Advent means 'coming,' and He did, in the end. But for hundreds of years, the Israelites were just...waiting. Words had been spoken - prophecies - of a Messiah... but generations were born and died without Him.
But God is a promise-keeping God. Every promise He proves.
And to one man, in one generation, He said: "You won't die until you see the Lord's Messiah." Simeon was a man "righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple." (Luke 2:25-27).
I can only imagine a lifetime of waiting, wondering if you heard Him right. Who was he to get to see the One generations before had not seen? Or did he just make all that up? Did he hear the Spirit right? The longer the wait, the easier doubt can grow...
But then that day when Spirit said: "Go to the Temple. Today's the day." Can you imagine the relief? The excitement? I wasn't crazy! It really was Him! He really did come! And not only did He come for Israel, He came and fulfilled His promise to one man - Simeon.
Or take Joseph. A teenager with dreams from the Lord of wheat stalks, and of heavenly bodies of sun and moon and stars, bowing down. It was so real, but what did it all mean? Cocky and so sure, he tells his family. But it costs him. Sometimes words you hear from the Lord are not for everyone. They need to stay hidden in the secret place. So years of pruning and purifying follow through slavery and Potipher's house, and prison - forgotten. "I must have dreamt wrong. Surely no one will ever bow to me."
But then they did. And Joseph was used to save so many lives. Whole nations from famine. And forgiveness for his family.
The subheading over Luke 2:25-35 in my little Bible is "The Prophecy of Simeon." Prophecy is a word from the Lord, telling of what is to come.
Jesus tells us the same in the book of John... these words from the Holy Spirit:
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, "The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me." (John 16:12-15, emphasis mine)
When you're 'full of the Spirit,' as Simeon was, don't be surprised if He gives you words about the future. Or senses of what's to come.
Three years ago, I saw visions of waves. I saw me holding up light. I heard, 'Set them free.' I felt it involved the church I'm at now (years before my job was ever posted). I heard these things sure as Simeon's word. Sure as Joseph's dreams. But the fullness of the meaning was still the Lord's. The Spirit told me what He received from Jesus, who received it from the Father. But only now am I just starting to see the meaning of these visions and words revealed.
And it's not what I thought it would be. It's better.
I'm sure Simeon couldn't begin to imagine how baby Jesus was going to 'rescue Israel.' Not from Rome, but from sin. He came to bring salvation. Could Simeon have known this? The ways of the Lord are so high above ours.
I can easily get ahead of myself. Run ahead. Try to pick open the corner of the wrapping with nervous fingertips to peek inside the gift before Christmas morning. If it's from God, my Good Father, I know it's a good gift. For my good and His glory. So I get anxious to know what's inside. I get excited. I get fearful that in the waiting, He'll take it away, or I'll miss it somehow. That the tag with my name on it will fall off and get lost under the tree...
But the thing about waiting is in the perfect timing. So many gifts, visions, words, would be ruined before its fullness of time. How many times did Jesus say His time had not yet come? Here He was on earth - finally! - and yet the time for the cross wasn't yet until it - all the sudden - was. "For you, any time is right" He tells his earthly brothers, who tried to rush Him into making a name for Himself.
With God, not only His gift, but His timing, is perfect.
I think about our adoption a lot these days. Three years beforehand, He started speaking to us, calling us to adopt. So we rush ahead. We have our own ideas of what surely we must be doing. Then we painfully crash and burn. Because it wasn't right, because it wasn't time. The twins weren't conceived until they were conceived. Then, six months later, was the day we met their birthparents. "Today's the day to go to the Temple, Simeon." And He led us on this beautiful path that was anointed and perfect.
Waiting on the Lord involves such supernatural trust and surrender. Not my will, but Yours, Lord. Not my timing, but Yours, Lord. It takes such strength of the Spirit to continually give something to Him in the 'before.' To wait on Him for the 'then.' To wait on something you don't even know what it is... To trust that when it is revealed and looks nothing like we originally thought, it's still good.
But His Word tells us that as we do this, we'll soar...
"Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
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