“Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You may now dismiss Your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared in the sight of all people;
a light of revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”

Looking at Jesus, Simeon proclaims to have seen God’s salvation, prepared in the sight of all people.  Simeon, a man filled with the Holy Spirit as few before him had been, proclaims Jesus as God’s salvation.  This is not hard for us to take given what we know of Jesus.  But Jesus is 8 days old here, and Mary, less than a year from her encounter with Gabriel the angel, hears him loud and clear.

Jesus is the light spoken of throughout the Old Testament prophets, the light that will reveal God to the Gentiles.  John will begin his Gospel with this image of a light shining in the darkness.  Jesus will use this image to describe Himself as the Light of the World and His disciples as bearers of that same light.  It is He who can show God to the Gentiles because He is the very image of God.

But He is also the glory of God’s people.  That’s us, folks.  Our glory is not in the size of our churches, or the amount of ministries we can run, or even the number of people we can help.  Our glory is not in our structures, or our leaders, or even in our beliefs.  Our glory is only in Jesus Christ, for He is our glory.

Simeon witnessed Jesus’ dedication and bore witness to Jesus Himself.  We are the same witnesses.  We bear witness to Jesus’ activity in our lives with our every word and action.  How will you bear witness today?

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