DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JUNE 2, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Then took he Him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now
let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word: for my eyes
have seen Your salvation." Luke 2:28-30.
LAST Lord's-day morning [No. 1416, The Faithful Saying] we used the
broad axe to clear the forest of self-righteousness–one after another
human hopes were made to fall, for the axe was laid at the root of the
trees. Now let us cultivate the clearing and sow the good seed! We
might have had for our slogan, then, "The Lord of Hosts has purposed
it, to stain the pride of all glory and to bring into contempt all the
honorable of the earth." We tried to sweep away every vestige of
anything like self-trust as we showed that Christ Jesus came to save
men as sinners and that only as sinners could they have any part or lot
in Him. Our Lord gave Himself for our sins, but He never gave Himself
for our righteousness! We bore witness that human goodness is a mere
fiction and that it is rather a hindrance than a help to the work of
salvation, since it opposes itself to the grand principle of Grace by
which, alone, men can be saved. So far our work has been to root out,
to pull down, to destroy and to throw down. And we hope it has been
done very thoroughly.
But there is a time to build up as well as a time to break down. And as
we showed on the former occasion where salvation is not and cannot be,
so today let us, by the help of God's Spirit, endeavor to point out
where salvation really is–so that those who have learned to look away
from themselves may now be taught to look to Christ! May the Holy
Spirit grant us this desire of our heart and may thousands, by this
sermon, find salvation!
Observe that Simeon found Christ in the Temple, being conducted there
by the Holy Spirit. There was an ancient promise, "The Lord whom You
seek shall suddenly come to His Temple," and this probably drew the
holy man to the courts of the Lord. But the Lord might have come and
Simeon might not have been there. Or the good old man might have been
occupied in some other court of the holy place. But, being led of the
Spirit, he came to the appointed spot at the very time when the mother
of Christ was bringing the Baby in her arms to do for Him according to
the Law. In this, Simeon is an instance of the Truth of God that they
find Christ who are led by the Spirit and they, alone. No man ever
comes to Christ by his own wit and wisdom, nor by his own unprompted
will–he, only, who is drawn of the Spirit comes unto Christ.
We must submit ourselves to Divine teaching and Divine drawing, or else
Christ may come in His Temple, but we shall not perceive Him. I,
therefore, would earnestly remark at the outset of this discourse, how
necessary it is that we should submit ourselves to the movements of the
Holy Spirit upon our souls. Let me rather say what a privilege it is to
be moved by the Spirit and how gladly we should welcome His Divine
influences. Beloved Hearer, as you love your soul, be very tender
towards the Holy Spirit and prize even the least spark of His Divine
fire. Quench not the Spirit, neither grieve Him. Prize the love of the
Spirit and pray to feel His power. When He comes upon you to convict
you of sin, be plastic in His hand! Yield to His teaching and humbly
confess the faults and follies of which He convicts you.
When He comes to lead you gently to the Savior, be not as the horse or
as the mule which have no understanding, but gladly follow where He
draws, according to the prayer of the spouse in the song, "Draw me, we
will run after You." All your hope of finding Christ, dear seeking
Friend, lies in the Spirit of God illuminating your understanding,
constraining your will and quickening your affections–therefore never
vex Him, but be ever ready to obey His faintest monition. The wind
blows where it wills and when you feel its breath, be glad to spread
your wings that you may be borne upward by its power.
Simeon, being thus led of the Spirit, came where Christ was, but mark
how quick the old man's eyes were to see Him! How should He know that
this Baby in swaddling clothes was the Lord's Christ? Doubtless there
were many others in the temple who saw Joseph and Mary and the priest,
but they thought that nothing was to be seen but a young peasant
woman and her husband bringing their poor offering to redeem their
first-born child. The frequenters of the Temple passed to and fro and
felt no interest in so common a scene–but the watching eyes of Simeon
had no sooner lighted upon the infant Person of our Divine Lord than at
once they were held spellbound and filled with tears ofjoy! The aged
saint went immediately to the mother, took up the Baby in his arms and
without hesitation said, "Mine eyes have seen Your salvation."
