The Consolation of Israel
BY MICHAEL PHILLIPS
When our Lord was eight days old, He was circumcised. And when Mary's purification was completed, He was presented in the temple. We then read in Luke 2:25-28:Luke 2:25-35 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the ChildI would turn your attention most especially to the closing phrase of verse 25 and speak today upon the subject, The Consolation of Israel.
Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God.People of the world, according to the prophet Isaiah, are like the troubled sea that cannot rest; its waters keep casting up dirt and mire. Even Christians often find the same unrest. Hence, a devout apostle like Paul suffered fightings without and fears within.
What we all desperately need,
therefore, is a consolation. And this was what this holy man Simeon found when he saw Baby Jesus.
Simeon's disconsolate state
Simeon is a rather obscure character in the Bible. All that we can know about him is contained in Luke 2:25. But brief though it is, his biography is full of meaning. In it, we can see the three disconsolate states that he was in at first.To start with, Simeon was a man. "And behold, there was a man." As such, he suffered all the problems common to humanity. He lived in an unfriendly environment. He had problems of all kinds. It is written, man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Mere humanity thus brought disconsolation to Simeon.
Second, Simeon was just and devout. These virtuous qualities, sadly, have tended toward his aggravation theretofore. Because of his holy character, he must have grieved much at the widespread apostasy of his people in his day. The house of God had been perverted into a den of thieves. The seat of Moses was now occupied by a group of unbelievers. Meanwhile, his devout faith has undoubtedly subjected him to the taunts and insults of men.
Finally, Simeon waited for the Consolation of Israel. Being a devout Jew, Simeon was obviously familiar with this glorious promise of God in Isaiah 40:
"Comfort, yes, comfort My people!" says your God. "Speak comfort to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (vv.But much to his chagrin, that promise had remained unfulfilled year after year, decade after decade, and century after century. The waiting was a sore trial of faith for him. He was in desperate need of consolation.
1,2).Simeon's happy discovery
Simeon did not wait in vain. One day, the Holy Spirit told him that he would not die until he had been consoled. Then, led by the Spirit, he went into the temple and made the most happy discovery. Finding the Baby Christ, he knew that consolation had come. He thus offered this praise to God in verses 29-32:Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.What do you learn here? Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ alone, is the Consolation of Israel. The word consolation literally means help that comes alongside. And Christ is indeed the help that has come alongside us. This truth is set forth in the Scripture with the most wonderful terms:Shepherd. For instance, Isaiah 40:11 reads, "He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those who are with young." Jesus comes as the great shepherd of God's people, comforting them with His rod and His staff.
Protector. The Scripture also pictures Christ as the One who wants to
put His people under His protective wings. He says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Matt. 23:37)Few sights are more moving than that of a mother hen clucking anxiously until all of her chicks have come under her protective wing. No hawk or fox can get to any of those little ones without killing the mother first. Likewise, the evil one cannot touch God's people save over the dead body of Christ. But because Christ ever lives, we can count on His total protective care.
Physician. The Scripture sometimes describes our Lord as a physician also. When the Pharisees criticized Him for eating with sinners and tax collectors, Jesus said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."
In calling men unto Himself, Christ acts not simply as a physician, but a heart specialist. He heals the brokenhearted. When He began His ministry, He said in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted..."
Here's a woman who has been a prostitute all her life, and she's hurting; she wants to break out of her rut. But the Pharisees will have nothing to do with her. All decent people avoid her. The ones that associate with her only desire her sexual favors. Then one day, a different kind of man comes to her, not desirous to use her,
but to bind up her heart and heal her soul. That's the consolation of Jesus Christ.Perfect consolation
Presence. For one to truly comfort another, three elements are required. The first is presence. When a person is beset by a calamity, he wants his loved ones to be very close by. That's how Jesus is a consolation to His people. He said, "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you" (John 14:18); and "I will not leave you nor forsake you" (Josh. 1:5). In the person of the Holy Spirit, He dwells with every believer every moment.Sympathy. The second element is sympathythe ability to feel what the one who needs comforting feels. Jesus has that sympathy. We read in Hebrews 4:15: "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."
