Note: Our guest contributing authors, Dan and Meg Price, are the husband-and-wife team behind Front Row Seat Ministries, serving the Lord in northern Israel.]
Years ago, in my (Meg’s) high school choir’s Christmas program, a fellow student was given a solo that had been written by our choir director, echoing the words of Simeon, who was described in Luke 2 as a righteous and devout man, “waiting for the Consolation of Israel” (ESV). When he beheld Jesus, Simeon said, “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.” I still sing those powerful words each Christmas season.
After Simeon blessed the Lord, he blessed Joseph and Mary, who had brought Jesus to the Temple to present Him to the Lord (and isn’t that something to ponder – God the Son, having just been wrapped in human flesh, being brought to the Temple to be presented to God, His Father). We read in Luke 2:34-35, “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed – and a sword will pierce even your own soul – to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.’”
As a woman living in 2025, I am struck by the fact that Simeon spoke directly “to Mary, His mother,” in a time when women were not culturally front and center. But how could the mother of the Messiah not be at least “stage right” on this occasion of presenting Jesus at the Temple?
I was also once a young mother, and loved reading that Mary – so very young to carry such an incredible burden, and blessing – “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). I have to wonder how many times over her Son’s years on earth, and for all the years of her life, did the things she treasured up in her heart pierce, or console, her soul.
Mary’s song of praise during her stay with Elizabeth and Zechariah, recorded in Luke 1:46-55, shows a maturity beyond her years. Her words in verse 54, “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy,” allude to the prophetic fulfillment of Psalm 98:3: “He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” The world was being introduced to the Salvation of our God – Mary’s very own Son.
But let’s return for a moment to Simeon and how Scripture described him as “waiting for the Consolation of Israel.” The Hebrew root for “consolation” is “Naham,” as in the prophet Nehemiah, [which] can also mean “solace” and “redemption.” In English, we think of consoling as comforting someone after suffering.
Relief for the Suffering
In the years leading up to Jesus’ birth, the people of Israel were suffering under Roman rule. Simeon was not the only one waiting for Israel’s Consolation that was to come through the long-expected Messiah. We see that longing within the ranks of Jesus’ own disciples.
Whether we’re talking about ancient or more recent history, the Jewish people have suffered and continue to suffer. Some of their suffering has most certainly been self-inflicted (or self-imposed?) because of their disobedience and God’s remedial judgments. Many Jews are indeed looking for consolation, but as Johnny Lee sang, they’re looking for it “in all the wrong places.” Which is to say, anywhere and everywhere except in the only begotten Son of God. Immanuel, God with us, God the Son, who took on human flesh to pay our debt (another idea that rankles Jews – substitutionary atonement – but that is a topic for another time).
All Israel was indeed on the lookout for God’s promised Consolation. They watched for the Messiah’s deliverance, which the people inferred would be deliverance from their suffering under Roman rule, in the form of a military deliverer. Many were disappointed when Jesus did not fill that role according to their expectations.
All these years after the Messiah’s First Coming, there is not much true consolation to be found among secular Israelis today. It’s one of the reasons Dan and I find it depressing to be in the Land during Christmas. As I have written here previously, it isn’t very encouraging to be in the Land of the Savior’s birth only to see the day treated as a regular day. A day in which Dan and I have, in past years, gone to class and to work. Even Messianic believers downplay the celebration of the Savior’s birth. While I understand their frustration at our choosing to celebrate on December 25th – a date that most likely does not coincide with the actual date of Jesus’ birth – I think we should at least acknowledge His birth on a day, because without His birth, there would have been no death, burial, and resurrection.
As the years, the centuries, the millennia have passed, Jews have suffered. However, their suffering does not seem to motivate them to continue waiting for the Messiah. Instead, their years of suffering seem to have caused them to stop watching and waiting altogether. So I was surprised when, during a recent lesson with my Hebrew tutor, she made a statement I was not expecting.
The morning of my lesson, I learned the news that a dear American friend had passed away. I used my lesson as another opportunity to share with her the hope I have as a believer, even as I grieved the news I’d received. I explained that while I mourned for his wife and children in their loss, I rejoiced that our friend was with the Lord, whole and no longer suffering from the cancer that had ravaged his physical body.
My tutor is a very secular Israeli Jew, so it surprised me when she said that “all Israel is waiting for the Messiah.” I wasn’t sure I had heard her correctly; remember, we were speaking Hebrew. When I asked her for clarification as to whether or not she, a self-described secular Jew, was waiting for the Messiah’s coming, she said that she was not. She clarified that she had been speaking of religious Jews as those still waiting for the Messiah’s appearance.
What are You Looking For?
Since October 7, 2023, many Israelis have been seeking answers and even demanding them. Many, especially those who lost loved ones and those whose family members were taken hostage, have demanded answers from their governmental and military leaders. In the two millennia since the Messiah’s first appearing, very little has changed on this front. Back to the words of Mary’s song, God’s mercy has helped His servant Israel survive the worst the world has thrown at them over the years, but most Jews failed then, and still fail today, to recognize God’s mercy in sending His one and only Son. The vast majority refuse to see His “steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.”
As believers, we “have seen the salvation of our God,” the “light for revelation to the Gentiles,” and we have been given the great privilege and responsibility to share with the people of Israel their Messiah, the Hope of the nations, the “Consolation of Israel,” for the glory of God’s people Israel.
Dan and I love living in Israel (every day except Christmas Day), and we know what an incredible blessing the Lord has given us in calling us here. We love the people of Israel, and our desire is for their consolation, remembering that one of the meanings of consolation is “redemption.” We strive to share with our friends and neighbors here in the “weary world” around us the thrill of hope that we celebrate during this Christmas season – the hope we so desire that they will know and the hope that came at our Savior’s birth. This is the hope that keeps us looking for and praying for the soon return of Immanuel, God with us.