Those who have been looking and longing for Christ are usually the
first to perceive Him! This man had been waiting for the consolation of
Israel and in the process he had gained discernment so that when Jesus
appeared he knew Him at once. O Soul, if you are longing for Christ,
you will know when He is near you, even as the thirsting harts of the
desert scent the waters from afar. If you have an intense hunger after
the Lord Jesus, you will not need to be told which is bread–you will
not be deceived by a stone, for your hunger will instruct you. In this
case an instinct springs out of an appetite, discernment grows out of
desire–if you long for Christ, you will not readily be deceived by
false teachers, for you will know what your soul craves after and will
not be content with anything else!
As soon as a truly awakened soul sees Jesus, though it is but the
beginnings of Him, it recognizes Him! It recognizes the hem of His
garment and the print of His feet. Though the Lord is seen only as an
Infant and the heart's idea of Him is very incomplete, yet He is
perceived to be The Incomparable One and the soul cries out, "He is all
my salvation and all my desire." May we thus be taught by the Spirit of
God and thus made to long for Christ–and we shall have a quickness of
eye to perceive Him and to see infinitely more in Him than this blind
world has ever dreamed! From Simeon we shall try to learn this morning.
Should not the aged teach us wisdom?
Three things appear to me to be worthy of our attentive observation.
First, that Christ is salvation, for that is the pith and marrow of
Simeon's song–"My eyes have seen Your salvation." Secondly, that
Christ is to be taken up into the arms and looked upon. And thirdly,
that when He is thus treated, Christ has a wonderful effect upon the
soul. May we be led to try all this for ourselves. Personal testing is
far better than mere hearing. I may preach to you and it may end in
nothing, but if you will now come and take my Lord in your arms, an
eternity of good will come of it! O taste and see that the Lord is
good!
I. In the first place we learn from Simeon that CHRIST IS SALVATION. He
is a Savior, for so the angels sang– "Unto you is born this day in the
city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." But He is more than
a Savior–He is salvation itself! Moses sang, "He also has become my
salvation." David said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation," and
Isaiah exclaimed, "Behold, God is my salvation." It is well to see
salvation in the work, life and death of Christ, but we must never
forget that the essence of it lies in His Person–He Himself is
salvation!
Then he took Him up in his arms and said, "My eyes have seen Your
salvation." This was before our Lord had begun to preach or to teach,
or to suffer for our sins–as a Baby He was God's salvation! The Gospel
loses very much of its sweetness when the Person of Christ is placed in
the background and treated as if it were a mere myth, or as if it were
quite a secondary consideration. Why, this is the choicest dainty of
the feast! It is the most substantial food whereon the saints are
nourished–His flesh is meat, indeed, and His blood is drink, indeed!
Everything about our Lord is saving, but He, Himself, is salvation. His
teaching, His example, His love, His tenderness, His sufferings, His
Glory–all help us– but it is His own glorious self which puts
efficacy into them! Had He not been Man, He could not have died! And
had He not been God, His dying could not have availed for our
redemption!
We are bid to come, not to His work, but to Him–"Come unto Me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden." To Him we come and our heart can say,
"He only is my rock and my salvation." Let us pursue this theme by
saying of our Lord that He is the only salvation. Simeon had not found
another. We are told of that aged saint, that he was just and
devout–and assuredly if any man could have seen salvation by the Law,
Simeon would have seen it! Just towards man, devout towards God, he had
hit upon the true balance of a perfect character! But he had not seen
salvation in his own character! He looked for it to the Lord's Christ.
Neither to his honest actions before his fellow men, nor to his secret
prayers and communing with God did Simeon turn for eternal life,
otherwise he would not have been looking for a salvation which he had
already found–nor would he, at the sight of Jesus, have rapturously
exclaimed, "My eyes have seen Your salvation."
