I Have Seen Your Salvation!

Our pastor's sermon yesterday was taken from Luke 2. As it spoke to my heart I thought I would pass on some of those thoughts.

He began with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor executed in Nazi Germany.

"We have been shielded from the awful nature of Christmas and no longer feel afraid at the coming near of God Almighty. We have selected from the Christmas story only the pleasant bits, forgetting the awesome nature of an event in which the God of the universe, its Creator and Sustainer, draws near to this little planet, and now speaks to us. The coming of God is not only a message of joy, but also fearful news for anyone who has a conscience. It is only by facing up to the fearfulness of the event that we can begin to understand the incomparable blessing. And while He judges us, He loves us, He purifies us, He saves us, and He comes to us with gifts of grace and love."

In Luke 2: 25 we see the man Simeon whom we are told was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel. He came by the Spirit into the temple and took the Child Jesus into his arms and looked into His face. Simeon said "For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel."

It is good to try to grasp the human side of this baby so we can fully understand He became flesh to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we cannot do this without grasping His deity. While He was a baby, cried tears (in spite of a popular Christmas song that says "no crying He makes") and had the same needs any new born has we must understand this baby had a special plan and purpose for His life. That plan was to bring salvation and redemption to a fallen world.

We need to see the Child Jesus through the eyes of Simeon. As he held the baby in his arms he saw the Lord's salvation. This baby came to bring us hope, to show us the Father, to bring division among those who would believe and would not believe, to bring us the words of life and most of all to die for our sin. He came to be our salvation.

As we continue our celebration this Christmas and enjoy all the warm, happy things that surround our celebration of Jesus' birth, let us not forget the awesome nature of this event in which the God of the universe draws near to us and speaks to us. Let us face the fearfulness of this event so that we can understand the incomparable blessing of His coming.