Preached The First Sunday after Epiphany, January 2014
Order of Service: The Order of Morning Worship, Page 5.
Old Testament Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-3.
Epistle Lesson: Romans 12:1-5.
Gospel Lesson: Luke 2:41-52.
Sermon: “Arise, Shine; For Thy Light Is Come.” Isaiah 60:1-6
Hymns: 130, 126, 129, 396
Dear Friends in Christ,
From the time God confounded the languages of men at the Tower of Babel and scattered the population of the world, the population of the world was basically heathen. They lived in spiritual darkness and in various forms of idolatry.
However, when God called Abraham out from Ur of the Chaldeans, He thereby established a special race of people, the Hebrews. They retained the knowledge of the true God. The Hebrew people were thus like a vessel to preserve the Gospel message in the midst of the unbelieving world. From then on, the population of the world consisted of Abraham, and his descendants, while the rest the world made up the Gentile world.The Gentile world, not having the Gospel, were a spiritually darkened people. They worshipped idols. As the Bible says, “Having no hope, and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12)
Yet God desired the salvation even of the heathen, Gentile world. In this regard, God inspired the prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, etc. to proclaim to the Gentile world the message of the Gospel. Indeed, the Season of Epiphany is that season of the Church Year where we celebrate the manifestation of the Gospel to all the lands of the Gentiles.
Today’s sermon text is one of the clearest prophesies of the promised coming of the Savior to the Jewish Church and to the Gentile world. Isaiah cries out, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” In our sermon we will consider the following:
I. How light was about to shine upon the Old Testament Church;
II. How the light of salvation would be revealed to the Gentiles;
III. How this light also shines upon us and in us as individual Christians.
As Isaiah cried out, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee,” he was foretelling to his people how their own darkness would be turned to light. The prophet says, “For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” While the heathen world was already walking in gross darkness, the people of Isaiah’s day, the people of the southern kingdom of Judah, were living in the darkness brought on by their own sins. The people of Isaiah’s day tried pleasing their enemy nations around them and still please God! As Isaiah called out earlier, “Who hath believed our report; and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? (Isaiah 53:1) In short, who is listening?” Thus, eventually the people were led into the darkness of Babylonian Captivity.
However, the light began to shine again when the Lord graciously brought about the release of His people from captivity. The light of God’s grace began to shine on them as their chastening purged them of their darkness. Now they again began to walk in the light of the Savior to come. Thus, Isaiah had already foretold this when he cried, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” By these words, the prophet is foretelling his people that they should arise and let the light of the Lord to shine out of them. Being now in light, they are to arise and let this light shine out of them. Here Isaiah is also foretelling how the glory of Christ would shine in their midst when Christ would born into the world. As Christ said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Thus, in beholding Christ, the people would behold the glory of God. At Canaan’s wedding feast, Jesus turned water into wine, and we are told, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory, and his disciples believed on him. (John 2:11)
Now, as Isaiah cried out, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come,” this was an appeal to the Jews to let the light of Christ shine upon the Gentiles, those, who had been in the darkness of unbelief. As the text says, “and the Gentles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” This is an amazing prophecy! The Gentiles would, even through the testimony of the Jews, also come to the light. Indeed, this is magnified by the fact of just how dark the Gentile world was. They were guilty of wicked practices such as passing their children through the fire. They worshiped images of stone. They also created gods for every occasion.
The light that was to shine out of the Hebrews and upon the Gentiles, resulted in kings and nobility brought to the light. Even in Old Testament times Cyrus the King of Persia learned of the Jews’ God and released the Babylonian captives. We know that the Queen of Sheba came to the light as she visited King Solomon and beheld the glory of his kingdom and also heard from him the message of the true God.
Thus, the Light of the promised Messiah shining out of the Hebrews would cause many Gentiles to be gathered in. Isaiah says, “Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.” This expresses how Gentiles, a people afar off, would become the spiritual sons and daughters of both the Old Testament Church and later of the Church of the New Testament. They would be as close as that of daughters nursed at the side of the Hebrew people. Hence, those who were aliens of the commonwealth of Israel are now made one people. Ephesians 2:19 says, “Now therefore ye are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.”
This gathering in of the Gentiles is further described this way: “Then shalt thou see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” Indeed, Gentiles from out of all lands shall be converted and joined in as a people of God. They shall come from the abundance of the sea in that Gentiles gained their prosperity from the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee. In addition, the forces of the Gentiles, their armies or troops, which beforehand were used against God’s Zion are now able to fight on Zion’s behalf.
Yet what is truly amazing is how this prophecy finds fulfillment in the coming of the Wise Men from the east. Our text says, “The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; and they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the Lord.” Here the mention of camels and dromedaries foretell the wise men traveling from the east. Likewise, notice how Isaiah also mentions the gifts which they would bring to the Christ Child, gold and frankincense. They would come and bow down and worship Christ the newborn King.
What is more, speaking through Isaiah, God foretells how the gathering of the Gentiles would also result in their bringing the flocks of Cedar, and rams of Nebaioth which would be used to minister or serve the Church of believers with their abundance of their wealth and possessions. They will do all this to the glory of God whose light has shined in their hearts.
It is here that we believers of the New Testament are to arise and let the light of grace shine out from us. We are to rise out of our sluggishness, and let the light of Christ shine forth to all lands and peoples. We of the New Testament Church possess the light of Christ, and this light should not be covered, but shine forth.
Yet at the same time, we ourselves as individual Christians are to permit the light of Christ to continue to shine in our hearts. As Paul said in II Corinthians 4:6, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Indeed, before we can give the light to others, we ourselves need to let Christ’s light shine in or hearts, and then we can let this light shine out to all peoples, both Jew and Gentile.
Therefore, when did the light of Christ begin to shine in our hearts? It was in our Baptism. This light was then strengthened when were were catechized and confirmed. The light of Christ in us grew even stronger as we continued to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Indeed, God’s Word itself is a light. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 105:1) Thus, Jesus says, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32) As Jesus Himself said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
The wonderful light of Christ enables us both to receive it, and to let it beam out for all to see. How wonderful it is to be on the receiving end. In our daily walk of life we walk through the darkness of shadows. As we behold our many sins and shortcomings, we bemoan them. We cry out, “O Lord, Thou seest me in all by shortcomings, so I need Thy Light. I crave the light of the forgiveness of sins which Thou didst purchase and won for me on the cross.”
Also, as we walk through shadowy dark days of trials and troubles, we have Christ our Light to turn to. Indeed the Psalmist captured this when He said, “The Lord is my light ad my salvation, whom shall I fear” the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? . . . “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait I say, on the Lord.” Is that not a marvelous light?
In this regard, as we also walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Christ our Light turns shadows into bright sunlight. Hence, we fear no evil!
Thus, let us do as our text says, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come.” In Jesus’ Name. Amen.