Sermon for 1/8/23: The Epiphany of Our Lord

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“Arise and Shine!”
Isaiah 60:1-6

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

We have in this text one of the glorious visions of the great prophet, Isaiah. In spirit, Isaiah stands on a hill outside Jerusalem. Dark night covers the world. Suddenly, he sees a bright light appear over Zion, all the brighter by contrast with the pervasive darkness. And he exclaims, “Arise! Shine! For your light has come!” And then he sees a mysterious commotion among the peoples of the earth, a movement toward the light, and he cries out, “Lift up your eyes all around, and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.” The crowds become multitudes; from Midian and Ephah and Sheba they come. Some come by way of the sea, others by camel across the desert. What a glorious, heart-cheering sight: all these coming to the Light which is, of course, none other than Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

“Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples...” What a striking description of the human race in its sinful condition. The time when Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled at the coming of Christ was one of the bright periods of classical civilization. It was the age of Augustus, the “golden age” of the great poet Virgil. It was an age which produced great philosophers and orators like Cicero; it was an age when the arts and sciences flourished. But even with all this worldly civilization and learning, mankind could not by its own reason or strength produce spiritual light nor gain true knowledge of God and salvation. Roman society, for all of its many advances, was spiritually bankrupt; atheism and cynicism were prevalent. Remember Pilate’s question to Jesus: “What is truth?” The darkness of spiritual ignorance and sin reigned everywhere. The Greco-Roman culture eventually destroyed itself from within. And the age in which we are presently living is more like those days than any other period of history.

Against this background of great darkness, in the “fullness of time,” God Himself caused the brightness of His glory to rise over Bethlehem. His Son took on human flesh, and in Him the greatest glory of God appeared: the glory of His love and grace. St. John told us, “We beheld his glory.” And Jesus Himself declared, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” All the light of Old Testament prophecy was but a faint dawn that preceded the coming of the true Light. And all that the Church of the New Testament can do now is bring the Light of the world to shine into the dark hearts and souls of men by faithfully preaching the Gospel.

But is that light still effective? There are those who say that the vision of Isaiah is, indeed, a grand thing, but the fulfillment just doesn’t measure up. The Church is weak and despised. It seems but a little flock, its efforts feeble and nearly useless. It does send missionaries, to be sure; it does seek to do that work of extending the kingdom through the preaching of the Gospel. But what are these few among so many who obviously despise the Gospel? Where is the abundance of the sea, as Isaiah put it? Where are the forces of the Gentiles, the masses flocking to Christ? There are those who indulge in dreams of a day when Christ will visibly reign over the earth from Jerusalem, when the kings of the earth shall pay homage to Him there. If it is true, we might as well close our churches and our Bibles, and just sit back and wait for Isaiah’s prophecy to be fulfilled.

But, of course, we cannot and must not wait! Salvation has come! It has come in Jesus Christ, at whose birth the angels sang: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” The Gentiles have come, and they continue to come to the light; we ourselves are proof. The Good Shepherd brings both Jews and Gentiles together into one flock. Gentiles, in the persons of the Magi, were led specifically to this light. And since that time there has been a continual coming to the light.

The Church is still busy with her task, bringing the light of the Gospel to men and so kindling faith in their hearts for Christ, the Light of the world. When we gather, as we do this morning, we gather not just for our sake, but for the sake of those who do not yet know Jesus Christ. We preach and we listen, we sing and we pray, as much for their sake as we do for ours. And this manifests itself when we leave this place of worship. In whatever corner of the world is uniquely ours, we shine on others the light of Christ that has been given us, both by the words we speak and by the example we give. That is the grand purpose of the Kingdom of God: to bring all those whom Christ would “call out of darkness into His marvelous light,” that eternal light may shine on them forever in the Father’s house. That will be the final and the perfect fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. And so, as Isaiah calls to you: arise and shine! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.