The Waiting Church

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Luke 2:25-35

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout…

All the saints have waited for Jesus. Our mother Eve waited for the coming of Christ; when her first son was born, she said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." True she was mistaken in what she said: it was Cain, and not Jesus. But by her mistake we see that she cherished the blessed hope. That Hebrew patriarch, who took his son, his only son, to offer him for a burnt offering, expected the Messiah, and well did he express his faith when he said, "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb." He who once had a stone for his pillow, the trees for his curtains, the heaven for his canopy, and the cold ground for his bed, expected the coming of Jesus, for he said on his death-bed — "Until Shiloh come." The law-giver of Israel, who was "king in Jeshurun," spake of Him, for Moses said, "A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me: Him shall ye hear." David celebrated Him in many a prophetic song — the Anointed of God, the King of Israel; Him to whom all kings shall bow, and all nations call Him blessed. How frequently does he in his Psalms sing about "my Lord"! "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool." But need we stop to tell you of Isaiah, who spake of His passion, and "saw His glory"? of Jeremiah, of Ezekiel, of Daniel, of Micah, of Malachi, and of all the rest of the prophets, who stood with their eyes strained, looking through the dim mists of futurity, until the weeks of prophecy should be fulfilled — until the sacred day should arrive, when Jesus Christ should come in the flesh? They were all waiting for the consolation of Israel. And, now, good old Simeon, standing on the verge of the period when Christ would come, with expectant eyes looked out for Him. Every morning he went up to the temple, saying to himself, "Perhaps He will come to-day." Each night when he went home he bent his knee, and said, "O Lord, come quickly; even so, come quickly." And yet, peradventure, that morning he went to the temple, little thinking, perhaps, the hour was at hand when he should see his Lord there; but there He was, brought in the arms of His mother, a little babe; and Simeon knew Him. "Lord," said he, "now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." "Oh," cries one, "but we cannot wait for the Saviour now!" No, beloved, in one sense we cannot, for He has come already. The poor Jews are waiting for Him. They will wait in vain now for His first coming, that having passed already. Waiting for the Messiah was a virtue in Simeon's day; it is the infidelity of the Jews now, since the Messiah is come. Still there is a high sense in which the Christian ought to be every day waiting for the consolation of Israel. I am very pleased to see that the doctrine of the second advent of Christ is gaining ground everywhere. I find that the most spiritual men in every place are" looking for," as well as "hastening unto," the coming of our Lord and Saviour. I marvel that the belief is not universal, for it is so perfectly scriptural. We are, we trust, some of us, in the same posture as Simeon. We have climbed the staircase of the Christian virtues, from whence we look for that blessed hope, the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

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