20 December 2020

A GIFT WORTH WAITING FOR

Speaker: Fred Sigle

Sermon

SUNDAY LESSON, 12/20/20
A GIFT WORTH WAITING FOR
Luke 2:21-32
We have all waited with great anticipation for that special gift on Christmas morning.   What a joyous moment it was to finally hold that special gift in our hands.
Imagine being told by God that you would not die until you saw the gift of His Son–the Lord’s Christ.  Simeon was told just that.  He had no idea when the Christ would come or how He would come.  He just knew he would see Him in his life time.
Luke 2:21-23 

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”[a]), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss[c] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”