Luke 2:30

(ubi sup.) But it had been twice promised to him that he should not sec death before he should sec the Lord's Christ, and therefore he adds, to show that this promise was fulfilled, For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples. Blessed are the eyes that see what Simeon saw: blessed are they who have not seen, and have believed (John 20). That very thing, he says, which you …

He called the incarnation of the Only-begotten "salvation," which God prepared before all ages.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,.... The Messiah, who is often so called; see Gen 49:

Moses was promised that he should see Canaan, and then die; but he prayed that this word might be altered, Deut. iii. Simeon is promised that he should not see death till he had seen Christ; and he is willing to construe that beyond what was expressed, as an intimation that, when he had seen Christ, he should die: Lord, be it so, saith he, now let me depart.

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.

seen thy salvation--Many saw this child, nay, the full-grown "man, Christ Jesus," who never saw in Him "God's Salvation." This estimate of an object of sight, an unconscious, helpless babe, was pure faith. He "beheld His glory" (Joh 1:14). In another view it was prior faith rewarded by present sight.

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IF we are believers in Christ, we shall one day use words like these. Perhaps not just at present and yet, possibly, sooner than some of us think, we shall gather up our feet in our bed and we shall say with all composure, "Lord, now let You Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word." See what death is to the Believer. It is only a departure! It is a departure after a day of service. "Lord, now let You Your servant depart. My day's work is done. Let me now go Home."

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text are #1417, Volume 24—"YOUR SALVATION" and #2293, Volume 39— SIMEON'S SWAN SONG] THOUSANDS of times that song of Simeon has been sung by careless, thoughtless persons, but surely it is one of those songs that ought never to come except from believing lips. To make it merely a part of a liturgy and for shamelessly living men to say, "My eyes have seen Your Salvation," must be an atrocious sin before God!

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 .

BLESSED WERT THOU, O Simeon, for flesh and blood had not revealed this unto thee; neither had it enabled thee so cheerfully to bid the world farewell. The flesh clings to the earth—it is dust, and owns affluity to the ground out of which it was taken; it loathes to part from mother earth. Even old age, with its infirmities, does not make men really willing to depart out of this world.

BLESSED WERT THOU, O Simeon, for flesh and blood had not revealed this unto thee; neither had it enabled thee so cheerfully to bid the world farewell. The flesh clings to the earth—it is dust, and owns affluity to the ground out of which it was taken; it loathes to part from mother earth. Even old age, with its infirmities, does not make men really willing to depart out of this world. By nature we hold to life with a terrible tenacity; and even when we sigh over the evils of life, and repine concerning its ills, and fancy that we wish ourselves away, it is probable that our readiness to depart lies only upon the surface, but down deep in our hearts we have no will to go. Flesh and blood had not revealed unto Simeon that he saw God’s salvation in that babe which he took out of the arms of Mary, and embraced with eager joy. God’s grace had taught him that this was the Savior, and God’s grace at the same time loosened the cords which bound him to earth, and made him feel the attractions of the better land. Blessed is that man who has received thy grace a meekness for heaven, and a willingness to depart to that better land: let him magnify the Lord who has wrought so great a work in him. As Paul says, “Thanks be unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Certainly none of us were meet by nature—not even Simeon; the fitness of the venerable man was all the handiwork of God, and so, also, was his anxiety to obtain the inheritance for which God had prepared him. I trust, brethren, while we consider this morning the preparedness of the saints for heaven, and turn over in our mind those reflections which will make us ready to depart, God’s Holy Spirit, sent forth from the Father, may make us also willing to leave these mortal shores, and launch upon the eternal sea at the bidding of our Father, God.

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.

IF we are believers in Christ, we shall one day use words like these. Perhaps not just at present and yet, possibly, sooner than some of us think, we shall gather up our feet in our bed and we shall say with all composure, "Lord, now let You Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word." See what death is to the Believer. It is only a departure! It is a departure after a day of service. "Lord, now let You Your servant depart. My day's work is done. Let me now go Home." With us who believe it will be a departure to a higher service, for we shall still be the Lord's servants even when we depart from this present sphere of labor. We shall go to do yet higher and more perfect work in the nearer Presence of our Master. "His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face." Death to the Believer is only a departure from one form of service to another. And, note, that it is a departing "in peace." We are at peace with God. We have— "Peace! Perfect peace! In this dark world of sin, The blood of Jesus whispers peace within!" As many as have believed in Jesus, have entered into rest. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God." We have joy and peace in believing and, as we live in peace, we shall also die in peace. We shall remain in peace and we shall depart in peace. A deep and holy calm will fill up our dying moments— "It is enough: earth's struggles soon shall cease, And Jesus call to Heaven's perfect peace!" We shall be able to say, perhaps, when we come to die, what a dear friend of mine once said to me, when I went in to see him on his dying bed. A part of his affliction consisted in total blindness from what they call the breaking of the eye-strings.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text are #1417, Volume 24—"YOUR SALVATION" and #2293, Volume 39— SIMEON'S SWAN SONG] THOUSANDS of times that song of Simeon has been sung by careless, thoughtless persons, but surely it is one of those songs that ought never to come except from believing lips. To make it merely a part of a liturgy and for shamelessly living men to say, "My eyes have seen Your Salvation," must be an atrocious sin before God! Let all who have ventured to use such words as these without having thought of their meaning, confess their sin before God and ask that He would make those words to be true which have up to now been so frivolously uttered and that before they close their eyes in death, they maysee God's Salvation! I. I shall, first of all, TAKE THE TEXT AS IT DROPS FROM SIMEON'S LIPS and follow his leading. We will start with Simeon's main idea. He came into the Temple. He saw there a little Babe and he recognized, in that newly-born Child, Jesus the promised Savior! And as he took up that Savior into his arms, he said, "Mine eyes have seen"—what? "Your Salvation," God's Salvation—not only the Worker of the Salvation, but the Salvation itself! From which I gather that wherever we see Jesus, we see God's Salvation, Wherever our eyes spiritually light upon the Christ of God, there we see God's Salvation! Whether in Bethlehem's manger, or on Calvary's Cross, or on yonder Throne of Glory from which He shall judge the quick and the dead—wherever we see Him, we see the Salvation of God! Let me then take your thoughts along the history of our Savior for a few moments. Far back into the ages, when as yet this world and sun and moon were not created—when God dwelt alone—then, in the foreknowledge of God, it was apparent that man would sin—that elect men, beloved of God, would fall in the common ruin.

Thy salvation - That Savior which it became the goodness of God to bestow upon man, and which the necessities of the human race required. Christ is called our salvation, as he is called our life, our peace, our hope; i.e. he is the author of all these, to them who believe.

Thy salvation - Him who is to procure salvation for his people; or, the Saviour.