The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Luke 2: 28 Simeon took Him up in his arms, praised God, and said…

Simeon took him up.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Simeon had to hold Jesus to make the promise and the fulfillment real to him. He had to take Him to himself—to touch the babe and feel the solid reality of the infant Messiah.

But after touching Jesus, after accepting His Messiah, Simeon had to praise God. Simeon needed to thank the Lord for His faithfulness.

Simeon was one of the first in Jesus’ earthly life to offer such praise. Here is just a sampling of such instances in the gospel of Luke.

Luke 7:16 Then fear came over everyone, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited His people.”

Luke 9:43 And they were all astonished at the greatness of God. While everyone was amazed at all the things He was doing…

Luke 10:17 The Seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name.”

Luke 13:17 When He had said these things, all His adversaries were humiliated, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things He was doing.

Luke 17:15-16 But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at His feet, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan.

Luke 18:43 Instantly he could see, and he began to follow Him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Today, let us follow Simeon and these other saints. Let us take Jesus unto ourselves and then praise the Lord!