“For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:30-32).
Among those waiting for the Messiah was a devout man by the name of Simeon. Luke 2:26 says, “And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” The “Lord’s Christ” refers to “the anointed One, the Messiah.” Simeon recognized the infant Jesus as the promised One, and took Him up in his arms and praised God (see Luke 2:27-28). It was a touching expression of Simeon’s extraordinary faith that this Child was God’s Son, sent to bring salvation to His people.
Yes, Jesus was the prepared Son, and He is the prepared Savior. Someone has said, “You may notice in a piece of cloth a single strand of gold appearing here and there and assume that it got there by a slip of the weaver’s hand. But if you see in the center of the fabric a thread woven in and out until it has formed the shape of a man, you know that skillful hands have moved the shuttle through the loom.”
Looking at the course of Hebrew history as it unfolds in the Old Testament, we can discern a clear line of Messianic prophecies moving in and out until there comes into view the figure of One Who was wounded, bruised, and crowned with thorns. Do you recognize Him as the Redeemer of mankind? We know it was the hand of the Lord which brought about this event. “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman…” (Galatians 4:4). God sat at the loom to fashion and fulfill His wonderfully prepared Salvation!
The Babe born in a manger, announced by the angels, adored by the shepherds, presented in the Temple, and worshiped by Simeon is God incarnate! As the second stanza of the well-known hymn by Charles Wesley puts it, “Christ, by highest heav’n adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord: Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King.”
Yes, our Lord is the fulfillment of the countless prophecies that pointed unmistakably to the Savior Whose name is Jesus! Purposed in eternity past and promised in the Scriptures, He came in the fullness of time, divinely prepared for the salvation of sinners like you and like me. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15).