Luke 2:28

If thou wilt touch Jesus and grasp Him in thy hands, strive with all thy strength to have the Spirit for thy guide, and come to the temple of God. For it follows, And when his parents brought in the child Jesus, (i. e. Mary His mother, and Joseph His reputed father,) to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms.

Observe then that this just man, confined as it were in the prison house of his earthly frame, is longing to be loosed, that he may again be with Christ. (Phil. 1:23.) But whoso would be cleansed, let him come into the temple;—into Jerusalem: let him wait for the Lord's Christ, let him receive in his hands the word of God, and embrace it as it were with the arms of his faith. Then let him depart that he might not see death who has seen life.

And he himself received him into his arms. Behold, the devotion of the old man in embracing the little child, by which he offered his whole self to Christ, so that he could say that word of the bride in Song of Songs 1: "My …

Now the righteous man, according to the law, received the Child Jesus in his arms, that he might signify that the legal righteousness of works under the figure of the hands and arms was to be changed for the lowly indeed but saving grace of Gospel faith. The old man received the infant Christ, to convey thereby that this world, now worn out as it were with old age, should return to the childlike innocence of the Christian life.

Having received Him into his arms, he confesses Him as God.

When we receive the record which the gospel gives us of Christ with a lively faith, and the offer it makes us of Christ with love and resignation, then we take Christ in our arms. It was promised him that he should have a sight of Christ; but more is performed than was promised: he has him in his arms.

Then took he him up in his arms,....

We see, in the case of Simeon — how God has a believing people even in the worst of places, and in the darkest times. Religion was at a very low ebb in Israel when Christ was born. The Old testament teachings were spoiled by the doctrines of Pharisees and Sadducees. The fine gold had become deplorably dim. Yet even then we find in the midst of Jerusalem a man "just and devout" — a man "upon whom is the Holy Spirit." It is a cheering thought, that God never leaves Himself entirely without a witness.

took him up in his arms--immediately recognizing in the child, with unhesitating certainty, the promised Messiah, without needing Mary to inform him of what had happened to her. [OLSHAUSEN]. The remarkable act of taking the babe in his arms must not be overlooked. It was as if he said, "This is all my salvation and all my desire" (2Sa 23:5).

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We see, in the case of Simeon — how God has a believing people even in the worst of places, and in the darkest times. Religion was at a very low ebb in Israel when Christ was born. The Old testament teachings were spoiled by the doctrines of Pharisees and Sadducees. The fine gold had become deplorably dim. Yet even then we find in the midst of Jerusalem a man "just and devout" — a man "upon whom is the Holy Spirit." It is a cheering thought, that God never leaves Himself entirely without a witness. As small as His believing church may sometimes be — the gates of Hell shall never completely prevail against it. The true church may be driven into the wilderness, and be a scattered little flock — but it never dies. There was a Lot in Sodom, and an Obadiah in Ahab's household, and a Daniel in Babylon, and a Jeremiah in Zedekiah's court. And in the last days of the Jewish Church, when its iniquity was almost full — there were godly people like Simeon, even in Jerusalem. True Christians, in every age, should remember this and take comfort. It is a truth which they are apt to forget, and in consequence to give way to despondency. "I alone am left," said Elijah , "and they seek my life to take it away!" But what was the answer of God to him, "I have yet reserved seven thousand in Israel." (1 Kings 19:14, 18.) Let us learn to be more hopeful. Let us believe that grace can live and flourish — even in the most unfavorable circumstances. There are more Simeons in the world than we suppose! We see in the song of Simeon — how completely a believer can be delivered from the fear of death. "Lord," says old Simeon, "now let your servant depart in peace." He speaks like one for whom the grave has lost its terrors — and the world its charms. He desires to be released from the miseries of this pilgrim-state of existence — and to be allowed to go home .

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."

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.

Then took he him up in his arms - What must the holy soul of this man have felt in this moment! O inestimable privilege! And yet ours need not be inferior: If a man love me, says Christ, he will keep my word; and I and the Father will come in unto him, and make our abode with him. And indeed even Christ in the arms could not avail a man, if he were not formed in his heart.