He Divides The World Part 1

Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. When light comes, darkness scatters. The brightness of Jesus made clear the blackness of sin, and those who encountered him either repented or rebelled. This was prophesied by an old man in the temple at Jerusalem. From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, in the real world, all is not peace and light.

The baby who changed the world would be a catalyst for division, as many would not believe. You know, Dave, that's absolutely true. And I know that you have been to Israel, and so have I. And whenever I'm in the temple area, I oftentimes think of Anna and Simeon, which is going to be our emphasis today, as he held the baby Jesus in his arms.

Someday I'd like to ask him what that was all about and how he felt about it. But what a privilege it is for us here at Running to Win to share the good news of the gospel with so many people. Did you realize that Running to Win is on over a hundred stations throughout Central and South America? Someone has written, it is very important for us to hear these messages explained in a simple and clear way. They show the reality of our condition, but also the good news of the gospel.

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You go to RTWOffer.com, click on the endurance partner button, or call us at 1-888-218-9337. And at the end of this message, I'll be giving you that contact information once again. But now we go back to Jerusalem and Simeon, who held the baby Jesus in his arms.

What a moment. You know, Jesus is actually more controversial than modern society will allow us to believe. If you were to go down to the corner of State and Madison Street here in the city of Chicago, you'd find that most people would say wonderful things about Jesus. They would not only call him a great teacher, but they'd say things like, he's the one who taught us to love and he's an all-inclusive Jesus. But the more we get to know Jesus and the closer we look at him, we understand then why Jesus said the world hates him.

You look at the full portrait of Jesus in the New Testament and you get a very different picture of who Jesus is. He divides people. Three times in the Gospel of John, it says that there was a division among them regarding Jesus. Chapter 7, there was a division among them. Chapter 9, and they were divided.

And chapter 10, there was a division among them. Jesus divides. As a matter of fact, he even said, I didn't come to bring peace. I came to bring a sword.

Imagine that. Early on in his life here on earth, it was clear that he was going to divide. The passage of scripture I have in mind that I want you to turn to is found in Luke chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, and we find here that in those days when a woman had a child, especially the firstborn, she had to go into a temple and there was a rite of purification and you were to bring some animal. It's very interesting that evidently Mary and Joseph brought some turtle doves or pigeons.

And the reason they did that is that that was the poor man's sacrifice, which gives us a hint that Jesus was not brought up in a well-to-do home. But they come there, and they're to dedicate also the firstborn to the Lord, and Jesus was the firstborn in his family. By the way, how many firstborns do we have? Would you raise your hands, please? All over the sanctuary you have firstborns.

That means that you are gifted, talented, and the reason we know that is you generally tell us. And the firstborns are very interesting. Most of them, most of our presidents were firstborns.

They are leaders. And another great contribution that firstborns make is that because of them, there are secondborns and lastborns, such as I am. But the firstborns, you who raised your hand, especially given to God.

In this context, we are introduced to a man by the name of Simeon. We believe him to be an old man. The Bible doesn't say he was old, but he expected to die after this event.

So he probably was old. And what I want you to do is to see some characteristics of him and then understand why this passage should impact our lives forever. Whenever you open the scripture, your life should be changed. And I believe that that will happen as a result of this passage. First of all, we find out that Simeon, this man, he was taught by the Word and the Holy Spirit.

Let's read the text. I'm in verse 25 of Luke chapter 2. 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 until 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 he eulogized God.

Just that far for just a moment. You'll notice that he was one of these who belonged to the remnant. He was righteous and devout, and he was looking for the consolation of Israel, that is, the comfort of Israel. He knew that if there was to be any comfort in Israel, it would have to come from outside of the country.

It would have to come from God. He was looking toward the Messiah, the comfort of Israel, the paraclete. Jesus said, I send you a paraclete, a comforter. And he'd been looking forward to that with a great deal of hope. And God revealed to him that he would live to see Messiah, the Lord's Christ. Would you keep in mind that in Israel it's not as if everybody was rejecting Jesus? We have all those conflicts in the gospels that might lead us to believe that nobody was really waiting for the true Messiah.

Well, there were some who were. You think of Luke chapter 1. We have Elizabeth. We have Mary.

