Simeon is one of those who played a major role in the Gospels, yet only gets the briefest of mention. While this might offend the pride we like to take in ourselves and in our heroes, it is only fitting that the best of men, when Jesus is in sight, get only the briefest mention. Perfection is come, and what shall we describe other than Him? In spite of the brevity of the passage which tells us of Simeon's part in the drama of Redemption, there is a great deal we can learn about him, and thereby learn from him.

The first thing that seems apparent is that Simeon was an aged man. There is nothing directly stated that would cause us to say this. He is not spoken of as an old man, and the promise that he would see the Christ before he died is not an assurance that he was indeed nearing death at the time. Indeed, his activities appear rather like those of a man still vigorous and strong. The one thing that makes me think that indeed he was an old man is his first reaction to the fulfillment of God's promise: "Now I can die in peace" (Lk 2:29). The nearness of death is not a thought that concerns the young. It is too far from their present to gain their attention. It is with increasing age that the brevity of life begins to make an impression on us. How old he is, we do not know, but he is certainly of mature age. That said, it is not his age that is of greatest interest here, but rather how he has been spending his time.

What we learn of Simeon is that he had been waiting for Jesus. It is one of the first things that is said of him. He was "looking for the Consolation of Israel" (Lk 2:25). He had not given up on God's promise. He was not rushing about trying to speed up God's fulfilling of that promise. I suppose if God tied some event to my death, even so loosely as this, I might not be in a rush to see it fulfilled either. Simeon, though, was not fearful of death. He did not labor to delay God's work any more than he sought to force God's hand. He was waiting. How did he wait? He waited expectantly. He waited with unshakable confidence in God's faithfulness. He waited actively. He did not simply lay about until God brought His will to pass. He was as constant in pursuing the path of righteous devotion as he was in his belief of God's word. He waited patiently. He was thorough in his observance of the things of religion, but not with any vain hope of moving God to act more quickly. He was constantly in the Spirit, but not so as to be immobilized by his own devotion. He was utterly confident that God who had spoken to him would not lie, nor would He fail of His word.

We don't know how long Simeon had been waiting. It is not told us when this word had come to him, only that he had this promise from God, and he acted upon it. This is written as an example for us. We are rich in terms of hearing from God. We have a wealth of preaching, an overabundance of it really. We have daily telecasts, hourly sermons on radio, bi-weekly services. We have Bibles beyond counting, study tools unimaginable to the Christian of even a few decades ago. Things once reserved for doctors of Divinity are now freely available to one and all. Tools of study once available only to the well-to-do Christian are now, in many cases, available free of charge. However, all this abundance of means for hearing God is of no avail if hearing is not accompanied by obedience.

Now, the simple fact that Simeon heard a personal message from God and believed it does not necessarily convey any sort of obedience on his part. But, I tell you it is there. It is there in the belief, the confident expectation that was Simeon's. The obedience of Simeon, though, is more clearly displayed in the events being described by Luke. The Holy Spirit had already told him he would see the Christ, and he had obeyed that message by instant and unshakable belief. Now, that same Holy Spirit impelled him to go to Temple. We cannot think by this that the Spirit was pushing him out the door of his house, forcing him to Temple against his own will. If ever one has heard the Spirit's guidance, he knows this is not the way of the Spirit. No, His is a gentle guidance, though sure. Sadly, it is quite easy for us to ignore His advice, to push on with our own plans when He seeks to move us.

This is at least a portion of what makes the difference between dead religion and righteous devotion. Dead religion will continue to pursue its rites and ceremonies long after the Spirit has said, 'stop.' Righteous devotion continues to pursue the rites and ceremonies of religion only because the Spirit says, 'go.' Dead religion has reduced righteousness to habit, no longer cares particularly about righteousness, only about appearance. Righteous devotion cares nothing for appearance, but pursues the habits of righteousness because the heart longs so to please the God who is its one desire. Dead religion seeks to gain man's approval by looking good. Righteous devotion knows God's approval, and seeks to reflect gratitude in obedience to the One who has approved.