Not in yourself, O Simeon! Not in all that you had done, or felt, or
said had you seen salvation! But there in the Baby you did behold it
with supreme delight! Simeon, too, had been very familiar with the
courts of the Lord's House.
He was one of those who almost lived in the temple. Sacrifices were
seen by him every morning and every evening and upon all high
festivals. But in the blood of bullocks and lambs he had never seen
salvation. Frequently did he gaze upon the instructive types and
symbolic ordinances of the Law. But as he looked on them he saw only
shadows and still watched for the Substance. Never over the morning
lamb, or the paschal supper, had Simeon said, "My eyes have seen Your
salvation"–that exclamation was never uttered till he had seen Christ
Himself!
Beloved, salvation is not to be found in ordinances nor in sacraments!
God forbid we should say, when we have seen a Baptism, or the imitation
of it, "We yield You hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it has
pleased You to regenerate this infant with Your Holy Spirit, to receive
him for Your own child by adoption and to incorporate him in Your holy
Church." There are some who wickedly talk so, though we can hardly
imagine that they believe what they say! It is in vain to show them
their folly–they are wedded to it–but let us pray, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do." God forbid we should talk about
salvation in connection with the Lord's Supper as the superstitious do,
who seem to regard it as a passport to Paradise and, therefore, press
it upon the dying! Truly we may, in the Lord's Supper, eat and drink
condemnation to ourselves unless we discern the Lord's body.
It is in the Lord Himself that there is salvation and in none
other–not even in the outward ordinances of God's ordaining is
salvation to be found, for the Lord has not placed it there. See Jesus
and you have seen salvation! And the only salvation! The most moral
life and the most attentive remembrance of sacred ceremonies will land
you short of the salvation of your soul unless you see Jesus and take
Him to be your All in All. We must all learn to sing that song which
Isaiah has recorded in his 12th chapter–"Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and
my song; He also is become my salvation."
According to Simeon's song, the Lord Jesus is God's salvation. Dwell on
that little word, "Your." "My eyes have seen Your salvation." In the
Person of Christ we see the salvation which God had of old covenanted
to bestow upon His people–the salvation which, in due season, the Lord
had prepared before the face of all people–a Light to lighten the
Gentiles and the Glory of His people Israel. The promised,
predestinated and prepared salvation of God is Christ Jesus! This is
the salvation of which the Prophets spoke, to which all the symbols
pointed–the salvation which was hidden from ages and from generations
that it might shine forth like the sun upon this favored dispensation.
It is a salvation devised and provided by God which manifests and
glorifies God! It is a salvation which is Godlike, being both just and
gracious! It is great beyond conception! In a word, it is God's
salvation.
O Beloved, think much of Christ because the Lord God Almighty ordained
Him for you and gives Him to you! God gave up His own Son for you, even
His well-beloved Son! And He Himself, by the Holy Spirit, has revealed
Him to you and in you, teaching you to know Him, to trust Him, to love
Him and to follow Him! Therefore value Jesus beyond all price as God's
own salvation! God Himself accepts Christ in our place and makes Him
our salvation–will we not accept Him? God Himself does rest in
Christ–will we not rest in Him? God smells a sweet savor in the
Sacrifice which Christ has offered–will we not also rejoice and eat
the peace offering and be glad before the Lord? Are any of you seeking
salvation at this moment? I pray you do not think of inventing a savior
of your own, but are willing to take God's salvation! And when you ask
what and who that salvation is, our only answer must be–Christ is the
salvation of God!
If you have seen Jesus by the eyes of faith, your eyes have seen God's
salvation! You are saved, saved on the spot, saved forever! Jesus is
Heaven's balm for earth's wounds, God's remedy for man's diseases! Do
not put away this priceless gift of infinite mercy. Receive it
heartily–receive it at once! Jesus is set before you, take Him up in
your arms! When Simeon said, "My eyes have seen Your salvation," he
must have meant that in that little Baby he saw salvation set forth in
its essence. Can you bring yourselves, now, in fancy and in faith,
which may, for once, work together, into the courts of the Temple? Can
you see Mary with the little Christ in her arms? Look upon Him and take
Him up and put yourself into Simeon's place and say, "My eyes have seen
Your salvation."
