January 6, 2008 Isaiah 60:1-6

1 AArise, 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 ALift 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.

It is not natural for a person to sleep during the daytime. Even when he buys deep and dark shades and meticulously trains his body to work all night he still has a difficult time adjusting. Daylight naturally beckons you to wake up and get going. So when a parent notices his or her child sleeping until ten or eleven in the morning something says to him or her, AThis isn=t right! I need to get this kid out of bed to start doing something today.@ So God doesn=t like to see His people sleeping through the day and missing the light.

Arise, Shine, For Your Light Has Come

I. It comes on a world living in deep darkness

It is natural for people to miss the light of God, because His Word says, Adarkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples.@ Thick darkness is a perfect assessment on our world. Do you doubt this? Just this past week a man=s obituary openly admitted to the world that he had a homosexual relationship for 20 years prior to dying at the age of 43. With no shame advertisements are made in the paper of people selling furniture and other items because they are Arecently divorced.@ Popular radio show host Rush Limbaugh, who is supposed to be conservative, boasts of having several Arendezvous@ with a variety of women through the country. Without shame thousands of people throughout our country promote a woman=s Aright to choose@, which in effect is giving a woman and her butcher the ability to suck a live baby out of her womb and chop it to pieces without any recourse from our government whatsoever. Brazenly we are told that creation is a myth and that we must have evolved from monkeys and amoebas according to science. The religious section of our newspapers tell us that all religions are equally good. And we, as Christians are supposed to just be quiet and say nothing to our friends, neighbors, and family who are living in the darkness of these lies and sins. As a matter of fact, we are treated as if we are the ones who are in the dark ages - who need to stop being so judgmental and just accept this darkness as Aprogressive@ of Aenlightened@ type of living. This is nothing new. It=s been happening ever since the Fall.

Do you know what is even sadder than this? Look at whom Isaiah is talking to - the Israelites. And what does he start out by saying to them? AArise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. Think about that for a minute. The light was shining directly on the Israelites - and they didn=t even realize it. The prophet had to be sent to them and say to them, AHEY - wake up! The light has come and is shining on you!@

Understand the history. The Israelites of Isaiah=s time had earned for themselves a captivity in Babylon. As a result the temple was demolished. The country was under foreign rule. In the midst of all of these judgments all they saw was darkness and gloom. What they failed to see was that the glory of the Lord that was rising upon them was not the size of their nation. It wasn=t in their reputation among the nations or the size of their army. The glory was coming in that little manger outside of Jerusalem about 5 miles in the small village of Bethlehem, wearing some strips of cloth and laying in a manger. It wasn=t in the sacrifices that were being made but in the sacrifice that would be made through the Child. It wasn=t in the temple that was built but in the words and promises that would be fulfilled through the message proclaimed in the temple. Even though they were directly given the light they were looking in the wrong place for it - in what they would do or have instead of what God would do or give them! There was no excuse for this for them to miss the Light. They needed to wake up and see the Light.

Are you sleeping too? Do you need to be woken up? If you are constantly pessimistic and angry because of your job, your health, or your family life - you have no excuse to live that way. If you have chosen to use alcohol to make you feel better or more confident about yourself, you really have no excuse. If you think that you can=t feel good about yourself without a new outfit or the approval of your friends or spouse; then you=re living in the dark. If you have bought into the lie of materialism that you can=t live without thousands of dollars of toys which you can=t afford, you=re sleepwalking. You need to wake up. All of these things are tainted with sin; they have no lasting and eternal light in them. Having such a dark and dismal world view and focus is inexcusable - especially to those who have been baptized and been shown the Light - who should see better.

You see how it works? God=s promises and His love and forgiveness are not bound to the prosperity of the stock market our your Social Security check. The promise of eternal life in Christ is not hampered by the size of our congregation or the condition of the building. Your sins and pessimism will not somehow change God=s promises and covenants of forgiveness and hope. God will be no less committed to you whether you are a banker or a beggar. Cancer does not and cannot change God=s grace and forgiveness. No matter what you are going through in life His Word and His sacrament remain the same. God still said that He loves the WORLD and that He gave His Son to die for the world. There is no reason to live in darkness when the light of God is directly shining on you through the Word and sacrament. But for some reason we tend to let bills and sickness and other people=s opinion of us drag us down into the darkness and act as if there were no hope and no God in the world! In spite of all of these promises we do our best to act as if God never said anything to us. It=s almost as if we prefer to live in depression and fear - as if this were the way God wanted us to act. Maybe we think that by living this way we will pay for our sins? We think that God wants us to be pessimistic and dark?

