Simeon’s story reminds us where true hope is found—in Christ.

by Eric Schumacher, BCI Pastoral Ministry Director

December 31 is a day for looking. Looking back at what the last year was. Looking forward to what the new year will be. For some, such looking produces disappointment, discouragement, and despair. For others, this looking brings a sense of accomplishment, anticipation, and awe.

Simeon was a man who was looking — “looking forward to Israel’s consolation” (Luke 2:25). The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death until he saw the Lord’s Messiah. The Messiah’s advent would be the arrival of Israel’s comfort, the very thing Simeon looked forward to.

When Mary and Joseph brought the child Jesus to the temple, the Holy Spirit gave Simeon eyes to see. He held the Christ in his arms, praised God, and said,

Now, Master,
you can dismiss your servant in peace, 
as you promised. 
For my eyes have seen your salvation. 
You have prepared it 
in the presence of all peoples—
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, 
and glory to your people Israel. (Luke 2:29-23)

Simeon could now die in peace. Not because he had successfully executed a ministry plan. Not because people applauded his ministry accomplishments. Not because Temple attendance and alms-giving had reached new levels. Not because he had a brilliant new strategy plan. Simeon could transition from his present life into the next because “my eyes have seen your salvation.”

Simeon’s hope, peace, and joy did not rest on what he had done but on what God had done (and would do) in the person and work of the Messiah. Everything promised and prepared in millennia past arrived in the incarnate Lord. Simeon could die in peace for one reason: he had seen Jesus.

Some, like Simeon, are at the end of their earthly lives, looking forward to being with the Lord in heaven. Others stand at the end of a ministry year, looking into the next. No matter our time, place, or ministry, our reason for hope is the same as Simeon’s — we may go forward in peace because our eyes have beheld God’s salvation in the face of Jesus.

Like Simeon, we have seen God’s salvation, though we are blessed to see it clearer. By faith, through the pages of Scripture, we see that Jesus lived a sinless life, fulfilling all righteousness on our behalf. By faith, we see that Jesus died for sins, bearing the curse on our behalf. By faith, we see that Jesus rose from the dead, crushing Satan’s head and conquering death on our behalf.

So, like Simeon, we can depart in peace. There is no work we must add to be righteous in God’s sight. There is no penalty we must bear to deliver us from sin. There is nothing we must add to Christ’s work. It is finished. He has done it. No one can condemn us. “Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39).

And, like Simeon, we are a people looking for his arrival in faith. We are waiting for our “blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:12). When he arrives, we “will be raised incorruptible, and we will all be changed” (1 Cor 15:52). On that day, “we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess 4:17). This is our future consolation, and so “we comfort one another with these words” (4:18).

Ministry in 2025 may only be motivated and fueled by one thing — looking at Jesus. We look back on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and we see the end of sin, death, and the power of the devil. We look forward to Christ’s return, and we see “death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:55). We see that God, from beginning to end, “gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (57).

If God gives the victory, then gospel ministry cannot fail. Jesus arrived and shall return. Jesus reigns and will reign forever. “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,” go into the 2025 ministry year, “steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Co 15:58).