READING IN LUKE 2
READING IN LUKE [p. 8] 2
Simeon represents a priestly state in the temple. He was there to receive, as it were, the true Ark of the testimony. “It was divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple”, verse 26. The scene was divinely arranged, for God would have a true priest to receive the Ark. Simeon received the Babe into his arms. Every divine thought was embodied in that Infant. The true Ark was there in the temple in the arms of one who valued Him, and who had light as to what was involved in His presence.
In Exodus the cherubim come before the priest. They represent the Father’s care for Christ, and this appears in the gospels even before His birth; the priest, or priestly state, corresponds with this on man’s side. In Exodus 25 we see the cherubim, and in chapter 28 the priest is introduced. In a sense, Simeon has the wave offering of Leviticus 8 in his hands. The priestly state is produced in us by the Spirit. In all that Simeon does here he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Simeon sees in Christ God’s salvation, “a light for revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel”. It was a more extended view than that of Zacharias. Then he says to Mary, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel”. The fall must come in our history before the rising again. The Lord should be a sign spoken against, and a sword should go through Mary’s soul. The accomplishment of God’s thoughts of grace did not lie in connection with a path of outward glory and worldly favour, but of reproach, and death at the end. This would reveal the thoughts of many hearts.
Anna represents the enduring character of what [p. 9] God produces in His people. She was of a great age but “departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day”, verse 37. In Simeon we see the intelligent side of the remnant, in Anna we see affection and enduring interest in that which was of God on earth. Seeing the Babe in the temple, she gives praise to the Lord, and speaks of Him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Her foot is dipped in oil, engaged in active service at the age of eighty-four; she was a true daughter of Asher. As her days, so was her strength, Deuteronomy 33: 24, 25.
We have now to consider the boyhood and manhood of our Lord. What the Spirit emphasises here in verses 40 - 52 is the genuineness of His humanity. First, we have, “the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him”. Then in verse 52, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man”. Becoming incarnate, true humanity is seen in the Lord in every stage of it from infancy to mature manhood. Every phase was real and perfectly set forth. There was nothing, we may say, which was not normal. Whether infancy, boyhood or manhood, each was genuine. It is the vessel of grace that is before us in Luke, and He touched man at every point or stage of man’s existence. Only the Spirit of God could present in such simplicity what is fraught with such infinite depths of meaning and results. It is the outward, every — day history of the Lord that is presented, and all is infinitely perfect, but set forth in such ordinary circumstances that the most lowly and uncultured could easily understand and appreciate. In this way God would make Him, in whom He was approaching men in grace, interesting and attractive to all.
The age of twelve may point to the period when responsibility begins; at this age the Lord is engaged in His Father’s business. But having asserted His divine sonship and mission, He at once resumes His place in subjection to His parents. “He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them”, verse 51. It is boyhood in perfection. Even in this there is that which is calculated to attract men, for who among parents but would appreciate such becoming obedience in a child? The Spirit is here showing the character of the vessel of God’s grace before He appeared publicly. Whatever the relation He was in, whether as a Child to His parents, or a Man among men, He was in every way attractive; He was “in favour with God and man”. Here it is no question of His testimony, but of what the Man was, as in the ordinary circumstances of human life in this world. During these thirty years of private life the evenness and perfection of His character, as set forth in the meat offering, came under the eye of God. How the gospel is adorned by Him by whom it has been preached to men!.
The providential circumstances in which the Lord’s parents were found were fully accepted; although His wonderful “understanding and answers” would secure Him a place among the doctors at Jerusalem, He returned with Joseph and Mary to Nazareth, and was in subjection to them. Nazareth was obscure and despised, but this mattered nothing to Him to whom God’s will was everything. In Nazareth “he was brought up”; the quiet grace and gentleness, and every lovely feature that came out in Christ, were displayed in outwardly mean surroundings in an obscure spot. And all foreshadowed the marvellous testimony of grace that was to follow. The divine way of reaching the hearts of men with the gospel is thus seen; suspicion as to God’s nature, which ever lurks in our natural hearts, is overthrown when we apprehend that God [p. 11] has approached us in such a Person as this.
It is God’s thought that the gospel should be adorned by those who preach it. Of the Lord it was said, “they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth”. He said to Simon and Andrew, “I will make you to become fishers of men”. To fish for men we must beware that we do not scare them away, but rather lure or attract them. We have to learn everything from Christ. In this gospel we see divine compassion laying itself out to reach men and gain their confidence so as to save them, carefully avoiding everything that might tend to prejudice or repel those whom it would befriend.