II. The light is powerful enough to break through any darkness

The good LORD didn=t want the Israelites to miss the beautiful Day that was dawning right over their heads. So he sent Isaiah to them and said, AArise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.@ Epiphany is a time that God calls on us to wake up and recognize the light of Christ - to see that He really is the Savior of the world. The star of Bethlehem points us to the baby boy in the household of this tiny town. It goes on to show us His glory through His baptism and miracles. With words and promises it points us to the Light and promise of Christ.

This light is so bright and powerful that it is able to attract people from thousands of miles away. Listen to what Isaiah predicted. ANations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. . . . 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.@ Isn=t it an amazing thing how this was fulfilled right after the birth of Christ? Here the glory of Israel was laying in Bethlehem - just miles from the center of worship in Israel - and they didn=t even recognize it! But who did - but Magi from the East? This verse would make us believe that there were far more than just three Magi carrying the three gifts - as it says that herds of camels would come to the light. Somehow and in some way God connected His Word and promise to the Star - and these men were drawn to Israel from hundreds of miles away. That is how powerful the Light was - so powerful that it even drew kings to it!

The darkness is dark and impenetrable for man to get through it, but the Light is more powerful than the thick darkness and knows no bounds. Think about those living in the deepest darkness - it means there is still hope for them. Think for instance of Paul - who was one of the most zealous followers of the Pharisaical religion. This would have been the last guy that you would ever expect could be converted. He was even persecuting Christians. Yet who did God choose to show the Light of Christ to - but HIM! How did he do it but by showing a bright light to him and appearing to him in person on the way to Damascus! Even Abraham was drawn from a family who worshiped other gods far away from the Promised Land on the other side of the Euphrates.

Apply it to the way you view the world. There are millions of people who are living in a deep and dark closet of sins - addicted to pornography, entrenched in the homosexual lifestyle, unable to quit drinking or marijuana or cocaine. Sometimes the darkness is so thick that those who live in it are not even in the closet - but an open wreck for all to see. Just look in their eyes and you can tell that they are completely worn out and living on death=s door. In the midst of darkness they see no way out of their problems. What is worse is that we who know they are lost say to ourselves, Aboy, I=m glad I=m not like them.@ A part of us reasons that they are getting what they deserve because they conscientiously made the choices to get where they are. It may be true, but should we really just resign them to darkness and addiction and sin because of their own wrong decisions and lifestyle? Should we resign them to hell because they are so blind to their own destiny? Maybe you yourself are convinced that because of your lies and deceit that there is no forgiveness left for you - no hope. Maybe you are so afraid of losing your job, your family, or your reputation that you will do all you can to keep your sins secret - even though you are continuing in them and find no power to stop? That is not a remedy at all. It is a pathway to hell. Do you think God really wants you to live that way?

God did not say to Himself, Athese Magi are too entrenched in their astrology and far eastern religions. They=ll never come to worship the Christ child.@ He didn=t say, APaul is too far gone, I won=t even try with him.@ And God didn=t say with you, Athese people are only Gentiles who live thousands of years and thousands of miles from where my Son appeared. Since they live in such an immoral and selfish society there is no hope for them.@ No, God chose to confront you and say, Arepent of your sins and see the Light of Christ.@ His Holy Spirit reached through the darkness and showed you a God of Light who became man and died for the deepest and darkest sins of the WORLD - including yours. He gave you a message of forgiveness in the death of Christ and hope in a resurrection through the resurrection of Christ. Instead of leaving you to your blindness, He opened your eyes with a wonderful and marvelous light. The light powerfully worked on YOUR dark and sinful heart and gave it light and hope. If the light could draw Magi from hundreds of miles east, then don=t you think that it could work through a rebellious child? Don=t you think it could crack that hard hearted atheist or the sexual addict or habitual liar? Satan would like nothing more than for us to give on them and ourselves. God would like nothing more than for us to give them and us the Light - to show them us our sins and then our Savior - because the Light works through the deepest darkness. The Magi are proof and so are we!

