Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation 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 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; 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." (Luke 2:25-32)
I love the story of Simeon - only a few verses but it tells a whole life-time. What I also love is how Simeon got to see Jesus, it was by an anointing of the Holy Spirit. In these few verses we find that Simeon heard from the Spirit, that the Spirit was upon him, and that he responded to the promptings of the Spirit to go to the temple that particular day. This seems to me to be a man who lived intimately with the Holy Spirit.
What we are not told is how Simeon identified Jesus. There would have been dozens of 8-day-old boys with their parents at the temple that day; Joseph, Mary and Jesus would have looked like any other family. They didn't have halos, there were no angels accompanying them; so how did Simeon know Jesus when he saw him?
I believe the clue is in what we've already said about him - he was a man of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God within him would have leapt for joy as Simeon's eyes scanned the room looking for the baby he'd lived his life believing he would see.
Simeon's story illustrates for us a simple yet important truth - if we are full of the Spirit we will see Jesus! If Jesus starts to look lost amongst the Christmas revelry, get full of the Spirit and I'm sure you'll see him again!
Have a wonderful Christmas!
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