New Year's Day Devotional ~Simeon, "Many a great man has striven after an immortality..."

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God saying,

​“Now Lord, You are letting Your servant depart in peace,

​​According to Your word;

 ​​For my eyes have seen Your salvation…”

Luke 2:25-30

For years, I have waited expectantly,

Longing to see Your salvation with my eyes.

Treasuring the promise You’ve given me,

This great hope of seeing the Christ.

Oh, how the years swiftly pass;

My steps may falter, yet my heart burns bright.

I see my end drawing near,

Searching the midnight sky for Your light.

Then I see Him, the tiny Babe wrapped in warmth;

I stretch forth my hands to this blessed Child,

And draw Him close to my beating heart

All glory to You, Lord—my eyes now behold my desire!

Gazing in His eyes, peaceful like doves,

A divine and holy love settles upon Him,

And now that I’ve embraced Your great salvation,

Take me in peace; the bright Morning Star has dawned.

C.A. TAYLOR

Simeon’s Prayer

         Simeon was a very usual name in Judea, and there is no doubt that our Simeon was just an obscure old man of the common people, entirely unknown out of his own little circle, who for years had been a devout but unofficial student of those prophetic Scriptures which had kindled in his heart, and kept burning for many years, the fire of faith and expectation; who, hoping against hope, had at last been rewarded by a revelation from God ‘that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.’ Many a great man has striven after an immortality of memory among men, only to die and be forgotten even in the place where he lived and wrought what he fondly hoped would be immortal deeds; yet this obscure old man, who was a lover of God and a believer in His Son Jesus Christ, has attained an immortality which shall endure while the world stands, and in the world of glory shall live and shine among the greatest of the servants of God. True immortality comes only to those who associate themselves with the Lord’s Christ. Not all who believe and receive Jesus shall be known in this word, and have their names preserved in the records of time; but none is too obscure to have his name written in the Lamb’s book of life; none too obscure to live and shine forever among the great unnumbered and numberless host of God’s redeemed ones.

         Simeon was just and devout. His character was summed up in these two words. They were enough, for they tell the whole story of his walk before God and man. A just man and devout is certain to be a good man, in the broad sense of the word; a kind, merciful, generous, and benevolent man.

         Simeon was just.—The just man of the Scriptures is a man who is right with both God and man. The just, or the justified, man is he who been set, or made, right with God; the rightened man. A sinful man can be justified with God only by faith in Him. Every truly justified or just man is also a regenerated man; and thus righteousness is not only a matter of standing with God, but also a matter of state as well. It is a walk of faith, truly, but of character as well. Not with God only was Simeon just; he was also just with men; that is, he was righteous in all his relations and all his dealings with men. Righteousness of character and actions, or practical holiness, is the final test of Christian character.

         He was devout.—Simeon was devout as well as just. Now devoutness is that which describes our attitude towards God, without respect to law. It is the characteristic of personal relation. The devout man is the pious man, who loves and adores God for Himself. Loving His holiness, His goodness, His mercy and His truth, He seeks to imitate them in his own life. He walks with God in holy admiration and adoration all the days of his life. He beholds and admires His glory in all His work and especially in all the manifestations of His grace towards men. He is a man of humility, prayer, and praise. He loves God’s law, lays up His precepts and commandments in his heart, and seeks to illustrate them in his life, simply for the purpose of glorifying God’s holy name among men.

         Lastly, it is said that he had faith in God’s promises. He not only believed in God, but he believed and expected the things which God promised and foretold. ‘Having seen them afar off,’ he was persuaded of them and embraced them.’ He ‘waited for the ??consolation of Israel.’ Being familiar with the Scriptures, he had discovered that God had promised to visit and redeem His people by the coming of the Messiah. In that Messiah he saw concentrated all the good things which God had prepared for His people, and he looked forward to His coming with all his heart and soul.

         Simeon had been long a lover of the light…. He had lived for many a year with his windows open towards the east. But now the morning broke for him; what more had he to ask of God or man?

And we see, too, a soul completed in a vision not only of salvation for himself, but of a glory and a radiance for all the world.

         If we could only trust God like Simeon, our whole powers would immediately become enlarged, and our whole being be fulfilled.

JAMES HASTINGS

Luke

         The charm about Simeon was that, though he lived many years, he had not begun to grown old…. He never doubted his dreams; he was sure that they would all come true. He sang through the whole of the storm. He was certain that his old eyes would yet gaze upon the face of the Messiah. His was an unconquerable soul.

F.W. BOREHAM

The Silver Shadow

Christmas Devotional ~"All the mighty angels called Him Lord."

So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.  And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the Inn. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger….And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.    


Luke 2:6-7, 16, 20                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                                       
 Sleep! Holy Babe! upon Thy mother’s breast;
Great Lord of earth and sea and sky,
How sweet it is to see Thee lie
In such a place of rest.
Sleep! Holy Babe! Thine angels watch around,
All bending low with folded wings,
Before th’incarnate King of kings,
In reverent awe profound.
Sleep! Holy Babe! while I with Mary gaze
In joy upon that face awhile,
Upon the loving infant smile
Which there divinely plays.
Sleep! Holy Babe! ah! take Thy brief repose;
Too quickly will Thy slumbers break,
And Thou to lengthened pains awake
That death alone shall close.
EDWARD CASWALL
~ Sleep! Holy Babe

     How wonderful this was!  We must remember who it was that was thus born.  The birth of another child in this world was nothing strange, for thousands of children are born every day.  But this was the Lord of glory.  This was not the beginning of His life.  He had lived from all eternity in heaven.  His hands made the universe.  All glory was His.  All the crowns of power flashed upon His brow.  All the mighty angels called Him Lord.  We must remember this if we would understand how great was His condescension….   

