Blessed are...

The Consolation of Israel

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Matthew 5:4

The old man waited in the temple courts for many years. Moved by the Spirit, Simeon searched diligently for the child who would fulfill the promise he had received. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the long-awaited One, the Lord’s Messiah. Righteous and devout, the old man waited, searching for, but not finding, the consolation of Israel. Then, He came, without warning or fanfare or applause, born of peasant stock, in Bethlehem. And Simeon sang, “Sovereign God, as You have promised, now dismiss Your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen Your salvation…”[1]

Salvation did, indeed, come through the Hebrew child who lived and died and lives again. He came, in response to the hopes and dreams of the people of the Old Covenant to usher in a new. Within that New Covenant, Christ would be the consolation of His people. In direct fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, Jesus came “to comfort all who mourn.”[2] The consolation of redeeming love embraced those who wept for their sins. In human flesh, God’s gracious mercy brought tears, not of repentance but of sheer joy, to the old man who held Him. In this child, the blessing of God had come. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”[3]



Comforting God,
Come, by Your Holy Spirit, to continue the work of Jesus.
Soften my heart, made hard by sin.
Break it against the anvil of Your word.
Then, chastened and filled with sorrow,
enfold me in Your forgiveness
and send me on my way, rejoicing.
In the power of the Holy Spirit, and the name of Jesus.
Amen.



[1] Luke 2:29-30
[2] Isaiah 61:2
[3] Isaiah 40:1-2