Fellow-Redeemed
in Christ,
Last Sunday I claimed God would continue to
give good gifts this New Year. Today my claim is come true as Epiphany falls on
Sunday. We Gentiles gather in worship and with Simeon praise God for we have
seen the Lord’s Christ, “a light for
revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” [Lk 2:32]
Luther’s contemporary Erasmus observed, “Give light, and the darkness will disappear
of itself.” We see the truth of Erasmus’ words as the sun rises and the
dawn displaces the night. Isaiah wrote about a different dawn, the dawn of
salvation. That new day would rise in the arrival of the promised Savior. The “glory of the LORD” would be the light
that rises to displace the “darkness”
that “covers the earth,” and the “thick darkness” that “is over the peoples.”
That day has dawned for Jew and Gentile alike in
the birth of Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son, into the flesh. Epiphany
emphasizes that this day of grace is for us Gentiles. Did you catch that in all
three of our readings? Christ is the Manifestation of the Glory of the Lord.
God reveals his glory in the person of Christ. God’s glory in person is
productive for the enjoyment of all.
I chose the word “manifestation” carefully for
the theme. Its Latin root means, “to touch with the hand.” In that larger word,
we find the word “man.” God reveals his glory in the person of Christ. Jesus
Christ was a man Mary and Joseph could tenderly stroke. The shepherds and the
Magi could see and hear the baby. The rabbi circumcised Jesus when he was eight
days old and the child shed his blood already for the world. 40 days after Jesus’
birth, Simeon held the man in his arms.
About a century after Jesus’ birth, the
apostle John wrote of Jesus, “The Word
was made flesh and made his dwelling among us…we have seen his glory.”
Jesus’ glory is the glory of the LORD. The glory of the Lord is the gospel. The
gospel is the revelation of God’s “eternal
purpose accomplished in Christ,” Paul wrote to the Ephesians. That eternal
purpose is to save the world from sin, death, and the power of the devil. The
gospel calls the dead to new spiritual life by the Holy Spirit.
Christ is the manifestation of the Glory of
the Lord. Christ is the gospel. God has sent that glory to you and to me in the
person, the man, Jesus Christ. Christ is the light Isaiah saw in prophecy and
about whom John wrote “In him was life,
and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the
darkness has not understood it.”
The darkness and gross darkness that covers
all people is the darkness of our total depravity and unbelief. Apart from
Christ the light, I can only stumble around in my vain efforts at pleasing God.
I can only fall down repeatedly tripped up by my own lusts and wickedness. Dear
Gentile Christians, “You were once
darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as the children of light (for
the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and
find out what pleases the Lord.” [Eph 5:8]
Isaiah put it this way, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD
rises over you.” The prophet is like the parent or spouse who shakes us
awake and cries, Rise and shine. It is a new day. The sun is shining. The night
is over. Put off all spiritual laziness, sleepiness and sluggishness. Shining
brightly is the man who became one of us, obeyed the law, died on the cross
fulfilling our salvation, and sent the Spirit to call, gather and enlighten us
as the church.
That manifestation of the glory of the Lord
in Christ is for all of us. God’s glory in person is productive for the
enjoyment of all.
Isaiah saw the day of the glory of the Lord
in the glory of his New Testament Church. Unlike the Old Testament Church that
had one race, one language, one culture, the New Testament Church consists of
all peoples. Do what Isaiah calls us to do. “Lift up your eyes and look about you: all assemble and come to you;
your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm.”
I compare that to adoptive families whose sons
and daughters come from Russia, Korea, China, Africa, and South America. Moms
and dads carry these children on their arms protecting and providing for them.
God’s glory in person, in Christ, shines out and gathers people from all
different nations into the family of the church for protection. Here is
provision of all our spiritual needs like forgiveness of sins, strength for
saving faith, and hope for eternity with God.
All prejudices are contrary to the family of
believers. There is only loving concern for one another. It is our chief
purpose to take the gospel out into the world to all people. We are not to pre judge which is what prejudices means, when it comes to
shining the gospel light into the dark recesses of earth and the darker
recesses of sinful human hearts.
The glory of the Lord has come in person.
That person is Jesus Christ. He has come for everyone. Paul wrote in our second
lesson, “The mystery is that through the
gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one
body, and sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ.” When we look
and see fellow Gentiles coming into the church, our faces are radiant and our
hearts “throb and swell with joy.”
We rejoice as we and others bring our wealth and riches to offer thankfully and
generously. With the Magi, we come “bearing gold and incense and proclaiming
the praise of the Lord.”
You know those cutouts you see at fairs, the zoo
and other attractions? You stick your head through the hole. Someone takes your
picture and you become whoever or whatever is on the front. On Epiphany, we put our faces on the Magi who
came to worship Jesus as his Bethlehem Star led them there.
Isaiah had foretold it. The Lord has
fulfilled it. We Gentiles come to Christ, the Light of the world, as the
glorious gospel is productive for the enjoyment of all. Amen. <SDG>