Talking Points with Pastor Lucas: According to Your Word
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples…”
These verses are used in the liturgy of the church. They are known as the Song of Simeon. In the Latin, they are also known as the Nunc dimittis, stressing the dismissal blessing of the Lord. With a short phrase, Simeon shows us how to orient our lives. “According to your Word…” Our lives are shaped by the Word of God.
God’s true Word brings peace.
In Simeon’s case, he was affirming that God had delivered on His promise. His word was true. “According to your Word…” Simeon clung to God’s Word by faith and was at that moment holding the Word of God made flesh (a mere infant) in his very arms.
Simeon was now free to depart this life in peace. God’s word had been fulfilled. The fact that God had kept his promise to Simeon allowed him to face even death with a tranquil calm.
There are not a whole lot of people or words that can give us this kind of peace. But God’s Word does. His Word is faithful and true. It is poignant and powerful.
His Word is never empty and never without meaning. The Old Testament points ahead to our Lord Jesus. The four gospels tell the story of our Lord. Acts records the beginning of the Holy Christian Church. And the Epistles give instruction, hope, and encouragement for those living a life in Christ. God’s Word is full of life and meaning. It is faithful and true.
hurt by everyday words.
We know all too well what it is like to experience the empty words of someone, maybe from a politician, a boss, or a coworker. We know the offensive words of a spouse or a sibling. We know the hurtful words of someone we called a friend. In other words, we know what it is like to be disappointed by falsehoods and devastated by infidelity. We know what it’s like to feel the pain of a betrayal and the heartache of a broken promise.
We get depressed. We become despondent. We are left forlorn and unfulfilled.
So what’s a hurting heart to do?
Let the Word of God fill us until we are full:
“Every word of God is flawless; a shield to those who take refuge in him” (Proverbs 30:5).
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit…” (Hebrews 4:12).
solace in God’s steady Word.
God’s Word is steady and true. In fact, His Word reveals the character of God. It tells us who He is and what He does. God’s Word not only says what it does, but it does what it says.
“According to your Word…” Simeon reminds us how the Christ Child came as the fulfillment of God’s Word. “According to your Word…” Leading up to this point, God had spoken to Elizabeth and Zechariah, to Mary and Joseph, and to all the prophets foretelling of the Messiah’s birth, and now He delivered on His Word.
As God was then, so He is today. The Word of God still speaks. Be assured it still delivers what it promises:
To the forlorn and unfulfilled Jesus says, “Come to me and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
To the despondent and to the depressed, the Psalmist gives expression to our voice: “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:11).
To the hopeless and to the heartbroken, God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
To those struggling in sin, Jesus says, “It is finished…” (John 19:30).
To those walking in the shadow of death, Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25).
The peace that Simeon received is also for us. Through all of life and even in death, God’s Word speaks to us, sustains us, and comforts us. According to God’s Word, there is “nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Simeon’s words become our words, which, in the end, are the Lord’s Words: ”Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples…”
In the joy of Jesus,
Pastor Lucas
Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford
President
Minnesota South District, LCMS
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