The Light arises on a new Israel

Sermon for Epiphany

Isaiah 60:1-6  +  Matthew 2:1-12

You heard again this evening the familiar story of the visit of the wise men—Gentiles who followed the star to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem, who found and then worshiped the One who had been born King of the Jews. We’re going to let Isaiah guide us into the meaning of this Epiphany. But we’re going to take our Isaiah readings out of turn this evening, since the reading for Epiphany comes from Isaiah 60. By chapter 60, Isaiah has already focused on God’s promise to deliver Israel from captivity in Babylon. He’s already focused on God’s promise to deliver Israel from sin through the suffering and death of the Messiah. In these final chapters of Isaiah’s book, the focus now turns to the New Testament period and beyond.

Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the LORD will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.

That’s the Christmas message, isn’t it? The coming of Him who is the Light of men, the coming of Him who is the radiance of God’s glory. Into the midst of the deep darkness of man’s sin, idolatry, violence, arrogance, ignorance of God, and ignorance of salvation, Israel could expect the coming of Christ as surely as the sun rises. Only to Israel would the Christ come. Only over Israel would His glory appear. The glory of the Lord shined around the shepherds of Bethlehem, not of Syria or Greece or Rome. The Christ wouldn’t show up and shine with His light in Europe or the Americas or Africa or Asia. Salvation wasn’t to be found anywhere else, in anyone else—none of the Gentile gods, none of the heathen deities, none of the pagan celebrations. Only the light of the Christ, shining brightly from the land of Israel, would be able to dispel the darkness of sin.

But Isaiah didn’t stop with the Christmas message. He continued with the Epiphany message:

The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. “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 nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.

The Gentiles, or “the nations,” would be drawn to Israel, to the glorious light of Christ. That prophecy wasn’t exclusively about the coming of the wise men. But they were the first—the first non-Jews to recognize that the promised Christ had finally come, and that this King of the Jews was not only King of the Jews, but of the Gentiles, too.

The wise men were the first, but they weren’t the last. Some Gentiles heard and believed the Gospel while traveling or staying in the actual land of Israel. But most heard the Gospel as it went forth from Israel with the apostles after the Day of Pentecost and with Jewish believers in Christ who traveled outside of Israel. And never once did any of the apostles say, “Now, you Gentiles, you need to go live in the land of Israel.” No, because, in a sense, all who believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, had already come into Israel.

They came in figuratively, not literally. Most Gentiles have never stepped foot in the land of Israel. Most have not petitioned for citizenship in the nation of Israel. And yet, according to Isaiah, and according to the apostle Paul, we Gentiles have come to Israel. Because the Israel Isaiah foresees is no longer the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob dwelling on a particular plot of land. The Israel Isaiah foresees is much bigger than that.

By believing in Jesus as the Christ—sent to Israel, but sent to be the Savior of all men—we are actually bringing (or, actually, God is bringing) glory to the original people of Israel. As Gentiles, we confess readily that God chose that nation, descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He nurtured and instructed that nation, and prepared that nation for the birth of His beloved Son. By reading and believing the Old Testament Scriptures, we are bringing glory to that original people of Israel, whom God made the recipients and the caretakers of His very words to mankind. Before the time of Christ, the vast majority of God’s believing children were literally children of Israel, leaving us many, many good and godly examples to follow. And we give thanks to God for every one of them. That is God bringing glory to His Old Testament people Israel through the Light of Christ whom He sent to Israel.

But as I said, the Israel Isaiah foresees is bigger than that. The original people of Israel were preserved by God long enough to preserve His Word, long enough to get His Son born into the world, long enough to put His Son up on a cross on a hill on the outskirts of Jerusalem. He gave them the Light of His Son and of His Son’s Gospel, and He shined on them for the time He remained there. But, as we all know, the nation of Israel, as a nation, chose to go back to darkness, rejecting Jesus as the Christ.

Not so with the new Israel! The new Israel that Isaiah foresees is made up of the Jews and Gentiles who believe, who desire to walk in the light of Christ Jesus. It’s a new Israel that embraces the Lord God, which means embracing the Lord Christ. It’s a new Israel that worships God under a New Testament—not one of obedience to the Law, but a covenant of grace and the forgiveness of sins to all who believe. In effect, the new Israel, which is the holy Christian Church, is the offspring of the old Israel, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

This evening we celebrate the wise men as the first Gentiles to enter into this new people of God, the first men from among the nations to come to Israel, both physically and spiritually, to worship the Christ. Physically, they departed, after worshiping Jesus and offering their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But spiritually we have every reason to believe that they remained. And you and I have joined them there, in Israel—here in Israel! —because it’s no longer a place, but a people, no longer a physical genealogy but a spiritual one. Because, as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians, through the Gospel, the Gentiles are fellow heirs with the Jews, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. May this Epiphany (or “revelation”) of Jesus as the One born to be your King, too, fill you with all joy and peace in believing! Amen.