At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him  and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah

Luke 2: 25-26

The Christmas season is built around the anticipation of something wonderful. My grandsons are waiting for their presents. A lady I spoke with today is looking forward to time with her family and friends. A couple of thousand years ago, the people of Israel waited for their Messiah.

Among the thousands and thousands of men and women of Israel, there was one Simeon. The verse above describes him as a righteous man who was “eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.”

Second, he was confident in God’s promise that he would not die before seeing God’s promised Messiah.

Many years later, Paul and the followers of Christ were also eagerly waiting for Jesus’ return –

For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 4: 14-18

Since I was a kid, I’ve expected the return of Christ and while I don’t know whether or not I’ll be walking on this planet when He does, I am confident in the blessed hope we’ve considered over the last couple of days.