious silence of the Mishna here

was, perhaps, owing to the hatred which this famous teacher incurred because

of his belief in JESUS OF NAZARETH. Such an identification, although

interesting, is, however, very precarious, the name Simeon being so very common

among the people. Waiting for the consolation of Israel. There was a

general feeling among the more earnest Jews at this time that the advent of

Messiah would not be long delayed. Joseph of Arimathaea is especially

mentioned as one who “waited for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43).

(May it be said of us that we are “waiting for the kingdom of God” – CY –

2012) Dr. Farrar refers to the common Jewish prayer-formula then in use: “May I

see the consolation of Israel!” A prayer for the advent of Messiah was in

daily use.

Manifestly Simeon could go to his last sleep as quietly as to his nightly rest.

We may commit not only the folded hours of the night to God,

but also the folded hours of eternity

What a wonderful blessing for the man, like Simeon, who can say at the end of

life, “I am satisfied! “Lord, let me depart in peace!” Simeon knew by

special communication from God — “it was revealed unto him by the Holy

Ghost” (v. 26), that he should reach a certain point in the coming of the

kingdom of God, that his heart’s deep desire for “the Consolation of

Israel” should be granted him. And waiting for this, and attaining it, his

soul was filled with joy and holy satisfaction. It is right for those who are

taking a very earnest interest in the cause of Christ to long to be allowed to

accomplish a certain work for Him. Again and again has the parent thus

striven and prayed and longed to see the conversion of all his (her)

children, or the teacher of his (her) class; the minister of Christ to see the

attainment of some pastoral design; the missionary to win some tribe from

barbarism and idolatry; the translator to render the Word of God into the

native tongue; the national reformer to pass his measure for emancipation,

or temperance, or virtue, or education, or the protection of the lives and

morals of women or children. And this deep desire of the heart has been a

constraining power, which has nerved the hand and energized the life,

which has brought forth the fruit of sacred zeal and unwearied toil. God

has given to these souls the desire of their hearts, and they have gone to

their grave filled with a holy, satisfying peace. So may it be with us. And

yet it may not be so. We may be called upon to quit the field of active labor

before the harvest is gathered in. Others may enter into our labors. If we have the

spirit of Christ in our service, if we go whither we believe He sends us, and

work on in the way which we believe to be according to His will, we may

rest in the calm assurance that the hour of our cessation from holy labor is

the hour of God’s appointment, and a peace as calm as that of Simeon may

fill our soul as we leave a not- unfinished work on earth to enter a nobler

sphere in heaven.

30 “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared

before the face of all people (more accurately rendered, all peoples); 32 A light

to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” Men like Isaiah,

who lived several centuries before the nativity, with their glorious far reaching

prophecies, such as Isaiah 52:10, were far in advance of the narrow, selfish Jewish

schools of the age of Jesus Christ. It was, perhaps, the hardest lesson the apostles

and first teachers of the faith had to master — this full, free admission of the vast

Gentile world into the kingdom of their God. Simeon, in his song, however, distinctly

repeats the broad, generous sayings of the older prophets.

A Satisfied Human Spirit (vs. 25-30)

There are few more exquisite pictures even in Holy Writ than the one

which is here drawn for us. An aged and venerable man, who has lived a

long life of piety and virtue, and who has been cherishing an

ever-brightening hope that before he dies he should look upon the face of

his country’s Savior, directed by the Spirit of God, recognizes in the infant

Jesus that One for whose coming he has so long been hoping and praying.

Taking Him up into his arms, with the light of intense gratitude in his eyes,

and the emotion of deepest happiness in his voice, he exclaims, “Lord, now

lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.… for mine eyes have seen thy

Salvation.” Life has now no ungranted good for him to await. The last and

dearest wish of his heart has been fulfilled; willingly would he now close

his eyes in the sleep of death; gladly would he now lie down to rest in the

quiet of the grave.

· THOSE WHO MUST BE UNSATISFIED IN SPIRIT. There is a vast

multitude of men who seek for satisfaction in the things which are seen and

temporal — in taking pleasure, in making money, in wielding power, in

gaining honor, etc. But they do not find what they seek. It is as true in

London or New York City as it was in Jerusalem, eighteen centuries/now

twenty centuries after Christ as ten centuries before, when Solomon wrote

that “the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing.”

(Ecclesiastes 1:8). All the rivers of earthly good may run into the great sea of

an immortal spirit, but that sea is not filled. Earthly good is the salt water that

only makes more athirst the soul that drinks it. It is not the very wealthy,

nor the very mighty, nor the very honored man who is ready to say, “I am

satisfied; let me depart in peace.”

· THOSE WHO MAY BE SATISFIED IN SPIRIT. Simeon knew by

special communication from God — “it was revealed unto him by the Holy

Ghost” — that he should reach a certain point in the coining of the

kingdom of God, that his heart’s deep desire for “the Consolation of

Israel” should be granted him. And waiting for this, and attaining it, his

soul was filled with joy and holy satisfaction. It is right for those who are