Luke 2:27 Commentary and Bible Study

The Spirit who was upon him, and who knew his every thought and hope, and who taught him and consoled him on a daily basis, now indicated that he should go into the temple at this time. Joseph and Mary were about to bring the child there to carry out their obligations under the law. This was the moment that Simeon had been told about. The Spirit guides infallibly. The same Spirit that told him that he would see the Christ child, now brought him to the place. Nothing is left to chance with God. Fittingly, the temple would be the place that Simeon would see the Lord Jesus, where the Lord had come for the first time – ‘The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts’ (Malachi 3:1). So he was guided by the Spirit to come into the temple and when he saw Christ Jesus and his parents, he took up the babe in his arms, and blessed God. In what follows Simeon is given the privilege of introducing the Christ to the world and adding his public testimony to the identity of this child. He took this infant in his arms, as Hendriksen points out Christ himself did with the children who were brought to him by pious parents. He blessed God. He thanked God for such a gift to lost mankind. He praised God for all that this child coming into the world signified. Here was the greatest gift that God could give to the world. His coming implied the willingness of the Father to go through with the entire work of redemption.