Here we have Simeon. And then Anna, God bless her. I can't speak about Anna today. She should have a separate sermon of her own. But in verse 37, she was a widow until she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him who were all waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. There was a remnant. Now, you know the meaning of that word remnant. If you have a bolt of cloth and it's all gone, there may be a piece left.

It is sometimes the leftovers. But it means few in comparison to the whole. And my friend today, that's the way it also is with the coming of Jesus Christ in the future. Jesus once asked the question, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

And the implication is not much. Do you belong to the remnant that looks forward to the return of Christ? Paul says that I will receive, speaking of himself, the crown of righteousness which the Lord gives to all those who love his appearing. Do you love the appearing of Jesus? Do you wait for him?

Are you part of the remnant? And for those who look for him, the scripture says, he shall appear a second time onto salvation. I find that most people look forward to the coming of Jesus when they are in trials. When persecution comes, the church begins to look forward to the return of Jesus.

Or when people are in difficulty, God, get us out of this predicament. Come, Lord Jesus. But actually, these folks instruct us that the reason that we should look forward to the coming of Jesus is because we love him, and we want to be with him, and we look forward to his appearing.

So are we part of the remnant? This man was taught by the Word of God and the Spirit of God, but now he held in his arms the Son of God. As I read just a moment ago, he took Jesus in his arms. That's in verse 28, and he blessed God. He eulogized God the very same way in which Zechariah did, if you were here when I preached that message on his poem. Whenever you don't know what to do, when you are in the worst possible straits you could ever experience, you bless God. You eulogize him.

And that's what Simeon does. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. From an eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people, Israel. He eulogizes God. Now, what we must recognize is that the baby that he held, try to grasp this as far as the human mind can because we can't grasp it all, but the baby that he held in his arms was God. Every Christmas, I mentioned to you, because it's so relevant, our firstborn daughter, she asked the question, who was taking care of the universe when God was a baby?

That's a good question. If you know anything about kids, oh, do they ask good theological questions? We have a granddaughter who asked some time ago, is God bigger than the stars in the universe, or does he just make himself fit in?

Well, take that one home, would you please? So her question was, who was taking care? Well, the answer is that when Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms, there was more to Jesus than the human eye could see. That's why we sing, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

But all of the attributes of God, the incarnation began in the womb of Mary. The great preacher of England, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, put it this way, and I'll paraphrase his words. He said, would it be as if all of the sun, the light of the sun, were consecrated, concentrated rather, in one place, and yet the glow that it emitted was so soft that the human eye could take it all in, trying to grasp the mystery of godliness that here was Simeon holding God in his hands, God in the flesh. And the poem that he now speaks, these blessed words as he eulogizes God, shows that he has a missionary spirit, because he says, mine eyes have seen your salvation that you've prepared in the presence of all the people for a light of revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel. The coming of Jesus was not just for the Jews, but a light to the Gentiles.

He was able to see beyond the narrow view of many of the Jewish people who thought that the Messiah was just for them. He saw that it was for all the people, and a glory, he says, for your people Israel. You see, the glory left the temple in the Old Testament. You remember, in the book of Ezekiel, the glory departs.

The Shekinah glory leaves, goes through the Kidron Valley, is at the Mount of Olives, and then disappears. And now the glory has returned. Jesus is there. And the glory has returned to the temple in the presence of God's Son. In him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now, of course, you can go to the temple today.

If you ever have an opportunity to go to Israel, possibly you can do that with Dr. Rydelnik and me. At times we do go, as many of you know. And you know what? We can actually now, today, thanks to archaeology, walk on the original steps that led into the temple area. And when you walk there, you know that you're walking where Jesus walked. You know that you're walking where Simeon walked.

Anna didn't walk there too often. It says that she lived in the temple area. They had a bed for her there so that she could just praise God and fast all the time that she was there. But the glory returned when Jesus came to the temple. Now, Simeon, therefore, he holds the Son of God, and he understands the wider ministry of Jesus. Let me say also that Simeon, he not only was taught by the Word and the Spirit, not only did he hold the Son of God, but he understood the purposes of God. And he knew that the coming of Jesus was going to initiate some rough times. And Jesus would not only be a unifier but a divider as well.

He would divide humanity. Look at the words that he now gives to the parents of Jesus. Mary and Joseph, verse 33, and his father and his mother marveled at what was being said about him.

