He [Simeon] took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.” Luke 2:28-29
Simeon speaks to God with Christ in his arms. Christ proceeded from the Father. Now He is presented to the Father from whom He came. The Father says of Him, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Simeon holds Him up before God and says, “Lord, He is yours! And yet He is ours, because you gave Him to us.”
Here an ordinary man holds the Son of God in his arms. Matthew Henry says, “When we receive the record which the Gospel gives us of Christ with a lively faith … we take Christ in our arms.”
It is often assumed that Simeon was an old man. But the Bible never says that. The reason we assume him to be old is that when he holds Jesus in his arms, he says to God, “Now you are letting your servant depart in peace.” He may have been old, but not necessarily so.
It does not matter if Simeon was young or old when he died, or what opportunities he had or did not have during his time in this world. What is important is that this man can face death and he can live life because of Jesus. He has peace through Jesus Christ. Bishop Ryle says Simeon speaks “like one for whom the grave has lost its terrors, and the world its charms.”
Are you able to face death and live life with the peace that comes through Jesus?