      Christ’s glory was folded away under robes of human flesh.  He never ceased to be the Son of God; and yet He assumed all the conditions of humanity.  He veiled His power, and became a helpless infant, unable to walk, to speak…lying feeble and dependent in His mother’s bosom…He laid aside His majesty. What condescension!  And it was all for our sake, that He might lift us up to glory.  It was as a Saviour that He came into this world.  He became Son of man that He might make us sons of God.   He came down to earth and lived among men, entering into their experiences of humiliation, that He might lift them up to glory to share His exaltation.               

                                            
J.R. MILLER~Come Ye Apart

        How gentle the coming!  Who would have had sufficient daring of imagination to conceive that God Almighty would have appeared among men as a little child?  We should have conceived something sensational, phenomenal, catastrophic, appalling!  The most awful of the natural elements would have formed His retinue, and men would be chilled and frozen with fear.  But He came as a little child.  The great God “emptied Himself”; He let in the light as our eyes were able to bear it.

                                            
J.H. JOWETT~My Daily Meditation

Christmas morn brings the Prince of all Peace

“Because of the tender mercy of our God,

Whereby the Sunrise from on high shall dawn upon us,

To shine on those who live in darkness

And the shadow of death,

To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Luke 1:78-9

This One will be our peace.
Micah 5:5a

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

​“Glory to God in the highest,

​​And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Luke 2:13-14

He has come! The Christ of God;

  Left for us His glad abode,

Stooping from His throne of bliss,

  To this darksome wilderness.

 He has come! The Prince of Peace;

  Come to bid our sorrows cease;

Come to scatter with His light

  All the shadows of our night.

 Unto us a Child is born!

  Ne'er has earth beheld a morn

Among all the morns of time,

  Half so glorious in its prime!

Unto us a Son is given!

He has come from God's own heaven,

Bringing with Him from above,

  Holy peace and holy love.

HORATIUS BONAR

Hymns of Faith and Hope -1878

“Peace, perfect peace!” What music there is in these words! The very mention of them fills the heart with longings, which cry out for satisfaction, and will not be comforted. Sometimes, indeed, we may succeed in hushing them for a little, as a mother does a fretful child; but soon they will break out again with bitter and insatiable desire. Our natures sigh for rest, as the ocean shell, when placed to the ear, seems to sigh for the untroubled depths of its native home.

         There is peace in those silent depths of space, —blue for very distance, —bend with such gentle tenderness, over the fevered, troubled lives. There is peace in the repose of the unruffled waters of the mountain lake, sheltered from the winds by the giant cliffs around. There is peace at the heart of the whirlwind, which sweeps across the desert waste in whirling fury. The peace of the woodland dell, of a highland glen, of a summer landscape, —all touch us. And is there none for us, whose nature is so vast, so composite, so wonderful?

         There is! Weary generations passed by until at length there stood among men One, whose outward life was full of sorrow and toil; but whose calm face mirrored unbroken peace that reigned within His breast. He was the promised Peace-giver. He had peace in Himself; for He said, “My peace.” He had the power of passing on that peace to others; for He said, “My peace I give unto you.” Why should not each reader of these lines receive the peace which Jesus had Himself, and which He waits to give to every longing and recipient heart?

         His peace is perfect, unbroken by storms, unreached by the highest surges of sorrow. Unstained by the contaminating touch of sin. The very same peace that reigns in Heaven, where all is perfect and complete.

His peace is as a river: The dweller on its banks, in time of drought, is well supplied with water. It is flowing at early dawn, as one goes to their daily toil. It is there in the scorching noon. It is there when the stars shine, hushing one to sleep with the melody of its waves. Think, too, how it broadens and deepens and fills up, in its onward journey, and from its source to the boundless, infinite sea. So may our peace be, abiding and growing with our years.

His peace is great: its music is louder than the tumult of the storm. Learn the lesson of the Lake of Galilee, —that the peace which is in the heart of Jesus, and which He gives to His own can quell the greatest hurricane that ever swept down the mountain ravine and spent itself on the writhing waters beneath. For when the Master arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, “Peace, be still,” the winds ceased and there was a great calm.

There is a remarkable text in Isaiah, which teaches us that the Government should be upon the shoulders of Jesus Christ; and that when it is so, there is no end to the increase of Peace. Surely these glorious words refer, not only to the government of a nation, but of each individual life also, and they are very searching.

“In Me you shall have peace.” ‘Twas our Savior who said those words. Let us abide in Him. Let us live in Him. Let us walk in Him. Let us make of Him the secret place unto which we may continually resort. And as we are joined to Him, in the intimacy of deepest union, the peace that fills His heart, like a Pacific ocean, shall begin to flow into ours, until they are filled with the very fullness of God; and the peace of God, like a dove, with fluttering wings, shall settle down upon our hearts, and make them its home forevermore.

F.B. MEYER

Steps into the Blessed Life