Remember this. They didn't have a clear picture even of who this child was. They knew that he was special. They probably knew he was Messiah.

But the future was unknown to them as well. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed. And a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

A look at the prediction, the prediction that Simeon was making here. And there are three images, really, that he uses, three images. First of all, he uses the stone. Now, the word stone does not occur in the text, but that's the imagery. You'll notice he says that this child was set for the fall and the rise of many in Israel.

What does that remind you of? For example, in the book of Psalm 118, it says that Jesus is the cornerstone and the stone which the builders rejected has been made the chief cornerstone. And then in the Gospel of Luke chapter 20, Jesus, again, referring to this passage, and what you have is a reference to himself when he talks about himself being the chief cornerstone. He says, whoever falls on the stone will be smashed. Whoever upon whom the stone falls will be ground to powder. That's a very different picture of Jesus, isn't it, than popular culture would want us to believe. I mean, who is this Jesus who has established for the rise and the fall of many in Israel? Receive him and you will rise.

Reject him and you will fall. And the stumbling will be huge and irreversible ultimately. Wow, what a prediction Simeon is making regarding Jesus. But not only that, the third image that is used is he shall be for a sign. He shall be for a miracle, the sign that will be opposed, that will be opposed. And they opposed him all the time, didn't they? They opposed him during his life.

They said he does miracles by bilzable. That is the devil. He is demon-possessed. That's what Jesus was told. That's what he had to put up with. They opposed him then in his life. They opposed him in his death. He saved others.

But himself he cannot save. If he's the Son of God, let him come down from the cross. They opposed him in his resurrection.

Let us make up the story that the disciples stole the body. And when he returns to earth, especially the return in glory as described in the Old Testament and the New, there will be opposition to him. The nations of the earth will actually fight against him and his sovereignty. He is a sign that is to be opposed. I hope that you are not part of that opposition. You know, as we are worshiping today, before him, we humbly bow. Yes, before him, we do lowly, humbly bow as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Listen to me carefully. Don't take on Jesus. You will lose.

We'll remember that. And so Simeon talks about the rise and the fall. He speaks about a sign to be opposed. And then he goes on to speak about the sword. He says to Mary, a sword shall enter into your heart.

A sword shall enter into your heart. Isn't it interesting that Simeon says nothing about Joseph? Now we know that Joseph lived long enough to father six children. Jesus had half brothers and sisters. In fact, in Mark chapter 6, all of the brothers are listed, and then it says his sisters.

So he had at least two making six. The idea that Mary was a perpetual virgin is part of that mythology that grew up during the Middle Ages and before that time. But actually, biblically, she had other children with Joseph.

But what also seems to be clear is that by the time Jesus began his ministry, almost certainly Joseph had died, because nowhere is he in the gospel story in terms of all of the opposition that Jesus had. Mary always has to show up, and she is there. Go to the cross, and you find Mary.

Mary is the one who bore in her own heart the sword. And she was, if we can put it this way, a single mother at some point in her life. And think of all that she had to put up with, and you know, raising Jesus was not as easy as we think it was. You think, for example, that even his family began to wonder about his sanity.

That's really true. They wanted to see him because people were saying he was deranged, and that's the passage I referred to in a previous message where Jesus would not allow his family to come to him as if based on some human relationship, though undoubtedly they eventually, of course, came to him and particularly his mother. But here we have Mary bearing the sword, and that sword began early. By the way, isn't it wonderful that God entrusted his son to a mother? Everlastingly, motherhood is exalted. And the sons and the daughters of God that he entrust to you and to me, what a huge responsibility he says to us, raise this child for me. Raise this child for the glory of God. As you've heard me say, you have a little Jesus in your home, though he's not behaving quite as well as the Jesus of the New Testament.

Well, you know, I don't know about you, my friend, but I've often thought about what that was like. We know that Jesus had many half-brothers. The Bible actually lists their names. So it must have been very interesting for Mary and Joseph to navigate raising these children. Lots of mystery, but also lots of excitement as we think of the fact that the Redeemer was born. Well, we're near the end of the year.

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Thanks in advance for helping us. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Jesus would divide people, and that division would run right through Mary's soul. Next time on Running to Win, Simeon utters a troubling prophecy, as he holds the Christ child in his arms. This is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.