An Old Guy in a Temple
I grew up in a religious culture that did not speak of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the third member of the trinity but was elusive, scary and weird. Boy, oh boy, have I learned a thing or two!
In keeping with the Advent series, let's talk old guy in a temple. Simeon. Simeon was righteous, devout, and looking for the promised Messiah. And, according to Luke 2:25, "the Holy Spirit was on him."
Before Jesus' resurrection, the Holy Spirit made special appearances. In the Old Testament, the Spirit would rest on someone, would hover over something, or come on someone. The Spirit was not yet present and available to Believers on a permanent basis. Jesus ushered in the resting of the Holy Spirit after He returned to heaven after His resurrection. He said, in John 14:16, that He would send the comforter. That comforter was the Holy Spirit.
So Simeon is quite unique in that the Holy Spirit was on him. I get pictures in my head of the Holy Spirit being like a warm coat that Simeon was wrapped in. I am not a Bible scholar. However, in the New Testament, I can not think of another time when the Holy Spirit is referred to as being "on" someone pre-Jesus' resurrection. Simeon was connected to the Father in a unique was thought the power of the Holy Spirit.
What was that power that Holy Spirit brought to Simeon?
- The Holy Spirit revealed he would not see death before he saw the Messiah.
- The Holy Spirit guided him into the temple complex where he would see the Messiah.
According to the Word of God, the Holy Spirit can reveal unknown things and guide humans. I'm pretty sure that as I navigate my life in 2019, I need to know some unknown things and be guided by the Holy Spirit! It's mine for the taking. Holy Spirit, when asked and often when not, is quick to do what He is uniquely and divinely equipped to do.
This week, I kept getting a picture of two friends in my head. I would think of them when I was driving. I would think of them in the middle of my day. I would pray for them. I would replay a memory of them in my head. I just couldn't stop thinking about them. What I did not do was reach out to them.
After several days of relentless reminders of these two friends, I went about my errands for the day. I needed some office supplies and decided to go into a store I would not normally frequent. As I pulled into the parking lot, these two friends that I had been thinking of for a week came out of the store together! I got out of my car and embraced them.
So what? I know that the Holy Spirit had revealed to me pictures of my friends. I don't know why but He was insistent on me seeing them in my head for the past week. And, in the supreme navigation system of heaven, the Holy Spirit guided my car to go to the same store that my friends just happened to be in. And, both these friends did not arrive at the store together. They had run into one another while going there independently. You think the Holy Spirit was up to something?!
Let’s take a few lessons from an old guy in a temple a few thousand years ago. Let’s hold on to the power of the Holy Spirit and discover more of God through this unique third person of the trinity!
Putting on the Holy Spirit like a warm coat,
Christina
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