St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1936-01-10

Uniform c@Tr00r
-:LESSON =
BY REV. P. 3. TTTzwATER. D. D..
Member Of Faculty, Moody Bible
Institute Of Chicago.
@ western Newspaper Union.
Lesson for January IL
sIMEoN's PROPHECY

LESSON TEXT-Luke 2:66-36, 10.
GOLDEN TEXT-Mine eyes have
seen thy salvation, which thou hast
prepared before the face OF all peo.
ple.-Luke $3.50, 81.
PRIMARY ToPIC-When Simeon
Saw Jesus.
JUNIOR ToP1c-why Simeon Re-
joiced.
INTERMEDIATE AND SENIOR
ToPIC-What Jesus Can Do for the
World.
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT
TOPIC-Jesus. the Hope Of All Ma
tions.
The occasion which brought Sim
con to recognize Jesus as the Mes
siah was his being offered to the
Lord by Mary and Joseph. Accord
ing to the Jewish custom (Lev. 12).
at the age Of eight days the male
child was circumcised and thus
made member Of the covenant ma
ton. In this case the child was
given the name Jesus which In.
dicated his mission wv. 22-24).
Then at the end Of 40 days he was
offered to the Lord on the basis Of
the original redemptiye purpose,
which was the priesthood Of the
frst-born, and not according to the
LeVitical order (Exod. ID 2; ct. SO:
26). The offering In such case was
a lamb for such as could afford 1t,
but for the poor q pair Of turtle
doves or pigeons was adequate. The
Savior thus came to the level Of the
poor.
1. ~simeon's Character ". 25).
1. Upright. He sustained a right.
relation to his fellow men. He was
"tust."
2. Devout. He was Of such a char
acter as to enjoy personal fellow
ship with God.
8. Waiting for the consolation Of
Israer-Messiah. Waiting for the
fulfllment Of the divine purpose in
the coming Of Messiah had a blessed
effect upon his life, inducing right
eousness and goodness. Waiting for
the second coming Of Christ is set
forth In the New Testament as hay
ing a salutary effect upon believers
Il John 3:3: I Thess. 1 g, 1O.
4. Under the sway Of the Holy
Spirit. One thus enabled would be
in a condition to recognize the Mes
siah. A spiritual mind is absolutely
essential in order to discern the d.
vine purpose II Cor. 2:14l.
| u. Simeon's Revelation (vv. 26-28).
He was assured that he should
not die until he had seen the Lords
Christ. When Christ was brought
to the temple, the Holy Spirit upon
Simeon enabled him to discern the
babe as the promised one. Happy
is the one whose character and spir-
itual experience is such that he
can discern the presence of the
Lord. Truly 1t is In him that we
live and move and have our be-
ing. To be in this state is to prae-
tice the presence Of God. So def
nitely was he led by the Spirit
that when Mary and Joseph brought
Jesus into the temple, he took him
up in his arms and blessed God,
indicating his personal and affec-
tionate appropriation Of the Mes
siah as his Savior and Lord.
III. SImeon's Song wv. 29-32).
This is the song known as the
'Nunc Dimittis," so named from
the Latin words with which 1t be-
gins.
/. He prays for a peaceable de-
parture ~. 29). Perhaps 1t was
more than prayer; it was praise
| to God that now he is having q.
blessed departure out Of this life,
having seen and handled the Savior.
Truly blessed are the dead who
died in the Lord. It Is wonderful
to live until conscious OF the full
fiIlment Of the divine purpose in
life and then to be released by
the sovereign Lord to appear In
his presence.
2 He praises God for a world
wide salvation wv. 30-32). The
"Nunc Dimittis" Is the universal
song, thus widely differing from the
''Magnificat" In that it Is wider than
the Jewish hope. Simeon saw
Christ as the Light to reveal saliva
ton to the Gentiles. This Is the
true glory Of Israel It is In keep
ing with the divine purpose in call
ing and disciplining this nation to
make 1t the channel through which
flha x,nln~h8 h1ano al &ha s-oo~1nu "A