My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation

Christmas Day has come, and we celebrate it through the eyes of an old man holding a baby. Simeon, who had waited a lifetime, takes the infant Christ in his arms and breaks into a song of completed longing: Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace… for my eyes have seen Your salvation. He holds salvation in his arms, not an idea of salvation, not a promise of it, but salvation itself, made flesh, small enough to cradle. And having seen this, he is ready even to die in peace; his eyes have beheld the one thing worth waiting a whole life to see.

Notice how Simeon describes the child: Your salvation… a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel. This newborn is salvation for the whole world, a light for the Gentiles, the outsiders, the far-off, and the glory of Israel, all at once. On the very day of His birth, the universal scope of His coming is declared: this Saviour is for all peoples. The baby in Simeon's arms is the salvation of God, come for the world, for Jew and Gentile, for the waiting and the wandering, for you.

On this Christmas Day, take your place beside Simeon. Behold the salvation of God, born for you. Let your eyes rest, in faith, on Christ, and let your heart, like Simeon's, find its deep peace in having seen Him.