Salvation is a picture word. It has wide application that expresses essentially the idea of rescue. But salvation is used in a specific sense as we find it here in the Bible. And this is what it is referencing. It is an expression of the good news of what God did for us in the incarnate Christ in order to save us from sin, the devil, and death.

And that is the significance of the amazing statement that we find being made by Simeon here in chapter 2 of Luke and verse 30 in particular. He says, “My eyes have seen your salvation.” What could he possibly mean by that? Of all the things that are said when you take a newborn baby into your arms and you will have said all kinds of things, I’m sure as I have done often out of embarrassment.

We don’t know what to say. And so we just say, “My, he has his mother’s nose.” Or, “Can you believe how much dark hair he has or whatever else it is?” But for Simeon, he had no doubt what he was going to say. Now, you need to remind yourself of what we’re told about Simeon in verse 25. He was a man. He lived in Jerusalem.

His name was Simeon. He was righteous and he was devout. And he was actually waiting. If people had said, “What are you waiting for, Simeon?” He would have said, “I’m waiting for the consolation of Israel.” What did he mean by that? I’m waiting for the promises that God has made to his people to be fulfilled. There is a king who is coming.

There is a prophet who is coming. There is a priest who is coming. And somehow or another, the kingship and the prophetic role and the role of priest is going to be amalgamated, is going to be unified in one person. And that’s what I’m waiting for. If people have said, “Where do you get all that stuff from?” He said from reading my Bible and it’s all there and that’s why I’m here. I’m waiting.