The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
Lesson Plan:
1. The Portrait of an Ancient Saint (vs 22-27)
2. Simeon's Song of Praise (vs 28-32)
3. Simeon's twofold Benediction (vs 33-35)
4. Portrait of a Mother in Israel (vs 36-38)
5. Conclusion
Lesson Setting:
Time: 4 B.C. 40 days after the birth of Jesus
Place: The Temple in Jerusalem. The home of the family was at some house in Bethlehem.
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:22-27
1. The Portrait of an Ancient Saint
According to the Jewish law, every first-born male child, like the first-fruits of the farm, was consecrated to God, belonged to Him, in grateful recognition of God's deliverance of the first- born of all the Egyptian (Ex 13:2; 13-15). Accordingly when Jesus was 40 days old, both for the consecration of the boy, and the legal sacrifice for the mother, the whole family went to the Temple at Jerusalem.
Consecration of Children: To consecrate yourself to God is the commencement of life, for there is no other. Parents should, in their hearts and purpose, consecrate their children to God from their birth. For they are the gift of God's love. In them are vast possibilities for good or for evil for themselves and for others, for time and for eternity. A child is too precious a jewel for us to be careless about, lest, as the man returning from Africa with his whole fortune in one diamond, tossed it up in sport till at last it fell into the sea, so we too can lose the soul of our child. A definite goal is of great value to parents and to the child as he/she grows up.
A religion that is worthy of the name proclaims that it is the duty of every man to strive, in complete self-sacrifice, with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind and with all his strength for the Kingdom of God, which means the working together of all things for the perfect good; and it bids him to have faith that if he does so happiness will in some way come in the end. Destiny is mysterious, baffling; yet if pursued relentlessly may lead to success in directions unforeseen, and not designed at the outset; but it does not bless a man unless he wrestle with it until the breaking of the day.
Simeon the Saint: "And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon ('Simon')" (Matt. 2:25). Nothing is known of this aged saint, except what is here revealed; but his present holy state must have been the ripened fruit of long years of true living, and of communion with God. This man met the holy family in the temple, and recognized in some way through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, who the child was to be.
Essential Characteristics – The Evangelist is careful to make known what this man was while giving no indication of who he was.
(A) First Characteristic – And the same man was just, righteous, desiring with all his soul to see what was right and just, and to do it; and having had good success in realizing this quality in his daily life. He faithfully kept the second table of the law, upright, honest, generous, kindly, a true man in all his relations to his fellowmen. This is one of the foundation stones of every really good and saintly life. Any man without the strictest sense of justice is certainly destined to fail.
Illustration: The Test of Gyges' Ring. Plato, in his Republic (Bk. 2, Ch. 3), uses as an illustration the story of Gyges' Ring to test what is real justice and what is only apparent. Plato's story is that a certain Lydian shepherd (about 600 B.C.) found in some strange way a gold ring. Coming with this ring on his finger into the meeting of the shepherds making their monthly report of their flock to the king, he happened to turn the stone of the ring toward himself into the inner part of his hand; and when this was done he became invisible to those who sat beside him, and they talked of him as absent; and astonished at this he again handled his ring, turned the stone toward outward, and on turning it, became visible. He made trial of this several times, and found that it always had the same power. Using this power of invisibility, he entered the place, slew the king, and took possession of the Kingdom, for no one could know that he was guilty. Such a ring would be a test of the righteousness of men. A truly just man would be just even when no one would know his wrongs if he committed them. The man that was only seemingly and outwardly just, would commit crimes if he could do it without discovery.
(B) Second Characteristic – And devout, practicing a cautious and careful observance of the divine law. Simeon sustained his justice toward man by the divine motives of the religious life; living in an atmosphere of worldliness, surrounded by temptations, and dangers, he used every means that heaven gives us to help us live rightly toward our fellow men. The truly good man is always both just and devout. His righteousness is far truer, higher, and sweeter when filled with the love of God; and his religious feelings are mere vapor, clouds without rain, unless sustained by a righteous life. A man who gives liberally of his wealth and time to beneficent objects, but by his actions says business is business, and, although the Ten Commandments are followed here, the Golden rule is not – to what extent does the love of God dwell in him?
The two Tables of the law must always be kept together. No person can keep either of them well without the other.
(C) Third Characteristic – "Waiting for the consolation of Israel" (v 25). 'Consolation' in the Greek is one of the same words translated 'comfort' in John's Gospel. The word means 'comfort' and 'consolation,' but it also implies the method of bringing comfort, by making strong, and courageous, by invigorating, by inspiring new life and vigor. It was for such consolation of Israel that the true saints were hoping and waiting. It is for such consolation to come to the Kingdom of God that we too are waiting. And now it had begun to come in the birth of the Messiah. Two things are implied in real waiting: (a) The first is the desiring very much some great blessing, some ideal, and some great absorbing hope. (b) The other is that the only true way to wait for the fulfillment of God's promises, for the coming of His Kingdom, for a revival of religion, for growth in grace and goodness, is to wait as Simeon waited, by a holy life, a devout love and trust, by using every means. The idler is not waiting for God. Only they who look for Him, use every instrumentality, pour forth earnest prayer, long as one waiting for the morning – such alone are waiting. "The mighty pyramids of stone, That wedge-like cleave the desert airs, When nearer seen and better known Are but gigantic flights of stairs. The heights by great men reached and kept, Were not attained by sudden flight. But they, while their companions slept, Were toiling upward in the night" (Longfellow). (d) Fourth Characteristic: "And the Holy Ghost was upon him" (v 25). The Spirit that came upon him was holy. Here is revealed the source and the inspiration of Simeon's beautiful and well-balanced character. We must never forget that Old Testament saints were taught by the Holy Ghost, as really as believers after the gospel was set up, though not in such full measure. Simeon possessed that higher form of spiritual life expressed in the earliest days by walking with God or practicing the presence of God. This may be illustrated by the difference between plants struggling for existence in a parlor window in winter, and the full, free, boundless growth in the kindly sun and genial atmosphere of spring. The Holy Spirit will dwell within so far as we give him room in our hearts. All the 'works of the flesh' dwelling in our heart prevents the full indwelling of 'the fruits of the Spirit.'
Illustration: Goethe's 'Tale of Tales' represents a fisherman's wooden hut, rough and dark, as changed into solid silver by the shinning of the lamp within, and soon even the form was changed into a beautiful temple of exquisite workmanship. Such is the transforming power of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, creating the incandescent soul.
The next two verses relate some of the effects of being guided by the Spirit.
v 26 ... "And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost." In what way we do not know; but the Holy Spirit illumines the mind, purifies the conscience, gives clearer vision of old truths as well as reveals new truth.
v 26 ... "That he should not see death," i.e., should not die; for the only way to see death is by experience.
v 26 ... "Before he had seen the Lord's Christ," i.e., the Lord's Anointed; the Messiah whom Jehovah gives and sends.
v 27 ... Not only did Simeon receive the assurance that he should live to see the beginning of better times, but he was guided "by the Spirit into the temple" where he could see the fulfillment of the promise.
The Making of a Saint: Man prays in faith, God acts by law. A man is not made into a saint by magic, nor created one as Adam was created a full-grown man. He grows to be a saint by the laws of spiritual growth. Every quality that makes up the character of a good man, grows from a little seed, grows by exercise, by overcoming its enemies, by using all good influences, and by all that develops and ripens those qualities. No man can make things grow. He can get them to grow by arranging all the circumstances and fulfilling all the conditions. But the growing is done by God.
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:28-32
2. Simeon's Song of Praise
v 28 ... "Then took he him up in his arms." Recognizing that this was the Messiah he had been waiting for, according to the promise.
v 28 ... "And blessed God." Gave Him thanks and praise.
2:29 ... "Now." At last, after long waiting. v 29 ... "Lettest thou." Not a prayer, but a statement of fact; 'now thou are letting.'
v 29 ... "Thy servant depart in peace." Be released – discharged from his long service by death. It was the breaking of his bonds of slavery to his infirm body, and sending him into the glorious liberty of his heavenly home. Compare Paul's expression concerning his own death, 'the time of my departure,' where the Greek word for 'departure' expresses the loosing of the cables which bind a vessel to the shore till the moment of its sailing. Then these moorings are unloosed, the cables are cast off from the wharf, and the vessel sets sail across unknown seas for the longed for port. His old age did not come creeping into port a wreck, with broken masts and rudder gone, but full-sailed still, and strong for other voyages in other seas. His was the old age that God loves to see.