This little child is salvation and yet how can it be? By the light of
Scripture we can understand what else would seem incredible. For here
is, first, God in human flesh! The Divine Nature in mysterious union
with the human! Behold, He who is now in your arms as an Infant is also
the Infinite God! Feeble as He is as to His humanity, He is Omnipotent
as to His Deity! He is at once the Son of Man and the Son of God!
Herein is man's salvation! When we think of the fact that God came down
to our low estate and espoused our nature, we are sure that He means
nothing but good to man and we
are ready to burst out with Simeon's joyous exclamation and cry, "My
eyes have seen Your salvation!" We are sure that man will be lifted up
to Heaven now that Heaven has come down to man!
Our Lord was not merely a Child, but a poor Child. He was so poor that
His mother, when she had to redeem Him, could not bring a lamb, which
was the sacrifice for all who could afford it. She presented the poorer
offering, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, and so she came
as a poor woman and He was presented to the Lord as a poor woman's
Child. Herein lies, also, rich comfort for lowly hearts. And as they
think of it, each one may say, "My eyes have seen Your salvation." When
I think of the Prince of Glory and the Lord of angels stooping so low
as this, that a poor woman bears Him in her arms and calls Him her
Baby, surely there must be salvation for the lowest, the poorest and
the most sunken! When the all-glorious Lord, in order to be Incarnate,
is born a Baby, born of a poor woman and publicly acknowledged as a
poor woman's child, we feel sure that He will receive the poorest and
most despised when they seek His face! Yes, Jesus, the son of the
carpenter, means salvation to carpenters and all others of lowly rank!
But why has Mary brought Him to the Temple? She has brought Him to
redeem Him. He was her firstborn and therefore He must be redeemed. Was
He then under the Law? Yes, for our sakes He was under the Law and He
who redeemed us had to be, Himself, redeemed! When I think of the 12
and sixpence, or thereabouts, which His mother paid as redemption
money, what a contrast rises before me! He has redeemed us unto God by
His blood and yet, as Mary's firstborn, a price was paid in silver for
Him. "A good price that I was priced at of them." Now, because our Lord
Jesus came under the Law and obeyed its precepts, we see salvation in
Him. When God Himself, Incarnate, came under the Law so as to have
redemption money paid for Him, we understand it all, for it is written,
"But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made
of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons."
This wondrous stoop of Deity to lowly humanity and this marvelous
honoring of the Law in our nature by One who is Immanuel, God With Us,
has brought salvation to our fallen race! Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice,
for Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a
curse for us that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ–that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith! But, to my mind, Simeon did not only see salvation
represented in its Essence, but his faith saw salvation guaranteed by
the appearance of the wondrous Child. Incarnation is the beginning of
Substitution and the commencement of Substitution is the guarantee of
the completion and the continuance of it! Our Lord would not have taken
upon Himself the nature of the seed of Abraham if He had not intended
to do so effectually to redeem and deliver them. "Forasmuch then as the
children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, also, Himself likewise
took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had
the power of death, that is, the devil."
Be you sure of this, that He will not commence to battle with Satan and
then leave the conflict before the enemy is destroyed! In that Baby,
Simeon did well to see all the work of saving men, for the appearing of
the Lord in our flesh and blood was the sure pledge of it! He saw,
there, a perfect obedience presented to God, for the Baby was brought
under the Law at the very outset and its redemption money was paid–a
sure sign that to the end the Incarnate God would say, "Thus it becomes
us to fulfill all righteousness." No jot or tittle of the Law would
Christ omit, since even as a Baby He was both circumcised and presented
in the Temple according to the Law. Simeon, I doubt not, saw in the
presentation of Christ in the temple, a foreshadowing of His death on
the Cross. The time would come when He must be brought to the altar and
no redemption would be offered for Him, for He, Himself, must be the
price for His people.
