Did you see all the TV’s marked down on Monday for the holiday? I didn’t either! Isn’t it great! There is no commercial aspect to Epiphany. I suppose you are wondering what exactly is Epiphany. This Greek word means reveal. During the Epiphany season of the church year we look at how the world found out and still finds out that Jesus is God …that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
You could say we covered all this at Christmas. Did we though? How many extra things have been tacked onto Christmas? Have you been to the company Epiphany party? I haven’t. What about seeing three wise men climbing down the chimney to offer gold, frankincense, and myrrh? How about that drone cluster forming the Star of Bethlehem over Bethlehem? None of this happens! All that’s left at Epiphany is the spiritual truth that Jesus is here.
The special emphasis in the Scripture is that Jesus wasn’t just for the Jews. This might seem obvious, but it’s a good reminder for people who are life long Christian and aren’t used to the idea of the rest of the world being Christian. Evangelism is scary and messy. That’s ok.
Our sermon basis on Isaiah 60 has an incredible picture of the people and the wealth of the nations streaming to God! This incredible influx is a picture of the New Testament church. The three Wise Men are a partial fulfillment of this, but so are the events of 2020! While it’s true that Christianity in America is declining, that’s not the case everywhere around the world. Our church has been invited to build a seminary in Vietnam! You can here more about this HERE. This is a communist country. It is a bizarre story of God’s grace in a nation that desperately wants to hear the gospel.
Want to hear more? You can check out all that our church body is doing in world missions HERE. Watch this Sunday’s message taken from Isaiah 60. January doesn’t have to be a dark month!
Book(s): Isaiah
Tag(s): Epiphany
Speaker(s): Fred Guldberg