by David Scott Robertson
"Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ." -- Luke 2:25-26
Simeon.
The invincible man.
Invincible because it was impossible for him to die...prematurely.
No freak accidents.
No fatal heart attack.
No enemy of Israel to strike him down.
No deadly surprises possible.
No demon in hell could contradict the plan.
For the Spirit of God had revealed to Simeon
That he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ, the Messiah.
Simeon would not, simply could not, die
Until the face of the consolation of Israel,
Who would later become known as Jesus of Nazareth,
Met his old and weary eyes.
Simeon was on a mission from God.
He was on divine assignment from heaven.
With the call came supernatural protection.
He had no idea that his story
Would be part of the canon of scripture for all eternity.
Simeon simply had the word of the Lord
And it changed the way he lived
And impacted the time he died.
Can you imagine how it would make you feel
Knowing that you could not die until
Some precise, exact, and specific event happened?
Such knowledge of God-ordained destiny
Should not promote pride or arrogance.
It should not foster neglect of responsibilities
And fuel an appetite for presumptuous and foolish risk-taking.
It should, instead, spur a person on toward
Watchfulness,
Soberness,
Vigilance.
A daily dynamic expectation of the
Invevitable, supernatural, extraordinary intervention of God.
Constantly,
Daily,
Watching,
Waiting patiently in humility
For the day (perhaps today),
For the hour (what time is it?)
For the momentous moment
To actually see the
Lord's Anointed,
Emmanuel,
The Prophet of all prophets,
The King of all kings,
The Lord of all lords,
Indeed, the Savior of the world.
And one day,
Just as the Holy Spirit had predicted,
It happened.
The event of a thousand lifetimes happened.
Diety met humanity.
Then,
Without any fanfare,
The invincible man went the way of all the earth and died
At some unknown time
At some nondescript place.
What does the account of
The invincible man
Teach us?
Like Simeon.
If we get the word of the Lord
That something will happen,
(Or something will not happen)
Then we can stake our lives
That the thing will come to pass even as the Lord has spoken it
In due season,
In the fulness of time.
But we must we wise when handling holy things.
Don't disqualify yourself.
Don't put the Lord your God to a foolish test.
Don't act presumptuously.
Don't deviate from the plan of God.
Don't add to or take away from the prophecy.
Don't neglect what God has
Instructed, commanded, or required you to do
In order for the thing to come to pass.
Do not let the thief
Steal you prophecy,
Kill your word from God,
Or destroy your vision.
But above all,
Avoid the most dangerous snare of them all:
"[do] not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but [be] strengthened in [your] faith and [give] glory to God, being fully persuaded that God [has] power to do what he [has] promised." Romans 4:20-21
DSR
11/6/00