Isaiah's Servant Songs promise a mission wider than Israel: 'I will give thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou mayst be my salvation even to the farthest part of the earth' (Isaiah 49:6; cf. 42:6). Malachi promised a coming in person: 'presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, SHALL COME TO HIS TEMPLE' (Malachi 3:1).
Forty days after the Nativity, Mary and Joseph carried the Child into the Temple courts for the rites of the Law. The aged Simeon, 'who waited for the consolation of Israel,' took Him in his arms and sang the Nunc Dimittis — quoting Isaiah directly: 'my eyes have seen thy salvation... A LIGHT TO THE REVELATION OF THE GENTILES, and the glory of thy people Israel' (Luke 2:29–32). The Lord had come to His Temple — carried in, unnoticed by almost everyone, as a poor family's firstborn.
The Church sings Simeon's canticle every night at Compline, and keeps the event as the feast of the Presentation (Candlemas, February 2), blessing candles for the Light the old man recognized. The prophetess Anna, arriving at the same hour, 'spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel' (Luke 2:38).