A note from Randy...
Dear Lamb Family,
What a Gathering we had this year… a true love feast full of the Lord’s heart and life in every member from the youngest to the oldest! So many shared, poured out, and manifested the beauty of being His Body together. You could feel new Life breaking forth everywhere! The children wrote love songs to Jesus, the young adults cried out for their generation to know the Lamb, and hands-on involvement was manifest through all. I was able to share on the “World of Done” twice during the evening sessions. Such joy and excitement is building as hearts receive this liberating reality straight from the heart of God before time! Please pray as I will continue sharing on the World of Done in the coming months. More than anything the Lord has ever shared with me, I believe this is His greatest gift to the flock to set them free in Him.
Dear Ones, may your holiday be more than happy… may it be a time of Christ being honored, loved, and brought forth just like we celebrate regarding His birth. In other words, may we do more than celebrate and remember, but rather be His Bethlehems and travail to bring Him forth.
With much love and oneness in Christ,
Randy
Luke 2:25-35
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Simeon was a devout man who was in Jerusalem… in other words, he was in the “right place” living a “spiritual life.” Simeon was also a man who had the Holy Spirit upon him, which shows us that he had an active and living relationship with God. Simeon was also a seeker - a man waiting for the consolation of Israel… not satisfied but hungry. Let’s consider this man’s hungry heart. Although he was “devout” and “just,” he was not content. Though he lived in Jerusalem and was thereby surrounded by much religious activity and community, he knew the “consolation of Israel” was not yet among them, and he was searching for the Lord’s Christ. Simeon was a man not gratified or consoled with all the abundant “spirituality” he had in his life. His tenor of being was one of waiting… Waiting tells us that he had not yet found that for which he sought. Waiting speaks of a heart filled with the Holy Spirit and anticipation for the One, to be REVEALED. Waiting for the Lord’s Christ to be seen, manifested, and held. To Simeon, it was not good enough to know that the Lord had a Christ, or that this Christ was manifest among them. Prophesies, teaching, and preaching were not enough for his hunger. He needed to behold and hold that which was from before time and now manifest.
The Spirit had shown Simeon that death would not come to him until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. How this must have revived this man’s heart. His life would not end without finding and seeing the One Who it is all about. How would Simeon know how to approach such a pursuit? There is no way Simeon could! But he had the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit brought Simeon to the temple at just such a time as Mary and Joseph had brought Jesus there.
The Spirit led this man to the temple where he found the Lord’s Christ in the form of a helpless baby. Simon had seen the Lord's salvation, and the Lord’s Christ was not the mighty conqueror as many were expecting. He was tiny, weak, unintimidating, soft, without guile.
When Simeon found that the Lord’s Christ was in this form and of this spirit, he took him unto himself and blessed God. He said, “Yes... God, Your Christ is beautiful to me." He said “yes” to God’s wisdom made flesh in weakness. He saw what salvation looked like in the form of that helpless babe and worshiped God.
But... instead of being ready to live free, strong, and relevant... he could now die. Once he saw what "God" was actually like, he was ready to lay down and be like Him without resistance. This true unveiling brought acceptance in his own life. Now Simeon could go into death in oneness with the Lord’s Christ and glorify God. Simeon saw this tiny, weak, guile-less babe as God’s salvation to all humanity. He would be light to all Gentiles. This God in weakness would reach and shine into the heart of everyone. The people of Israel, through Him, could finally truly bring glory to God.
And yet, Simeon ended his exultations with words of counsel… that the Lord’s Christ in this form would be a sign “spoken against” and reveal the “thoughts of many hearts.” Simeon even spoke directly to the mother (Mary) and told her that a sword would pierce her own soul. Yet, even though Simeon saw the effects of this Crucified Christ ripple through our experience and reactions... he called Him God's Consolation and Salvation. Paul saw the same thing many years later when he wrote to the Gentile church in Corinth, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." This same Christ is forming in us (Galatians 4:19) and as He grows within, we will find that we are finally able to die and bear in our bodies this same beautiful Being that Simeon found that day.***
