The Messiah Simeon Waited For

Isaiah 59: 15b-16, 20 The Lord saw that there was no justice,
and He was offended.
He saw that there was no man—
He was amazed that there was no one interceding;
so His own arm brought salvation,
and His own righteousness supported Him.

“The Redeemer will come to Zion,
and to those in Jacob who turn from transgression.”
This is the Lord’s declaration. (HCSB)

In one of the stone/rock posts we talked about the duality of Zion and how Jesus was uniquely qualified to live and serve in both.

This passage from Isaiah brings Zion back into the picture. However, the focus is more on the role of the Redeemer as God’s own offer of salvation.

Simeon mentioned that, too, in Luke. ‘My eyes have seen Your salvation…’ God’s. Nothing that mankind could bring, provide or do.

Over and over, because we humans can be pretty thick-headed, God states that the salvation He offers mankind is his own invention. He created it to satisfy both his love and his holiness. It fulfills both mercy and grace. It meets all the conditions of the law and yet annuls the law at the same time.

It does what no man could possibly do. It does what no human mind could even imagine.

But one thing we don’t think about often this far into the church age is that all of this was offered first to the sons of Jacob. Or as Paul says in Romans, ‘…the gospel…is the power of God to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’

Jesus went into Zion first. He was born to fulfill the promises to all the Jewish patriarchs and kings. All of the disciples he called unto himself were Jews. He witnessed in the Temple in Jerusalem and read the word in the synagogues. He celebrated the Sabbath and kept the Law of Moses.

We read those words and know it intellectually, but I know I don’t always get it for real.

As Simeon said, the Messiah would be a light to the nations. But he would be a light from Zion.

During his life, Jesus did not go on a worldwide crusade. He did travel into a few other nations, but all were relatively close to Judah and Galilee. It makes perfect sense.

When you start a fire that you want to burn hot and long, you concentrate the sources of long-term energy (a.k.a. wood), firestarter, and kindling so that the heat builds. Then you make sure that air gets to it.

This is how our Lord built the fire, the light, to spread to the world. And then he fanned it with the Holy Spirit.