The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Luke 2:32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.

Isaiah 49:6 Indeed He says,
‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

We’ve talked several times through Simeon’s testimony and prophecy how God never intended the Jewish people to just be his people. They were meant for a bigger, higher purpose. As God said to Abraham early on, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” All the families of the earth was God’s plan from the beginning. And it will be his plan until the end. In Revelation, John sees people from every tribe and nation filling heaven.

As Jesus himself said, people who love God should be a light on a hill. A candle that all can see and follow the way. But the religious leaders of the day were trying to hide it beneath the barrel of tradition and nationality. Under those covers, it could not be for everyone. Truth be told, many didn’t want it to be available for everyone. There is something appealing, like hiding a plate of cookies, to getting the blessings of God all to yourself. Even if he never intended things to work that way.

But hoarding the blessing eventually means no blessing just like a candle burning under a bushel will eventually go out from the lack of oxygen. God set up this universe so that things are meant to be shared. A shared flame keeps going and will re-light your own when it goes out. Shared food seems to go farther and satisfy more. Shared love grows exponentially until the heart cannot hold it.

It is the beacon that God uses to call the world to himself.