Simeon represents himself under the image of a sentinel whom his master has placed on an elevated position and charged to look for the appearance of a star, and then announce it to the world. He sees this long-desired star; he proclaims its rising, and asks to be relieved of the post he has occupied so long.
v 30 ... "For mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Simeon sees in this child the means of deliverance which God is giving to the world. The word 'prepared' (v 31), is connected with this sense of salvation ... denoting an apparatus fitted to save: we make ready an apparatus. This is an utterance of very remarkable faith. He held in his arms a little child a few weeks old, weak and helpless, to all appearance, as any other child, and yet he discerned in this child the salvation of God.
Jesus Our Salvation: (a) He brings from God the news and promise of salvation. (b) He lives a perfect life, showing us what salvation is. (c) He instructs us as to salvation and the means to attain it. (d) He urges upon us every possible motive for seeking salvation. (e) He sends the Holy Spirit, who changes our nature, and thus works out the salvation in us. (f) He speaks to us from personal knowledge of God, of His love, His care, His readiness to forgive, His nearness to men, His fatherhood. He tells us about heaven and immortal life from His own experience. Only the Son of God could possibly make atonement for sin. Only He could have power to save us at all times and in all places, to be our ever-present example, our infallible guide.
v 31 ... "Which thou hast prepared." Ever since the fall, God had been preparing this salvation. The whole previous history of the world, with its training of the Jews, the education of the nations, the experiments men made for themselves in religion, was a preparing of this salvation. But it was especially prepared in what we have studied so far in the life of Jesus.
v 31 ... "Before the face of." In the sight of, in order that all may have the advantage of it.
v 31 ... "All people." All the people. The conception of the Gospel as a provision, not for the Jewish nation only, but for the whole world, is evidently not a later idea, developed by Paul. It belongs to, and is seen in, the germs and buds of Christian truth.
v 32 ... The 'salvation' is analyzed into Light and Glory. "A light to lighten the Gentiles." Only a salvation that was for all peoples, classes, races, and nations, could be a divine salvation. The success of the Gospel in all lands, its meeting the wants of all classes and nations, is one of the strongest proofs of its divine origin. This proof of the Gospel given us by modern mission work, is alone worth to the churches of Christ thousands of times more than all mission work has cost.
Jesus is the Light of the World: Light is mysterious in nature, ineffably bright and glorious, everywhere present, swift-winged, undefiled, and undefilable. Light is the source of life, of beauty, of manifested reality, of warmth, comfort, and joy; of health, and of power. It destroys all darkness; unites in itself purity and cleanness. Without it the world would be but a mess of coldness and death. Now what light does for the natural world, Jesus does for the world of man, for mind, soul, and spirit. Wherever Jesus is received there come the blessings of light on all forms of moral darkness. It exposes the deeds of darkness, and so makes their removal possible. The revelations of the light, where all seemed quiet and serene, make some think the world is growing worse; but on the contrary they are a sign that it is growing better, as the mud of spring is a sign that the winter is over and summer draweth nigh. It was when Jesus had described the awful days of evil and calamity coming upon the world, that He said to His disciples, 'Then look up, and life up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh.'
v 32 ... "The Glory of Thy People Israel." Because the light that shone on the Gentiles came through Israel. The light giver has always more brilliance than those on whom the light shines. It is one of the greatest possible blessings to be the means of giving light to others. That the Messiah, the world's Redeemer, was a Jew, glorified that nation. If they had only received Him, He would have made them the center of the world's civilization and religion, the greatest and most influential nation that ever existed. The end is not yet. The pupil of Moses may ask himself, whether all the princes of the house of David have done so much for the Jews as that Prince who was crucified on Calvary. Had it not been for Him, the Jews would have been comparatively unknown, or known only as a high Oriental caste which had lost its country. Has not He made their history the most famous history in the world? Has not He hung up their laws in every temple? Has not He avenged the victims of Titus, and conquered the Caesars? What success did they anticipate from their Messiah? The wildest dreams of their rabbis have been far exceeded.
The Great Missionary Movement: It is plain to see that Christianity is a great Missionary Movement, Home and Foreign. That is the very soul and life of Christianity. There has been a marvelous change in the general attitude toward missions within the last few years. Its great work has risen above the unseen foundations as a lighthouse above its rock build foundations beneath the waters. Some who in the past have laughed at missionaries and rated them as second- rate and feeble, find today that they have been statesmen and heroes. Throughout the ages, whole nations have been and are being changed by their work and service.