I thank God that the Gospels give us the example of Simeon! Apart from him, we would be left thinking that organized religion must be a dead thing, that there was no hope but in breaking free of the bonds of organization. God would have no such thing of us! No! He never indicated that the stated goal of the Pharisees was wrong, only their implementation and their motivation. The rules were not the offense. The pride that was fed by the rules was. The rules were not the offense. The careful public observance of those rules combined with an absolute carelessness with the real condition of the heart was. The Pharisees, we might think, had heard one command from God way back early on, and had obeyed it. But, in obeying that one word, they neglected to listen for further instructions. Indeed, they would not listen to further instruction. Thus was obedience made sinful by the sinfulness of sin.

Simeon was just as thorough as any other Pharisee in his meticulous adherence to the rules. But in his devoutness he was counted as righteous. He was not counted as righteous because of his devoutness. No, indeed. He was counted as righteous because his devotion flowed out of a heart after God, rather than a heart bent on hiding from God behind a wall of goodness. Simeon stands as a declaration to the Church of the Free Spirit that there is nothing wrong with ritual when ritual is followed for the right reasons. The freest of churches is just as dead as the most rigidly programmed if the people who are the church are not 'in the Spirit.' If the people are not being led by God's command, neither ritual nor its absence can make them holy. If the people are centered in the will of God, moved by His direction and instant in obeying His voice, neither ritual nor its absence can disturb their righteousness in His sight.

The key lies in both hearing and obeying. It needs both. The Pharisees, as I said, had come to the point of obeying but no longer hearing. Many among us today are at a point of hearing but not obeying. We are so saturated with the word of God that it no longer moves us. Danger! "One word from God can change your life," declares the religious media. That's true, but if we stop at that one word, we are as dead as we were before. We cannot simply obey that first word and ignore all else. We must continually hear from Him, have our daily bread from His hand, else our spirit will starve within us. Without the renewing of our minds by His daily communication with us, we have joined the Pharisees in their hypocrisy. We are in great danger if this is our lot, for we will think ourselves obedient children when everything we are doing has become the stench of rebellion in His nostrils.

God, how easy it is to get caught up in the habits of religion and lose sight of Purpose! How easy it is to corrupt the good things You have given us and make of them an opportunity for sin. Forgive me, Father, if I have done this. No, I have no doubt that I have done this. Forgive me, therefore, for those words I have reduced to habits. Awaken my soul, Spirit, open my ears once more to Your voice! Point out to me those places where I have continued blithely on when You have been calling me to stop. Cleanse me of dead habits, of the appearance of holiness when all is corruption. Turn me aside, Holy One, when my 'righteous' steps have led me away from Your will. Restore to me a heart wholly devoted. No, not even this is right. Recreate my heart, for in truth I cannot say it has ever been wholly devoted to You. God! Take away all hypocrisy in me! I know that You see me as Your work will complete me, but take my hand, Jesus, and draw me closer to that completion! No longer whisper, but shout, I beg You, when I am in need of change. Ah! How often You must be shouting already, and wondering at the dullness of my hearing! I cry out for breakthrough Holy God! I cry out for Your cleansing power in me, that I might truly hear and obey as Simeon did. I cry out for Your pure wisdom in me, that I might learn to rest in You as You have commanded over and over again, that I might finally come to a place where I remain in the center of Your will constantly.

This is the very thing that defined Simeon's confidence, and his obedience. He didn't visit with the Spirit, he dwelt in the Spirit. He was not content for a touch, he rested in the Spirit. He remained there. Because of this, he was at rest not only in the Spirit, but in God's planning. He could step out with confidence because he knew the voice of God directing his steps. He could be still with confidence because he knew the voice of God telling him to stay his course. He was intimately acquainted with His Lord. I think it would not be going too far to suggest he was already well acquainted with Jesus before he lifted the Child in his hands at the Temple. He had, after all, been dwelling with the Holy Family for some time!

I am confident that it was not the urge of ritual that brought him to the Temple this particular day, it was not devotion that led him to the courtyard. It was familiarity with God's leading. The Spirit was urging him to go, and because he was intimately familiar with the Spirit, that urging was irresistible to him. It was not that the Spirit was impossible to oppose in this matter, it was that the simple fact that the Spirit sought his activity was more than sufficient reason for him to go. The servant's phrase so familiar to us, "your wish is my command," was so much more than lip-service in Simeon's case, it was the true statement of his heart condition. No, better still, I think it was "your wish is my greatest desire." That is what made the Spirit's urging irresistible to him! That is the life of intimacy with God! When God's wishes us to pursue the rituals of religion, it ought to be our greatest desire to pursue them. When God's wish is for us to set aside every rule of decorum and earthly wisdom and follow Him with no regard for our own appearance, our own sustenance, our own safety, it ought to be our greatest desire to cast aside every encumbrance and run after Him. When God's wish is for us to simply sit and chat awhile with Him, our greatest desire ought to be that we could remain so forever, just hearing Him tell us His thoughts and desires, and telling Him of our own.