Simeon saw, as he gazed upon the Child, the agony and bloody sweat, the
Cross and passion, for he knew that the Incarnate God would not shrink
from anything which He had undertaken. That fair and lovely face, the
most beautiful probably that human eye ever rested upon–Simeon could,
by faith, see it more marred than that of any man while, in our place,
He suffered the wrath of God. Simeon was so well instructed that his
faith saw the Child, in due time, dead– dead because the Law had
carried out its penalty and the Sin-Bearer had been made to die. And he
could see the Resurrection, too. As he saw the Child carried home by
the rejoicing mother, because He had been redeemed, he foresaw the hour
when Jesus should return unto the Father, having accomplished eternal
redemption for all His people! He saw in that Child both Light and
Glory and he felt deep peace suffuse his mind at the sight and,
therefore, I feel sure that he saw in the Infant Christ the pledge and
assurance of that perfected work which closed with, "It is finished."
Bethlehem ensures Gethsemane and Calvary, for the Christ of God will
not fail nor be discouraged, but having put forth His hand, He will
finish the work which His Father gave Him to do. So then, Beloved, if
you see Christ, you have seen the sum and total of His work. His Person
is so intimately connected with all that He has done that He bears
within Himself all its virtue and efficacy–and by a look at Him we
receive the result of all that He has accomplished! Trust Jesus as born
in our nature, as living a life of holiness, as dying a sacrificial
death, as buried, as risen, as interceding and as, by-and-by, to
return, and you have salvation! Jesus anywhere, Jesus everywhere is
salvation! Those who have only a contracted view of Him and behold Him
rather in His Infancy than in His Glory have, nevertheless, seen His
salvation!
Come, then, you trembling, tottering, timorous ones and see salvation
secured by a Savior who exactly suits your weakness! Even a feeble old
man can lift a baby! Come in your feebleness and embrace the Savior in
whose condescending littleness salvation lies secure! I might say many
things here, but I prefer just to keep to that one point, that Jesus
Christ is the whole of salvation. Simeon did not say, "My eyes have
seen a part of Your salvation." No, but the whole of it. Christ bought,
by His blood, all that was necessary for our redemption! And having
bought it, He brought it down to us, descending to seek and to save the
lost. He came on earth to proclaim salvation and to let all men know
that it is treasured up in Him. "It pleased the Father that in Him
should all fullness dwell."
As He contains salvation so does He dispense it, for He is exalted on
high to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins. As He
dispenses it, so out of His fullness has He made all of us to receive
Grace for Grace. Because He draws us to Himself, we have come and are
coming to Him perpetually. In Him we have our life preserved and by Him
our steps are upheld. Because He lives, we, also, live–He is made of
God unto us wisdom and sanctification. Christ has salvation within
Himself and he that gets Him has complete salvation. "He that believes
in Him has everlasting life." Brothers and Sisters, you are saved from
the ruin of the Fall if you have Christ! The second Adam has repaired
the ruins of the first. Brothers and Sisters, you are saved from the
guilt of sin if you have Christ, for your sin is yours no longer– it
is not imputed to you–"The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us
all."
Brothers and Sisters, you are delivered from the power of original sin
if you have Christ for, behold, the new-born life within you shall be
in you a well of water springing up unto everlasting life! Christ has
entered into you and He will bind the strong-armed man and cast him
out. In having Christ, my Brethren, you have obtained victory over the
world, the flesh and the devil–for this is the victory which overcomes
all these–even our faith! Go forward and grasp what is already your
own. Yes, and when death comes, it shall not be death to you, for he
that lives and believes in Him shall never die! You shall be more than
a conqueror in this thing, also–therefore be not in bondage through
fear of death! You have salvation in every aspect of it and every form
of it as soon as you have obtained Christ.
