Sermon

January 7, 2001
Epiphany

Arise, Shine for Your Light Has Come!

(Isaiah 60:1-6) "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.² See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you.³ Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.⁴ "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.⁵ Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD.

In Christ Jesus, who God's light for the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel,

According to the church calendar it's the season of Epiphany, but for many of us it is "letdown season." You know, that season that comes in the wake of Christmas, the season that is marked by the dried-up Christmas trees that line our streets and those pretty Christmas lights that have all gone dark. The parties are over, the credit card bills have arrived. School has begun. We're all back to the daily grind and to make matters worse, during this time of year in our part of the world, the daily grind usually takes place under some dark and gloomy skies.

"Letdown season" is upon us, but the Lord's prophet has just the message to brighten our lives now and in the days to come. Isaiah says to us gloomy souls, Arise, Shine, for Your Light has Come - great light for this world's darkness that brings great joy for this world's gloom. The contrast between darkness and light appears quite often throughout the pages of Scripture. Most often in the Bible, darkness is a symbol of ignorance and unbelief, of sin and grief and troubles of various kinds. Isaiah certainly had all these things and more in mind when he wrote to the church, "See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples" (Isaiah 60:2).

Outwardly the people to whom Isaiah wrote were doing very well. The nation of Israel was strong and wealthy. But inwardly, spiritually there was darkness. The very people who claimed to be the children of God were living like the sons and daughters of Satan's dark kingdom. The rich and influential were using their power to harass the poor. The men went around drunk while the women cared more about how they looked than the fact that the people living next door were starving to death. Everywhere he looked, Isaiah saw people giving lip service to God. They kept up the outward appearance of a religion that was hollow and dark on the inside-a sad fact that put these people in grave danger of suffering the wrath of God and Isaiah told them so.

Isaiah warning was sounded 2700 years ago, but because his words are the words of God's Holy Spirit they are as timely and as powerful today as when they were first recorded. Today Isaiah sets his sights on our world "See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples..." You don't have to look far to find the people Isaiah's talking about, people who appear religious but who have darkness lurking within. I'm ashamed to say I stare at such a creature as often as I gaze into the mirror. Is the reflection you see in your mirror any better?

Each of us knows for him or herself how much spiritual darkness there is about us. We call ourselves people of God and yet we are so ignorant about him and his ways. There is so much about God that we never bother to learn. At the same time, what we do know about him, namely his commandments, his will for our lives, this we often choose to ignore, living in stubborn defiance of his laws. Look at us! We claim to know God's love and yet we can be some of the most unloving people on earth. This is the "thick spiritual darkness" of which Isaiah speaks and if his words don't bother us they should because the punishment for having such darkness in us is more darkness all around us. Jesus says so. Speaking of the fate we sinners deserve he says in Matthew 8:12, they "...will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The Lord is talking about the never-ending night of hell and there is not one thing we can do for ourselves to avoid it. There is no spiritual light we can turn on in our souls, no more than we can make the sun shine in the middle of the night simply by wishing it to happen.

This awful news makes our winter doldrums seem like a celebration. What is some post-Christmas credit card debt in comparison to sin's eternal wages? What's a bit of January cloud cover in comparison to the hell's blinding and unending darkness? If Isaiah's message ended on this terrible note, I'd have nothing more to say to you today than this, "If you think things are bad now, brace yourself, they're about to get unbearably worse!" That's the news our sins have earned us, but it is not at all what God tells us. Instead, to us who cannot produce even the smallest flicker of spiritual light and life, our God says: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you" (Isaiah 60:1).

By nature we have no light in us at all. We come into this world lost in the darkness of our own sin and unbelief. God on the other hand is pure light. Now you might think such pure light would destroy us sinners the second its rays touched us. It certainly could, in the same way that the sun will destroy our eyes if we stare into it for any length of time. God's glory could wipe out us sinners in an instant which is exactly what God told Moses when the prophet asked to see God's glory on Mount Sinai. The Lord said: "You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (Exodus 33:20). But God found a way to grant the prophet's request. He let Moses see the glory of his holy love as he passed by his servant, proclaiming, "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin" (Exodus 34:6-7).

Dear friends, God has caused the same glorious grace to shine in our lives. The Apostle Paul describes this miracle God has worked in our lives when he says in 2 Corinthians 4:6 "God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Our Savior Jesus is the glory of the Lord that rises in our lives each day. The glory of his grace appears over us always, protecting us from everything that would threaten to harm us, including the punishment we deserve for our sins.

God has drawn us to the light of his glory, a glory that does not destroy us because in his holy love, God sent Jesus to take the darkness of our sin upon himself and in his own body face hell's dark punishment for us. God's glory does not destroy us because instead of firing that glory down on us from heaven like a laser, God sent his glory to earth, revealing it to us in the loving face of Jesus, a face that is always smiling on us as Jesus proclaims our ignorance, our defiance, our lovelessness and all of our sins forgiven through his life and death as our substitute and through his resurrection from the dead by which he has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel he has given to us (2 Timothy 1:10).

Christians, arise, shine for your light has come-light for the world's darkness.The grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ is that great light that pierces the darkness of our world and of our lives and shines in our hearts by the miracle of faith God has worked in us. It is this same glorious grace that also brings great joy for the world's gloom.

It is so easy to let the troubles of this world bring gloom to our hearts. It seems that the longer we spend in this world, the more tempted we are to think like the unbelievers who make themselves at home here. If we are not careful, our mood like theirs rises and falls with the stock market. Haven't you noticed that if we turn our attention away from the good news God has for us in his Word and sacrament even for a moment, then the bad news of this world quickly fills the void, causing us to see every problem in life as evidence of God's apathy or worse, his anger? We do our world no good at all when we who have the light of God's glory in the face of Christ share either in the world's gloom or in its false hopes for happiness.

For this reason the Prophet Isaiah directs us to take our eyes off our light and momentary troubles and look at things in the light of God's grace. He says, "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.⁵ Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.⁶ Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the LORD" (Isaiah 60:4-6). Isaiah is speaking to us who make up God's church. True joy comes not from what we can get from the world, but from what we can give to the world. Do you know what's happening in our world right now? As we share the light of God's Word with the world, as we reflect that light in our lives, it is having and will continue to have a tremendous effect. Enemies of God are becoming children of God and his church by the power of God's Holy Spirit. People of every nation and race are being brought to faith through the preaching of the gospel and through the gospel's power they are joining us in serving the Lord with all that they are and all that they have.

Isaiah speaks of camels covering the land. Camels were the trucks of Isaiah's day. The picture here is that of a tremendous convoy of believers coming to God's church with their gifts, just like the Magi of old, coming to worship the Savior from sin. What joy is ours to know that we and our children are a part of this convoy by God's grace! What joy is ours to know that God is working such mighty things through us and through the gifts we offer him! What joy is ours to know that the company we share with our fellow believers and the worship we offer our perfect Savior is never going to end, but will continue on for all eternity in heaven! Let these Epiphany truths bring an end to our winter blues as we bask in the light of God's Son, Jesus Christ our Savior from sin. Amen.

(Jude 1:24-25) To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- {25} to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.