Whatever His wish, that communication is our birthright, our heritage! If there is no other in this life to whom we can express ourselves unguardedly there is Him. Simeon exemplifies this for us as well. He had been resting in the Spirit, and therefore when God expressed His desire for Simeon to head for the Temple, no further word was needed. He was on his way. Yes, and in going to the Temple, he did not leave the Spirit behind. The communion he shared with God was not ended as he walked through the city. It continued unabated. Thus, when he arrived at his destination, though he had not heard any further instruction, he remained at peace and attentive, still just as much in the Spirit as he had been before he left home. He was just as positioned to receive the next instruction as he had been for the first. He heard the same Spirit when He instructed him where to position himself. He heard the same Voice when He pointed out the humble couple making their way to the altar. He heard with the same instant obedience when God said, "there is My Promise. Go say hello."

That same abiding in His presence was what made Simeon's hope a joyful confidence. That same abiding Presence is what changes wishful thinking into certain expectancy. That same abiding Spirit is what gives us inexpressible joy, for in His Presence we know we are where we ought to be. In His Presence we share in His plans, for we are His children and are not unaware of what our Father is doing. When that certainty of shared plans is ours, the joy of being right where we are supposed to be, doing just what we are supposed to do is ours. It is the same joy we feel in unwrapping a gift, but without any shred of concern that we might be disappointed with what we find inside. No! As we walk in the Presence and the Purpose of God, we are indeed unwrapping a gift beyond all gifts, and we are doing so with the absolute certainty that it shall be a good, a perfect gift, because God is the giver of all good gifts, and indeed, all His gifts are good and perfect!

Simeon demonstrates, in these few brief verses, what would be the standard for the life of the apostles, and for the disciples they went into the nations and made. The Spirit was on him. The Spirit revealed to him what was to happen and what he was to do. And, as he went about doing that very thing, he did so in the Spirit. The Spirit remained with him, and he in the Spirit. He willingly allowed the Holy Spirit to set his boundaries and define the limits of his action. He was surrounded by the Spirit, enveloped by Him. That thought always gets my own flesh tingling, yet there is more to it than simply the immediacy of God. There is safety in that! If we remain in the Spirit, centered in His presence, what enemy shall attack us with any hope of success? We are secure in our Strong Tower. It is when we slip away from Him, when we forget to listen for His direction and wander off on our own that we find ourselves in danger, for the wolves of the enemy would love to prevent us from returning.

Simeon was also equipped by the Spirit for the things he was called to do. He was actuated and inspired by the Holy Spirit. What he had to say was what the Spirit was telling him. What he did was what the Spirit told him to do. Where he went was where the Spirit indicated he should go, and where he stopped was where the Spirit said, "no further."

These things describe the record of the apostles, and also describe the glimpses we have of early church practices. It was a Spirit-actuated group of men who burst forth upon the world with the good news of the Gospel. As Paul would describe the Corinthian church later, so we could describe this first church of Jerusalem: not many were deemed wise men, not many were strong men, not many were of noble rank. The bulk of the apostles came from Galilee, the back-woods of Israel. Matthew was a tax-collector, one who had pursued what was, to the mind of the Jew then, and to many still today, the most vile of professions. To be a tax-collector was much like being a prostitute as far as the average man was concerned. What made this ragged group of men and women into a world-changing force was the world creating Power of the Holy Spirit. What made them effective evangelists was their constancy in seeking out the Presence of the Holy Spirit, of seeking His direction, His word regarding what was coming and what should be done about it. When they preached, they did not have education to fall on, so they depended wholly upon Him to give them the words to speak.

What is this, if not the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as we understand them to be? These same tools of life were evidently active amongst the Gentiles as Paul and Peter, along with so many others, brought the joyful news of Redemption to a world of need! The account of Paul's decision-making process shows clearly that the Spirit was deeply involved, and was not to be debated. The Spirit said 'no' to Asia. Paul did not argue. He went where the Spirit said 'yes.' The Spirit spoke to him of Macedonia, and no sooner was he awake then he was underway. The Spirit caused him to remain in particular cities for years, and there is no hint of his restlessness rising up in opposition to Holy Purpose. No! In all things, he had learned to be content, knowing that in all things, he remained in the Spirit, and the Spirit remained at rest upon him.