Very commonplace teaching, perhaps, you think. Yes, let it be
commonplace! Let it be the bread you live upon, the air you breathe. I
beseech you never forget that the whole of salvation is in Christ! Do
not expect to find a portion of it in yourselves, nor in outward
ordinances, nor in the works of the Law, nor in priestcraft, nor
anywhere else–the body of salvation is Christ and all its substance is
in Him. Do you object to this? Then let me ask you, in what point is
Christ deficient? What more do you need? Do you need penances? Has He
not already suffered all that Justice requires? What do you need? Would
you toil to gain the kingdom of Heaven? Lo, He has opened it to all
Believers by a toil which covered Him with bloody sweat! What more is
required? Washing? There is the fountain filled with blood. Clothing?
There is the robe of spotless righteousness. Medicine? Truly with His
stripes we are healed!
Think of anything that can be required to make a man perfect and you
will find it all in Christ. "For you are complete in Him." "Christ is
all." Suppose, Beloved, that our Lord Jesus were not perfect as a
Savior, what then? Could any of us make up the deficiency? What is
there of ours that we could bring to Him? If His robe of righteousness
were not finished, would any of our filthy rags be fit to be joined to
His cloth of gold? If that fountain were not full and efficacious for
cleansing, what would you pour into it? What could you contribute but
your own pollution? What help could that be? Dream of yoking a gnat
with an archangel and then imagine that you can help your Lord in the
work of salvation! Shall a creeping worm be needed to complete the work
of Him who made the world? What wild nonsense is this! Must the Son of
God be helped by sinners dead in sin? O Friends, if Jesus is not able
to save you from first to last, you are lost, for neither yourself, nor
priest, nor pope can bring anything to the Lord but dross and dung–and
shall this be added to that most fine gold tried in the fire with which
Christ redeems the souls of men?
At this moment I speak personally of my own confidence–I have no hope
of being saved if Jesus is not the whole of my salvation. I trust Him
in everything and for everything and I solemnly warn any here who are
trusting a little in Christ and also somewhat in themselves, that their
hope will be vain! Jesus must be everything or nothing! If we take
Christ we must take the whole of Christ. There must be no picking and
choosing. We must have all of Christ and He must be all our salvation
and all our desire. What hinders? Surely we delight to do this at once!
II. We leave our first head for you to think upon and turn to the
second. CHRIST IS TO BE TAKEN UP INTO OUR ARMS AND TO BE LOOKED AT. I
am quite sure that when Simeon took Christ up into his arms, although
that was a physical action, yet there was a spiritual action underneath
it. It was in his heart that he took up our Lord. And when his natural
eyes saw Christ, he beheld Him also with the eyes of his soul–of this
we are sure, for if the mere sight of Christ with his eyes had been so
pleasing to Simeon, he would have said, "Lord, let Your servant never
go away, for my eyes have seen Your salvation. Let me, therefore, stay
here and always see Him."
But the sight was spiritual and, therefore, he, though he had known
Christ after the flesh, did not desire to know Him any more–but was
willing to depart to the realm of pure spirits–for which that sight
had prepared him. Now, will you try and picture Simeon taking up Christ
that you may do the same? He no sooner saw Him than, asking nobody's
leave, he lifted up the blessed Baby in his arms! That was a grasp of
faith and its meaning was, "He is mine! I take Him to be my salvation."
For himself he embraced the Incarnate Lord and he was not ashamed to
avow his faith in the courts of the Lord's House in the midst of
Jerusalem! It had been revealed to him that he should not see death
until he had seen the Lord's Christ and now he openly acknowledges that
this was the Christ, the Consolation of Israel!
Dear Hearers, can you not put forth your arms, this morning, and take
up my Lord to be your own forever? There is nobody to forbid you–no,
many are inviting you! Take Him, now, and be happy. Does your heart
say, "Yes, He shall be mine"? Then delay not to claim Him! What a mercy
it is that Jesus could be taken up in the arms and salvation thus be
held in men's hands! He that in the beginning was with God and is,
indeed, God Himself, nevertheless can be taken up in the arms of faith!
A whole Christ can be held in an old man's feeble arms! O that other
aged men would come and take Him! Yes, and young men and women, too!
