A Word in Season: Light in Darkness (Luke 2:3-32)

Depending on where you live in the world, winter can be a difficult time of year. There are places, wherever winter falls, in the northern or the southern hemisphere, where, once the sun has gone down for winter proper, it doesn't rise again for months at a time.

Day after day is marked by darkness and dreariness, often with particularly gloomy or oppressive weather. The day never really gets bright, it just gets slightly less dark for a little while. Under those circumstances, our minds and our hearts can become weighed down.

We find it hard to look up with any kind of confidence or hope. But what if you think that your whole society is sunk in darkness? What if it seems like the light has not shone, not just for months, but for years?

Simeon and the Consolation of Israel in Luke 2

That's the situation in which Simeon found himself in Luke chapter 2. He had been waiting for the consolation of Israel. He was a man described as just and devout there in chapter 2 and verse 25. He was a man upon whom the Holy Spirit was resting.

And in the midst of the spiritual darkness and misery of that moment in history for the people of Israel, Simeon was looking up with hope. He had been given a particular promise to add to the assurances that God would in due course work for salvation.

He had been told that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And so it was that under the influence of God's Spirit, he came to the temple just at the same time that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus as an infant to the same place in order to perform the works according to the law that were appointed for them.

The Song of Simeon and the Light of Salvation

And so Simeon took up this baby Jesus 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.

When Simeon held the infant Christ in his arms, he knew under the operations of the Holy Spirit that this was God's promised deliverer, that this was the consolation of Israel, that this was the hope of all who were in the world.

Lord, he said, now I can go in peace because my eyes have seen your salvation. Simeon looks up and he looks out and he understands that God has been working throughout history. Ever since that first promise that he would send a champion for mankind, he would crush the head of the serpent, God has been at work.

God's Redemption Plan from Creation to Christ

And now God's plan of redemption has reached its climax in the person of his son taking flesh and blood. God has been preparing these things. It's not a random act. It's not an unexpected occurrence. It's the culmination of a glorious plan that not only spans all time, but goes back into the depths of eternity.

And it is a gracious plan. It's the intention of God to bring revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of his people, Israel. It's not limited to some particular country or to some particular people. It's a salvation that is going to shine out into the darkness of the world and God will make himself known for mercy and for redemption.

And Simeon's grand sense of God's purpose contracts down as it were, as he looks at the baby in his arms. For this is the saviour. Here is salvation. This is how and in whom God is going to carry out these glorious global purposes, making a kingdom for himself, exalting his own name, bringing glory through his son Jesus Christ and redeeming a people through his blood.

Looking to Christ in Present Darkness

Simeon sees the light in the darkness and it is this that brings hope to our hearts. We may see much of darkness, much of dreariness, much of gloom, much of misery around us. There may be, it seems, very little to alleviate the weight that can drag down our minds and our hearts.

But the worst of all weights is the weight of sin and the greatest of all hopes is Christ Jesus who alone can deliver us. So let us keep looking up to him, the author and finisher of faith, trusting in his light in our present darkness.