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Advent Meditation

 

December 14th 

    

22. A Seeking Heart gets Revelation

  

Luke 2:25,26 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 upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

 

Most of us have dreams. No, not the dreams-at-night type of dreams, but dreams of what might be. Sometimes those dreams just lurk there in the background of your consciousness and you're hardly aware of them – but they're there. For many people they're in the form of, “If only….” They may be dreams of winning the lottery (most unlikely to be fulfilled) or they may be dreams of going somewhere or achieving something – perhaps of learning something new. Oh yes, most people have dreams, even if they're just below the conscious level. Simeon was someone with a ‘dream'.

 

Simeon lived in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, the place where the Temple of God was. Simeon was a Jew and no doubt well taught. Simeon had been taught the many scriptures, in what we now call the Old Testament, that pointed to One who would come to fulfil God's purposes of the ages for Israel. He looked at Israel in subservience to the Roman overlords, and he read the scrolls and saw in them the glory that Israel had once been. He saw that the One would come to comfort the people of Israel, and be the consolation of Israel. The teachers had differing views of the sort of person this One would be. Some said a conquering king, other said a suffering servant, because the prophetic scriptures seemed to indicate both, and they couldn't see how he could be both, so they opted for one or the other. Simeon read these Scriptures and then it was as if someone or something – the Holy Spirit could it be? – seemed to say to him that this One would come in his lifetime. He became absolutely convinced, the more he thought about it, that this was God confirming this to him.

 

Now, do you see what has happened in what we've just described? Yesterday we described again ways that God speaks. Included in the list was through the Scriptures, and also directly by His Holy Spirit. In the text, in the verses we're reading, the Scriptures aren't actually mentioned, but being a righteous Jew in Jerusalem, he would certainly have been taught them. There clearly was, in Simeon, a coming together of Word and Spirit. He read it and he heard it in his spirit. That's how it happens in Christians. This man is a pre-Christian, a Christian in all but name, for he believes in the saviour, even though he's not there yet! He's read of him and been spoken to within himself of him. He is utterly convinced about the Coming One.

 

That's amazing because it's more than most people today achieve, who now have all the story of Jesus available to them and yet who don't bother to read, don't bother to seek. Jesus was later to say, “Seek and go on seeking, and you will find.” (Mt 7:7 using the ongoing tense that is there). We don't know quite how it was for Simeon but often there is something in people that starts them looking (God speaking to them?) and so they start searching and as they start searching the search becomes more intense – and as they go on searching they come to a place of decision, a place of realisation.

 

If you have read through these Advent meditations, welcome to the seekers club. Whether you're a Christian or a not-yet-Christian, welcome to the Club. Remember what it says at the top of the contents page – in the Introduction. As you read, pray, because as you pray you are seeking God and seekers who go on seeking always find. May this time be a time when you either find and deepen your existing relationship with God, or even perhaps for some, find Him for the first time. We're only a few days off Christmas now. Have this most wonderful of presents. If need be, go back and reread these meditations, go and read the whole story in a Bible. Seek and find.

 

 

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                                                                        tony.thomas@rochfordcc.co.uk