Would God that thousands of every age and sex would now confess the
Lord Jesus to be their salvation! God help you so to do at once!
Simeon held that Baby in the grasp of love as well as of faith, for I
am sure the old man pressed the Baby to his bosom and looked most
fondly upon Him as he said, "My eyes have seen Your salvation." He
could not have held Him out at arm's length–that would have been
impossible in such a case–but he felt that he at last saw the dearest
Object of his desires and so he clasped Him to his bosom! Come, let us,
one by one, do the same. "My Jesus, my Salvation, You are all mine and
I love You. The Heaven of heavens cannot contain You and yet I hold
You! You fill all worlds and yet I have You, all my own, the beloved of
my soul forever." What an armful that aged saint had obtained! Did ever
human arms hold a burden more precious, a treasure more desirable?
Come, then, Brothers and Sisters, and say, "Christ shall be mine this
morning, all mine and forever mine! By faith I take Him to be my very
own." God help you, by His Holy Spirit, to give your Lord such an
embrace.
While Simeon was thus holding the child in his arms, he gazed upon Him
with intense delight. I know he did, for he said, "My eyes have seen
Your salvation." With what wondering pleasure and reverence he looked
into that dear face and marked those altogether lovely features.
Doubtless he looked and looked, and looked, and looked and looked
again! He could scarcely bear to lift his eyes. So must you do with
Christ. First, take Him to be yours and then let your eyes be riveted
upon Him. Never let your thoughts forsake this choicest of all subjects
for godly meditation! Think much of Him who is the whole of your
salvation and embrace Him in that respect.
Alas, there are some Christians who never think of Jesus in that way.
There is a certain creed which tells you you may be saved today and
lost tomorrow! No Believer has obtained eternal salvation according to
that theory, but only a temporary and possible salvation. On that
theory there is no seeing the whole of God's salvation as soon as you
see Jesus–you only see a bare hope of it. But we know that whoever
believes in Jesus is saved and, therefore, we assert that Christ is
salvation and He that has Him is saved! Christ's words are, "I give
unto My sheep eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall
any pluck them out of My hand." And he who knows the meaning of these
words rejoices that he has the whole of salvation in his arms and he
may look at it as long as he lives and never cease to look, for it is
worthy of lifelong admiration!
I like the thought of Simeon being an old man and taking the Infant
Jesus in his arms. I have a hope that one of these days, by God's
mercy, this poor old world of ours, which has come to her dotage and
decay, may be led, by Sovereign Grace, to embrace Jesus the ever new!
Then will the Millennium dawn and the world may then pray for the last
conflagration to end her sorrowful history, saying, "Now let this globe
depart in peace, for it has seen Your salvation." But, to drop all
figurative speech, it is a great blessing to the aged man to have Jesus
in his arms. Though he shall be compelled by the infirmities of age to
ask with Barzillai, "Can your servant taste what I eat or what I
drink?" Yet he shall find great sweetness in the Bread of Heaven and
the name of Jesus shall be as wine on the lees well refined. If,
through age and infirmity, he can hear no more the voice of singing men
and singing women, he that has Christ, has music in his heart forever!
In old age Solomon tells us that the grasshopper is a burden, but this
Child is none. Then the sun, the light, the moon and the stars are
darkened, but this Child gives light to all who see Him. Then the
keepers of the house tremble, but they are strengthened as they hold
the Lord! Then they that look out of the windows are darkened, but they
are bright when they gaze upon the Savior. The doors are shut in the
streets, but no door shuts out the Lord Jesus! The voice of the bird
awakens the light sleeper, but no sound shall break the repose of those
who rest in Jesus. With the aged, desire fails, but not with the aged
saint, for he sees in Christ Jesus all his desires fulfilled! And
though man goes to his long home, he that has the holy Child Jesus to
go with him may even long for the journey, saying, "Lord, now let Your
servant depart in peace." Mourners may go about the streets of earth,
but he who has seen in Christ the salvation of God ascends to other
streets where sorrow and sighing are fled away. Thrice blessed old age
which thus renews its youth with Christ Jesus!
