The Glory and Work of Old Age.
What were the gains which blessed this old man's age?
I. The first was prophetic power; not so much the power of foretelling, as the power of insight into God's doings. He saw the Child, and he knew that It was the Saviour of the world: "Mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation." And in a moment, before his inward eye, he beheld the Sun of Redemption rising in glory, not only over his own people, but in a light which should lighten the Gentiles also. This is the glory of a Christian's old age vividness of spiritual vision. The spirit does its own peculiar work better than in youth and manhood. It sees more clearly into the life and realities of things. It has gained security of faith and hope for itself, and in all matters pertaining to the spiritual progress of mankind it sees into God's plans, and rejoices in them.
II. Another remarkable gain blessed the old age of Simeon, the possession of a liberal religious view. We find the old man set free from the exclusiveness and bigotry of his time and of his youth. Those were strange words upon the lips of a Jew, "A light to lighten the Gentiles." Those who heard Simeon would be likely to call him a dangerous Liberal. The true liberality of old age is not indifference. It is gained by the entrance of the soul into the large region of the love of God, by deeper communion with the infinite variety of the character of Christ.
III. The crowning blessing of old age is deep peace. "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word." We can contend no more; we have scarcely anything left to contend against; we have slain all our foes in the power of Christ; we have exhausted all our doubts; and as the clouds disperse, the star of hope rises soft and clear in the pale pure light of the heavenly dawn. We look on it, and are at rest; we lay down our armour; we lie back contented in the arms of God.
IV. The special work of age is partly outward, partly inward. Its outward work is the spreading of charity. Its inward work consists (1) in the edifying of the heart in noble religion in consideration of the past; (2) in rounding the soul into as great perfection as possible.
S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life,p. 393.
Christ and Old Age.
Scripture tells us of a "good old age," and we would ask today what that is. For assuredly all old age is not good. If there is an old age which makes, there is an old age that mars reputations. There are those who, for their fame, have lived too long: have survived their usefulness and their honour, and whose obituary, when at length we read it, awakens little interest and no sorrow.
I. Few men, in the abstract, desire old age; few men, in their own experience, find it desirable. Like all things of importance like success, like honour, like love, like sorrow, pain, and death itself it needs practising for. A good old age comes to no man by accident. A well-principled and self-controlled patience, under its special trials and disabilities, is one condition of a good old age.
II. There is another of a less negative kind and of equal importance. There is a natural tendency as life advances to an impatience of the new. One of the foremost conditions of a good old age is the preservation, the perpetual renewing, of a thorough harmony and unity with the young. An old man may be young in feeling, and, when he is so, there is no attraction like his for the young. Secure of his sympathy, they can use his experience; there is a repose which even the young can delight in, in that mellowness of character which is at once love and wisdom.
III. Nor can we forget this one further characteristic of the good old age. If there are trials which must be borne with patience if there are special risks which must be jealously counteracted in the circumstances of an old man, there are also incomparable privileges which must be treasured up and occupied. A long life, lived with eye and ear and heart open, lays up a store of memories which no chronicles can rival, and no libraries supersede. The influences of old age are incalculable. Let a man give himself to the work, and he may mould the young almost to his will. Such a work requires, for its accomplishment, an Epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ to the old.
C. J. Vaughan, Words of Hope,p. 88.
References: Luke 2:29; Luke 2:30. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xvi., No. 1014; Christian World Pulpit,vol. i., p. 39. Luke 2:29-32. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. v., p. 272; B. Warfield, Expositor,3rd series; vol. ii., pp. 301, 321.