Most of us can remember the anticipation of Christmas! When I was a child we opened presents on Christmas morning, so we couldn’t wait to wake my parents and let the festivities begin! In this message Pastor Clark explores the story of the dedication of Jesus – and the blessing Simeon and Anna received through waiting.

<p>Most of us can remember the anticipation of Christmas! When I was a child we opened presents on Christmas morning, so we couldn’t wait to wake my parents and let the festivities begin! In this message Pastor Clark explores the story of the dedication of Jesus – and the blessing Simeon and Anna received through waiting.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Dalton SDA Church

Chester Clark

Waiting for the Promise

Well, let me ask a question for the boys and girls here today.

And some of the older boys and girls here, do you remember what it was like to be a child?

You remember looking forward to Christmas and you couldn't wait until you could go and wake up your mom and dad, if it was Christmas morning that you opened presents.

You couldn't wait until you could go and jump on their bed and wake them up and haul them to the living room or den or wherever your Christmas tree was and there you would open your presents.

1 of my favorite memories of Christmas was actually 1 year, I think it must have been around 1980 or 81 or something like that, and we lived in Arkansas.

My grandmother, my mother's mother, lived in Lincoln, Nebraska.

She was a food service director at Union College.

And 1 Christmas we decided to surprise her.

I think it was a last minute decision, at least I didn't know about it as a kid until the last minute.

We piled into our 1978 Honda Accord and we started heading north.

It was Christmas Eve and it was a blizzard, a snowstorm across the plains and so we're making our way to Lincoln, Nebraska.

When we got to Lincoln we actually went to 1 of my dad's cousin's houses, and we called my grandmother.

And she said, oh, I wish you could be here.

And we said, oh, we wish we could be there, too.

And we had a nice talk with her and hung up the phone, and then we ran quickly over to her house and knocked on her door a few minutes later.

And I think she thought she was seeing an apparition or something.

She had just talked to us in Arkansas, and there we were on our doorstep.

And surprises are wonderful, aren't they?

It's a time when we can be together with our families and friends.

It's a time when we remember the gift of Jesus.

And you know, I do remember Christ at Christmas because I think we're counseled, we're counseled this time of year to make the most out of the time when people are having their hearts turned toward God, when they're having their hearts turned toward the gift of Jesus, when they're having their hearts turned towards family and each other.

In Luke chapter 2 and verse 22 we're going to begin now.

Luke chapter 2, if you'll turn with me there.

Luke chapter 2 and verse 22, we find that this is a story of Jesus being presented in the temple, Much like little Ileana Libby was just dedicated to Jesus, Jesus himself as a little baby was being brought by his parents to the temple.

Now, when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him, Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

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

And, verse 24, to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or 2 young pigeons.

So here this family, this little family, young baby Jesus, young mother Mary, they make their way to the temple.

And now this is something that happened on a daily basis.

In fact, it happened whenever the particular time period was over.

After the birth of a baby, it was just a matter of days, short weeks, And the mother and the father would bring the baby to the temple.

And it happened so frequently that it was sort of routine and trivial, maybe even trite.

I'm sure that the priests, it was just a matter of ceremony, you understand.

And yet it was a ceremony that, like most things in the temple, pointed forward to Jesus.

Jesus was the child that was to be coming, and the dedication of every child, every young son to God was a reminder that there's a son coming.

There's a promised seed that will come that will be the Messiah.

And so here you have Jesus being brought and the priest doesn't really recognize anything important.

In fact, the priest has probably largely forgotten what this whole thing is about, what the whole dedication means.

They've largely forgotten that there is a promised Redeemer coming, a Messiah coming.

Well, they know there's a Messiah coming, but they don't think of it in the terms that prophecy actually portrayed it.

And so here they are, they're getting the 2 young pigeons or the pair of turtle doves together to take to the temple and while the priest is not particularly looking or waiting for a baby that will be the baby.

Verse 25, it says, Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, And this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

When we look at Simeon here, we see that he was waiting for something.

The Bible says he was waiting for consolation, the consolation of Israel.

The Bible doesn't tell us much about Simeon.

The Bible tells us that in verse 26, as we continue, it says, "...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 so Simeon's expectation focused on the comfort that Christ would bring.

Among the Jews in Simeon's day, 1 of the popular titles of the Messiah to come was the Comforter.

Like some of the Christmas songs that we often sing this time of year, those Jews were longing for the Messiah to come and bring His comfort to them.

You know, it seems to me that comfort is a universal need.

Maybe it's just when we've had a long, hard day.

Maybe it's when we've got the flu and we're feeling achy.

Maybe it's when our hearts have hurts and wounds and scars and we're broken people.

All of us are broken to 1 degree, aren't we?

It's a universal need and thankfully the Messiah was to come as the comforter.

Thankfully the Messiah was to be here as the consolation of Israel.

In fact, Christmas is a time when we remember that we need comfort, don't we?

Do you realize that the Christmas season is a time when people suffer the most with depression?

It's 1 of the highest times of suicide rates.

The good news is that Jesus came as the consolation of Israel.

He himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." The Bible says in verse 26 that it had been revealed to him that the Messiah would come before he died.

Verse 27 says, so he came by the Spirit into the temple.

It says he came by the Spirit into the temple.

He says he came by the Spirit into the temple.

God was leading him in his life, but you know, Simeon wasn't willing to just sit at home.

He was going to be where God's action would be, amen?

And so the Holy Spirit has revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ, the Messiah.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple.

He got up out of his comfortable home, off his comfortable chair, no doubt, and he made his way to the temple in Jerusalem.

And the Bible says, when the parents, Mary and Joseph, brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he, Simeon, 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.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel." What a wonderful, wonderful blessing Simeon gave.

Simeon recognized that this little baby, this helpless babe in Mary's arms was the consolation of Israel, the comforter that he had been waiting for.

Joseph and his mother, the Bible says, marveled, verse 33, they marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

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Waiting for the Promise

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