III. That brings us to our last point, upon which we have no time for
more than a few words. WHEN CHRIST IS
TAKEN UP INTO THE ARMS AND LOOKED UPON, HE HAS A WONDERFUL EFFECT.
Notice the case before
us. First, waiting is ended. Simeon had been waiting for the
consolation of Israel, but he could now say, "Lord, what do I wait
for?" We, too, had been waiting, wishing, longing and pining–but when
we found our Lord, we no longer waited, but we could each one say–"I
need nothing, I wish for nothing, I long for nothing, I pine for
nothing. 'My eyes have seen Your salvation.'" Now, also, Simeon was
excited to praise the Lord. He took Him up in his arms and blessed God.
None can bless God like those who have Christ in their arms! I do not
know that Simeon had ever been a poet before, but he began to pour out
his swan song, his last, sweetest and, perhaps, his only hymn. Every
line is full of exultation and delight!
Simeon soon had a song in his mouth when he had Christ in his arms!
Then shall the tongue of the dumb sing! The very stones would cry out
if a man could see God's salvation and yet be silent. Those who could
never speak six words before have grown eloquent when Christ Jesus has
been their theme. He is my God and I will praise Him! He is my father's
God and I will extol Him. And now that he has seen the Lord's Christ,
notice the effect upon Simeon's eyes. He desires to close them upon all
else. I have heard of some who have looked on the sun unadvisedly till
they could not see anything else–but this I know–he who looks on
Christ becomes blind to all rival attractions! If these eyes have once
seen the salvation of God, it looks like sacrilege to set them upon the
base things of time and sense! Let the gate be closed through which
Jesus has entered–it seems profane to allow a single object belonging
to this traitorous world to enter our mind by eye-gate any more!
Having eaten the white bread of Heaven, we want no more of the husks of
earth! Having had a glimpse of the Incarnate God, what more is there to
see? Simeon's eyes had seen Christ and what then? Why, now they were
prepared to look on death! He had been told he should not see death
till he had seen the Lord's Christ and now he is ready to see his final
hour and all of gloom which may attend his departure. He says, "Lord,
now let Your servant depart." He regards it not as dying, but as going
from the present scene to a more glorious country! If you have ever
looked Christ in the face, the king of terrors has lost his terror and,
instead of being a king, has become your servant! We may well long for
the time when we shall have done with earth and be shut in with our
Beloved! The proverb is, "See Naples and die," but we may much improve
upon it, and say, "See Christ and never die," but be quite content to
depart and to be with Him!
Lastly, that sight, of course, had made Simeon's eyes ready to behold
the Glory of God. I suppose if we could be taken up just as we are into
Heaven–if we were unrenewed men and women–we should not be able to
see the Glory of God for lack of spiritual eyes. We must first look at
Christ–and when our eyes have been brightened and strengthened
by the splendors of Incarnate Deity, they will be fitted to behold the
King Himself as He sits upon His Throne! At any rate, when some of us
have had a sight of Christ, we have wondered what more we could see in
Heaven. When Solomon's Song has come to be our everyday talk and the
Beloved has made us to feel that His left hand is under our head while
His right hand embraces us, we have almost thought we would not give a
pin change earth for Heaven–for whether in the body or out of the body
we could not tell–but this we knew, we could sing, "My Beloved is mine
and I am His. He feeds among the lilies."
If your soul once comes there and if the Lord helps you to continue
there, then dying will be nothing more than crossing the threshold and
going from the doorstep of the King's palace to the interior of its
halls! Some Believers dwell in the suburbs of the Celestial City and
little will be their change when, in a little while, they shall enter
the central golden streets where the sun shall no more go down, neither
shall the Lord withdraw Himself! The Lord give you to find all your
salvation in Christ! And may He teach you a great deal more than these
poor stammering lips can ever tell you. May Christ Jesus our Lord be
every day more near and dear to me and to you. To Him be Glory forever
and ever! Amen.