In Luke 2, Mary & Joseph take the infant Jesus and present him to the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem. When they enter the temple, they are approached by a man named Simeon. From Luke 2:25-33 (ESV): "Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous 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. And he came in 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 and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him."
I was reading this story for the umpteenth time the other day, and I always think about this when I read it: how would it feel to be Simeon at that moment? For hundreds of years, the Jews had waited for the Messiah. They studied the scriptures, earnestly looking for anything that might indicate the time of his arrival. And now he was here, and this man Simeon held him in his arms. Can you imagine how Simeon felt? I doubt words could describe it. He had been waiting all his life for this moment. Indeed, all of creation had been waiting for this moment since God formed it out of nothing. To hold God's living salvation in your hands, not many people can say that, can they? Like I said, this was the umpteenth time I had read this story, but this time for some reason the little light bulb over my head finally came on. What am I holding in my hands? The Bible. Then I'm holding God's living salvation as well. No, the Bible isn't a living organism, but its words are eternal life for those who are willing to accept them. As Jesus said in John 6:63: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." And again Jesus said in Matthew 24:35: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." And even today there are people like Simeon who are waiting to see God's salvation, because they don't know that it happened. No one has ever given them a Bible and explained the gospel to them. None of us would know about the gospel either, but God used men inspired by the Holy Spirit to write it down so it could be passed on to us. We didn't have to be there - we can read the Bible & go there nonetheless.
