Epiphany
Isa
60:1-6
1/6/20
The prophet Isaiah wrote in the
eighth century B.C. He worked in a
setting where the nation was divided between the northern kingdom of Israel and
the southern kingdom of Judah. He wrote
about how Yahweh’s judgment was coming upon the northern kingdom as the
Assyrians conquered them in 721 B.C.
Yet he also looked beyond his own
time to the judgment that would come upon the southern kingdom of Judah in the
sixth century B.C. They would be taken
into exile because of their sin. Both the northern and southern kingdoms had
rejected Yahweh’s Torah and worshipped false gods. God’s judgment would come
upon both as they would be conquered and taken away from the land that Yahweh
had given to them.
There is certainly law in
Isaiah. But it is for good reason that
Isaiah has been described as “the Fifth Evangelist.” The Gospel of God’s love and salvation shine
through. First, through Isaiah Yahweh
promises Judah that he will bring them back from exile. He will use Cyrus to do this. And indeed the unexpected victory of the
Persian King Cyrus over the Babylonians resulted in his edict of 538 B.C. that
the Judahites could return to their home and rebuild the temple.
But it soon becomes clear that this
is only a part of something even bigger that God is doing. It is a saving action by God that points
forward to something even greater.
Yahweh will bring salvation to his covenant people. But Yahweh is not just the God of a small
nation in Palestine. He is the Creator
of all. As Isaiah writes in chapter
forty five: “For
thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth
and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed
it to be inhabited!): ‘I am the LORD, and there is no other.’”
Yahweh
is the Creator, the only God, and his saving will extends beyond Israel. It includes all people that he has created.
After all, when he called Abraham he said, “and in you all the families of the
earth will be blessed.”
In
our text tonight we hear the announcement of this amazing thing God is going to
do. The prophet writes: “Arise, shine, for your
light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For
behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the
LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.” The world as we know it is a place of
darkness. It is place of sin, sickness
and death. It is a place of suffering
and pain.
Yet
in the midst of this Yahweh promises he will rise upon his people and his glory
will be seen upon them. Throughout
Isaiah we learn that the Servant of the Lord – the One anointed by the Spirit
of God – will bring this about. In the
very next chapter we hear, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the
LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me
to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the
LORD's favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who
mourn.”
God
is going to act. And in our text, we learn that this final salvation will
involve more than just God’s covenant people.
Isaiah says, “And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the
brightness of your rising.” Yet this
drawing near of the nations was not going to be caused by Israel. It would not be prompted by anything they
would do. Instead, both the northern and southern kingdoms had brought dishonor
upon Yahweh’s name through their sin.
No,
as our text says, “the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen
upon you.” It would be God’s doing. And
he would do it through his Servant. As Yahweh had said in chapter forty nine: “It is too light a thing that you should be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of
Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my
salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
God would
bring salvation through His Servant. It
would be salvation for Israel. But it would also be a salvation that would draw
all peoples to join themselves to Yahweh’s people. In our text, the prophet describes the
amazing character of what would happen: “Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill
and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to
you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels
of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They
shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of
the LORD.”
God
did send the Servant of the Lord to bring salvation for Israel and all
people. Listen again to the first words
of our text: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the
LORD has risen upon you … the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory
will be seen upon you.” And now think
back to the words that we heard on Christmas Eve: “And in the same region there
were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by
night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around
them, and they were filled with fear.”
Yahweh’s
saving glory was revealed in the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is the Servant of the Lord - a fact we will
see this coming Sunday as we celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Our
Lord. He is the Servant who came to
bring glory into the midst of darkness by passing through it himself. He entered into the darkness of this
world. He came as the Servant who took
our darkness upon himself - our sin and rebellion against God. He received
God’s judgment in our place as he died on the cross.
But
the darkness of the tomb could not contain the saving glory of God. On the third day God raised him from the
dead. By his resurrection, Jesus Christ
defeated death and revealed the glory of eternal life with God.
In our text,
Isaiah says, “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of
your rising.” We hear, “They shall bring
gold and frankincense, and shall bring good news, the praises of the LORD.” In the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord, we
celebrate the very first time these words began to be fulfilled.
God used the
light of a star at its rising to alert magi from the east – Gentiles – that the
king of the Jews had been born. In the
lands where the people of Judah had been taken into exile, the Scriptures of
the Torah were known. There in the book
of Numbers were the words of a pagan Gentile called by a king to curse Israel,
but used by God to bless them and speak these words:
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall
come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
The
magi went to the place you expected to find a new born king: Jerusalem. But the word of God directed them to
Bethlehem. And in a miracle, the star
whose rising had started the whole journey, now actually guided them to place
where the Christ child was. Matthew
tells us: “And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother,
and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they
offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
The Epiphany of Our Lord is double
good news for you. It announces that
God’s salvation - worked through Israel’s Messiah – is for as well. Almost none of you descend from Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. Almost none of you
descend from God’s covenant people Israel.
Yet God is the Creator of all peoples, and his salvation is intended for
all people – including you. Epiphany is a reminder that we can never take this for granted. You have
been included in God’s people through the water of baptism. You are now part of God’s people that is both
Jew and Gentile. But this is purely a
matter of God’s grace. You are the one who didn’t belong. And yet God has extended his love and
salvation to you.
And it is
the good news that the darkness cannot separate you from God. Our text begins by saying: “Arise, shine, for your
light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold,
darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD
will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you.”
In
your continuing struggle against sin, the darkness of your failures has been
overcome by the light of the forgiveness won by Christ. As we look for the return of our Lord the
darkness of sickness, suffering and death continues to be present. But it cannot separate us from God. Instead, it has already been overcome by the
light of Jesus who rose from the dead and now reigns as the exalted Lord. And the light of the risen Lord gives us
comfort, strength and hope as we face these things and look for his return.
Because
of Christ you are God’s people! Because
of Christ you are forgiven! Because of
Christ eternal life is yours, and death can never change that. This is the good news of Epiphany. And it should lead us to consider the actions
taken by the magi.
They
expended great effort to visit the Christ. They brought valuable gifts that
they offered to him. You have been
blessed by Christ in these amazing ways.
And so our response is exert the effort needed to meet Christ as he is present
in his Means of Grace.
And
like the magi, our response is to bring gifts. Certainly, this includes the
offerings that we give to the Lord. But
even more so, these are the gifts that we direct towards our neighbor. These are the ways that we help and support
our neighbor because Jesus Christ has helped and supported us. Our Lord has saved and made us his own so
that we can serve him by serving our neighbor.
Jesus Christ is the light that has overcome the darkness so that we can
be his own, and live in the world as his people.
No comments:
Post a Comment