The Holy Spirit Was Upon Him

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 on him.

Luke 2:7

I saw a movie on Netflix sometime in 2020 called Old Guard. It’s about a group of mercenaries, all centuries-old immortals with the ability to heal themselves. They couldn’t age or die, no matter the instrument with which you attack. Just imagine what that level of confidence can do to a man. The mere thought of it sounded like something that could only have happened in a movie right? Except that the bible told us about one man to whom God gave a similar commitment – Simeon. 

What is most interesting about the life of Simeon wasn’t his supposed immortality, the bible says that the Holy Spirit was on him. That may not amount to much until you begin to examine the way this man lived simply because the Holy Spirit was upon him, the bible says that he was ‘righteous and devout’. 

First, God’s plan was revealed to him. Luke 2:26 says that ‘It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah’ God’s plan of sending a saviour was revealed to him but much more than that he committed to watching over the word and waiting for it’s fulfilment. In response to that God gave him a length of life commensurate with the assignment. God didn’t prolong his life just so he could travel around the world to enjoy all the money he had accumulated at the expense of other important things of life, this long life was for him to watch over the revelation given to him. 

Second, when the fulfilment of the promise finally came, Simeon was in the spirit still watching over the word of the Lord, then Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required (Luke 2:27). Simeon didn’t come into the temple having heard a rumour or listened to the news but by the leading of the Spirit. 

When he took the child in his arms, he broke out in prophecy narrating everything that this child would be and do from that time till after his death, Simeon saw beyond the death of Jesus into the birth of the church and even the expansion of the gospel unto the gentiles.

How far can you see? Without the Holy Spirit, we are miserably limited in our sight but with him the future is as clear as crystal. If there is anything you must desire today, it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit unto overflowing.

PRAYER