The churches that were founded knew this same assurance, this same active Presence in their midst. Granted, there were those who abused the things of the Spirit, those who merely mimicked the things of the Spirit, those who took the safety of His bounding Presence as an excuse for all manner of sin, showing that while they stood amongst children of God, they were not in truth children of God themselves, but imposters. The presence of counterfeit currency does not make the true currency less true! The presence of imposters does not make the real children less so. The presence of cheap imitation spirituality does not change the reality of the Spirit's interactions with man.

It is that same power which informs, guides, empowers, emboldens, and actuates the Church today. God has not changed, nor is He likely to any time soon. The Perfect has not yet come. We are not yet in glory, before the throne of the Father, outside of time in the kingdom of heaven. We remain here, in the midst of a fallen world, with the limited understanding of the flesh. We remain largely unaware of what tomorrow holds so long as there is a tomorrow. We are not even given to know when tomorrows shall cease! Apart from the Holy Spirit, we are at a total loss! We know nothing of what is coming, nothing of what God is planning. We are clueless as to what specifically we should be doing at any particular moment. Yes, we have the ritual, the habitual, the set of things we know to do constantly. Of course, without Him we are powerless to manage even that, and quickly slip into a death by works. We are just as thoroughly and utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit today as ever the apostles, the evangelists, and the Church at large were! To refuse His gifts, His words of prophecy and encouragement, in light of our need is utter foolishness!

The thing I really love about Simeon is that because he was so consistently in the Spirit, he was walking through Jerusalem a man behind the veil. All day long he was in the Holy of Holies. It didn't matter where he was physically, his spirit was with the Spirit of God, in the Holy Place, and nothing else mattered. Paul would tell us that these bodies of ours are intended to be the Temple grounds, our hearts the Holy Place, the temple of the Living God. Simeon already understood this. Simeon already lived this. He bore the ark of the covenant within himself wherever he was, whatever he did. Even as he entered the courts of the Jerusalem Temple, he stood in the Holy of Holies rejoicing in his Lord and Savior.

Because he stood in a place that almost nobody else stood, being in the Holy Place, he saw what almost nobody else saw in the events of that day. He stood in the Spirit. He saw in the Spirit. He understood in the Spirit. Therefore, he saw God in the child of a country couple. Therefore, he saw the Hope of Creation in a family too poor to offer more than a couple of pigeons for their child. He saw the overflowing, abundant richness of God in the apparent lack of means this family suffered. He saw reason to rejoice because as humble as these beginnings appeared to the eyes of the flesh, the eyes of the Spirit revealed God made man that in Himself He might redeem man!

One last aspect of life in the Spirit is displayed in this man. Those who live in the Spirit will recognize one another. Anointing recognizes anointing, Spirit recognizes Spirit. Let me take it another step: Purpose recognizes Purpose. When we are truly centered upon the will of God, truly positioned by His command, actuated by His will, impelled by His desire, we will know those others around us who are likewise centered, positioned, actuated, and impelled. They may be utter strangers to us, yet by the Spirit they will be as known to us as the oldest of friends. What a glorious fellowship is offered to us in this! What sorrow we should feel that we so often fail to live in a fashion that allows us to fully participate in it!

Spirit, I know there are numerous times daily that I neglect You as I ought not to do. Teach me, Teacher, how to remain in Your presence, to be constant in hearing Your words. Show me how this flesh may be subdued, quieted, its rebelliousness at an end. How I long to hear You assess my life as You assessed Simeon's! How I long for that, and how far from deserving that I feel! Yes, Lord, and I know that he no more deserved that assessment in himself than do I. Yet, there remains a standard shown that I would I could attain to, and in You I know I can - only in You. Oh! Forgive me for the times I have acted in a fashion that spites Your presence. Forgive me for the many times I have refused to heed Your word. I need Your discipline, Father, that I might finally be in control of this rebellious body of corruption! No, I don't in any way look forward to the pain and frustration of that discipline, but I welcome it, Lord, knowing that it comes from the hands of love, and knowing that it is exactly what I need, no more and no less. Let this life be according to Your will alone, Holy God, and I will be satisfied.