Because He once lived in this world as a man, He is able to sympathize with our trials and problems. In all of our afflictions, Christ assures us "I was similarly afflicted, so I know what you are going through." Only the risen Christ is qualified to be our true consolation.
Knowledge. The last element essential for one to effectively comfort another is knowledge. Job had three friends who came a vast distance to be with him. When they saw the terrifying affliction of Job, they tore their clothes and sat down close-mouthed for seven long days. But did those friends comfort Job when they did speak? No, because they spoke without knowledge. They were there, they
were sympathetic, but because they didn't know Job's real problem, their mission failed.God is omniscient. Who can be more knowledgeable than Jesus Christ? Who can diagnose our afflictions better than the Great Physician? In Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Because Jesus Christ is all-knowing, it follows that He is all-consoling.
Chosen beneficiaries
Significantly, the Scripture doesn't say that Simeon waited for his consolation. The consolation that came did not come to Simeon alone. Nor did it come to all people, however. Simeon waited for the consolation of Israel.Who is this Israel that can find comfort in Christ? All those belonging to the nation of Israel? No. That's not what the Bible shows. For when our Lord was born, the Scripture says, "Herod and all of Jerusalem was troubled." And when our Lord faced the Pharisees, these men were not comforted, they were aggravated. The truth is, "all Israel is not Israel" (Rom. 9:6). Physical Israel and spiritual Israel are two different entities.
Christ is the consolation of the Israel of God, the promised seed of Abraham, those who trust the word of God the way Abraham did. Thus, Christ is your consolation if you worship Him in spirit and in truth, if you rejoice in the Lord and have no confidence in the flesh, and if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Christ is your personal Savior and Lord.
Right attitudes. How may one be consoled by Christ? First, we must desire such comfort. One reason some
believers suffer depression is that somehow they find perverse pleasure in complaining. Perhaps to gain the sympathy of men, they simply love to complain. The psalmist said, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord...(but) my soul refused to be comforted" (77:2).Simeon found this consolation, however, because he was waiting for it; he heartily desired such a consolation.
Second, if we are to find consolation in Christ, we must give heed to the word of God. The Spirit of the Lord prompted Simeon to go into the temple and he did. Had Simeon disobeyed, he would not have found Israel's consolation. Hence, the apostle Paul speaks of "the comfort of the scriptures" in Romans 15:4. To find consolation, we must be very much in the Word of God because it alone is the sword of the Spirit.
Finally, we should regularly attend to the means of grace. Simeon found the consolation of Israel not at home reading a scroll, but in the house of God. Likewise, it is in the place where God's people assemble to worship, pray and hear God's word being taught that many a broken heart has been bound up and many a depressed soul has been salved with the balm of Gilead. Very often, God uses people to minister grace to His other saints.
Proof of salvation
In closing, whether or not you find consolation in Christ Jesus is an infallible reflection of your spiritual condition. If you can find as much joy in life out of the Scripture as in it, as much fellowship away from God's people as with them, and as much comfort without prayer as with prayer, then I must tell you that you are not a true Christian. And you are missing out on the real peace and joy and fulfillment that God has given to true believers.Likewise, if you find your ultimate pleasures in your work, in your family, in your hobby, in your bank account or in any other earthly place, then your treasures are in the things of this world and they will all fail you. For only those who trust in the name of the Lord have the consolation in Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, if you find that Jesus Christ is sufficient, if you find contentment in Christ even though you have nothing else, and if you find more comfort from the Scripture than the words of other humans, then you can rest assured that you do have a solid standing with God and that to you Jesus really is the Consolation of Israel. o
Rev. Michael Phillips is pastor of Grace Tabernacle Baptist Church, 37112 Second Street, Freemont, CA 94527.
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