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:33-35
3. Simeon's Twofold Benediction
v 33 ... "And Joseph and his mother marveled." They were wondering at what he was saying, both as coming from a stranger, and because of the boundless extent of benefits which he predicted, reaching to the ends of the world.
v 34 ... "And Simeon blessed them." Pronounced a blessing upon them.
First Blessing: "This child is set for the fall and rising again" (v 34), or rising up. If the fall and rising refer to the same persons, then the fall is that of consciousness of sin, a feeling of need, of helplessness, a low estimate of one's goodness; and the rising again is into newness of life, into divine favor, into higher hopes, into the family of God. The fall and rising may refer to different persons. The coming of the Messiah necessarily involves a crisis, a separation. Some welcome the light; others love the darkness. Judas despairs, Peter repents. Wherever there is a test, some fail and some succeed. Christ destroys bad customs, that He may build up good ones; He over- throws false ideas, that the true may prevail; He turns the world upside down, that He may place it right on an eternal foundation. All bad fashions, governments, pleasures, habits, ambitions, hopes, must fall before Christ, that there may be an arising of those which are good. Second Blessing: "And for a sign" (v 34). A manifest token, a phenomenon impossible to ignore. Jesus was "a sign" (v 34) of God's love, of God's power, of the new era of righteousness, of the fulfillment of God's promises, of the strong feeling of God against sin, of the certainty of its punishment, of the only way of salvation. This sign is a great blessing, even though some speak against it.
v 34 ... "Which shall be spoken against." Those who did not want to obey, who misunderstood the sign, spoke bitterly against Jesus and all the signs by which He proved that He was the Messiah. In our own day, Jesus is spoken against by all who wish to continue in sin, whose vile business is interfered with, and whose bad conduct is reproved by the Gospel. Falsehood, selfishness, unrighteousness, and worldliness still reproach and speak evil of the religion of Jesus.
v 35 .... "A sword shall pierce through thy own soul." Mary must suffer herself in the sufferings of her son.
v 35 ... "That," referring to the whole statement beginning with...
v 34 ... "Behold." The fact that Jesus was a sign and a test necessarily was the means that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Scripture Reading: Luke 2:36-38
4. Portrait of a Mother in Israel
Christ has had so much to do with the blessing and amelioration of the lot of women that it was eminently fitting that a woman should give her benediction with that of the man. v 36 ... "Anna," the same name as Hannah. v 36 ... "A prophetess," one who holds communion with God and speaks forth what He gives her to say. v 36 ... "Phanuel," same as Peniel. v 36 ... "Aser," same as Asher. v 37 ... "A widow of about fourscore and four years." This is either her age or the time of her widowhood, in which case her age would be over a hundred years.
v 37 ... "Departed not from the temple," was a constant and regular worshipper there.
v 38 ... "Coming in that instant, while Simeon was speaking." She was on one of her frequent visits at the temple.
v 38 ... "Give thanks." Showing that by faith she saw who Jesus was. Note: Both these aged persons to whom these things were revealed, were very holy, and in close communion with God. v 38 ... "Spake," 'was habitually speaking,' v 38 ... "of him to all them that looked for redemption," not to the general public.
Application: All Christians are waiting for the redemption of themselves and of the world. We are like an organ with many stops and keys. We have been striving to make ourselves and the world the music and harmonies of heaven. Then Christ came into the world and into our consciousness, and we realize how imperfect the results compared with His perfections. And He gives us the ideal to strive for and the power to gain the redemption of our souls and the world.
Illustration: Once upon a time, in a large Southern home, there was an organ which the family had not yet learned to play. One family member after another tried the instrument, drew out its stops and wakened some of its harmonies; but none of them dreamed of the wonderful music which lay hidden there. Then one day came the master player, who sat at the organ like all the others, and began to play; and the whole family stopped talking and a hush came over them and they whispered, 'Is this the organ which we have owned for so long? This which first sighs and weeps, and then thrills with passion and joy?' From that day the hope of their home was to reproduce the music which was then revealed, and when the best of them did his best, they said, 'This makes us think of the master player.'
Just such an instrument is human life, with its complex mechanism, its possible discords, its hidden harmonies, and many a philosopher and teacher has drawn from within it some of the music which was there. Then one day comes the Master. He knows, as the Gospel says, what is in man, and bending over human life, reveals the music of it; and from that day forth, the hope of the world has been to reproduce the harmony; and when the best of men do their best, we say: 'This makes us think of the Master's playing.'
