And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed ...” - Luke 2:34 The account of Simeon’s...
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed ...” - Luke 2:34
The account of Simeon’s prophecy is one of the clearest statements on predestination ever recorded in the Bible. It also predicts the reaction of the unsaved to Christ’s revelations.
The ‘fall’ of many refers us directly to those predestined for hopeless eternal damnation. Scripture is replete with passages describing unrepentant sinners and what they are to expect at the hands of God, who is a consuming fire. “Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them.” - Psalm 21:8-9.
The ‘rising’ of many speaks of God’s elect or those who are predestined to heaven. God knows the difference, and those He has appointed to be adopted into an eternal inheritance will find their salvation through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” - John 6:44-45.
As for the last phrase of the title passage, ‘the sign that is opposed’ is Jesus Christ Himself. The voices of unbelief will clang loudly against the Word of God. They will miss no opportunity to denigrate and despise the Gospel. They will even oppose the mere mention of Christ’s holy name. Ban it, censor it; they will do everything in their power to keep others from hearing about redemption and salvation because they hate Jesus and His words. “Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.” - John 15:23-24. They routinely hate Jesus and His Gospel.
Many of the saved will first fall in unbelief or ignorance. But indue time, God will raise them up, through faith in Jesus Christ, to eternal glory while others He will leave in their unbelief to their eternal shame. It is God who will choose us rather than we who will choose Him. “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” - Romans 9:16.
Think about it. If we could affect our sovereign election by our own efforts (our works) it would no longer be of grace. It would be payment owed to us by God. But God owes us nothing. It is only by His exceedingly gracious mercy that we receive redemption at all. God isn’t looking for our sacrifices or works. Our works are merely trash in the eyes of God. “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.” - Isaiah 64:6-7. This is what our works earn for us.
What then does God want? “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” - Psalm 51:16-17.
That many would fall and many would rise in Christ is true to this day.