If you were asked to make a list of the top Christmas songs, which ones would be at or near the top? I wonder if your answer to that question on the last day of December would differ from the answer you would have given on the first day of December. After all, part of the “magic” of the holidays is that a month of listening to the same songs can turn the nostalgic into the nauseating.
When it comes to Christmas favorites, we’d probably need to differentiate between the traditional and the trendy, between the hymns we enjoy singing in church and the songs that are played throughout the season on the radio. Some Christmas hymns are so close to our hearts, that to go through the entire Christmas season without singing them in church just wouldn’t seem right. Families tend to have their own particular play list of songs and artists that they find especially meaningful.
Whatever songs might make your list, add to them the one recorded in Luke 2. It is a “Christmas” song that has remained on the top of the chart of Christianity for 2000 years. How many other songs of Christmas can compete with that? So popular is the song that the church still sings it today as a regular part of worship! It is known as the “Song of Simeon,” or Nunc Dimittis (“Now you dismiss”) in Latin.
Who is this Simeon? Outside of Luke’s Gospel, we know nothing reliable. Nevertheless, Luke does share with us several telling details. “Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25). He is not given any special title or recognition. He was not mentioned as being a priest or any other position of authority; just a man in Jerusalem. He was both “righteous” and “devout.” He took his faith seriously and was a deeply committed man of God – a man who delighted in the Lord.
This devout man had been waiting patiently in his lifetime for what Luke refers to as “the consolation of Israel.” Consider that phrase for just a moment. Who is it that needs consolation? It is someone who has experienced a loss or disappointment. We think of a person shedding tears to be in need of some sort of consolation to help ease the loss. Even in the sporting world, a team settles for a consolation prize if they can’t compete for the championship.
But the word used in the context of Simeon is much deeper. The reference is to the One who brings consolation from sin and its guilt. Simeon is waiting for the Messiah—the Anointed One—the promised of God to every generation. He was waiting for his Savior.
And by some special revelation of the Holy Spirit, it was made known to him that “he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (v. 26). It was not mere coincidence then, that he would encounter Mary and Joseph and their newborn son in the temple. Through divine intervention, the Holy Spirit had led him there, but it was ceremonial law that had led Mary and Joseph there.
They were there to fulfill law that required every firstborn son to be presented to the Lord. This practice had its origins in the Passover. While still in Egypt, God had initially “passed over” the Israelite homes that had marked their doorposts with the blood of a lamb and spared their firstborn son. To serve as a reminder of how God had spared every firstborn son, God’s people were then required to dedicate every firstborn son to his service. Later, even though males from the tribe of Levi eventually overtook this role, parents were still required to present every firstborn son to the Lord by paying a price to redeem him, as he belonged to the Lord. Mary and Joseph had gone to the temple to pay that price for their firstborn son, Jesus.
So the scene was set for Simeon to meet his Savior, and when he did, “Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (v. 28-32). Not only are these words a beautiful confession of Simeon’s faith, but they also serve as a wonderful proclamation of all that the infant child in his arms would accomplish. So magnificent were Simeon’s words that God included them in his Holy Word, and has led the church to include them in regular worship for just about as long as Christians have been gathering for worship! For these reasons, let us look carefully at these words and come to appreciate them more fully.
Simeon expressed the reason for his rejoicing in his song: “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people.” With his own eyes, Simeon saw much more than just a baby; he saw his Savior. And, by his words, Simeon expresses the realization that the child in his arms was not only his Savior, but the Savior of all people. Jesus came for the salvation of every soul. He would secure the salvation of every soul. Some teach that Jesus saves only those who accept him or have a strong enough faith or are generally pretty good Christians. Simeon reminds us that he came for all people.
This truth is also emphasized by the words, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” Throughout Advent and during Christmas we see and hear the recurring theme of Jesus as the Light of the world. Simeon echoes that theme with this very phrase. Jesus was a Light to reveal salvation not only to God’s Old Testament chosen people, the Israelites, but also to the Gentiles—to every nation on earth.
