26And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. [simple_tooltip content=’25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27 So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, 28 he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace,
According to Your word;30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation
31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”33 And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.
34 Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against
35 (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”’](Luke 2:25-35)[/simple_tooltip]
A pastor friend of mine told me that before he received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the thing that upset him the most about Charismatics was what we called “revelation knowledge.” He had two doctorate degrees and had been through seminary, yet he would hear ministers like me on the radio (whom he could tell had no formal training) expound the Scriptures in ways he had never heard before. He said he had studied those same Scriptures hundreds of times and had missed the simple, obvious truths that we brought out. It upset him and, at the same time, made him desire what we had.
This was how Simeon operated. “It was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost.” This wasn’t something he was taught by man. It was revelation knowledge: knowledge that didn’t come from observation or instruction but was intuitive. This revelation knowledge is available to all born-again believers who will receive this ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Simeon had no natural way of knowing which of the thousands of babies he saw would be the Christ. He simply kept his heart in tune with the Holy Spirit, and that knowledge was supernaturally imparted to him at the right time. This shouldn’t be hard to believe. In nature we see birds, fish, and animals migrate to the exact spots their parents came from without ever being there before. They didn’t learn that in school.
If God can speak to His animal creation, doesn’t it make sense that He can also speak to you? Listen for the voice of God on the inside of you today, and ask Him to give you revelation knowledge of Him and His will for your life.
