Pastor Sam Crosby
San Saba’s First Baptist Church
December 10, 2019
The Center for Disease Control reports that there is a spike in deaths on three days of the year: Christmas, the day after Christmas, and New Year’s Day (“Why Do More People Die on Christmas, New Year’s?” (CNN News, 12/23/2013). Beyond those three days, researchers found that more people die in winter months than any other season of the year. Though no conclusive reason has been found, theories abound. Interestingly, there is a story in the Bible of a man who died around Christmas.
The story of Simeon in Luke 2 intrigues me. The Holy Spirit promises the old man in the temple that he will not see death until he has seen the Lord’s Christ. When he enters the temple, he meets Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus and knows this is the promised Savior of the world. He holds the baby in his arms and says, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your word, for mine eyes have seen your salvation…” (Luke 2:29 NKJ).
How can one depart from this world in peace?
First, believe the Word of God. Simeon looked for the Savior that the prophets before him promised would come. He lived believing the Word of God. The Spirit of God promised he would see the Savior before He died. He believed what God told Him. The follower of Jesus has many great and precious promises (II Peter 1:4). We are promised that Christ will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5); that He will forgive every sin (I John 1:9); that nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38); that when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us (Psalms 23:3). The Bible gives us the ability to depart from this world in peace.
Second, receive the Son of God. Simeon held Jesus in his hands. Christians have Jesus in their hearts. We are promised in the Bible that we become children of God when we receive Jesus into our lives (John 1:12). He came to live a perfect life, to die for our sins on the cross, and to conquer death in His resurrection. At our invitation, He comes to live in us. Paul wrote, “Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20).
Third, understand you are going to the house of God. Simeon uses the word “depart” to describe death. To depart is not the end of existence but a journey to another place. It is the same word used by Paul in II Timothy 4:6 when he is ready to die: “…the time of my departure is at hand.” We depart from this world in peace when we understand that heaven is real and that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. David ended Psalms 23 with the words, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”