But that didn’t in any way take away from what he meant to Israel. Israel could still make the claim that no other nation on earth could make: that Jesus came from their people, the people of Israel. Simeon said it like this: “for glory to your people Israel.” Madonna was from my home town of Bay City, Michigan. San Diegans can claim a number of famous people had their roots here. Only those of Jewish descent can claim the Savior as one of their own. Whether they acknowledge it by faith or not, Jesus is their greatest glory.
See how the God-with-us/Immanuel Savior affected Simeon! “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.” With this phrase Simeon points out something that is unique to God—he keeps his word. God promised that Simeon would live to see his Savior and he did. Keeping promises is really what Christmas is all about. The Savior was born in Bethlehem because God kept his promise.
The promise kept at Christmas carries a special weight to it for New Testament Christians, because that promise kept gives credibility to all of God’s promises that followed and continue to follow. The Savior was born, just as God promised, and so we know that he would live perfectly as our Substitute, just as God promised. He would die for us, just as God promised. He would rise again from the dead, just as God promised. Finally, he will come again, just as God promised.
The irony of course is in how badly we, who do not keep promises, need the One who did. One drawback of God’s Christmas promise is that it serves as another reminder of how bad we are at keeping our promises—promises to ourselves, to others, and to God. “This year I’m going to get everything done early. I’m going to eat less. I’m going to spend less” Broken, broken, and broken. “This year we’re going to do something special as a family. I’ll keep in better touch with my extended family over the holidays.” Broken and broken. “This year I’m going to follow through with my commitment to spending more time preparing spiritually. I’m also going to spend more time in God’s house for worship.” Broken and broken. We evaluate our own inabilities to keep our own word, our own promises, and we quickly become aware of how much we needed the one who keeps his every promise, not the least of which is his promise to forget our sins through Christ Jesus.
That same God is the one who had kept his promise to Simeon, and Simeon in his song then confirmed the peace that had swept over him: “you now dismiss your servant in peace.” Many assume here that the dismissal to which Simeon referred was speaking of his departure from his earthly life to heaven. Indeed this portion of Scripture has brought much comfort at the funerals of those who have died in Christ. Such an application is most certainly appropriate, especially given the way it is portrayed in the original language. Quite literally, Simeon said, “Now you release your slave, master.” Picture a lifelong slave being freed from every labor and toil and the anguish associated with it. How could such a situation bring about anything less than peace?
And here already we begin to understand and more fully appreciate why these words have been sung for centuries by Christians who have just received the Lord’s body and blood. For what is it that we receive in that body and blood but release! We receive release from the guilt of our sins. We receive release from the heavy burdens of our own disobedience. Yes, through the Lord’s Supper the chains of sin that bind us to the devil are smashed to pieces. And as we return to our seats we know personally the very peace of which Simeon spoke in his song.
It was a peace that a mom discovered unexpectedly. As a thunderstorm rumbled loudly throughout the night, her scared little girl came into her room to slip into her bed and snuggle up. As soon as she had done so, she fell back asleep. While her mother felt her gentle breathing and saw how peacefully she was sleeping, she had a realization. Her daughter didn’t come in and ask her to make the storm stop, she just wanted to be by her during it. How often in her own life had she prayed and pleaded for God to make the storms stop instead of simply seeking out God’s presence to be near her and get through those storms peacefully?
In the year ahead, friends, you know there will be storms. During those times, with arms of faith, embrace the Prince of Peace like Simeon in the temple courts, and find peace and security. We don’t always need God to put a stop to the storms; we just need him to be near us through them. And he is. And he always will be every time we marvel at him like Simeon and like Mary and Joseph.
We aren’t surprised to hear the reaction of Mary and Joseph to Simeon’s salvation song: “The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him” (v. 33). Little did they know, they had just heard one of the most popular Christmas songs ever; so popular, in fact, that it has to be sung more often than just Christmas. It begs to be sung by Christians all over the world who experience the same peace that Simeon did—a peace that comes not only at Christmas, but whenever we receive the Lord’s Supper and all other times God’s Word assures us of our forgiveness.