“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”  (Luke 2:29-32).

Our God is a God of promises.  He makes promises and keeps them.  One of his greatest promises was that he would send his Messiah into the world to redeem his people.  His birth is “the dawn of [that] redeeming grace.”  Simeon is speaking in the verses above.  In the context of these verse, he is described as a righteous and devout man.  He was waiting for the Messiah to come.  In fact, he had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he saw the coming of the Messiah.  The Spirit led him into the temple on that and he was able to hold in his arms the Messiah of God.  For Simeon, it was enough just to see the “dawn of [God’s] redeeming grace.”  Now he was able to “depart in peace, according to [God’s] word.”  Now we Gentiles do not walk in the dawn’s light, but we remember the dawn at Christmas time.  Now we walk in the Messiah’s “light for the revelation to the Gentiles.  Let us remember the dawn as we now walk in the noonday’s light of the redeeming grace of our Lord.

SILENT NIGHT

Silent night, Holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant, tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace,
Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, Holy night
Shepherds quake, at the sight
Glories stream from heaven above
Heavenly, hosts sing Hallelujah.
Christ the Savior is born,
Christ the Savior is born.

Silent night, Holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth.