Luke 2 25-27 Simeon The God-Receiver: and on Becoming “The Next Man”
I want to focus on an honorable follower of Christ today---the aged man Simeon. He is a model for us all. In the painting below he's named "Simeon the God-Receiver." And he did indeed receive God, literally into his very arms.
It made him willing to happily go to his rest in the Lord.
And there's lots more in this study. Check out the listing of Scriptures that speak of the Holy Spirit being "on" people in the pre-Christian era, and what He did for them/to them (which in one case actually includes lifting one prophet by the hair of his head and showing him a vision).
And consider what it means for us who not only have the chance for the Spirit to be on us but IN us.
I learned there is a cool twist on the Greek words used says the Spirit turns us into “a different man.” One meaning of the word is the "next" man (or woman). The "next" person we're supposed to be.
This year, as we journey with the Spirit, He can turn us into “the next man”—-the next person we’re supposed to be.
That’s kind of exciting to me.