III. The light focuses on Christ, just the way we like it

If the Israelites had realized what a glorious treasure they had in Christ - and what a wonderful beacon of Light He was to the world - imagine how they would respond? Isaiah said, ALift 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. 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.@ If the Israelites would have just opened their eyes and noticed why the Magi were coming - oh how glad they would have been! How joyful they would be at Pentecost when Jews from afar came and saw the light of Christ as proclaimed through the disciples in the upper room!

But what happened when the Magi came? Herod was alarmed, and ALL ISRAEL with him! What happened when more and more Jews were brought to faith in Christ at Pentecost? The Pharisees and Sadducees stepped up their persecution all the more! Instead of rejoicing in the fact that Gentiles and Jews were being brought together under the Savior Jesus Christ - their hearts became darker and darker ! Why? Because Christ was taking the glory away from THEM! They were jealous over the fact that these people were not coming to listen to and see them - but Christ!

Have you ever met someone who seemed to use you and like you - not for who you are - but for what you can give them? I used to have a classmate in college who had a TV and VCR in his room. This was a rarer commodity back in my day. So a lot of my classmates would come clamoring into his room to watch movies and TV. He was not one to shy back on what he thought. So he had a common saying back in the day, ATV = friends. No TV = no friends.@ In other words, people were only using him for his TV. He didn=t like it. We don=t like it when our so- called friends only call us because they want something from us - our time or our money or our help. It doesn=t take long for us to read through people who treat us like that. The more they call us and contact us the angrier we get because we feel like we=re just being used.

This was how the Jewish leaders probably felt over Christ. Here these Magi had traveled hundreds of miles to the Promised Land to follow the star in the sky to the Christ child. But when they got to Jerusalem - they weren=t enamored with seeing the majestic temple and gowns in downtown and historic Jerusalem. All they wanted to do was to go to lowly Bethlehem and see a little baby being born of a poor woman in a simple home. All they wanted to see was Christ. The nerve of these simpletons! In a shocking reflection of their lack of faith the seeming spiritual leaders of Israel were too disinterested to even take the trek to Bethlehem with the Magi - who had already traveled hundreds of miles!

When the Holy Spirit brings us to faith, it makes us think completely differently than the world. The very nature of a Christian is to be one of transparency. We don=t want people to look at us or be infatuated with who we are - after all - as good as we try to be we are still contaminated with sin - just like they are. Matthew 5:16, In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. We want to be noticeable, but not noticed. The very way in which we act as forgiving and protective fathers, nurturing and loving mothers, obedient and caring students - it is all to reflect our faith in Jesus.< Life is never meant to show people how great we are. It is meant to show people how great and gracious God is. When you show yourself to be a nice, kind hearted, and forgiving person - it is testimony that the Holy Spirit is doing something special through your baptism. When you don=t hold a grudge and are willing to turn the other cheek, it weakly exemplifies what Christ did for you on the cross. We don=t do these things so everyone says, Aoh, man - is he a great guy! Wow, look at what a wonderful wife he has!@ No, we want them to say, Alook at how gracious and merciful and giving God has been to him! Look at how the Lord has blessed her with the ability to take care of her children!@ We want Christ to be the center and focus and attention getter for all we say and do. If we can be so privileged as to catch the attention of someone through our words and actions - the first place we want to take their eyes is that little child born 6 miles out of Jerusalem in Bethlehem. Why? Because the good example of a Christian saves no one. It is only that baby in Bethlehem that does the saving. People need to see Him go to the cross, die, and rise from the dead. This is where we want people to look. He is the one we want people to see. We rejoice in it when they do.

Imagine if someone traveled hundreds of miles to our worship service and said to us, Aoh, I just love the people there. They are so friendly. And I love the musicians - they play so well. The melodies were awesome. The choir sang right in pitch. And your building is so immaculately groomed. The layout is superb. I just had to come and experience the ambiance of this place!@ Is that what we would want to glory in? No. The highest compliment we could get from someone would be if they said, Athroughout the songs, the liturgy, the sermon and the sacrament, that service gave me Christ.@ Think about it, while Magi saw the light from hundreds of miles away and went to see the Light of Christ in Bethlehem, the Israelites missed seeing the glory of the LORD because they weren’t listening to the VERY MESSAGE they were proclaiming. Don=t miss it here. Arise, shine, your light has come. His name is Christ. Amen.