Epiphany: A Light for the Gentiles

Forty days after Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Simeon gives his prophecies (Luke 2:22-24; Leviticus 12). After this, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph return home to Nazareth in the Galilee (Luke 2:39).

The Wise Men came sometime after that and before the Lord was two-years old (Cf. Matthew 2:7, 16-17).

In his person, the Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of all God's prophecies to Israel (Galatians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 1:20). Thus Simeon prophesies that the Lord Jesus would be "a light, for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:29-32), in fulfillment of Isaiah 42:6; 60:1-3.

Jesus was "appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34). Many who were thought of as the righteous would be rejected, while many who were rejected would be accepted, because before a person can be accepted by God, he must be humbled (Luke 18:9-14).

Simeon foretells Mary's witnessing the agonizing death of her Son (Luke 2:35; John 19:25-26), and points to God's Word as a piercing sword (Hebrews 4:12-13).